I once read somewhere–“Why Iron Man, and not Fe-male?”–and thought to myself, why not? Every woman deserves to be understood and given a chance to prove herself. I sought an opportunity to prove myself, and my story is nothing lesser than that of a superwoman.

I am Nandini Sundaram, Technical Content Creator at paradime.io. I create technical content that helps data analysts improve their productivity and become experts at their work. 

I hold a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronics Engineering degree. I was a bright student working at a company related to my technical qualification until things started to change.

The turmoil of my life

While solving issues that fell into my expertise, I got too emotionally attached to the company, and the subsequent events broke my integrity. I became mentally unstable and had to undergo treatment. The problem resurfaced when I tried to discontinue the medication. It took quite a while to understand and land on the right balance of medicines.

Women in my community are considered only suitable to be homemakers. I got married about one and half years ago and was expected to settle down as a good housewife, taking care of the in-laws, doing regular house chores, being a good wife, and following the traditions. Coming from a traditional Indian family, this is not unusual. However, my life became meaningless with monotony and a lack of purpose. It had been almost seven years since I quit my previous career opportunity. I worked through my situation patiently and tried to point out to my family that I needed to work to keep my brain occupied, keep up the financial situation, and kick-start my career again. Eventually, my family agreed to it and permitted me to work again.

Discovering my career path, again

Well... I did not know where to start my career again. I had a career gap of more than seven years. I also needed to stay close to my family because I could be available to care for them. So, I started browsing for work-from-home opportunities. My friends encouraged me to apply for an electrical engineering job, as I was the top student back in college. I surfed through the options and hardly found any remote jobs available. I googled for what was the top job role that offered remote jobs and found that technical writer was one of them. It matched my strengths and interests and was suitable for my health condition. To bridge the career gap, I did a certification in technical writing at Henry Harvin. The internship was part of the certification. I discussed with my mentor, my instructor at Henry Harvin, if I needed to complete the internship. She encouraged me to apply for jobs directly without doing the internship. So, I started applying for jobs directly. 

The impact of a career break

Following her advice, I started applying for a job, and the assignments I worked on were just enough to encourage me to do so. I was afraid to list the topics and skills I learned in my resume as I felt I was not proficient enough in them. Eventually, although my skills were rudimentary, I did not hesitate to list them and was willing to learn whatever the job demanded, and I started applying again. I applied to around 40 companies hiring technical writers. This included software, education, marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and many more companies.

The gap was real and the reason too, but I was hoping that the hiring managers would understand and give higher priority to what I could do after joining than the gap that I had no control over. One thing was common for all–I received a rejection or no response.

Pleasant encounter

Out of the many applications, I also applied to paradime.io via LinkedIn. Within a week, I received an email from Paradime for the first round of interviews, and the journey began. After the final round, I was offered the role of Technical Content Creator at Paradime. I was excited and grateful for the opportunity, which I accepted immediately. I wondered what part of the process made me eligible for the role. After a couple of days of joining, my manager Veena and I chatted about it. She said Paradime appreciated my honesty and did not care about the gap. My potential, trajectory, and willingness to learn were more important to them. And yes, that boosted my morale, and I felt confident to convey my opinions openly. 

Settling-in

It has been one and a half months since I joined Paradime. The onboarding process took a while as my laptop model was in huge demand then, and I received it around two weeks later than my joining. I had personal problems and had to take a break immediately after. Yet, they were patient with me and my issues until they sorted out. I am learning many things about content writing, editing, and working with technology. The Paradimers are friendly people. It is one attribute I proudly apply to myself while I learn to be so. All of my colleagues are supportive and cooperative. Even though we work remotely, our daily chats and discussions don’t leave room for loneliness or information gaps. We mainly choose our schedule, which leaves us to plan our day according to our situation that day. As we come from different geographical zones, we get to coordinate between ourselves while keeping our schedules flexible. In summary, I love working here!

I am now learning a lot about the role as I settle here, and I feel empowered—as a woman—to give strength to others like me. I hardly imagined that I would stand on my feet again to support myself and my family. This endeavor turned out to be something pleasant, and I feel grateful for the turn of events in my life. When I look back at my journey, I feel fortunate to have found Paradime.

Thanks a lot, Paradime, for trusting me, confiding in me, and giving my life a second chance.

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