Another day, another fantastically talented Women in Media profile to gaze upon. And today’s inspiring female is Isobar’s senior android developer Kruti Patel.
Describe your average day?
I generally wake up at 6am and help my husband with his newly started Café for an hour or two. I do whatever I can to help, including standing at the counter, making sandwiches or anything he might need. He has just recently opened the doors so I’m doing what I can to contribute.
I arrive at the office around 9.30am. I’m a senior software developer by trade, so my day revolves around client stand-ups, replying to technical questions, assigning tasks to my team and doing application development.
When I finish at 6pm, I head to the gym and then home to cook for Dhaval so it’s ready when he finishes up at the Café.
What’s the most challenging thing about your job?
The nature of my job means we consistently work on things that have not been done before. As a result, there’s no way for me to learn the thing I need to do from somewhere else.
I’m always challenged by creating something ‘first’ and it’s also the part I find most exciting.
What drives you?
I’m fascinated by ingenuity. People that create really novel and innovative products and services where no one has paved the way. This is what I want to do. I don’t want to work on what’s already established, I want to pave the way.
What’s the hardest brief you’ve ever received or hardest job to execute?
I would have to say the project I’m currently in the middle of has been the most challenging in my career. It’s a completely new mobile product, designed to serve advertising in a slightly more intuitive and frictionless way.
It’s a multi-market and multi-platform product that has proven exceptionally challenging to create in a way that delivers the best possible user experience. I’m having a lot of fun, and I’m constantly on my toes.
What would be your ultimate role?
To be a technical executive of a Multi-National Corporation. I don’t see many (if any) technical leaders in our industry that are female, and I’m desperate to influence that.
What’s your proudest professional moment?
My client and I went to San Francisco to work with Twitter’s technical team. I managed to identify and rectify a problem in the Twitter code, which resolved our problems.
Coming into the Twitter office as a developer from Australia and solving their technical issues was a huge achievement.
What’s your quirkiest attribute?
My husband likes to say that I do two things all the time. Smile and talk. I agree.
One thing no one knows about you?
I cannot lie. I get caught immediately. I’m also terrified of having children.
What are advertising/marketing’s biggest challenges or threats?
I feel like the younger generation are much more cynical and doubtful of advertising in general, which is why I think we see more businesses making products that people genuinely want, rather than trying to make people like products that exist.
If you were CEO what would you do differently?
I would focus on encouraging women in my company to become future leaders of the business.
Hardest lesson you’ve had to learn (in or out of workforce)?
Not speaking out when someone is doing something that is clearly immoral hurts you much more in the long term. Overtime, I’ve learnt to stand up for what I believe is right.
Tea or coffee?
I am a coffee addict.
Cats or dogs?
Dogs. My black lab Joey is my best friend. He’s always happy to see me and be around me.
Guilty pleasure?
Binge-eating ice cream in front of the TV. Nothing in life is better.
What’s your favourite TV programme?
Cuddling up with my husband on the couch and watching endless episodes of Game of Thrones ranks pretty high up on things that make me happy in life.
What turns you on, emotionally, creatively, spiritualy?
Innovation. I like the technologies and products that are completely out of the box. For eg. One of the best examples is Touch technology in mobile.
When Bent and Frank invented this technology in the 1970’s, who would have thought it was going to be a game changer in Mobile Technology in the early 20th century.
What turns you off?
Women who don’t push themselves and become their own stereotypes.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Professional badminton player – I have been playing badminton for the past 15 years and represented my university in national inter-university championships consecutively for two years. I always wanted to make a career in that alongside technology.
What profession would you not like to do?
If it has anything to do with supporting my family and my beliefs, I’m pretty much prepared to do any job. I don’t want to do any roles that require me to be untruthful.
Have you ever felt like giving up?
No. Never. I’ve been scared of being in a situation where I have to give up.
What are the pearls of wisdom you know now, that you wish you knew when you were younger?
Life is not as simple as it looks.
What is your favourite word?
Possible. If it is possible it has potential to be achieved.
What is your least favourite word?
I don’t really have a least favourite word, but when someone says “But you’re a girl” I get really annoyed.
