Find out how PayPal’s partnership with IMDA enabled Gangadevi Balakrishnan, a software engineer, reclaim her passion for designing and creating technology.
Like many, the global pandemic gave Gangadevi Balakrishnan, a software engineer at PayPal’s Singapore Development Centre, the opportunity to reconsider her career options. Having been exposed to broader business analyst responsibilities, she found herself wanting to return to a more hands-on experience with technology. Joining PayPal as part of the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Techskills Accelerator (TeSA) Company-led Training (CLT) programme afforded her the opportunity to explore a completely new domain and pursue her newfound career goals. Armed with detailed-guided training programmes and an onboarding buddy, she had the freedom to explore and take on tasks that matched her interests.
Tell us more about yourself – what led to your arrival at PayPal, and what do you do here in the company?
Before joining PayPal, I worked as a Business Analyst in another tech firm. Working from home during the pandemic provided me with the time to think about my career, and I realized that it was not heading towards something that I wanted. Therefore, I decided to leave my previous job to look for other opportunities that were more aligned with my interest and that’s when a friend of mine recommended PayPal.
Currently, as a software engineer in the Global Compliance Verification Policy and Platform team at PayPal, my team and I help customers around the world ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Each day is different for me: my activities change according to the tasks that I am working on. For example, if I am working on a batch job, then most of my time will be spent on writing codes and testing. If I am working on finding ways to improve API maturity level, then most of my time will be spent on investigating, researching, and discussing with the API maturity team.
How does PayPal champion possibilities for you, and how do you try to champion possibilities for others?
When I was a newbie in my team, I was hesitant about volunteering for tasks that seemed tough or required a higher level of technical expertise. I spoke to one of my team members about my hesitancy and he told me that I should sign up for any tasks that interested me and that the team will always be there to support me. After the talk, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and take on more challenging tasks. True to his words, the team supported and helped me.
Learning from him, I encourage newbies to pick up tasks that interest them and avail myself to help them when needed. Working with a team that encourages inclusivity, honesty and open communication makes me a better team member.
How can we continue to champion an inclusive environment for all at PayPal?
One of the things that I love about working in PayPal is its open and inclusive culture. I feel that championing an inclusive environment starts with ourselves, each and every individual contributes to the PayPal community. We can start small by encouraging our colleagues to speak up during discussions, having 1-to-1 meetings with our team to form an understanding of their concerns and helping them address them.
PayPal Partners IMDA to Create Good Jobs for Singapore
Singapore is a strategically important market for PayPal, and new employees, supported by IMDA’s TeSA CLT programme, join PayPal’s diverse local and global team at its Singapore-based international headquarters to collaborate on solutions that serve the company’s more than 425 million consumers and merchants worldwide. The CLT programme is a structured development programme under the TeSA initiative led by IMDA, in partnership with SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore, that aims to accelerate professional development for fresh and mid-career professionals through on-the-job training that is aligned to the Skills Framework for ICT.
PayPal is committed to supporting Singapore’s continued digital transformation into a global technology and fintech hub. Our diverse workforce is our biggest competitive advantage, and PayPal’s employees in Singapore have a unique opportunity to participate in projects and initiatives that have an impact in the more than 200 markets around the world.
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