Career Close-up is a new video interview series where we chat to senior employees in Ireland’s leading multinationals about their career journeys. This week, we talk to Usharani Marappan, master engineer at Ericsson.
Welcome to episode five of our new Career Close-up series. In partnership with IDA Ireland, we sit down with senior figures from some of Ireland’s most innovative international companies, to get a sense of their exciting career trajectories.
In the latest instalment, SiliconRepublic.com reporter Laura Varley chats with Usharani Marappan of Ericsson, whose passion for computer science and engineering have led her to her position as master engineer at Ericsson in Athlone.
Marappan’s passion for tech dates back to her school days. “I was fascinated when I saw a computer at school in fifth class,” she says. “However, we were not allowed to use them or even touch them. That made me so curious about computers and technologies.”
Having pursued a degree in computer science engineering, Marappan joined one of the service-based companies in India as a project engineer, ultimately moving to Ericsson Athlone as a senior software engineer. Over the years, she has taken on a variety of roles and worked with diverse teams at Ericsson, leading to becoming a master engineer.
“Through this journey, I had a chance to work with many cross-functional teams and I learned a lot from them and gained a lot of experience before I became a master engineer,” she says.
Marappan loves the variety of work, and the fact that she still interacts across many teams in the organisation, testing and problem-solving. However, her real love is launching new product features.
“What I enjoy most in my job is when I implement a new feature that has a great impact with the customer,” she says. “ And it’s really exciting to be part of a company that’s shaping the future of connectivity.”
As a mother of two, being based in Athlone has proven ideal for Marappan. “It offers a perfect blend of career opportunities as well as that calm family life. Everything is close by, for instance, crèche, workplace, school, university, shopping, gym – everything is within a 10 to 15 minutes’ reach.”
The culture at Ericsson also helps her achieve that work-life balance. “There is always a team to support you when you need it. And also, Ericsson’s hybrid policy and flexi-working hours always come in handy.”
As for her advice to those coming up behind her? “One thing I would tell my younger self is to believe in yourself. Coming from India to a different country, a new culture and a new workplace, part of me was scared and worried, thinking about what the future would look like. But now, I have been through it, I would tell my past self to have confidence. Everything will fall into place eventually.”
She also urges professionals to embrace continuous learning. “The tech industry evolves quickly, so continuous learning becomes very essential. Invest time in understanding the underlying concepts as that will make future learning easier. For instance, explore new programming languages, tools, frameworks and don’t hesitate to try out things that seem challenging.” Good advice indeed.
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