It’s rare for an employee to return to a company they’ve worked for previously. But that’s exactly what happened with Gayathri Deenadhayalan. She worked for Octasic from 2012 to 2015, departed, and then returned in 2021. Why did she come back? “The previous experience of working with amazing colleagues and an excellent work ambience at Octasic made me want to come back, especially when they had a need for my proficiency. I couldn’t say no because the work is interesting and there’s an environment conducive to learning and growth, which I need.”

After graduation, Gayathri’s tenure at IIT Madras was life changing, not only because she was able to acquire the fundamentals that would become the strong foundation of her chosen career, but also because she was able to learn from the best professors in the country. While she had good exposure to DSP programming, her humble professors also imparted their wisdom and guidance that helped Gayathri navigate the real world.

“The importance of understanding a concept and communicating clearly with the audience comes with clarity of subject,” said Gayathri’s mentor.

For Gayathri, this has been an important lesson. It has elevated her level of expertise and learning because she has taken the time to learn individual pieces well, how they work together, and then translate that into simple and easy explanations. This piece of advice has also transferred into other areas of her life. Gayathri advises, “We all face problems at some point in our lives. These can feel humongous and difficult to solve. However, in order to understand the problem and overcome it, one should not get overwhelmed by complex problems. Instead break them into small chunks and solve it one step at a time - it will be amazing to see the puzzle being demystified!”

Striking Out on Her Own

Gayathri had not travelled much in her youth, staying close to home, even while receiving her education at a local university. Her international stint in Japan was her first time out of the country. The culture shock was profound, especially as she tried to navigate a country where she did not understand the language and in a climate which is so vastly different from that of India. Despite severe homesickness, she stayed and learned how to navigate a very different environment than the one she knew and, in the process, became more resilient in being on her own.

Following Japan, Gayathri got an opportunity to work in United Kingdom for a leading test mobile company. This assignment not only enhanced her technical skills but also gave her experience of working in a multi-cultural environment, which made her independent and introspective of her own self.

Gayathri’s new chapter in United States opened an opportunity to work in the automotive industry. While she enjoyed her automotive software development, life took a different path, and she chose to be closer to family and friends back home.

The Octasic Life

Gayathri rejoined Octasic when she returned to India. It has offered Gayathri a work-life balance that she appreciates. As a working mother, it is a priority to her to have meaningful time with her son and daughter.

At Octasic, Gayathri works on physical layer software, including 3G and 5G Dual. She also enjoys software development and debugging of` hardware. She is currently working on the Octasic 5G Dual PHY product. Having experienced working for very large organizations, Octasic’s structure provides more opportunities for growth and learning. Gayathri has been able to expand her knowledge and expertise by working on different projects throughout her tenure, which helped her continued professional development.

A typical day for Gayathri includes making time in the morning for exercise, daily chores, and attending to children. When they are off to school, she is on the go, checking software code written by her colleagues, writing her own code, debugging on hardware, and interacting with her colleagues to ensure development is on track and done to the highest quality.

Having worked for Octasic for a total of nearly five years, Gayathri has acquired many great memories. A few of her favorites include decoding the first HSDPA using remote TM500, finding a “one bit” error in the decoder, and facilitating a successful phone call in 3G. She works out of the Octasic Bangalore office, finding it exciting to see its growth over time. Gayathri joined the office when it was just a few fellow colleagues and now it boasts over 100+ employees.

Gayathri loves her work. As a big enthusiast of streaming shows and movies featuring crime drama and detective stories, she finds it motivating that Octasic is helping law enforcement solve the real-world versions. She aims to deliver products of the highest quality to ensure that it never fails in the field that it continues to deliver on the promise it makes.

"In order to be market leader in cutting edge technology, we all have to keep our skills updated to be resourceful to our organization. As we are a global organization operating from various geographical locations, which requires us to be more collaborative and share what we know so that we can together achieve our corporate targets. This will help us deliver world-class products in an efficient way.”

In Her Off Time

While Gayathri enjoys her work, she loves spending time with her friends and family. She also enjoys watching feel-good movies. Her favorites include Ratatouille, Yes Day, and Kung Fu Panda.

Gayathri also loves the thrill of a rollercoaster. This love started when she was living in Michigan and rode the Top Thrill Dragster, which at the time was one of the tallest and fastest rollercoasters in the world.

For Gayathri, rollercoasters are so similar to life, with many ups and downs, never knowing when a twist and turn will come, and your experience is based on how you react to those surprises. Her life has been similar to the rollercoasters path; having lived at home until starting her career, becoming acclimated to different people, environments, and culture, and taking advantage of the opportunities that came her way. It helped her to become stronger and stronger, and now taking on the title of Mother with her two small children, she’s the strongest she’s ever been.

A Necessary Skill

When asked what skill she thinks everyone should learn, Gayathri responded: “Emotional Intelligence.” She believes everybody should be required to have this skill because at the end of the day, we are working with fellow humans and being able to understand how to communicate based on the other’s feelings or emotions is a key to success.

Gayathri’s parting words? Nobody knows what happens next, but we can choose how we respond to it, “Every next level of life will demand a different you – keep going!”