Scaling new heights

She might be fresh blood in the corporate world but her work ethics and passion towards learning the new technology are taking her to new heights. Sai Ratna Motamarri is currently working as a software developer with Continental TCI, Bengaluru. She is still quite young but her journey will surely motivate and inspire others. She dreams big and hopes to keep supporting her parents and society for their unconditional love and support. Read on…

Corporate Citizen: Could you give our readers a brief background about yourself?

Sai Ratna Motamarri

Sai Ratna Motamarri : I was raised in a modest family in Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam. My father served the Indian Army (Subedar) while my mother was a teacher. The values that they taught me do good and good will come to you, will always stay with me. Owing to my humble family background, the engineering fees looked quite steep for us. In my time of need, the Lila Poonawalla Foundation (LPF) came as a ray of hope, as they provided me with a scholarship grant that changed my life. I was able to clear my engineering with good graders from the Army Institute of Technology, Pune.

Based on my grades, I was able to bag the best product-based company in our country Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI). During my tenure there, I was was presented with a few spot awards as well. After this enriching experience, I decided to shift to Continental TCI where I am currently working as an executive engineer.

I can’t thank the LPF enough for helping me at the right time. I clearly understand the value of it. And now that I am standing strong on my feet, I decided to lend a helping hand to the foundation that has helped me during my tough days. I make small donations to the foundation whenever I can. Giving back to society has given my life a whole new perception.

CC: That’s quite a commendable journey. Tell us about your learnings from the corporate industry…

I began my corporate journey with Bosch in 2017. There, I worked on an instrumental cluster of projects which ran on the Autosar 4.0.3 application. It was a leap of faith when I joined Continental in 2019. As an embedded software developer, I developed software with functions and features for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

Working in the software domain puts a smile on my face. And the work I do gives me immense happiness. Very few people get a chance to do what they love, and I consider myself quite lucky. The experience so far has been great! Initially, I did flatter a bit but I made sure to learn from it. Later, I found the sweet fruits of my hard work, as also the decision of focusing on my studies paid off. I am learning each day, the friends that I made are helping me evolve and my work is taking me places, I really couldn’t have asked for anything more. The corporate world has taught me to accept the challenges that come by. It has pushed me to run that extra mile!

"I am learning each day, the friends that I made are helping me evolve and my work is taking me places, I really couldn’t have asked for anything more. It has pushed me to run that extra mile!"

CC: That’s indeed true, doing what you love makes your heart content. So, let’s rewind a bit. Can you walk us through your preparation for the campus placement?

Well, initially I was scared as opposed to what I later felt. Fear would creep in and even thinking about the placements sent jitters down my spine. Frankly, those were one of the most stressful days. Then, I had a revelation. I decided to come up with a strategy that made me campus placement-ready. What I realised was, during the PI, the interviewer simply checks if the concepts are clear for which I thoroughly revised my C language skills. I also came up with block diagrams that helped me a lot. With that, I would also research about the companies that would visit us. On the placement day, I would revise the concepts, scroll through the current affair, wore a simple yet striking attire with confidence, impressed everyone in the PI, and then Bosch it was!

Sai comes with a bundle of good values

“What our foundation did was to just provide her with a stepping stone in her educational journey. Our happiness knew no bounds when we got to know about the progress she has done in her career. Now that she is standing tall on her feet, she has been giving back to the foundation in her way. T his gesture of hers at such a young age has amazed us and made her an exemplary. It has made us realise that she has kept the foundation’s values intact. She still has a long way to go and we wish her all the best in her future endeavour.”

- Lila Poonawalla
Founder, Lila Poonawalla Foundation, Indian industrialist, philanthropist and humanitarian

CC: How would you say the education that you’ve received has made an impact on you?

When you learn the concepts with all your heart and soul, it stays with you forever. For me, education was pivotal for many reasons. I never hesitate to learn new things or to share my knowledge or ask for help when my concepts aren’t clear. The application of knowledge is crucial. Through my small yet impactful corporate journey, I have made it a point to apply the education that I have received.

CC: Although we have a lot of the latest technology that reduces our manual work, it’s said that programming embedded devices at the edge of the vast global systems remain an art form. What’s your say on that?

Embedded systems control many devices that are used daily. Since it is dedicated to specific tasks, design engineers can optimise it to reduce the size and cost of the product and increase the reliability and performance. Technology comes into picture when humans can use it physically through some embedded hardware. Almost all the appliances that make the human life simple have a microprocessor or a controller in it and programming them is embedded art. Everything we use in daily life is part of an embedded system.

CC: Theft and data privacy issues are still a concern when it comes to real-time embedded systems implementations. Can you tell us a few ways in which this could be handled?

Embedded systems are programmed to perform a specific task. Some tasks exhibit obvious vulnerability of being reprogrammed with malware. These are some of the safety techniques being followed to prevent theft and data privacy…

• While developing the software, companies must follow proven industry practices like standard coding guidelines, static analysis, set of reviews, and a few others.
• Use cryptography (encryption and decryption).
• Firmware update payload should be digitally signed by the authors’ private key. These design additions will help prevent your device from accepting just any download and combat potential attacks.
• Practice defence in depth: Go through different scenarios of how and why a hacker may get access to your system. Think about them. Plan for them. Design to thwart them, with layered defences.

CC: Considering that this pandemic has disrupted our old work habits, what’s the new normal for you?

Certainly, the outbreak of COVID-19 has revamped the definition ‘routine’ for us. Be it our social or professional life both have gone for a toss. However, change is inevitable. And right now, our only option is to chalk out a new work routine. It true that we don’t have a social life anymore but I think we should be grateful that we are alive and kicking considering the havoc that this virus has created. I am getting enough time to spend with my family which I always wanted to do. I have accepted that work from home is the new normal. Courtesy of our latest technology, work from home has become less painful. Things are on the go, it saves the commuting time and productivity is high. All this makes me believe that every cloud has a silver lining.