From Chemical Engineering to Product Management at Microsoft USA| My Journey

June 26, 2021

MBA Graduation- University of Arizona- Class of 2018

I believe sharing your personal stories is so powerful. Stories can spark a connection and make others and you connect well. I have been asked on multiple occasions, on various social media platforms (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter) ” How did you go to the USA and study MBA and MIS when you were a chemical engineer? Or how did you pay your tuition since the USA is so expensive? Or I want to work for Microsoft, could you help me by telling me your story? So, here I am sharing my journey from India to the USA.

Hi, My name is Ankita Mishra- I am a Product Manager in O365 in Microsoft in their headquarters in Redmond, Washington. I have been living in the United States of America for the past 5 years and have dual masters in business and information systems from the University of Arizona (Bear down)! For most of my childhood I have lived in Kanpur a small town in Uttar Pradesh, and did my primary education in Chandigarh and Kanpur. I studied Chemical Engineering from Jaypee University, India.

Disrupt

For as long as I can remember, I was curious about so many things. I wanted to know how things worked, how happy people do things differently than the ones who are not happy. How gender bias is real and how we can have powerful conversations at home. I was also passionate about a lot of unconnected things like science, gender roles, fitness, jobs, philanthropy, technology, etc.

When I was in mid-school, I remember telling my parents I want to go and study in America after I saw the movie(Yep, pretty dramatic). My parents were very honest and told me we do not have the funds to send you this far but you know what you have –” you know what you want and now don’t settle for less”. That conversation with my parents changed my life forever. Okay let me be honest here, I come from a humble background. My father was the only earning member of our family and educated me and my brother from the most expensive schools. I tried coming to the USA after 12th grade but the undergrad was so expensive. I did not give up and went to study chemical engineering at Jaypee University in India.

This phase of my life was disruptive as there were times I felt I will never be able to go abroad, I did not want to study engineering, and the fear of failure was strong. What I did- I knew what I wanted, did not have the funds to do that so I created an alternative plan after researching online. I planned to complete my undergraduate in Chemical engineering and then apply to business schools in the USA because there is a higher chance to get scholarships.

The mid-school Ankita

Beginnings

I always wanted to take control of my life, learn how to do things on my own, earn for myself and never let go of the things I dreamt of as a young girl. After graduating I joined Infosys for 2 years and learnt JAVA and SQL. This was a change from chemical engineering but my goal was to try new things. I gave GMAT and TOEFL as these were pre-requisites to apply to MBA schools in USA. Due to the application cost I ended up applying to 5 schools only. Gladly, University of Arizona- Eller School of business gave me the highest scholarship. As soon as I heard back from Eller in Dec 2015, there was never looking back.

I came to do an MBA but later landed up doing MIS(Master of Information systems) as well. In 2017 I attended the Grace Hopper Conference for women in technology where I got my interview for a Microsoft internship. I joined Microsoft summer internship in 2018. I moved to Seattle in 2019 post my master’s graduation.

GHC 2017- when I got my first round of Microsoft interviews

Forward

Today I live in Seattle and work for the O365 org- Microsoft Search. I have this blog to which I contribute time whenever I can due to my busy work-life schedule. I won’t say everything came easy- there were failures, learnings, losing close friends and people, heartbreaks, and realizing how I can remove my own biases (trust me we all have unconscious/conscious biases). What I have learned is to value people and passion more than anything in life. If there is passion success will follow, if there are people with whom you can celebrate your success- life will be happier.

Gigi (My Cavapoo girl) and me

Achieve the life you want!

The top 6 things that helped me achieve my goals and dreams. Hope this helps you too.

1. Dream big– Dreaming big is so important to be achieving the life you want. Write down what you need to achieve in life and then work towards it. If I hadn’t dreamt big I wouldn’t be where I am today.

2. Structure your day and create an everyday task list- this is a must for a healthy productive day. As the day rolls out multiple things happen- there can be a colleague or friend that spoiled your mood, you could have woken up and seen some bad news, etc. Don’t let events, people, things decide your day for you. Plan it the night before and work towards it.

3. Stay positive and take care of your mental health- there have been times in my life where I have felt the lowest. I have also seen a therapist for which I am proud- there is something special about opening up to a person that doesn’t judge you. If you have never tried, I would encourage you to do it. Out of my experience, I can tell staying positive is top of the list. This will determine your life and health. A morning routine and my gratitude journal help me a lot.

4. Find allies– whether it’s your partner, friends, workplace buddies- allies are so important in both personal and professional life to excel. I have met some amazing people in my life, who were there with me through thick and thin.

5. Choose the right life partner- I got this advice at the Grace hopper conference from someone at a very high position in a top tech company in the world. When I asked what one piece of advice she wants to give me, she said- “I won’t say work hard because that you will, I would say don’t settle for less and choose your partner wisely. As your goals will be achieved faster if you have your biggest ally at home”. I want to give this advice to everyone reading this. It makes your life so much easier and happier if you make this one decision right.

6. Speak up and break stereotypes- Growing up in a south Asian family I was always taught not to speak up if I hurt someone’s feelings. Working for Microsoft I learned to speak up even if you are the youngest, least experienced person in the room if you feel your idea is valuable. Breaking stereotypes is so important as you will be more positive, authentic, and will have goals not based on biases (conscious or unconscious).

Have a similar story or something that helped you achieve your goals, share them in the comments below or tag me on a post on Instagram using #browngirlintech or follow me on ankita.mishra04

24 COMMENTS

• RAJESH. S JUNE 26, 2021 AT 9:50 PM Myself S. Rajesh, I read your blog. Confidence path and God Grace achieve this this so far. Continue……….

  • ANKITA JUNE 27, 2021 AT 9:36 PM Hi Rajesh, nice to meet you virtually. Thank you for reading my blog and for your sweet note.

• ARPIT JAISWAL JUNE 26, 2021 AT 10:21 PM Honestly, Didi seeing you I feel so proud and my heartfelt outs with all love blessings to you and Rishabh bhaiya may you both achieve lots of things together in your life and keep inspiring us and anyway you can and guide us in the midest of chaos world! To put it in Nutshell I am super proud of you. God bless!

• VISHAL NALAWADE JUNE 26, 2021 AT 10:24 PM Your journey is inspiring keep progress

• MUKUL JUNE 26, 2021 AT 10:33 PM Hi Mam, Can you please tell me, how much your total MBA cost including living expenses and what percentage of scholarship did you receive.

• ANMOL SHARMA JUNE 26, 2021 AT 10:39 PM Hi Ankita, Reading your article was very inspirational and feel very proud to see you at this stage of life. I do not understand whether to share this thing with you or not, but like you said tell your story in comments, then I am writing this. I live in Delhi with my family am working for an Event Agency from last 4 years and I am not happy with my life I don’t know what is happening around me. Want to do many things for my loved ones but you know it’s very difficult for a middle class person to achieve things here. Sometimes it seems that I am trapped in a world and just like this life will go on and on. I am a BCA graduate but working in other field. At this point in life does it feels very impossible that I will be able to start afresh or not. There is no guidance, sometimes I become too much frustrated whether life will ever go according to me or not.

• ISHITA TIWARI JUNE 26, 2021 AT 10:59 PM I just loved the way you presented your journey point to point. It was overwhelming for me too, to see the girl from your family working so hard, and achieving all that what she wishes to, as you said in one of your posts that people only see the cream of your life, they are not aware of the churning, so I highly appreciate your churnings and lastly love the way you keep things for yourself and present it to all of us. Take care, have a healthy life my soul sister.

• NEHA JHA JUNE 26, 2021 AT 11:28 PM Great blog! Such an inspiring story. I have attended yoir live session with Robert Adams, which was amazing and detailed. Having a vision and guidance is definitely important however for me the imposter syndrome is real. I achieve my daily goals through my daily tracker I maintain so that’s a positive point and my long term goals of moving abroad and working in a multinational company has been on standby for quite sometime now (imposter!) Hopefully I’ll be able to achieve what I want after a little motivation I got from this post. Keep them coming!

  • ANKITA JUNE 27, 2021 AT 9:44 PM Hey Neha, Thank you so much for attending the live session and for sharing how you achieve your goals. Let me tell you a truth- I also get imposter syndrome at times, and I have met so many people working in amazing jobs in tech who get it too. Its pretty normal- the strategy I use is to talk to an ally- rishab or my best friend and then they tell how I am thinking too much and that helps. Hope you achieve your dream of coming abroad soon and if you come to USA- see you here soon

• ANKIT MISHRA JUNE 27, 2021 AT 12:47 AM My Ideal person

  • ANKITA JUNE 27, 2021 AT 9:41 PM This means a lot ankit, thank you.

  • AKSHAY JULY 20, 2021 AT 10:45 AM Hi Ankita, Going through insta feeds and found your post, then i checked your blog found it very inspiring and emotional at the same time. Since i also stay in kormangala Bangalore, i connected with your few posts easily. I also wanted to go abroad for higher studies but couldn’t due to financial and personal issues. And since now i am married guy and its been 6 yrs of my B.E, I don’t think it would be possible for me to go abroad and get a well paid job. Anyways you are doing great by sharing your experiences. Best of luck for your future endeavours!! Akshay

    • ANKITA OCTOBER 2, 2021 AT 7:16 AM Hi Akshay, Thank you for your sweet note. I always believe there is never a right time. If you feel right now to try, you can try and come to USA or Canada. MBAs are generally preferable for people who come in late and want to bump up their careers. Give it a thought and Good luck.

• ARYA GARG JUNE 27, 2021 AT 5:27 AM You’re super amazing. And I adore you so much, the ambitious girl who has maintained a perfect balance between academic and professional journey, fitness and style (you are breathtakingly beautiful) and has an everyday life like all of us have! I DMed you on insta saying the same but I hope you’d read it hear. Thankyouu for all the positivity you share! I will try my level best to be half as amazing a girl that you are Love you, Ma’am!

  • ANKITA JUNE 27, 2021 AT 9:41 PM Hey Arya, I will check out my insta. Thank you so much for reading my blog and for such a sweet comment. yes, I do have an ordinary life just like you. Please ping me whenever you need to talk about career or anything. Take care and keep smiling.

  • ANKITA JULY 14, 2021 AT 7:48 PM Thank you so much Arya. Your comment is so sweet and kind

• KOMAL JUNE 27, 2021 AT 11:13 AM Hey Ankita , You are just Amazing. All that I could say is your inspiration body my everyday energy. Your blog your story was all about hard work and passion where I feel this is something that I m missing in my life. Your lifestyle, dressing is all about I seem for one day. Thanks for your inspiring story. Good bless you and your family

  • ANKITA JUNE 27, 2021 AT 9:38 PM Hey Komal, Thank you so much for your kind words. What helped me in my passion journey was to journal. Write 5 goals you want to achieve with a deadline and go crazy about it. We humans love rewards- so associate a reward like a bag, a book or something you like and give that to yourself after achieving a goal. Hope this helps.

  • ANKITA JULY 14, 2021 AT 7:48 PM Hi komal, Thank you so much for your support and kind words- made my day.

• HIMANI JUNE 27, 2021 AT 11:23 PM Hi Ankita ! This is so inspiring ! I came across your blog recently through instagram and have read all your posts. You are such an inspiration. I am coming to the US for my masters this fall and I aspire to be like you someday.

  • ANKITA JULY 14, 2021 AT 7:47 PM Thank you so much himani for your kind words. Hope you achieve your dreams.

• MOHIT SHARMA JUNE 28, 2021 AT 5:29 AM Ankita Di, There would be millions in india who would be living the first half of your story but there are only thousands who dare to accomplish the second half. The best part is that you are still as humble as you were at the start of your journey. I assume you took the advice seriously and landed up with an another great person (Jolly bhaiya). I wish both of you success and prosperity in your future endeavours. God bless you both

• ANKIT SRIVASTAVA JUNE 28, 2021 AT 9:12 AM Amazing article Ankita, and definitely dreaming big is essential. Its great to have been able to see you grow. Upwards and onwards to bigger and better ideals and platforms

• THEJASWINI RAM JUNE 29, 2021 AT 10:56 AM Hi Ankita, I recently started following you on Instagram and read your blog today. It’s so inspiring and I read the blog at the most appropriate time that I needed to read it. I’m currently doing my masters in Information Management (2nd semester) from Syracuse university and I can’t relate to your story more. It’s the best thing I have read in a while and I’m sure this is going to help me keep going. Thanks for writing this one.