Pooja Shimpi Business Information Security Officer at Citibank Singapore
P
ooja Shimpi is Business Information
From a Master’s in Computer Science to a career in
Security Officer with Citi, based in
cybersecurity was a serendipitous step for Pooja.
Singapore, responsible for monitoring and implementing compliance with
“When I studied Computer Science in my Bachelor’s
information security policy and controls
and Master’s degrees, cybersecurity was pretty much
across APAC. She has come a long way from her
non-existent as a domain specialisation. Hence, when
childhood in a small town in India.
I got an opportunity to work on a project at ANZ Bank in India that touched upon areas of security, I
“We didn’t have access to computers in India when I
grabbed it excitedly. And from then, it has been a very
was in school. The first time I got to touch and feel a
interesting and fulfilling journey. Once I completed
computer was in 2001,” she recalls.
that project, there was no looking back. I had found my true calling in the field of cybersecurity.”
And a career in IT was not on Pooja’s parents’
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roadmap for her. In fact, no career of any kind was.
Despite her qualifications, Pooja Shimpi believes
“Career aspirations were not talked about much.
passion to be “the single most important trait” for a
Parents usually wanted their children to study and
successful career in cybersecurity. “The ‘business as
finish graduation, but being from a small town, and
usual’ world of cybersecurity throws new challenges
a girl, I was expected to get married and settle down
at you every day and, similarly, the governance
as soon as I had completed my studies rather than
of cybersecurity keeps you on your toes. While
focus on a job or think about career aspirations,”
qualifications can take you to a certain level, nothing
she says.
beats the real-life industry experience.
“I did my Master’s degree in Computer Science just
LEARNING BY DOING
to escape getting married. I really enjoyed studying
“So, I would suggest everyone should be ready to get
about computers, but career aspirations were too
their hands dirty. If you have a qualification, excellent,
farfetched at that time.”
but if you don’t, let it not deter you from entering
W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
S E P T E M B E R • O C T O B E R 2022
