Sentha Sivabalan on how her passion & purpose align with her career at Esri

When Sentha Sivabalan accepted a position at Esri, the geographic information systems company, she anticipated it’d be a two-year launching pad for her next career move.

Twenty-five years later, she’s still there.

A stepping stone turned into a lifelong career when Sentha discovered that she could align her passion and purpose with her day-to-day work at Esri. Over the years, she’s worked her way up from a technical support analyst to a group program manager, helping solve the world’s most complex challenges at each step.

“What became apparent was that I could build my career here. So, why do it anywhere else?” Sentha tells us. “It’s a very inspiring place to work. And it continues to be that way, even after all these years.”

We asked Sentha to share how she finds fulfillment through her work at Esri, along with her top tips for how you, too, can find a career that aligns with your passion and purpose.

Two sides of product development

As a group program manager, Sentha’s role falls into two buckets, one being product design.

“I take into consideration what our customers’ needs are plus the innovative ideas from our team to say, ‘Hey, what are the specific features we should be working on?’ I then outline the broad strokes of the feature and work with our designers, developers, and product engineers to fill in the picture. I absolutely love it. It gets all of my juices going,” Sentha says with a smile. “I feel like I’m using all of the skills that I’ve gained over the years.”

She revels in seeing her contributions come to life, knowing that the finished features are a product of her strengths and expertise.

“It’s also a collaborative endeavor, and I feel like that’s another strength of mine. I’m good at bringing people together and turning something that might have felt impossible into reality. It’s a wonderful feeling to say, ‘Hey, look, we did this.’”

The second bucket is project management. Once the team decides to launch a new feature, Sentha is there to ensure each step is completed properly and on time.

“Coming up with a design is pretty cool. But then taking that design all the way to delivery is a wonderful feeling.”

Building products that give back to the world

Zooming out from the joy she finds in her day-to-day tasks, Sentha’s role at Esri also allows her to fulfill a greater mission: Do good in the world.

“I feel like just by doing my job at Esri, I’m giving back to the world because I’m enabling our users to use our products and do wonderful things. It gives me goosebumps every time. I love to see what our users do with our software. It’s amazing. And knowing I played a small part in making that happen is very fulfilling.”

Sentha also finds gratification through her interactions with colleagues. In an environment where people “don’t have to cut corners to get things done,” she’s been able to build strong bonds on her team and foster a culture of synergy.

“There’s mutual respect and true collaboration. We get great work done but not in a dog-eat-dog fashion. And that’s very special for me. My work here is aligned with my ethics. I don’t take that for granted.”

How to align your passion & purpose with your career

Sentha believes that everyone deserves to find a career that leaves them feeling full after a day’s work, excited on a Monday morning, and accomplished at the end of the year.

To help you align your passion and purpose with your career, she leaves you with these tips:

1. Find your Ikigai, the Japanese concept for something that gives you a sense of purpose and reason for living. “What is it that you love doing? What is it that you’re good at? What can you be paid to do? What kind of difference do you want to make in the world? Think about those things to come up with what you might want to do in your career.”
2. Dig deep into the small moments. “It’s the process that drives the result. If every moment you make a choice, you align with what you truly value, then something might come out of your life that you didn’t even have the vision to paint. Your career, and your life, are made up of many small decisions.”

Sentha is unsure of what future adventure awaits her at Esri. But she’s living proof that once you align yourself with your purpose, you can trust the process to do its magic.

“I look forward to making more of a difference in the world, continuing to develop my product, and helping my people grow. How exactly those things come to fruition remains to be seen. And that’s the fun part.”