She is part of the Weapons team and given the nature of her focus area, she works closely with other members of her team. “I look after certain sections of [the] ammunition dataset, and this lets me interact with the analysts who look after platforms and armaments.” I work together with the air-launched weapons analysts, naval weapons analysts, and land platform analysts to ensure accuracy in my dataset and to clear any queries I have regarding theirs.” 

“I am always encouraged to speak freely and share my opinions by the team.” For example, “a story idea I suggested was accepted by the news desk. I was also encouraged to interact with the top brass of the industry to get valuable information on the latest developments of the products”. In addition, “I had an opportunity to visit Aero India 2023 where I had ... interacted with people from the industry. The visit also gave me much-needed exposure to the latest development in the defence industry”. 

She said, Janes values “encourage me to achieve my goals, engage with people confidently, motivate me to be my boss, work as a team to overcome obstacles, [and] at the same time become a source of joy for others. These are the values that can easily be implemented in our personal life as well. The values of Janes make me a better human and an even better professional”.  

Saketha also shared her thoughts on life at Janes. “Janes takes work-life balance very seriously and [it] is often encouraged. The hybrid work model really helps me attain [good] work-life balance. The company really cares for the overall wellbeing of the employees.” For example, “the healthy half [concept] is a benevolent initiative, which shows that the company cares for the mental health of the employees. Additionally, Janes also has a colleague wellbeing and mental health support programme. The company also organises several virtual workout sessions that are incredibly useful and a stressbuster. Several talks on mental and physical health are also organised, which goes on to show how committed Janes is to its employees' health”. 

Since joining Janes, she’s made numerous achievements that are to be proud of. “My role allows me to learn something new every day. My research skills have improved tremendously. I have gained more confidence to interact with people from the industry. I have learnt the skill of time management. Given the nature of my work and how inter-dependent the dataset is, I interact with analysts of different domains and gained so much knowledge. My analytical skills have also improved as I am required to co-author the Executive Overview each year.” She also spoke highly of our Rise courses. “The JT-101: OSINT [module] is such a fantastic and detailed course. It really helped me in improving my research skills.” In addition, “we also have really interesting courses on GoodHabitz”. 

Saketha also shared a couple of memorable experiences to add as her final thoughts. “The first was my colleague from the Weapons team took me to visit the Air Force Technical College. This trip was incredibly useful as it helped me understand the equipment better, which in turn improved the quality of my work. The second one is when I was part of D3. The team had gone on a trip to Goa and a trip to INS Hansa, the Indian Navy's airbase. It was such an experience to interact with the officers posted there and to learn about the environment there.”