Building confidence through code: How Saarika Bhasi restarted her career in tech

Saarika Bhasi, now a software engineer II at Elastic, didn’t always envision herself in the tech industry. In fact, she was initially hesitant to commit to a career in software engineering. However, her passion for problem solving and building solutions from scratch sparked a deep interest in the field. 

“You can really develop something and see the result right in front of you,” Saarika says. “That was inspiring to me in the beginning.”

Saarika started her career in software engineering in India before taking a career break when she moved to the United States. It was during that break that she became more interested in software engineering, she says. 

“I had a lot of time to work on multiple projects,” Saarika says. “I used my time to learn new technologies which ultimately helped me relaunch my career.”

She took courses on frontend software development — something she didn’t have previous experience in. Her job in India was backend software engineering, but she wanted to gain frontend experience as well. 

She learned JavaScript and a bit of framework for frontend development in her course. From there, she worked on a couple of projects where she could gain experience and integrate everything she was trying to learn.

This knowledge ultimately led her to seek a master’s degree in IT before getting back into the working world.

“I kick-started my career again at Elastic,” she says. “I was able to apply the knowledge that I learned so far and put my new skills to use.”

Saarika joined Elastic via the Elastigrad program — the company’s new graduate recruitment program. When Saarika started, she wasn’t familiar with a lot of the tech that Elastic uses, she says. But she used it as an opportunity to learn.

“I worked on small tasks and grew from there,” she says. “I had anxiety when starting, but trying to understand the problem by asking questions helped. The team and culture was very welcoming which helped me blend in with Elastic quickly. It's always a team effort.”

Now, she’s working as a software engineer for the search experiences team, focusing on adding third-party integration and building tools and search experiences on top of Elasticsearch to enhance user experience for Elastic users. Saarika is currently working on improving the onboarding journey for new Elastic users.

At Elastic, Saarika not only appreciates the growth opportunities but also the ability to work on projects that she’s interested in. 

“If you want to focus on something, you have the options,” she says. “If I want to work on a generative AI integration project, I can do it. People move to different teams to follow their interests.”

Saarika’s advice for other women in tech, especially those who are new to the field, is to be confident and ask questions.

“Try to be curious, ask questions, and be confident in whatever interests you and pursue that,” she says. “Be confident in your solution even if it's not great and have something to offer.”

She also encourages others to be aware of what’s new in your area of interest. Then, work on projects that involve that new technology or get a certification.

Whether it’s tackling a new project or joining a different team, Saarika believes that pursuing what excites you is the best way to grow both personally and professionally.

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