After the recent pandemic, providing quality education has become a huge challenge for parents as well as students. Under the leadership of Priyanka Pandharpurkar, Top Mentor which is an ed-tech company has decided to overcome this challenge by taking up various initiatives in the education field. Top Mentor is an institute that transforms students’ lives by offering the highest quality education, personal attention, and 100 percent placement support at the lowest fees. Priyanka Pandharpurkar has completed her Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and her Master of Technology in VLSI and Embedded systems. She has a good experience in the teaching field and currently, she is the CTO at Top Mentor. Being a customer-centric leader, she believes in goal prioritization keeping maximum benefits to her students. Hierarchizing, Empowering, and cultivating a strong environment, Product expert, and walking the talk are some of the important features of Priyanka Pandharpurkar which are helping her in providing the best experience to employees as well as the student.

Priyanka Pandharpurkar engages in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine.

What are the various responsibilities you shoulder as the CTO of Top Mentor?

At the Top Mentor, my focus is always on our students like which decisions should be taken that will help them to grab good positions in the industry, make them financially independent, and also master particular skills. As a CTO, I hold various critical responsibilities such as effective hiring, planning technical strategy, monitoring social and technological trends, identifying opportunities as per the market and demand, maintaining communication with partners, management,

investors, and employees, and providing the best customer service.

Tell us about the most critical challenges you face in your current role and what steps you take to overcome them.

Here at Top Mentor, we want to serve our students and give them the best experience throughout their journey. With the current COVID - 19 crisis which is still  going on, it is important to rethink our entire education system and to make sure that they meet the needs of top mentor students not only for today but also for tomorrow.

Multiple challenges were faced to find the best and most skillful faculties which can hold our students’ hands for their entire journey and make the journey fruitful. At Top Mentor, we do not hire ordinary trainers but working industry mentors who are equipped with the skills needed to support all the changes. Our main aim is to help young students and professionals to acquire multidisciplinary skill sets and reduce their reliance on linear skills.

What are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey?

My first milestone was working in the industry field by being actively involved with students, their career expectations, professional growth they are dreaming of which helped me to understand the way students think.

Another milestone was while working as a senior technology evangelist, when data science was comparatively new in the market, in top mentor we launched the course. Top mentor was among the first few institutes that launched data science and AI courses. The curriculum was entirely designed by focusing on skills and projects per IT industry requirements. It was my first big project which tested my ability to build teams, manage schedules, set budgets, and arrange curriculum with upper management and industry professionals. It helped me a lot and top management picked me as CTO at Top mentor which was my greatest milestone to date.

"Empower the team to do better work"

In your opinion which technology trends will be the most influential going forward? What steps do you take to align yourself with industry trends?

There are technology trends that are listed every year, these trends lists are designed in a way that will help to deliver growth, digitization, and efficiency in the industry and the IT world. Some of the technology trends which are most influential nowadays are Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing, Cloud Computing, and Full stack development. These top strategic technology trends offer a roadmap that differentiates any organization from its peers and fulfills business objectives. At Top Mentor, the research team analyses some top organisations and they summarize how these organisations need to evolve the latest technology trends, their implementation, and technology adaptation over the next decade at least. To align our students with these latest technology trends and to make them industry-ready, Top mentor institute completely concentrates on the latest technology trends, introduces the same in curriculum, and accordingly makes our students enable for the latest technology trends.

What would be your advice to young women and girls who also aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

I would like to advise them to Dream Big and really Go for It. When you have decided and have big goals, it hardly matters how many times you fall down. When you have a purpose, you will get on your feet again and your drive will keep inspiring you forward so you can achieve great things. The best advice which I have received and want to share is to keep your focus and learn how to prioritise stuff and not expect perfection at every stage.

Priyanka Pandharpurkar, CTO, Top Mentor

Priyanka Pandharpurkar is the CTO of Top Mentor and she has completed her Bachelor of Technology in Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering and her Master of Technology in VLSI & Embedded systems.

Quick facts:

• Educational Qualification: M.Tech (VLSI & Embedded systems), B.Tech (Electronics & Telecommunication)

• Headquarter: Pune

Awards won so far:

 • Emerging company Award by Indian Achievers forum

• A business leader you admire: Dhirubhai Ambani, Ratan Tata