Career growth at IT By Design isn’t something we market. It’s something our people describe when no one is scripting them.
I was reminded of this while listening to a recent episode of our Culture and Career Corner Podcast, hosted by Anamika Rathore, featuring two team members from different stages of their careers: Pranjali Gupta and Rebecca Pandita.
Different tenures.
Different roles.
Same mindset.
And that mindset is what defines the IT By Design culture.
What Does Career Growth at IT By Design Actually Look Like?
Career growth at IT By Design is built at the intersection of ownership, collaboration, continuous learning, and work-life balance.
That’s not a slogan. It’s what our people experience.
Pranjali joined IT By Design on October 4, 2021. She still remembers the date.
That detail matters.
People remember meaningful beginnings.
When she joined, her team was just five or six people. In fact, Anamika reminded everyone that there was a time when it was barely two leaders trying to build something from scratch.
Today?
That same team has scaled to 14–16 members.
But here’s what stood out to me:
Pranjali didn’t just grow as the team grew.
She grew because she helped the team grow.
- She focused on building scalable front-end solutions.
- She mentored new members.
- She learned leadership from scratch.
And in her words, growth wasn’t just technical.
It was personal.
That’s a critical distinction.
Technical skills help you execute.
Personal growth helps you lead.
At IT By Design, both happen together.
Why Leadership at IT By Design Is About Impact, Not Titles
When Anamika reflected on Pranjali’s journey, she said something powerful:
Leadership here isn’t about titles. It’s about impact.
That’s exactly right.
Real leadership shows up when:
- You mentor interns as the team scales
- You create trust inside your team
- You build communication pathways
- You help others grow while growing yourself
Pranjali described something I deeply believe:
“When you grow your team members, you grow as a leader.”
This is how we think about leadership development at IT By Design.
Not positional authority.
Development through contribution.
That’s how a culture becomes sustainable.
How Has Rebecca’s Role Evolved at IT By Design?
If Pranjali’s journey represents scale and leadership, Rebecca’s journey represents evolution.
She summarized her two years at ITBD in three words:
Learning. Growth. Responsibility.
That’s not accidental.
Rebecca joined with strong technical foundations.
But over time, she transitioned from pure execution to strategic thinking around service delivery and client impact.
That shift is what most professionals aspire to, but very few environments enable.
- She was given ownership.
- She worked closely with clients.
- She contributed beyond her defined role.
This is what a healthy growth culture does:
It creates space when someone is ready to step up.
Not when a role opens.
When a person evolves.
Why IT By Design’s Culture Feels Different
When Anamika asked about culture, both guests responded without hesitation.
Pranjali said:
“People come first.”
But she didn’t stop there.
She immediately connected it to tangible experiences:
- Work-life balance
- Healthy work environment
- Open communication
- Recognition and appreciation
- Trust between leaders and team members
She said something that should be framed in every organization:
“Culture is not something ever ready. People create culture.”
That’s the truth.
Culture is built when:
- Employees feel seen
- Employees feel heard
- Employees feel acknowledged
Those three principles were reinforced in our leadership sessions as well.
Culture is not policy.
It is behavior, repeated daily.
How Does Culture Show Up in Daily Work?
Rebecca gave a one-word answer:
Support.
And she clarified something important:
Support at ITBD is not limited to your immediate team.
There are no silos.
- Teams collaborate across functions.
- Colleagues are approachable.
- Ideas are welcomed.
She shared that if she has an idea, she can walk up to a senior leader and propose it.
That psychological safety is not common in high-performance IT environments.
Support paired with accountability creates stretch without burnout.
That balance is difficult to design.
But when it works, growth accelerates.
What Career Lessons Define Growth at IT By Design?
One of my favorite segments of Culture and Career Corner is when Anamika asks for “aha moments.”
Because careers are shaped by principles, not promotions.
Pranjali’s Career Lessons
- Keep learning. Stay curious. Technology evolves fast. Growth demands constant skill expansion.
- Collaboration beats solo performance. Individual contributors can execute. Teams create scale.
- Focus on what you can control. Politics, favoritism, and noise exist everywhere. Impact comes from contribution.
That last lesson is critical.
Professionals stall when they focus on external noise.
They accelerate when they focus on controllable contribution.
Rebecca’s Aha Moments
- Don’t fear mistakes. Learn fast. Risk-taking builds confidence and adaptability.
- Communication equals technical skill. Execution without articulation limits growth.
- Ownership builds trust. Accountability compounds credibility.
Technical skills may get you hired.
Communication and ownership get you promoted.
Why the HAPI Core Values Matter in Real Work Environments
Both Rebecca and Pranjali chose Positivity as their favorite core value.
Not blind optimism.
Emotional stability.
Rebecca said something simple but profound:
“If you are not positive, you won’t be able to work with other people.”
Positivity fuels collaboration.
Pranjali added another layer:
Passion plus positivity.
Passion drives effort.
Positivity sustains momentum.
In high-performance IT environments, pressure is constant.
Calm thinking is competitive advantage.
How Work-Life Balance Strengthens High Performance
One of the strongest signals in the episode was how both unwind.
Rebecca plays chess every night to reset her mind.
Pranjali takes intentional breaks, steps away from work, and returns refreshed.
This matters.
Burnout destroys creativity.
Recovery sustains performance.
Work-life balance at IT By Design isn’t theoretical.
It’s operational.
And when people are balanced, they think better.
When they think better, clients win.
What This Podcast Episode Reinforced for Me
Listening to Anamika guide this conversation reinforced something I strongly believe:
The strongest organizations don’t just grow revenue.
They grow people.
At IT By Design:
- Leadership is impact-driven
- Collaboration is expected
- Support is accessible
- Ownership is rewarded
- Work-life balance is real
- Communication is valued
- Growth is continuous
Pranjali started with a small team and grew into leadership while scaling it.
Rebecca evolved from execution to strategic delivery thinking in under two years.
That doesn’t happen in transactional environments.
It happens where culture is intentional.
Why Career Growth at IT By Design Is Sustainable
Career growth at IT By Design works because it is built on:
- Learning
- Accountability
- Psychological safety
- Mentorship
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Open communication
- Healthy work environments
Culture here isn’t a slide in a presentation.
It’s visible in how our people speak.
And that, to me, is the strongest proof of all.
If you listen closely to conversations like this, you don’t just hear career stories.
You hear culture in action.
And that’s what makes IT By Design different.
