How to build a career as a technology training lead? What does it take to reinvent yourself professionally while balancing personal growth and other pillars in life? In this special blog feature, our Lean In Vancouver Vice-President, Events, Vridhi Tuli, discusses her career journey and what she has learned along the way.
Embracing Education: How Technology Training Became my Passion
In the workplace, I love to lead and conduct training programs and workshops and have performed several roles as a training consultant, procurement trainer as well as even a training facilitator. Outside of work, I’m passionate about playing tennis, swimming and also doing hip hop dance classes.
I’ve spent approximately 12 years as a technology trainer for various ERP training programs. Back in 2012, when I started my career, SAP and Oracle had fairly new systems and over the last few years, they’ve gone to become very advanced technologies with cloud-based solutions. I still vividly remember my first manager who put me on large-scale projects with stalwarts in China and Brazil, and flying through the large global projects taught me a lot about how to manage work and life both and how to try to be efficient to lead life and work projects.
I was very fortunate to have managers, co-workers and colleagues where we could share a laugh, joke, have a coffee and talk about general things in life. I love being proactive in meetings – sharing ideas as well as thinking about training both from a business and learner’s perspective. Through various projects in consulting and retail, I learned the value of team work and how to be someone who can be positive, support others as well as create meaningful business relationships with various stakeholders to deliver different kinds of projects.
My career path has been driven by passion, and as they say through the concept of Ikigai, it has four unique aspects –
- What you love: Your passion and what brings you joy
- What you are good at: Your profession or inherent skills and strengths.
- What the world needs: Your mission and the positive impact you create for others.
- What you can be paid for: Your vocation or the means that provide your financial livelihood.
Confessions of a Training Lead (and My Key Learnings)
Working as a training lead both for conducting classroom training as well as creating training materials, requires a mix of project and people management. One of my key learnings through this journey is that training requires you to be a good student and a teacher at the same time. You need to learn certain skills and translate them into actionable material but you also need to take on the hat of a listener at times and be willing to absorb a lot of information. Being able to leverage the voice to provide useful information to help others grow their skills is what keeps me excited and going in these roles.
Advice for Aspiring Technology Training Career Professionals
For those of you dreaming of a career in training, here’s my two cents:
- Be Open to Learning: A solid background in education (I had mine as an MA in Education) is important – but it’s equally important to be flexible and open to learning new tools and skills. Make sure to get a Master’s in Education and be willing to take on “Instructional Designer” “Training Consultant” and “Training Analyst” roles.
- Find a Good Mentor / Coach – The training industry can be at times demanding, and so it’s important to have a good mentor or coach to bounce off your career decisions. It’s never a linear path but discussing your goals with someone in the industry is important.
- Communication is Key – A good career in training requires the ability to communicate effectively both with upward management and with your team. Be willing to be a proactive and effective communicator.
Lean In and The Adventure Begins
Finally, Lean In! Joining Lean In has been an amazing experience for me and very empowering. I wanted to take on certain leadership skills and a role that would challenge me to grow my skills in event management and lead a team. It’s a great organization as we have a great team and gives us an opportunity to empower women, lead, share and contribute our ideas in a safe space. I genuinely enjoy working with the team in Vancouver as everyone is super supportive and nice and welcoming, something I truly value.
I also appreciate the opportunity to learn and grow my own leadership skills by being given opportunities to exercise them. I’m very excited to contribute my skills and passion and help add value to this amazing organization.
So, that’s my story – a sense of achievement mingled with a sense of purpose. Am a strong believer in the following quote by Sheryl Sandberg:
“Leadership belongs to those who take it.”
Reimagining Leadership, Together
Leadership is about working on skills and also growing together as a team. At Lean In Vancouver, we’re a team that encourages each other to keep growing and evolving. If you’re looking to be part of a team, where you can connect with a great network of women, each of whom has amazing leadership skills, have a sense of purpose and gain clarity in your career, and move forward both in life and work with confidence, we’d love to have you join our community!
So thank you very much for reading this post and thank you for hearing this story. I hope you find a way to be part of this awesome group and we’d love to support you the best way we can to grow your own leadership skills and network! So come join us!
Interested in attending our future events in 2026 and onwards? Join our mailing list and Lean In Connect. You can also follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Author: Vridhi Tuli, Vice-President, Events
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vridhi-tuli-8061b6264/