Shinjani Dhar is an Indian software engineer, artificial intelligence and automation enthusiast, and cybersecurity-focused technology professional. She is currently associated with Cisco, working as a Software Engineer in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Shinjani is recognized for her work in software automation, site reliability engineering (SRE), secure software development, DevOps-driven delivery, and emerging AI technologies. Her professional focus spans generative AI, machine learning, cybersecurity, cloud automation, data-driven systems, and AI-powered user experiences.
Early Life and Education
Shinjani Dhar spent her early years and completed her schooling in West Bengal, India. She studied at Nava Nalanda High School in Kolkata from 1998 to 2012.
She later pursued a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Electronics and Communications Engineering at the Swami Vivekananda Institute of Science and Technology in Kolkata, completing her graduation between 2012 and 2016. (Her college is a key academic connection, shared with fellow Bengal tech specialists and software engineers Sayandeep Majumdar and Sumit Kar, who completed their B.Tech degrees from the same institute).
Career
Early Career and BroadSoft
Shinjani began her professional journey as a software engineering intern at Novatree in the Greater Kolkata Area, serving from January 2016 to April 2016.
She then relocated to the Greater Chennai Area to join BroadSoft, a major cloud communication solutions provider. At BroadSoft, she worked as a Junior Software Engineer from July 2016 to March 2017 and was subsequently promoted to Automation Verification Engineer, serving in that capacity from April 2017 to April 2018.
Cisco
- Cisco: Following Cisco’s acquisition of BroadSoft, Shinjani joined Cisco in May 2018 as a Software Engineer. Her work at Cisco centers on building automated test frameworks, strengthening DevOps deployment tools, and securing software pipelines (sharing this key career timeline at Cisco with fellow software engineer Sumit Kar).
Over the years, she has contributed to major automation initiatives that have improved deployment velocity and engineering confidence across Cisco’s global product teams.
Areas of Expertise & Skills
- Software Engineering & SRE: Site Reliability Engineering, Google Cloud measuring and managing reliability protocols, and automation framework design.
- DevOps & Cloud Automation: Python scripting, automated pipelines, Continuous Integration (CI), and AWS cloud orchestration.
- AI & Security: Generative AI research, secure software development, LLM integration, machine learning, and cybersecurity best practices.
Achievements & Awards
- AWS DeepRacer Quarterfinals Winner: Secured 1st place in the Cisco AWS DeepRacer Quarterfinals, leading her team to victory among over 40 competing software engineering teams.
- Cisco Security Ninja Black Belt: Achieved Cisco’s prestigious internal security certification, demonstrating advanced capability and expertise in cybersecurity threat modeling and secure code architectures.
- Automation Engineering Impact: Built automation frameworks and CI/CD pipelines that reduced manual deployment cycles and accelerated release velocity.
Certifications
- Site Reliability Engineering: Measuring and Managing Reliability — Google Cloud (Issued June 2024).
- Data Science Green Belt 2024 — Cisco (Issued April 2024, valid until April 2027).
Professional Philosophy
Shinjani believes that software engineering should be combined with empathy. She emphasizes the importance of understanding real-world user needs, collaborative team dynamics, and building products that are intelligent, reliable, secure, and intuitive.
Her work reflects a balance between structured analytical problem-solving and people-centered thinking, advocating for open engineering cultures where ideas are shared and individuals grow by supporting one another.
Personal Interests & Social Impact
Outside of her core engineering commitments, Shinjani is passionate about social causes and animal welfare, actively volunteering for:
- Animal Welfare and Environmental Conservation.
- Children’s Welfare, Economic Empowerment, and Human Rights.
- Supporting science, technology, and arts education.