Software People Stories

In this episode, Shiv continues his conversation with a colleague in PM Power, Venu Subrmania Iyer.In the previous episode, he asked Venu if testing should always be independent or it can be embedded in the development process itselfHe shared his answer to that question and moreFrom earlier models of independent testing centers, testing is being shifted left [particularly in Agile approaches], but there is a need for both approachesHow he got exposed to Agile approaches, by starting with organizational transformational initiativesHow management support and culture are critical for any transformation projectWhat he considers as critical for success in agile transformation projectsHow his perception and appreciation for Agile approaches changed from the days of being a tester to getting into a transformation initiativeOn applying Agile based on the context and determining the best optionsThe importance of having shared or collaborative goals for team successHis thoughts on what skills are needed to be an effective testerHis tips for persons considering a career in testingVenu has been in the embedded technology space for 24 years, working on cutting-edge R&D in the areas of Consumer Electronics, Display Systems, Semiconductor & Automotive domains. Starting his career as a Hardware Engineer in Philips,later switched to Software Testing due to his passion for finding software defects. He was 1st independent software testing engineer in Bosch Car Multimedia, Bangalore and later played several leadership roles in testing, Project Management and Quality assurance.Prior to joining PM Power consulting, I was Director, Delivery and test in Harman for Automotive Digital cockpit and Telematics software solutions. I have played leadership role for delivery management, software testing and supplier delivery management.More about Venu : https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/venu/

In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with a colleague in PM Power, Venu Subrmania Iyer. Venu, who started his career as a systems engineer, sharesStarting with hardware, software and testingBorn in Kerala and grew up in Alleppey and grew up in KottayamStudied Electrical EngineeringPassion for engineering was inspired by an uncle and it was a difficult journey due to personal situationsHow he goes about in identifying solutionsHis passion was in electrical engineering, designing various elements in power engineeringWanting to get into some public sector enterprises, but getting into a multinational - as a customer service engineer to service TV systems and DVD, Audio systemsLocating problems and isolating them based on simple documentation, using systematic approachesUsing only 2 tools: multimeter and CRO [cathode ray oscilloscope]How he was able to adapt to a problem resolution approach from a designer-inventor aspiration [from R&D to service mindset]The pressure of solving issues while customers were watching over your shoulder and doing all it takes, including visiting a consumer courtMoving to the software domain - as a hardware engineer and working with test engineers, taking an interest and choosing to get into systems testingSetting a personal goal to get into software and system testingAttending training from ISTQB and getting a formal certificationMoving to an automotive company as the first independent test engineerGrowing his team to over 200 in about 10 yearsHow he was able to pick up the technology and domain aspects and the importance of having a team with complementary skillsHis approach to personal scaling by investing in developing othersHis thoughts on creating the awareness of testing in developersInjecting defects into software under test, to train testersTransitioning to managerial roles and then to a display manufacturing companyTaking up a delivery role, to get experience on the right side of the V modelThe answer to a question on : His view on whether testing should always be independent or it can be embedded in the development process itself in the next episodeVenu has been in the embedded technology space for 24 years, working on cutting-edge R&D in the areas of Consumer Electronics, Display Systems, Semiconductor & Automotive domains. Starting his career as a Hardware Engineer in Philips,later switched to Software Testing due to his passion for finding software defects. He was 1st independent software testing engineer in Bosch Car Multimedia, Bangalore and later played several leadership roles in testing, Project Management and Quality assurance.Prior to joining PM Power consulting, I was Director, Delivery and test in Harman for Automotive Digital cockpit and Telematics software solutions. I have played leadership role for delivery management, software testing and supplier delivery management.More about Venu : https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/venu/

In this episode, I continue my conversation with our guest Robert Cooke, founder of 3forge, a provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. In this conversation, Robert shares What was the startup bug that bit him.. The urge to reinvent how software is developed based on experience, after getting a feeling that 90% of the code written is quite similar across teams and organizations and how that can be a base for reuseSolve it once, solve it well, reuse it.His approach to abstracting many of the operations needed, for example, the user interface widgets and experience, to reduce the work needed to create and deploy solutions quicklyThe  story behind the name of his company 3forge -- started asForge financial framework and then evolved into 3forgeHis thoughts on processing data in real time v/s in batch or offline mode His thoughts on defensive coding and a 2 minute intro to defensive codingHow he manages his time and what stresses himRobert Cooke is the Founder and Principal Architect at 3Forge, a New York-based provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. 3Forge has achieved significant growth over the years as a result of increasing demand for its award-winning, web-based browser AMI platform.Robert’s accomplishments have spanned across electronic trading, middle and back office, regulatory reporting, compliance and risk management.His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-cooke-a7835b69/

In this episode, our guest is Robert Cooke, founder of 3forge, a provider of data virtualization and visualization technology solutions. In this conversation, Robert shares His origin story of starting with computers when he was a kid in the 80sHis liking to build things - in wood or legoDiscovering that he could build a lot more without needing a lot more money, with computersDeveloping Video games, accounting software - helping manage things in college with software solutionsHis experience with writing code in 128k memoryWorking in silicon valley in 2000s, getting a job in an insurance company4Vs of data: volume, velocity, variety and validity of dataLast 15 years has been about solving problems with the 4VsBeing a self proclaimed software addict, sometimes upto 10-12 hours per dayHis early experience with writing software for his club, in his teens - when hardcoding was more naturalLearning later that parameterization, lookup tables etc were more elegant and genericStarting his company in 2012Same software for all customers, with a single branch of codeAnyone who takes the art form of writing code seriously, will get better with timeHis transition from being in individual contributor to delivering as a teamThe advantage of getting different insights from team membersNaming, logical architecture decisions become important when working in teamsThe need for consistency across team members..but what is right or wrongLearning from the NEC - National Electrical Code - that  codifies the minimum requirements for safe electrical installations in a single, standardized sourceWe do not have anything similar in softwareVery hard to get rid of code, but it can be a therapeutic processInsert or create is easy; update or modify is somewhat difficult and deleting is extremely hardAbout the urge to do Ctrl-A and delete.. And rewrite code from the scratchHow he balances his engineering thinking and artist’s thinking [developing software as a work of art, as there are so many ways to solve a problem]Balancing maintainability, the efforts needed and how well the software performsHe looks for people with strong math and logic background and problem solving, not necessarily experience in codingHardest part on software development is debugging somebody else’s codeMore on his entrepreneurial experience, tips on defensive coding and a whole lot more in the next episodeRobert Cooke is the Founder and Principal Architect at 3Forge, a New York-based provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. 3Forge has achieved significant growth over the years as a result of increasing demand for its award-winning, web-based browser AMI platform.Robert’s accomplishments have spanned across electronic trading, middle and back office, regulatory reporting, compliance and risk management.His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-cooke-a7835b69/

In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Sat (Sathyanarayanan) Vijayaraghavan, Founder and CEO at Adept Labz AKA "Ajira.Tech" and CASA Retail AISat started dabbling with computers at the age of 11 and started keenly interested in problem solvingSat also shares his interests in computers while also sharing his earlier thoughts of following his fathers business and gently moved towards software technologyJoined Cognizant as one of the earlier employees and moved to back to US and showed early interest in the field of product development and consulting. At this time (late 90s), Building a web page was a cutting edge and started building a product in work flow development. Sat shares his learnings of nuts and bolts of problem solvingHis next experience was with Diamond cluster consulting that sharpened his strategy consulting skills for about 5.5 years and built the first marketplace Sat later talks about his decisions of location from India to US to across the globe and his love for problem solvingSat covers the initial set of vision that started in a Tea shop Mangalambika and conceptualized the company Sat shares his stories of creating a brand new firm Ajira in 2016. He also shares the struggles and wiggles that he had to ride out ofSat has sold off his first venture and building the next set of venturesWhat is the impact that we are leaving behind in the workplace that we are in. Sat shares some profound ideas from his experience and links it to general happiness and financial freedomDifferences between being a executive and Founder and risks and struggles of being an entrepreneur Sat shares how as a start up first question to answer is there a person out there who will be ready to pay for it and ensure that you build fault tolerance from the get go.Sathyanarayanan (SAT for his friends) did his bachelor engineering in Venkateshwara college in Chennai and post grad in Cincinnati college. Started working for Cognizant. Moved on the Diamond Cluster and later to Wpro. He became the General manager and the vertical head for Retail in ThoughtWorks.Sat has about 23 years of overall IT management and delivery experience with 4 years in management (P&L responsibility, operations etc), 6 years in technology strategy and 9 years in global software sourcing; 8+ years in US working with ‘C’ level executives of Fortune 500 firmsHe has been a Founder and CEO of Ajira, General Manager of Chennai at ThoughtWorks, Retail practice development at Wipro and created Retail practice at ThoughtWorksSat shares a passion for enterprise architecture having architected some of the largest online and trading platforms for Fortune 500 customers. He has also defined strategic enterprise architectures for several Fortune 100 customersHe is a true Thought leader with international publications in global retailing, customer experience, cross channel retailing, supply chain and eCommerceSat can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/satvijayaraghavan/ 

In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Bindu Sunil, Sector Head and Engineering Director - Cloud Data Platforms and AI in Wipro. Bindu started her carrier in Kirloskar as a design engineer for alternators.She then moved to Tata Elxsi as an embedded developerBindu shares her experience of building the teams being a techie at heartLearnt the basics of cloud right at the beginning of 2012Shares her growth story within Wipro cloud Talks about being Cloud advisory, program director, cloud center of excellence within WiproShe then moved to become a practice leader in the cloud platformBindu shares how she has rediscovered herself from embedded engineer to Cloud Practice headBindu shares how her perspective changed from a constraint based environment on embedded to cloudBindu Sunil is the Director of Engineering with 21 years of experience, developing and applying new technologies to manage and deliver complex projects spanning Internet Scale Computing, Cloud platforms, AI/ML in Medical Devices and Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Electrical manufacturing domains on Data platforms, AI, Cloud (AWS), Embedded Systems, and Firmware technologies. R&D leadership in various roles - engineering manager, program manager, delivery manager, cloud consultant, and practice lead. Bindu can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bindusunil/

In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Pramitha Ramaprakash, CEO of Transcend Satellite Technology Pramitha talks about her passion in aerospace and how that shaped her early experiences while working in WiproShe talks about Satellite launching as an extremely cool team sport as there are several field that come together Further she shares what it has taken to launch herself (literally) in the field She talks about her dream to launch 75 Indian student satellites in the next decadeShares her experiences of bridging the students learning with the deeper corporate needs in the satellite industryShe shares about sustainability in the space and how her firm is bringing visibility and transparency towards this goalPramitha believes that today’s students are highly motivated towards this field and only need guidance and support. That way she is extremely grateful towards the kind of interactions that she’s been bestowed She shares how the building blocks approach is the way aheadPramitha shares several decisions that she’s taken and how the positive outlook energizes her dayShe covers the kind of cross functional skills and anyone can join the space industryShe shares her mantra “Do Not Limit Yourself”Pramitha Ramaprakash is an industry leader in the field of Satellite education, She’s the CEO of  Transcend Satellite Technology. She’s a co-author of Payload design and System design for CubeSats (1U to 27U) and Microsatellites. She’s also designed Payload Design for EO, Remote sensing, communication and IoT Payloads as well as Designed the Payload Interface Computer using Raspberry Pi for MirrorSat of AAReST Satellite Mission as part of MSc Space Engineering dissertation. She had held several hardware engineer roles in Wipro, BAE systems, Concurrent Technologies, Cadac holding, Intel and Dell prior to starting her own firm in the field of Space educationPramitha can be reached at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pramitharamaprakash/

In the this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Puja Issar, Managing Director of AnitaB.org IndiaPuja started her career in the investment banking world in United Kingdom dealing with multiple banks and large corporates. She talks about the stresses of the job and the highs that came with itPuja talks about her career in 3 different decades with the first decade in advising large corporates on M&A dealsHer second decade she talks about her foray into the world of Not for profit segmentShe shares her experiences of enabling school girls in the india’s rural sector with their first computer and how it has transformed her as a personShe talks about bringing her experience of working in corporate in the not for profit and creating a rewarding experience for herself and the volunteers as wellHer third decade of work experience she has started as Managing Director for AnitaB.org where she mixes both corporate and her philanthropic angles as wellShe covers her excitement of launching GHCI in November 2023 that will have more than 6000+ women technologists across the globeListen to Puja to share about more excitement around the Grace Hopper India conferencePuja talks about having macro goals for oneself that acts as a guiding beacon and ensuing that one has micro goals that can be ticked off on a regular basisPuja Issar is a Result driven senior executive with proven ability to evaluate ,identify and execute meaningful business across national and international boundaries. Skilled imaginative analytical strategist with excellent track record in creating strategic objectives and developing value creating business models.Wealth of experience and knowledge and awareness of alternate management approaches has been a key to success. Extensive experience in planning ,implementing and managing strategic initiatives and building and scaling of business lines across Financial services,hospitality ,real estate and not for profit sectors. Puja is a chartered accountant with CFA and MBA from Henley business schoolPuja Issar can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/puja-issar-a2264a48

In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Vaishali James, ex-CMO of OpenTap, Community Director for AnitaB.org and mentor at HopeWorks FoundationVaishali starts the episode with a very funny interaction of giving a technology solution ahead of its timeShe shares her tryst with doing an engagement on brand alignment and how simple steps could be taken at different levels to create that viable and clear brand promise to the end customerVaishali talks about the cross section of people who have to come together to understand each other's vantage point before creating a coherent marketing story.She shares about why she took the plunge towards the startup - OpenTap that worked in the financial inclusion spaceShe also shares experiences as the co-Founder and what it takes to be in the financial spaceImpact of Covid and what it took for the company and needing to shutdown the firmVaishali shares how her own modest upbringing has influenced her to create an ecosystem where women can depend on one another for a sense of sisterhoodVaishali shares her experiences of being a mentor and community director for the AnitaB.org and Hopeworks foundation and how its deeply ful fillingWhat it took to unlearn from hi-tea in corporate world to having coffee with the customers in their humble housesVaishali is the brand aficionado and a deep understanding of developing products. She has worked for 19 years in different roles as a marketeer for Servion Software. Later she became the co-founder and CMO for OpenTap for 5 years. Vaishali has the additional benefit of understanding / working on designing and aligning organizational strategy across all functions with the brand strategy to ensure that brand conversations externally and internally talk the same language. So that, the entire organization works towards living and breathing a single ideology to ensure that the promise and the experience is consistent – both internally and externally.Vaishali can be reached in https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaishali-james-25066815/ 

In this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Palashi V, research scholar with Cornell UniversityPalashi started her career as a software engineer where she played the role of business analystsHer interests in social impact stemmed from Dhirubhai Ambani College where she did her thesis in web tools that empowered womenPalashi decided to pivot from software towards the intersection of social impact and technologyShe shares her learnings in training technology tools for underprivileged kidsPalashi shares her vision of creating an equitable environment for marginalised social segments. She shares how she’s working in information science and data but powering change She also covered how corporate social responsibility can be extended towards more deeper change and that forms like a continuum Palashi shares how her research is shaping up and how this education has transformed her thinking Palashi’s research interests lie at the intersection of Information Science, Science and Technology Studies and South Asian Studies. For her dissertation research, she focused on the relationship between computing, gender and caste in India. She’s a trained Information and Communications Technology engineer with experience in SAP and core java development. Her work focuses on the social impact with the background of gender and technology, specifically with feminist organizations and initiatives in India closely engaged with issues of women's rights and technology. Palashi has worked in technology consulting, marketing and non-profit sector before starting her PhD. She was also the founder and editor-in-chief at Fangirl.in, an collaborative e-zine that promotes independent art/music and artists in India.More information about me on her website -  https://palashi.xyz/ For more details and contact Palashi here https://www.linkedin.com/in/palashiv/