Software People Stories

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/

In this episode, I continue my conversation with Jeremy Kriegel. He talks aboutHow UX can help users stay focused and also providing opportunities to take a break or breather to stay productiveMicro level thinking and system level thinkingMay need local inefficiencies for overall system wide efficiencyAnalogy of a relay race team member, who needs to wait for the moment to take the baton and runThe zappos example of helping customersOn the balance between personalization and privacyThe skills needed for an effective UX professionalCuriosity, humility and influencing skillsUX professionals as change agents, or as sales peopleClever v/s usable designThe benefit of spending time to understand the problem and analyze solutions and approaches before jumping in to create wireframes etcThe limitations of canvas based design toolsThe reason for starting his podcast, saving UXSignificance of lean approaches and fast learning loops in UXThe role of design in customer loyaltyImpact of AI based approaches on UX professionalsHis career tips for new entrants as well as persons considering a career switch to UX domainJeremy Kriegel is a UX leader, very active on various professional forums.He is also the host of the podcast ‘Saving UX’https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremykriegel/

In this episode, I am in conversation with Jeremy Kriegel, a UX leader and the host of the Saving UX podcast.Jeremy sharesGetting into UX accidentallyStarted in the mid 90s, Undergrad in CMU, Art and EnglishStudying electronic and time based media and working with robotic sculptureA friend asking for help with creating a websiteHiring friends and colleagues to start an agencyGetting introduced to HCI and taking a more formal approach to learning UXHow his stint with Xerox was a great learning experienceMoving on to various companies across industriesOne common theme has been agile ways of workingWorking with xerox printers that were complex -- from tree to book - and managing the various steps and interactionsThe relevance of user research and how or why many organizations do not do thatAbout creating processes that meets a team’s needsHow creativity is part of everyone’s workJeff Patton’s guidance on creating a holistic vision in  lightweight way and a tree analogyShares a story about an experience with working on a poker platform that needed to comply with new taxability regulations in FranceHis thumb rule of gathering inputs from 8 people, for a more comprehensive understandingQuantitative gives a lot of what, but not why..Letting go of internal bias [not asking leading questions etc]Why role based personas approach need to be re-looked at, to identify inflexion points to understand how their needs change over timeLearning from the model used by many gamesThe benefit of not optimizing for first use experienceHelping the user stay focused and accomplish their goals; with post-pandemic, how can UX discipline help not only stay focused, but also provide breaks to refresh themselvesJeremy Kriegel is a UX leader, very active on various professional forums.He is also the host of the podcast ‘Saving UX’https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremykriegel/

In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Rohit Salecha, Security Engineering Manager in Disney+Hotstar and book author of GitOpsRohit continues to share the areas that he’s planning to learn in terms of Web3 He shares how he ties complex technologies and the necessity that has driven him to learn it as he’s responsible for security He shares some of the key areas he wants to improve in being a manager for other team members as well as give back to the community that has helped himRohit gives a nugget of wisdom to keep coding and continue to learnRohit Salecha is a technology geek who loves to explore anything that runs and understands binary. As a security engineer he is passionate about learning the length,breadth and depth of technology.Being more on the defensive side he has evangelised secure software development at various organizations for more than a decade.Rohit is driven by “everything as code” mantra and strongly believes that the security team must strive towards making themselves irrelevant. In his free time he is either reading books or watching movies. He is a fitness freak who loves to jog,swim and cycle on different terrains.More details checkout his linked in page - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitsalecha/https://rohitsalecha.com

In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Rohit Salecha, Security Engineering Manager in Disney+Hotstar and book author of GitOpsRohit talks about his passion towards electronics and how he was experimenting in many of the areas. He also shares how he joined the software journey by accidentRohit believes that every engineer out there needs to be exceptional in what they do, but also know how to do basic coding. When he talks about coding he’s not only discussing about software as Java, C++ but also no code, system design level understanding as wellRohit started as a software engineer in Mastek and realised that he was passionate about how the embedding security in the software modules that he was developingAfter a few years of being a software engineer, he join NII consulting with specialisation in secure software. In each step, he talks about the want to expand his knowledge and thirst in this areaRohit is the author of the book GitOps and he shares some of the key challenges that he encountered in writing the book including creating a fully functional design, code and keeping up with the versions of the software modulesRohit Salecha is a technology geek who loves to explore anything that runs and understands binary. As a security engineer he is passionate about learning the length, breadth and depth of technology.Being more on the defensive side he has evangelised secure software development at various organizations for more than a decade.Rohit is driven by “everything as code” mantra and strongly believes that the security team must strive towards making themselves irrelevant. In his free time he is either reading books or watching movies. He is a fitness freak who loves to jog, swim and cycle on different terrains.More details checkout his linked in page - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitsalecha/https://rohitsalecha.com