Software People Stories

In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Anjali, a 11 year old girl, who has been into coding since she was 7. Anjali shares:Her interest in horses and dogs, and other interestsHow she got into codingCalling herself an introvert, but enjoying competitionUsing logic to interact with animalsWhat she likes and doesn't like about codingCreating a tic-tac-toe to play with an AI opponentAbout writing programs alone or with others sometimesHow she comes up with ideas when entering a competitionWhere programming can be appliedHow she finds time to program.. Do not miss it!How she influenced a friend to learn codingThe pranks she and her friend play during online classesWhat she would love to be known for : making a robot that passes the turing testHer experience with using big computersHow she gets into a calm state of mind - to write programs or even in other situationsHow to get a 5 year old to start codingIf there is a difference between boys and girls on how they learn codingOn programming as a class subject and as a hobbyHer message for older women in ITAnjali Jayaraman is in Grade 7 and lives in Chennai. She loves horse riding and puppies. She is good at debating. Besides coding, her favourite activity is to create worlds in Minecraft and play video games.Her project ‘Toothzy’ was chosen for 'Best Design/UI’ in the 2021 California AI + Healthcare Summit Ideathon competition. https://www.girlscomputingleague.org/Link to the project: https://youtu.be/xxwI36-weJs Certificate https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LBiLp47trP28jvIfuv_c3Jwlj3nERAQY/view?usp=drivesdkShe got a $700 scholarship for ‘Introduction to Quantum Computing for High school Students’ https://www.qubitbyqubit.org/Her idol is Warren Buffet and she wants to be either an entrepreneur or an Investor in technology business when she grows up.Her other projects: https://youtu.be/UlcywVyvWxM Teaching AI to Shakespeare: To AI or not to AI

In this conversation, Krupa, a senior HR professional, shared her story, experiences and thoughts related to:Her first job, by chance, to get into IT trainingMoving to software firms laterHaving a natural inclination to be in HRHer family [of HR people]How the relationship between HR and technical persons has evolved over the yearsIncreasing use of analytics by HRData alone cannot be the basis for interacting with an individualHow the first level or reporting manager is the starting point for HRHow organizations are sensitive to an individual's natural  preference for a career path to growAddressing challenges in working with peers till yesterday, team members todayHer experience with managing mergers and acquisitions, from a cultural integration perspective of teams and individualsMaking rules apply seamlessly with the global and local contexts being taken into considerationNeed for empathy, listening abilities to make the new employees feel included and treated fairlyHow she de-stresses and some of her hobbiesOptions for technical persons taking up a HR role or HR persons taking up business responsibilitiesThe indeed to invest in oneself into the chosen line and constantly upskillAn HR professional with over 20 years of experience. Still excited to learn the ever changing human dynamics at work place.  Working with HCL over 15 years and currently  as Associate Vice President HR heading Industry Software and IoT WoRKS.A person filled with few hobbies that believe is a must to keep one Alive and enthusiastic. An avid biker,  a poet, an amateur Singer and blog little joys of life.https://www.linkedin.com/in/krupa-n-s-694655/

In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Joseph Wong, General Manager, Asia Pacific & Japan, OpenLegacy and Board Member of AppSolute Ltd talks about his career journey, Joseph sharesBorn in Hong Kong, moved to Canada to complete his studies and worked in the US, Australia and now working in Hong KongJoseph understood early on that he enjoyed working in smaller companies and scaling itHis consulting  experiences helped him enjoy very different domains starting from gaming to CRM and Middle tier and talent management functional domainsHis success mantra is to understand the domain as deeply as possible and build competencies in self. This ensures that he’s never bored Along with functional domain changes Joseph shares changing from technology to pre-sales to sales and executive leadership roles he has taken in different parts of the careerJoseph shares that moving continents was easy from the work but convincing family and personal settingsJoseph set up the Australian team for his firm. He shares balancing the growth and setup the culture with the right people and continuously making the right decisions. He uses the taking the Long Term View He considers himself as a generalist and becomes an pseudo expert in the areaEvery role that he has played has helped him understand the world better and ensuring problems a little better Being in sales has made Joseph to become a likeable person and goes with a mindset of understanding the customer’s problem and solve a bit even if a sale doesn’t happen. Joseph shares that he consciously doesn't over promise and that has helped in forging great relationshipWorld is changing from descriptive to predictive to prescriptive in nature. Technology is going to change to a point people will have a lot of time in their hands and work on what they like and are passionate aboutIts important to move out of our comfort zone even if change is hard. If you are not growing, you are falling behindJoseph has over 20 years of global management, sales and consulting experience, his main career objective to play a pivotal role at the C-Suite while driving hyper-growth for organizations with ambition in Asia. Entrepreneurial at heart, Joseph has a track record of thrice orchestrating the hockey stick growth trajectory of companies in Asia Pacific. The rare combination of logic, creativity and empathy renders Joseph an ideal leader in attracting and motivating top talent to surpass corporate objectives. Joseph loves working in smaller companies compared to large firms and that As a thought leader in IT middleware, cloud computing and human capital realms, Joseph is an active public speaker, executive advisor and author of various publications.When not in the office, he enjoys scuba diving and snowboarding. Mathematical teasers, poker games and reading are his other favorite pastimes. Joseph can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephwong/ 

In this episode Shiv continues the conversation with Jacob Kurian, an Indian IT industry veteran and presently Hon. Secretary, The Association of People with Disability, Bangalore.In the previous episode, Jacob talked about a cold-relationship with a senior executive at Unisys and how that changed. He mentioned a call received from GE to explore the possibility of getting software developed in India.Jacob shares:What happened to the GE opportunity and how that was a significant event for the Indian IT services industryHis personal decision to return to India in 1993Joining Titan Industries as CMO and CIOLearning how difficult it is to get users to converge on IT requirementsFrom a software services company to in house IT services, where production issues can be seen to impact core businessHis answer to the question: What does it take a techie to become an entrepreneurNeed for short release, validate cycles and not making good the enemy of perfectJacob Kurian was an unintentional entrant into the fledgling Indian IT sector in 1984 and had a front row seat, as it transformed from a largely augmented staffing model to the global powerhouse it is today. Tata Burroughs, later Tata Unisys as the largest MNC in the sector, played a pioneering role in establishing offshore development, turnkey end-to-end software projects and even India’s first financial sector products, decades ahead of Finacle and others. After great success in leading the largest business group for software services in Tata Unisys, he returned to India in 1993 with the intention of leaving the IT sector and looking for new career challenges. He made the radical shift to watches and jewelry at Titan Company. While he rose to CMO and later COO at Titan, he was also tasked with revamping the information systems at Titan. In four years as CIO of Titan, he gained some invaluable insights into the challenges that large end users face in a rapidly changing technology environment. Post retirement, as the Hon Secretary of an NGO, he is wrestling with the challenges of bringing technology to the development sector where tech talent and budgets are non-existent.

In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Jacob Kurian, an Indian IT industry veteran and presently Hon. Secretary, The Association of People with Disability, Bangalore.Jacob has so many stories to share, that we decided to publish this in 2 parts.In the first part, Jacob sharesHis early childhood and how his father was a great influence in his wanting to be an engineerWhat his life lessons were, staying in a hostel for further schoolingHis first role related to project management in the construction industry and how he did not like that muchBut, a couple of times later in the career, how this experience created opportunities for new rolesTaking the role of a product manager in one of the earliest, successful products in the forex and money market space in the international marketThe opportunity he had to wear a sales and marketing cap, even though he calls himself an introvert and set up and streamline the sales activities in the US regionHow he was ignored by a new person who had taken over professional services, who should have been his customerAnd how a large opportunity from GE changed this person’s equation with JacobJust as things got more interesting, and Jacob started to share the story of GE’s entry into India for outsourcing, we ran out of time for an episode.Please listen to the first part of his story in this episode and do not forget to listen to the next episode, that will feature the second part of our conversation - where he shared what happened with the GE opportunity and his transition to a manufacturing company as CIO and Marketing head.Of course, if you subscribe to the Software People Stories on your favorite podcast client, you will be notified when the next episode is published in a week.Listen on!Jacob Kurian was an unintentional entrant into the fledgling Indian IT sector in 1984 and had a front row seat, as it transformed from a largely augmented staffing model to the global powerhouse it is today. Tata Burroughs, later Tata Unisys as the largest MNC in the sector, played a pioneering role in establishing offshore development, turnkey end-to-end software projects and even India’s first financial sector products, decades ahead of Finacle and others. After great success in leading the largest business group for software services in Tata Unisys, he returned to India in 1993 with the intention of leaving the IT sector and looking for new career challenges. He made the radical shift to watches and jewelry at Titan Company. While he rose to CMO and later COO at Titan, he was also tasked with revamping the information systems at Titan. In four years as CIO of Titan, he gained some invaluable insights into the challenges that large end users face in a rapidly changing technology environment. Post retirement, as the Hon Secretary of an NGO, he is wrestling with the challenges of bringing technology to the development sector where tech talent and budgets are non-existent.Can be reached @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-kurian-9881a510/

In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Kartic Vaidyanathan, Founder of Play 2 Learn and visiting faculty at IIT Madras shared his journey Talks about accidentally becoming part of the technology journey due to the sheer popularity of studying in a premier institute Kartic shares the story of becoming a visiting faculty teaching life and coping skills in IIT MadrasKartic shares the need for EQ and life skills are needed to build better adults and he also credits for the visionaries in the college to encourage non-engineering coursesKartic also talks about the need for one to be having directional awareness of oneselfKartic talks about the evolution of quality engineering through his journey in the product and services sectorKartic narrates his start up journey being highly energetic and ‘Being an average of the people around you’ Decisions around why he shifted from a product org to a services sector and staying out of your comfort zone and being in the learning zoneNeutral way of looking at the code was the need that exploded testing and validation services Spent about 15 years in software delivery before chancing upon gamified learning, which he has been practicing for the last 12 years. ( last 4 years full time ). Learning has shifted just like the evolution of testingGames provide a fail safe environment and makes a smaller area of learning from each other and creating games to the level of the learner within the same batchLearning in a classroom also moving from a command control to a democratic view of the worldKartic advocates, everyone to identify their passions and cultivate curiosity and quotes Thomas Friedmans' advice passion Quotient(PQ) + Curiosity Quotient (CQ) > Intelligence Quotient( IQ)Kartic also talks about the 4 pillars one should always focus on lifelong and cherish - fitness, relationships, learning+Skill and spiritual growth Kartic as Consultant: As a part of LetsPlayToLearn, we help clients from corporates and educational institutions enable joyful learning through the power of play/games. This provides a fail-safe environment, encourages a growth mindset, and provides motivational elements especially when topics are monotonous or difficult. Depending on the problem, situation, and domain, we have help with a variety of solutions that include simulation games, game platforms, board/card games, activity games, and many more. We also have tie-ups with a lot of industry-leading channel partners in this space.Kartic in Teaching: Co-facilitates sessions on LifeSkills, HHS (Habits, Happiness, and Success) at IIT Madras students. These are much-needed skills that most individuals of our generation learnt the hard way navigating life but are now made available (at least some exposure) to UG students at the start of their careers.The conversation with Dr. Ramya that is referred in this podcast can be accessed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDwrzD-sux4 Refernce to Tom Friedman’s advice https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/deloitte-review/issue-21/tom-friedman-interview-jobs-learning-future-of-work.htmlKartic can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karticv/ 

In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Prakash Bulusu, Vice President Customer Behavior Analytics at Amazon Inc. Prakash works with Peta bytes of data on a regular basis to identify and predict what consumers would like to useHis early memory of computers started with using AC while playing Nintendo games and amazed at the computer networks in his alumni NIT TrichyShares an interesting story on why he took up his MS after 3.5 years of undergrad. His fascination in e-commerce and US education system that grounded towards curiosityUnderstanding that the future is in e-commerce and large data processing was a big step from his internship in ISRODecision to shift from sunny Florida to a green Seattle knowing Amazon and the possibilities of e-commerce Drivers for moving into search and data based modeling for Microsoft and looking at early DevOps modelTalks about moving away from compile satisfaction[code named as compile sook] to Release satisfactionBeing a first time manager encouraging the team and mentoring in a subtle wayInterdisciplinary thinking together processes aided by the three page narrative - stepping away from command-control ppt to a democratic narrative Strengthening one’s communication skills using the clarity of thought was the biggest leap that Prakash took the longestUnderstanding the changes in the data sciences is like knowing the sinusoidal wave - sometimes its asynchronous and sometimes its in sync. Prakash talks about decision making in the customer behavior analytics - machines taking more decisions objectively and humans weighing in where ambiguity plays a partPrakash shares how future would be in the convergence of Quantum computing, Data sciences and 5G with ethics being the foundationOne wisdom Prakash wants to share is that Technology is rapidly changing and each of us have to adapt quickly with thatPrakash Bulusu, Senior leader with a proven track record across Software, Analytics and Consumer Business in E-Commerce, Search, Marketing and Online applications.Specialties: Large scale distributed and data intensive Software Engineering, Data Analytics, Machine Learning Applications, Data Platform, Computational Marketing, Understanding Customer behavior, Data Science, Email Marketing automation, Product Search relevance and Data quality, e-commerce, Experimentation (A/B testing) and Experimentation Platform, Software test design and automation.Prakash Bulusu can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakashb/

In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Pallav Prakash Indian Navy veteran and program manager at ZumTalks about starting in technology in early 1980s by way of merit and got passionate about computersHe talks about implementing high critical projects in submarines and speaks about them as ‘point of no return’ Talks about the pride of careering a Indian passport stemming from the Indian software people across the globe with special mention towards womenTalks about the pride moment of digitisation of files and decision making system across multiple years in NavyShares about the stories of maintenance of the hardware and the missile guidance was architected and built self reliantlyHe shares with pride that Inventory management is one of the largest across the globe with first being Air force and second as Indian navy Talks about the software that has been indigenously developed and given confidence at the heart of every frontline person that warfare is top notchHis journey to move to US to understand different culture and taking an internship program with schoolHe has been an india head for AnitaB and his views on equitable data and the level of impact software could makeNow Pallav is working for zum to solve the school bus transportation in a carbon neutral model and how one has to be inside the problem to solve it and not on top of itHow can software communities come together to improve society as a whole is a question Pallav leaves with all listenersShares the story of the girl who pursued computers to get the comfort of AC to changing the landscape and provide an environment for othersPallav brings over 20 years of leadership experience in diverse business and technology. He has successfully managed large cross-functional, multi-national teams deploying strategies to take operations, programs and products on a high growth path. Pallav is a career program manager implementing high stake programs for the Indian Navy. He has done full time MBA from The Johns Hopkins University and a Management program alumnus (with specialization in Marketing) from Indian Institute of Management Lucknow. He has worked in Indian navy in executing several high tech projects as well as being chief of staff in Indian Navy in executing some of their HR programs.Pallav is a proven leader in managing offshore multisite programs and projects with client interface with passion towards furthering the mission of Women in Technology Pallav can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallav-prakash/

In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Nani Narayanan Srinivasan, who is the leader, Data Sciences at HomeUnion and has been in the IT industry for over four decades.In this conversation, Nani talks about:Studying metallurgy and getting exposed to programming to design a blast furnace.Wanting to be in the systems software, Telecom and R&D side of computing.Opportunity to work on a project which was more of R&D, to implement a hot standby and takeover algorithm for mainframes.Realizing the need to understand a client’s business side, learning banking as a domain.How the thinking process is similar across solving business problems or systems software solutions.The need to understand why something needs to be done to be able to think strategically and understand the business.Handling time constraints for a consultant, who is expected to solve problems in a short time.Prioritize what is to be done, before jumping into how it is to be done.A ‘horror story’ when a design worked in principle and in the test environment, but resulted in a ‘race’ condition that led to the system being unusable in a production environment, and how this problem was resolved.Considerations of teams to be scalable: how this may be different based on the size of the company.How to bring efficiency with remote teams, or even when the team members are not of a homogeneous background.The need to understand various members, backgrounds and the business context to build high performance teams.The Prostyle model explained in the book Producing results with others.Career tips: for new entrants to the field : a combination of data science, bio-studies, to get into analytics or data science careers; or security for those looking at software application solutions.Data science as a technique will get embedded in everything we do, like internet has now become a basic component in most solutions.Learning Python, Kotlin, R etc for those interested in programming.For the mid-career professionals, understand the business side and go with the flow of business; in whatever you do, contribute to the revenue side of business, for an assured career.Many technologies are coming back - like old wine in new bottles.Entrepreneur and seasoned technology professional with senior leadership roles in Financial Services (Real Estate Investment, Banking/ Mortgage), High Tech R&D, Telecommunications and SI Consulting. Led successful delivery of large and complex engagements in product development, data sciences and modeling, CRM, online banking, web applications, and mortgage servicing – many with original contributions to Intellectual Property. Guided teams implementing over 200+ industrial strength websites. A strategic thinker, designer and architect of key products with hands on practical delivery approach.You can reach him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nanin/

Wishing you all a very happy new year 2022!!In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Sriram Rangarajan, Accomplished Data Analytics Leader at IBM shared his data journey His role as an enterprise data architect and what lenses he has to wearWays to get started collecting, analysing and gaining insights from dataHow can young engineers joining the data ecosystem look at dataData to be viewed through the business process and lifecycle Ways of managing complexities across organization and system boundaries Onboarding application teams right at the start instead of making it an after thoughtHow can you manage data errors and keep the sanctity of data cleanChallenges that are encountered while handling master data, data definition and gaps in data setupWorking with regulatory bodies and keeping the right level of data without infringing into compliancePerspective of work has changed across three decades from task centric, business centric and what-if possibilitiesEnsuring that foundations are clearly understood on data prior to diving deeper into technologySriram started his career with TCS after his graduation from JNU. Sriram has worked in IBM, NetApp Inc, and Informatica, demonstrating in-depth knowledge of Data Governance, Data Integration, Master Data Management, Data protection, privacy, and data lifecycle management. Sriram is a data analytics and strategist at heart with robust experience acquired over the years in delivering optimal results in high-growth environments. He excels at cultivating collaborative professional relationships and delivering data-driven and business-centric solutions; Result-driven with extensive expertise across scalable enterprise architecture, value-driven data science, and full-stack engineering. Sriram can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsriram/