Software People Stories

In conversation with Preethy Padman, Product Marketing Executive with Freshworks with Gayatri Kalyanaraman from PM Power Consulting Preethy talks about her career starting in India working for networking software firms She discovered her passion for technology and later in product development and later in product marketing. She has also tried being Chief of staff. She talks about building a career leading to be a General manager and how all these career choices have made sense Preethy shares a story on the risks that she has taken for a role and how that had helped her to understand new ways of working It has also brought a real sense of being out of the comfort zone and continuous learner Preethy talks about tips on building your first few weeks in a new firm She elaborates on being a mindful practitioner and teacher as well as a volunteer and how the social engagements have helped her take decisions in her professional life Preethy talks about stories around investing and how she chooses them Preethy is passionate about creating a self awareness in oneself and taking time to do that She also advises on building strong mentors relationships that work around you and create a habit that grows with you Preethy Padmanabhan is the Head of Platform Product Marketing at Freshworks. Prior to joining Freshworks, Preethy was the VP of Marketing at Panzura. She is also an angel investment partner with SV2, Portfolia and a Board Member for Nextstem.ai. She started her career as a Software engineer at Hughes, India. She moved to the US to take up technical and business responsibilities in large companies such as Cisco and Dell. Later she moved to hi-tech startups such as Nutanix, Panzura and grew her career across product management, marketing and sales. Preethy has 20+ years high tech and leadership experience across marketing, sales & engineering. She is a strategic problem solver and connector who brings teams together to create exponential value for companies. Preethy has strong leadership, management and people skills. She has effective interpersonal and communication skills with customers, partners. She has delivered multiple customer EBC, demos, sales & partner training, trade show presentations, webcasts etc. Preethy has a high tech background in virtualization, Cloud, SaaS, Networking, Security, Collaboration, Video, Mobile, Enterprise & Service-Provider marketing. She is a self-starter, strong communicator with customers, partners, internal teams and a business leader with a can-do attitude She served in various non-profit boards focused on economic empowerment, women, children and education. She’s a mindfulness teacher and lives with her husband, teenage son and their dog in Palo Alto, California. Preethy can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/preepadu/

In this episode, Manoj Deorukhkar, CIO of Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd, shares his experiences and stories with Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting about: That he got into IT by accident -His love for nature -Starting his career in the steel industry -Playing various roles in the organization, from shop floor to executive assistantship -His transition to a CIO of a group company after implementing a corporate wide SAP rollout -How entering IT at a later stage in his career and working with much younger colleagues created mental pressure -How guidance from his CEO helped him identify his core strengths in the software development process -That there is much more in the world than just IT -That person to person conversations are very powerful and effective & how to bring out the best in individuals to make great teams - Making time for intra-networking - His advice for persons considering an entry into IT and for mid career IT professionals - Three important things to keep in mind Manoj Deorukhkar is the Chief Information Officer of Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd. (SWPL), part of the Shapoorji Pallonji group company. Manoj brings a treasure of software development expertise and a massive track record of 20 years in the industry. He is an engineering leader with technology strengths comprising SAP portfolio, Information Security, Infrastructure, Cloud Strategy, Digital Transformation, Office applications, Budgeting, and Procurement. He has driven various roles and tasks in business transformation initiatives across several domains. He trusts IT leaders must adopt a strategic management role and drive transformation throughout the enterprise. During his career, he has been associated with Real Estate, Engineering & Construction, EPC, Utilities, Oil & Gas, Metals, and Manufacturing sectors. Manoj has earned his B. Tech degree from IIT Mumbai and holds an MBA degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He has wide experience in leading large projects and has directed the planning and implementation of enterprise IT systems in countries like the UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, and India. manojd@sterlingwilson.com manjode@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/manoj-deorukhkar-1180316/

Listen to a conversation between Deepak Visveswaraiah, VP of Platform Engineering at Pega Systems and Chitra Gurjar from PM Power Consulting a s Deepak talks about -His early days growing up as a Bangalore native and how he started out in software development -Experiences as a C & Unix Programmer -His work across several domains like Nuclear Energy, Semiconductors, gaming and publishing -Co-founding a healthcare startup and learning key customer empathy lessons -Essential fundamentals of product engineering, writing your best 2 lines of code, user empathy & designing products for the enterprise -Investing time in learning & being adaptable -Transition to leadership roles learning people engagement and flourishing as leader -Lessons from driving innovation- future perspective design & doing a few things insanely well -Customer centricity; all about the empathy, and what customers really want from you -Hard lessons; from building a product the way “we engineers thought” -Building relationships with a mindset of establishing a relationship and not to sell or make a transaction -Balancing the sense of urgency with instant gratification and moving on the curve of constant change, a formula 1 inspiration -Defining moments in his career; being the first SVP in a global role outside of the US -Message for leaders and those aspiring to take up leadership roles Deepak Visweswaraiah is a leader in the technology industry playing global roles based out of Bangalore, India. He specializes in leading large engineering organizations, driving innovation and bringing products into the global markets. He has extensive experience in establishing Global In-house Centers (GICs) for multinational companies. Passionate about building next generation technology, transformative approach, business leadership and mentoring startups. Deepak brings 30+ years of experience in the enterprise software development industry. Deepak is currently Vice President of Platform Engineering at Pega Systems leading the core platform organization out of India.

In this conversation Pankaj Rai, Leader of Strategy, Digital & Innovation teams at WellsFargo shares his stories with Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting related to -Growing up in a small, but cosmopolitan city -How he was inspired by his Dad -Getting into IIT, IIM and a startup -The advice he got from his boss, when he moved from a consulting role to a lending advisor role -When he decided to focus more on earning than learning -The 4Es he learnt from Jack Welch -About taking leaps of faith, particularly when it comes to role or career transitions -On not having a fear of failure -Comfortably navigating in what might appear as chaos -Organizational strategy and culture -The significance of collaboration and why win-win is so natural -Importance of inclusion and diversity in deploying organizational strategies -Not having different ‘official’ and ‘personal’ versions! No version control challenges -Creating a personal priority list rather than a todo list -Being updated on what is happening from the network -His advice for IT career aspirants as well as mid-career IT professionals -3C framework that he recommends for everyone -Problem discovery more than problem solving, as a life skill -Moving from a deterministic, order taking world to an agile world Pankaj leads Strategy, Digital & Innovation teams at Wells Fargo where he is responsible for creating a culture of 3Es (effectiveness, efficiency and experience) in the operations across India and Philippines. Prior to this he was with Dell where he led the Global Analytics team of over 400 members in Bangalore, supporting all the segments in Dell, i.e. marketing, online, supply chain and product quality, contact centers, services and DFS. Pankaj started his professional career as a management consultant at Feedback Ventures and then went on to work in the financial services industry in India. He worked with ICICI and GE Capital in a variety of roles covering sales, risk management, six sigma and operations. He moved to Standard Chartered Bank leading the Program Management Office in their Singapore regional office where he helped grow their shared service centers in India and Malaysia. Pankaj has been actively engaged in D&I and sustainability initiatives and has been engaged with various industry forums including NASSCOM. Pankaj studied Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi and went on to complete his MBA at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is also a six sigma “Quality Leader” from GE. While at ICICI, Pankaj was among the 12 bankers selected for the British Council Chevening Fellowship (Young Bankers Program) administered at the London School of Economics in 1999. Pankaj’s wife Ritu is an artist and they have two daughters Pragya and Paridhi. He is also an avid marathon runner, cyclist and dabbles in badminton. Pankaj’s linked in Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pankaj-rai-he-him-b3923a/

Chitra Gurjar from PM Power Consulting in conversation with Anu Kannan, Partner Technology Manager at Google as Anu shared her views on -Being a quintessential engineer -Starting her career in embedded systems working on set top boxes -Love for travel, meeting new people and developing relationships that have helped her personally and professionally -Handling different use cases while building software for tangible hardware -Walking the floors with her father to understand products and how they were used -Visiting customers and incorporating a “DILO” approach to building products -How she built a network of trust as a fellow of engineering Creating a culture of innovation -A peak into what automotive software could look like - Her message for aspiring engineers Anu Kannan is a partner technology manager at Google, an embedded systems engineer and mother to two young boys. She has had extensive experience in designing and developing software for tangible hardware in the course of her 17 year career where she built entertainment set top boxes, android based data capture solutions, and now working with automotive software on android. She recently completed the LEAD business program Stanford University on Innovation. Anu is a telecommunications engineer from RV College of Engineering Bangalore and has a masters degree in Computer Science from New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering. She can be reached at http://www.linkedin.com/in/anukannan/

Today is a special day for us @ Software People stories where we are commemorating 100 stories completion and we decided to record with All three co-hosts Sivaguru, Chitra and Gayatri and talk about why podcasts and what makes them stay. Please expect some overlap conversations as this was a live conversation. Highlights of the conversation Sivaguru spoke about the origins of the podcast and how he wanted to capture the evolution of technology and the developments and it transitioned to real life stories and anecdotes that were never told Chitra spoke about her penchant for the platform and wanting to be an RJ and how it has been a very satisfying experience. She shares her chance conversation with Neeraja to come onboard. Chitra also shares how the platform has helped to get ideas and implement them in a sustainable way. Gayatri spoke about her interest in digital tools and ability to move away from her comfort zone and how nice it is to talk to people and connect with long lost relations. It is also wonderful to see emotions flow. She talks about listening to podcasts has pushed her fitness and hosting podcasts has made her a better listener. More information about this special day is here http://pm-powerconsulting.com/podcast-100-episodes/

Today is a special day for us @ Software People stories where we are commemorating 100 stories completion and we decided to do an experiment with live guests and a panel discussion with 4 of our past guests in Software People Stories comprising of Gopal from Global Automation, Neeraja from Jobsforher, Jacintha from Enquerro and Sukumar from TinyMagiq. All three co-hosts Sivaguru, Chitra and Gayatri also have participated in this special episode that we recorded on International Podcast day. Please expect some overlap conversations as this was a live panel convo which was largely unscripted with three questions forming the base part of the conversation. Highlights of the conversation Sivaguru spoke about the origins of the podcast and how he wanted to capture the evolution of technology and the developments and it transitioned to real life stories and anecdotes that were never told Gopal being the very first guest of our podcast spoke about being ready for experimentation and how he had always been moved by audio right from the initial radio days and how the focus on the topic stay right from origins of Quinoa. Gopal shares his ability to understand topics in audio medium far better than in any other. Chitra spoke about her penchant for the platform and wanting to be an RJ and how it has been a very satisfying experience. She shares her chance conversation with Neeraja to come onboard. Chitra also shares how the platform has helped to get ideas and implement them in a sustainable way. Neeraja shares her experience with Podcast and how she used this podcast to share her life journey in all her speaking engagements. She felt that the hosts made her at ease and how some of the clarity in impromptu has been unnerving at first and found it great with clarity. Neeraja also shares her experience with using audio as a medium for storytelling and how she’s talking to more people as the in person shyness is slowly come down Gayatri spoke about her interest in digital tools and ability to move away from her comfort zone and how nice it is to talk to people and connect with long lost relations. It is also wonderful to see emotions flow. She talks about listening to podcasts has pushed her fitness and hosting podcasts has made her a better listener. Sukumar shares his experience on coming on board and how covid has made him a convert of this platform. He also shares how he’s used recording training materials and made the online training for conversations and questions. This has fundamentally transformed or flipped the art of teaching. Sukumar shares how hearing or recording audio is the most natural way to record anything as there is no real changing of information. Its coming as-is from one to other. Jacintha shares her experience with giving an audio message as part of her Onmobile job and taking it further to provide a daily audio message on positivity. She also shared her experience in COVID using gram vaani to teach disadvantaged students, cooking using network of volunteers for migrant population and continuing her consulting work from her home. Jacintha added that how podcasts have become like honey flowing in your ears and this would be here to stay. We also heard stories from the audience More wishes from all our past speakers and audience please visit below http://pm-powerconsulting.com/podcast-100-episodes/

In conversation with Jayant Swamy, Program Manager and Author of many books with Gayatri Kalyanaraman from PM Power Consulting He started his career in finance with a CA, went on to do his MBA from IIM Bangalore, and learnt his penchant for teaching While doing his MBA Jayant swamy taught MBA students art of presentation and persuasion skills • Jayant Swamy has coached MBA aspirants in public speaking and taught finance at local B-schools • Jayant moved to the US in 1998 and works as a management consultant and corporate trainer • Jayant is known as the program manager who is also the glue that hold the team together. • Jayant ponders over two project implementation experiences and says how continuous learning has made him the person to be sought out for problem solving • His deep expertise in Finance and management made him the perfect conduit to interact, translate and influence program outcomes • Jayant shares his interest in writing stories and how he started unsuccessfully during his college days. He didn’t lose sight of it as time progressed. He has authored many books and has 2 under the works. More about Jayant’s books are here www.jayantswamy.com • Jayant shares his experiments in storytelling in his corporate career be it creating reports or saying a story via the presentations • Jayant narrates his teaching experience across decades starting with aspiring entrance exam students to a professional training for the University of Washington • Jayant talks about staying true to program management while pursuing many interests in storytelling, IMPROV and teaching at the same time. • Jayant talks about compassion for fellow human beings and bringing empathy in every transaction as a key message You can reach Jayant at the below address www.jayantswamy.com

In this conversation Harsha Mutt is sharing his career story with Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting where Harsha talks about *Lessons from role transitions *A Bangalorean, helping his father run a printing press during school days *Studying Engineering and cost accounting, in parallel *A career choice to join Infosys, that he is very happy about *Learning basics of computer science and languages from the founders of the company, as a trainee *His first major transition in life - moving from Bangalore to the US, from a day-scholar, cycling from home to the first flight overseas *How this was like hostel days, learning about new countries, cultures and people *Handling the first major transition in its stride, by not having any fear or inhibitions *When work is play, time passes quickly *How an introspection for annual planning helped him evaluate and consider options outside his first employer *About the many ‘firsts’ in his career with Infosys *On a daring approach to get re-immersed in the Indian ways of life, on returning from the US after a long stint there *The three main differences in his work scope, when he took up a job in HCL and what he learnt from that *What he learnt in becoming an investor and entrepreneur *How learning management concepts on campus and actually adopting these in practice are different and difficult His tips for entrepreneurs on what it means to ‘live within one's means’ *His story of the transition to being a coach from doing things by oneself *The value a coach can bring in with an outside in or a ringside view *His current interests to pay it back or forward *We conclude with his advice to both entry level and mid-career IT professionals Harsha brings more than three decades of General Management experience serving as Head of strategic business units, and from multiple global assignments. He is a mechanical engineer and a management accountant. He started his career at Infosys, building commercial software solutions to leading US companies in retail, distribution, manufacturing, telecom and financial services, and went to become a business leader leading multiple accounts and teams. He completed an Executive Education Program PMD at Harvard Business School. He went on to play a leadership role at HCL Technologies heading Technology and Operations for Capital Market Services. He is an accredited Executive Coach from Coaching Foundation India and actively coaches a select few CXOs each year. He started his entrepreneurial journey with Lukup Media Pvt Ltd, playing role of CFO and Board Member, which has since been wound up. He has enabled projects, teams, and businesses to scale multi-fold and grow. https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshamutt

Tune into the conversation between Chitra from PM Power Consulting and Nitya Krishnamoorthy, a seasoned IT veteran and leader. Nitya shares her journey and experiences on -Career choice, supporting parents & wanting to be far away from Biology -Start of career and 10 years as a technologist -Personal and professional transformation and taking a break in the middle of her career -Transition from an Individual Contributor to manager to IC again and managing teams across countries -Recognizing her own passion, strength and belief in “anything is doable” -Building capable, extensible and scalable teams -A complete shift in her view of people thanks to the mode of remote working -Messages for freshers on patience and working on pretty much everything -A few of Nitya's special interests Nitya can be reached at - linkedin.com/in/nitya-krishnamoorthy-770a6486 In her own words:- "I am a fun loving, passionate and self-driven individual with over 18 years of experience transforming people, processes, businesses through my project management and business operations skills. It's been an exciting journey working with brands, companies and businesses helping them transform their Digital processes and thus also evolving, learning and transforming myself."