Software People Stories

In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Andy Hillard, the CEO of Accelerance. He leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams across the world. The conversation between Shiv and Andy covers Andy's extensive career journey, including his time with the Peace Corps, his experience in finance and marketing, and his transition into software development. Andy discusses the evolution of the outsourcing industry, emphasizing the need for service providers to build trust and credibility with their clients. He shares insights on fostering empathy and collaboration within distributed teams, particularly in the context of outsourcing relationships. Andy highlights the importance of aligning cultural values, communication practices, and leadership styles between clients and service providers to ensure successful collaboration. The conversation also touches on challenges and controversies in outsourcing, prompting a discussion on the risks and benefits of outsourcing arrangements involving multiple service providers. Overall, the conversation explores strategies for building effective and trustworthy partnerships in the software development industry.As CEO, Andy leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams with companies in search of talent, innovation and a globally-distributed extension of their engineering function and culture.Andy founded the ground-breaking nearshore software development services company, Isthmus Costa Rica. He began his global software services career as a Division Manager at Cognizant during their early formative years.

Mike Bowers, Chief architect at FairCom, discusses aptitude for software architecture, qualities of a good architect, and career tips. Topics include abstract thinking, coding experience, and practicality. He explores future-proof databases, graph technology, data poisoning, and patterns in music and coding. The podcast covers transitioning from programmer to architect and the mindset needed for success.

Chief Architect at FairCom, Mike Bowers, shares insights on software development, emphasizing customer needs, data importance, and system scalability. He discusses music and programming connections, data models, and IIoT platforms.

In this conversation with Ms. Vijayashree CTO - Shikshalokam | Director- Onlineengineer Inc. she talks about her career trajectory and how she approaches technical challenges. Here are the key points:Vijayashree accidentally ended up in computer science after wanting to study electronics engineering.She has a passion for system software design and coding.She transitioned from a services role to a product role to focus more on the technical aspects.She believes in balancing the technical aspects with user needs and understanding the business domain.She uses a collaborative approach to design, involving the team and getting their buy-in on ideas.She acknowledges the need for analysis and design but also emphasizes the importance of getting things into production quickly using Agile methodologies.When making decisions about new technologies, she weighs the risks and benefits, using proven patterns for critical areas but also taking calculated risks to experiment with new ideas.She communicates the importance of non-functional requirements to her team and integrates them into the design process to ensure scalability, reliability, and maintainability.Vijayashree talks about the challenges and the transition from working in the commercial sector to the social sector.Key takeaways for designing for the social sector:Users might not have the technical expertise and may have limited internet connectivity.The solutions should be designed for a wider range of devices including low-end smartphones.Multiple languages and possibly voice interfaces should be considered.There might be a need to focus on offline functionality as well.Metrics for success in the social sector:Adoption rate of the software by other organizations.User feedback and the resulting improvements made to the software.The impact of the software on the beneficiaries.There are also a few interesting career advices by herhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/vijayashree-urs/

Today, my guest is Shekhar Chandra - the Global Practice Head at Irs Software Inc.Here are the key themes from the conversation: Shekhar initially disliked sales because he is more of an introvert. However, he was eased into the role by his company and his technical background helped him gain the confidence to sell because he understood the product.Building a brand: Shekhar highlights the importance of building a brand for oneself, especially when venturing into entrepreneurship.Shekhar talks about the concept of building practices within a company to focus on specific areas of expertise.Shekhar emphasizes the importance of trying new things and learning from failures.Shekhar highlights the need for salespeople to have a good understanding of the technical aspects of the product or service they are selling.Shekhar then talks about the challenges faced by Indian companies trying to take their products global.Marketing is crucial: Building a good product is not enough. Companies need to focus on marketing and building alliances with other companies to be successful in the global market.Shekhar describes three different methods for partnering with other companies:Highlights some challenges faced by Indian companies when they try to take their products global. Shekhar also offers his advice for people in two different career stages:Mid-life career crisis:Late career:Shekhar Chandra - aka SC Shekar is the global practice head at Iris Software Inc. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shekhar-chandra-740953/

Shiv our host is in conversation with Harpreet SIngh, CO-founder and co-CEO of Launchale Inc. Harpreet has been associated with conceiving and launching many innovative products that have become a standard among developer community. In today's conversation he talks aboutHow he started his career in India and then moved to the US. He emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and self-improvement. He mentions his growth mindset and his habit of reading and taking courses to stay updated.Harpreet acknowledges the challenge of scaling himself as a leader alongside the company. He talks about managing time for both work and personal growth. He highlights the importance of clear communication and context setting to empower his team and free up his time. He also mentions using a prioritization technique where he identifies the top three important tasks for both work and personal life. Harpreet acknowledges the resistance developers often have towards documentation. He discusses how he built his team by looking for individuals who value clear communication and writing skills. He describes how he identified a niche in the developer experience (DevEx) domain. He noticed that even after implementing CI/CD practices, companies weren't seeing the desired benefits quickly enough. This led him to explore how AI and machine learning could improve software delivery pipelines.Launchable's product uses machine learning to predict which tests are likely to fail based on code changes. Launchable is now expanding its offering to include intelligent test failure diagnostics using AI and machine learning.Harpreet acknowledges that coding style can influence the likelihood of errors. Launchable considers this to some extent, but the focus is on broader patterns and historical data to predict test failures.He emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning for personal and professional growth.He also talks about careers in testing and tech in general: Harpreet is an entrepreneur, innovator, developer, and creative product leader who has dedicated his life to building new solutions for software teams. His latest iteration is Launchable Inc, an AI/ML company to help developers and QA. A seasoned DevOps leader, Harpreet has been building products for developers for the last 25+ years.Previously, he was GM for Atlassian Bitbucket and VP of Product at CloudBees. At CloudBees he helped create the Jenkins business that scaled to multi-millions in ARR.He has an MBA from Santa Clara University, an MS in CS from the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelors in Computer Engineering from Pune University, India.

Today, my guest is Vinaya Mallya, is a seasoned IT professional, who has played leadership roles in the corporate sector, then was an entrepreneur building a team and moving on to create solutions to impact the social sector.In this conversation, :Vinaya shares her career path, including experiences in corporate IT, startups, and the social sector.Early Career in ITVinaya's original plan was to study civil engineering, but her principal encouraged her to switch to computer science due to her gender.Despite initial challenges and limited practical experience, a project in COBOL sparked her interest in software development.Her husband, an IT engineer, encouraged her to pursue a career in the field.Finding Passion at InfosysAfter getting married, Vinaya joined Infosys despite initial reservations.The initial training period was difficult, but the collaborative work environment with diverse teams motivated her.She discovered her passion for problem-solving, particularly collective problem-solving in a team setting.Work-Life Balance ChallengesMarrying young and having a demanding job at Infosys presented work-life balance challenges.Her supportive in-laws and husband, who encouraged her to focus on her career for the first five years, helped manage the situation.Traveling abroad for work required additional compromises to maintain family harmony.Leaving Infosys and Starting a StartupInspired by her father's entrepreneurial spirit, Vinaya dreamt of creating jobs someday.After 11 years at Infosys, the need to care for her children and the distance from her husband in Malaysia led to her resignation.Her mother's strong words about the impact on their children became a turning point.Starting an Animation FranchiseTaking a break from corporate life, Vinaya explored franchise opportunitiesAnimation, a growing field, emerged as the final choice, and she started a franchise of an animation institute.While the business didn't generate significant profit, Vinaya takes pride in providing a platform for young talent to launch their careers.Work in the Social SectorVinaya's entry into the social sector was accidental. Initially, she volunteered one day a week, but her time commitment gradually increased to five days a week.The transition from corporate IT to the social sector required adjustments. Vinaya had to learn to appreciate the value of creative solutions and a less structured work environment.She also enjoyed building a team of all women who could relate to the challenges faced by the target population.Challenges of an All-Women TeamVinaya acknowledges that managing an all-women team has its challenges, such as difficulty with travel and limited budget.However, she believes the team's ability to connect with the target population is a significant benefit.Career AdviceFor Early Career Professionals: Vinaya recommends new graduates invest five years in their careers, being open to learning new skills and flexible in their work approach.For Mid-Career Professionals: She acknowledges that some individuals may need to decelerate their careers at a certain point due to life circumstances. However, Vinaya emphasizes the possibility of re-entering the workforce or even transitioning to a new field altogether.After 10 years of experience, Vinaya suggests that professionals consider how they can "give back" to their field or community.OverallVinaya's career path demonstrates the value of flexibility and lifelong learning.Her experiences highlight the opportunities for women in both the IT sector and the social sector.Vinaya has close to 24 years of varied experience in the IT services industry, and more recently in the social sector. She started her career with Infosys, where she spent a decade amassing technical knowledge and honing her management and customer relationship skills. During her stint in Infosys, she got the opportunity to work in different geographical cultures spanning America, Europe & Asia. During the phase of motherhood, she shifted from the hectic corporate job to founding her own startup, a design services company for training and development of multimedia solutions. She was selected for Goldman Sachs-ISB sponsored – “10000 World Women Entrepreneurs Management Program” in 2011. Through a common network, she found an opportunity to get associated in the social sector. At Dhwani Foundation, Vinaya engages with NGOs to help them adopt technology platforms to smoothen their operations. Her motto in life has been to keep an open mind and contribute towards any opportunity that comes along. This attitude has helped her have a very diverse career in her 2+ decades of professional life and hence has not had a boring moment so far ! Handles:Linked in: linkedin.com/in/vinaya-mallya-a30109aEMail: kvnyak@hotmail.com

Today, my guest is Amita Ardha, an enterprise architect who has been focusing on sustainable development solutions.In this conversation;Amita started her career in engineering and transitioned to IT due to her interest in the "why" behindthe coding.She realized the importance of understanding the business world and pursued an MBA with a focus onIT and software engineering.She eventually became a certified Enterprise Architect but took a break to focus on personal goals andexplore sustainability.This entrepreneurial experience involving a reuse studio helped her develop a broader understanding ofconnecting business with sustainability.Currently, Amita works as a part-time Enterprise Architect and is involved in sustainability initiatives.Being a Woman in TechAmita acknowledges the challenges women face in tech but emphasizes focusing on the work andenjoying the journey.She advises against attributing missed opportunities solely to gender and highlights the importance ofrecognizing individual journeys.Amita encourages women to take breaks without guilt and to keep striving towards their goals.Sustainability in ComputingAmita views sustainability as a journey from finite to infinite resourcefulness.Focus on Achievable Goals and Resource EfficiencyAmita emphasizes using resources efficiently and highlights cloud computing as an example of improvedresource utilization.She shares an example of identifying hygiene issues faced by sanitation workers and the potentialbenefit of providing antifungal cream.She recommends offering online sessions like storytelling or technology workshops to contributeremotely.You can see some of her work at https://www.instagram.com/bharatireusestudio/

Every year, the Software People Stories dedicates the month of March to women guests, to call out their contributions and highlight some women’s perspectives.Today, I am very happy to introduce our guest, Krishna Kumari, who is also a podcaster, hosting the New Indian Woman podcast.In this conversation, Krishna talks about:Her first association with computers during her engineering student days and her first jobReflecting on the novelty and curiosity around computers and software that generated an attraction to this sectorBeing a campus hire at an IT organization and moving across various roles over the next 22 yearsLeaving the software industry and volunteering at various NGOs for about 7 yearsGetting back to IT handling the applications portfolio at a large universityHow programming languages were associated with an invisible class system among the developers with developers wanting to work only on specific languagesGetting an opportunity to talk to one of her uber-bosses and complaining about not getting an opportunity to work on a language of her choice and how he could make a differenceHow she kept learning new technologies as they evolved, and as she moved from domain to domainHer tips on cross leveraging one’s experience when moving from one domain to another How it is important to understand the user experience and design for thatSeeking inputs from others as feedback, one gets opportunities to discover one’s strengthsHow it is important to nurture the quality of transparency to gain the trust of team members and how she discloses her strength areasHow a mentor was instrumental in guiding her in switching to the social sector, by making her think what her contribution to the social sector could beFinding a niche to contribute, by bringing her experience in process management in the corporate sector, to the social sectorHow forming genuine relationships with people is very importantShe shares the reason for starting the New Indian Woman podcast, to share experience and perspectives with more women Her career tips: the importance of the qualities that a person brings to the tableListen on!More about Krishna Kumari:I am Krishna and I currently live in Bangalore.​I have been interested in planning, productivity and time management related topics, right from my middle school.​Over the years, this expanded to a journey of continuous improvement and learning from others and examining of how I can live my life in a better way. Better for myself and for the people I care.​These learnings have helped me a lot, no doubt. I have been looking for ways to share the same with the larger community of people around me and learn more and more. And that is the genesis of this blog 'New Indian Woman' and many more things to come…​And if you are wanting to know more about my background. I come from a small town called Alleppey(now Alappuzha, famous for its backwaters), in Kerala. My mother tongue is Tamil. On the academic front, I have done Engineering in Computer Science and then worked in the new IT industry. I started as a software developer, worked many roles in a leading IT organization. When I was performing the role of General Manager, I decided to leave the corporate world and explore. This led me to start volunteering for different causes . During this period, I havebeen a volunteer with NGOs and citizen groups involved in a range of activities from structuring and managing a variety of programs, translating ideas to project opportunities, interacting with partner organisations to facilitate IT implementation, creating visibility of organization's operations towards stakeholder agencies and so on.been a visiting faculty for Undergraduate students at a University for Data Management course .engaged at my children’s school for multiple activities including implementation of new library software using open source toolshelped with teaching a Sewing course for Undergraduates at a University as part of their Creative Expressions programmelaunched my own podcast(yes, available in this site)pursued my hobbies - the ever common reading and of course, you guessed it right, sewing!​My learnings come from the 2 decades in the IT world (after a simple small town upbringing), my current explorations and interactions with a wide variety of people from all backgrounds . My learning also comes from being a mother to a young adult daughter and teenage son.Get in touchWebsite : http://thenewindianwoman.comFacebook : http://facebook.com/newindianwomanEmail : krishna@thenewindianwoman.comTwitter : https://twitter.com/thenewindianwo1LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thenewindianwoman

Happy Women's Day!This whole month we have all women's special podcast.Today, Malini Gowrishankar , Founder and CEO of F5escapes is in conversation with Chitra sharing her experiences as below - Describes herself as a nerdy 1st bencher with interest in music poetry, screen tested with Doordarshan- Support role resolving backend issues, strong fundamentals in delivering high quality software- the disconnect between developers v/s requirements and realizing business value, software products v/s services- An understanding of the "why" as key to building good software- Building software is NOT a transaction, empowering people to encourage curiosity- A process of keeping many identities, thriving and not just surviving- Voice acting, scripting and weekend hobbies becoming her career- Starting f5 travels post the Nirbhaya incident to create an impact- A trip to Sikkim to prove some perceptions otherwise and travel as a transformation- create feeling of safety through establishing local connections and traveling in groups, solo women travel8 years in IT as a techie / project manager, 10+ years in media as voice-over/dubbing artist and creative writer, 8+ years in travel as Founder/CEO of F5 Escapes. Passionate about women empowerment, entrepreneurship and sustainable travel. Lover of rains, books, music, nature, performing arts, animals and children. In her free time, she also trains people in voice-overs; mentors young professionals and women wanting to return to the workplace.https://www.linkedin.com/in/malini-gowrishankar-40210515/