Career journey so far..

 

As I look back at my career, or discuss with anyone about my vast experience - one of the questions I get is "Soo many changes/ Companies?" I thought it would be a good idea to address this..

Initially this post was a list of pointers to remind me of the rich journey and experience gained from my last 20 years in the corporate world. Typical human nature, we tend to remember the negative experiences so I wanted to create this reminder for all the wonderful memories I have created in the past 2 decades!

HP Labs - In the spirit of starting from the very beginning, HP Labs was the reason I moved to Bangalore and got a taste of corporate life. Thanks to wonderful mentors like SriGanesh, Ajay, and other wonderful PS mates (Ash, Naj, Dabba, Ramya, Prabhu..). I got exposed to AI - handwriting recognition, multi-model interfaces! All big words for a 20 year old me :) 

Dell (1st Innings) - 

For all practical purposes, Dell is where I learnt my trade and a lot of things about myself....Again, thanks to wonderful human beings like Subbu, Nithya, Bala, Ramya, Anshu, Anitha, Ajay who just taught me how to survive and standup for myself. I learnt all about Oracle and its modules, and how to navigate office politics on the side. Some of the best managers starting from my first - Krishna Reddy, Shyam Bhaskar, Saji, Aravind Padmanabhan to name a few were real teachers. Leaving Dell was like moving away from home, however going out of Oracle CRM and into Financials was a really good decision in my life. An example from Dell that is evergreen in my memory...

Yahoo! - One of a kind experience

I loved Yahoo! the minute I stepped into the office and looked up at all the Y! messenger emoticons... And I am proud to say after over a decade, I still bleed purple. Got great tech leads like Bala, Faiz and best friends for life in Victoria and Deepa.. Learnt from finance experts like Ram Kishor and Y! finance, the best partners I ever could have asked in business. And this time I got a lesson in emotional intelligence in an unexpected way.

US stint 

Moved continents for the much hyped international exposure. Loved my time consulting at Houston, MBA at Tepper, CMU @Pittsburgh, Brand Management at Heinz and New Orleans. Met the most interesting folks and owe it to Seenappa Poola, Angela, Susie, Vickie, Veena, Sandra, Mo in Houston and Michael, Phil, Satya, Beth, Ashley in New Orleans. Huge shout-out to the entire Tepper community (including students, seniors and alumni) from James Frick in admissions to Sophia in career counseling. Not just did they help me with the next chapter in life, but bringing in a new life my son into this world. Could not have asked for better support from Wendy and her student services team at Tepper. One such example that stands out is my first case competition at Tepper! 

I owe my passion in Brand Management and Marketing to US and some splendid experts I met in B-school and industry! 

Dell (2nd Innings)

Thanks to some family commitments, we moved back to India and this was the best decisions in hindsight as I see my kids growing up with grandparents and extended family here. Dell welcomed me back with open arms as a product manager reporting to Mala Bhat and her star PM team of Abhinav, Shreya, Madhu, Srihari, Karthik, etc, and I couldn't have asked for more... It was great to connect with old friends and acquaintances ..

Walmart

Great opportunity during COVID times, and learnt a lot from e-commerce leaders like Anand Xavier, BsP, Rohit Kaila and Vasu. In the short time, working with an expert designer Varsha - we launched record number of products. Made some great friends like Tej, Raja, Gayathri, Puneet and others while launching products working across timezones!

Intuit

A call from one of my oldest tech leads, Venky had me move to a platform product role in an unknown domain of Observability. Learnt a lot working with serial startup founders like Saradhi, Pratik, Ed and friends like Arun, Shankar, Manish, Mahesh, Kamaljeet, Harsha to launch products comparable to the market. Moved internally to GTM under Anandhi's amazing leadership and made some good acquaintances while working on Pan-Intuit commerce flows. A note about my experience.. 

Alltius

Another call, this time from a professor at CMU made me consider moving to the startup world. While heading Product and Design (and Customer Success), I was exposed to this amazing world of GenAI and the magic it can do! Am still learning both the ropes of startup and power of LLMs..

Next?

While I thoroughly enjoyed every moment at these companies, and the vast learning what really stood out - are the memories and experiences gained from working with really skilled people. In this age where the lines of professional and personal lives are blurred - I can confidently say I have gained new family members from my 2 decades of experience more than anything else! And I would never think of doing anything different... I own all my decisions - both good and bad. I am proud of where I am, might not be as high and mighty but totally rewarding in all aspects! Can't wait to see what's next in store for me..