Software People Stories

My guest today is Elangovan Shanmugam,  a seasoned software professional with over 30 years of experience. Among the multiple roles Elangovan has played are Distinguished Engineer, Director of Engineering, leading strategic AI transformation initiatives in a large organization. In this conversation Elangovan: Traces his journey from FoxPro and 4MB RAM days to AI engineering Shares how software evo...

In this episode of Software People Stories , Gayatri Kalyanaraman speaks with Indra Vidyaprakash, Vice President | Workday Chennai Site Leader , for a conversation spanning three decades of technology evolution. From her early fascination with programming in Coimbatore and her journey through Cornell University, Oracle, and Silicon Valley, to returning to Chennai to establish and scale Workday's I...

My guest today is Ian Hogg, the Chairman of SolvedBy.ai, an applied AI company helping SaaS vendors embed enterprise-grade forecasting, demand and decision intelligence directly into their platforms. In this conversation, Ian shares his background, from the Royal Navy and Xerox to building early web businesses, a SaaS platform, and an AI-focused company. He describes how his SaaS business began by...

In this episode of Software People Stories , Gayatri Kalyanaraman sits down with Rajshri Kidambi, CEO of Radus Software LLC, for an inspiring and deeply personal conversation. Rajshri shares her journey from arriving in the United States as an H4 dependent to building a successful software company serving federal agencies for over two decades. Together, they discuss entrepreneurship, motherhood, A...

My guest today is a good friend and colleague - and not to forget with whom I was a co-author for a book, Paramu Kurumathur. In this episode, Paramu discusses how his recent development work evolved from small Google Apps Script utilities copied and adapted from online examples to building AI-connected applications via APIs to tools like Gemini and ChatGPT, including enabling Q&A over his book con...

My guest today is Evan J. Schwartz, the COO of AMCS Group North America, a global leader in sustainable cloud technology. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor and Board Advisor at Jacksonville University, mentoring graduate students in AI, cybersecurity, and technical project management. Evan traces his technology origin from early-1980s bulletin board systems to founding a company that built gr...

My guest today is Chaitra Partha Rao, Vice President at Daimler Truck Innovation Center India – Manufacturing , Sales & Aftersales. Chaitra shares how her childhood aspirations to become a neurosurgeon shifted to commerce due to cost constraints, eventually leading her into IT through an internship at a medical diagnostics firm automating stores processes.  She describes observing early requiremen...

My guest today is Tyler Wells, co-founder of Brain Grid. Tyler recounts 25+ years in software, from an early IBM XT to work across military communications, startups, Skype/Microsoft, and seven and a half years at Twilio building video and SRE organizations, before founding Propel Data (which didn’t find product-market fit) and then Brain Grid.  He describes an experiment-driven approach to buildin...

  My guest today is L.A. Balamurugan, known as Bala. With extensive experience in software development, he now plays the role of a delivery coach. In this conversation filled with nuggets from his experience, Bala shares his career journey from a computer science degree in the early 1990s to roles at HCL, Perot Systems in the US, and Manugistics. After earning a master’s in information systems and...

In this episode, I am in conversation with Rajesh Sharma, co-founder and chief product officer of ProHance. Rajesh covers a lot of ground starting from his move from Public Sector to SaaS Founder. Rajesh describes his path from a modest middle-class upbringing in Shimla and a mechanical engineering degree to a stable career at HPCL, then a major career reset into software after quitting his public...

Host: Chitra Gurjar 4 decades and counting, always energized to do something, work is my DNA From post and telegraph to giving tuitions to creating her own agency to study An advocate for herself, nurturing her desire to serve Turning away “assured” job offers to join Defence Labs as a Scientist at CABS Moved onto a “lesser assurance” to join HP People and culture at the heart of her 3+decade stay...

In this episode of Software People Stories , Gayatri speaks with Muthusamy Vetrivel, Manager – Business Analytics at Saudi National Bank (formerly Saudi French Bank), about a career that spans over four decades of technological disruption. Vetrivel’s journey is anything but conventional. He began in the granite export business — negotiating documents and standing nervously at bank counters. That e...

In this special Women’s Day episode of Software People Stories , Gayatri sits down with Manisha Deshpande , VP, Digital Platform Engineering at Neurealm , for a deeply reflective conversation on career evolution, motherhood, leadership, and thriving in the AI era. Manisha’s journey begins in the early 2000s — renting desktops with friends, coding in C++, and working at startups before “startups” w...

In this deeply personal and inspiring episode of Software People Stories , Gayatri speaks with Dr. Vaijayanthi Srinivasaraghavan (Viji) — a seasoned technology leader, Senior Director at UPS, and a resilient voice for women navigating complex careers and life transitions. From learning C++ through shared manuals in the early 90s to leading global logistics technology at massive scale, Viji shares...

In this episode of Software People Stories , Gayatri sits down with Hiran , Co-founder of Ashwatta Sustainability Ventures (domain Ashwatta.earth) , to explore how climate innovation is evolving beyond buzzwords into real systems change. From her beginnings in chemical engineering to building a venture studio focused on translating breakthrough science into scalable climate companies, Hiran shares...

Sujatha Ramani brings together corporate precision and grassroots purpose. With leadership experience at global companies like HP and Wipro, and two entrepreneurial ventures of her own, she made a deliberate shift into the social sector to build opportunity where it matters most. Since 2019, as CEO of Pollinate Group, she has led with clarity and conviction advancing women’s entrepreneurship, sust...

This is part of the specials we have every year focusing on women in IT. In this conversation, Srini Sundararajan shares his experiences and perspectives on empowering women in the workplace, particularly in IT. Srini's key messages include: - His upbringing which emphasized the importance of education and non-discrimination between genders. - His early professional experiences, including managing...

In this episode of Software People Stories, VR Govindarajan, aka Govi, the co-founder and executive chairman of Perfios Software, shares his comprehensive journey from the early days of his career to building successful startups. Govi dives deep into his academic background, industry experience, and the various startups he co-founded, including Aztec Soft and Perfios. He emphasizes the importance...

In this episode of Software People Stories, Jordan Richards, a Digital Transformation and Knowledge Management technologist, and Founder of Tacitous ( www.tacitous.com ) a Knowledge Management blueprint and platform designed to help organisations capture, retain, and share critical knowledge at scale shares his extensive experience with technology and knowledge management. From his early days with...

In this podcast episode, Sudipta Lahiri, Head Of Engineering and Products at Nimblework, Inc shares his compelling journey from growing up in a cosmopolitan township and studying metallurgical engineering to becoming a leader in the tech industry. He discusses his early career experiences, including a pivotal moment that led him to quit his job at SAIL and pursue further education at IIT Madras. S...

In this podcast episode, Shiv is in conversation with Bhargav Bhikkaji, a tech leader, entrepreneur, and founder-CTO of MajorDomo Inc with deep expertise in cloud and Gen-AI driven enterprise software.  In this episode of Software People Stories, Bhargav shares his inspiring journey from his early interest in physics and mathematics to becoming a DevOps pioneer. Initially focused on engineering an...

In this podcast episode, Shiv is in conversation with Anees Haidary, Global Head, Operational Excellence, Data Privacy, and Global Workforce Management at Sasken Technologies. In this engaging episode, Anees shares his remarkable journey in the IT industry, starting from his humble beginnings in a lower-middle-class family in India to becoming a prominent figure in various leadership roles. Anees...

In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Kumaran Anandan, CTO of TinyMagiq and Enterprise Architect —shares a refreshingly honest journey across hardware, industrial automation, embedded systems, startups, consulting, and Microsoft. From writing programs on a programmable calculator (and storing them in audio cassettes!) to building deep learning habits through daily c...

In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Shubhangi M Josiam , Digital Head APAC of Alstom about her 18+ year journey across GE and Alstom , moving from core IT and infrastructure roles to customer-facing digital transformation leadership across APAC . Shubangi shares candid stories about career pivots, leadership programs, Lean Six Sigma, building IT from scratch post-...

As we step into 2026, a heartfelt thank you to all our listeners for your time, trust, and continued support. Your engagement, feedback, and encouragement mean a lot to us and inspire us to keep creating meaningful conversations and content. Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy New Year 2026 —may it bring good health, fresh opportunities, and continued learning. Looking forward to growing and l...