Episode Details

In this episode Ramesh shares his experience and perspectives related to

• His interest in software and programming that was fueled by an IIT professor teaching programming
• One of the very few who did a software project as part of his degree and then joining Tata Burroughs from campus, as the first batch
• Getting back to academics to get his Master’s degree
• How his extra learning at IISc and the work experience in the first couple of years helped him skip a few courses and jump into more advanced topics during the Masters’
• Joining HCL in their Singapore venture, Far East Computers Limited
• How his experience with facing customers helped in the assignment of setting up a QA environment at Oracle headquarters
• Moving to management roles in engineering management
• Jumping at the opportunity to start a development center in India from scratch
• Thinking that he could do that for a year and then get back to the USA
• How he had to take on various responsibilities of not just delivering, but also establishing processes, building networks for recruitment etc
• Realizing the need to take innovative approaches to attract the right talent, when competing with other companies that would hire in large numbers
• Taking up a teaching role at Anna University 
• How that gave him an opportunity to observe the students over a semester, and not having to learn by interacting for 20 minutes in an interview
• Extending this learning through internships 
• Starting to love teaching
• The trigger for his getting into writing [and authoring books], some of which are standard curriculum recommendations in about 50 universities across the world
• “Transferring knowledge to others will have a bigger impact on Society as a whole”
• Enjoying the role of a teacher at various institutions
• How some interests popped up by necessity, 
• Slicing time every day for work, education and family - to make time for all 
• Taking risks knowing that all options may not progress as desired
• Some tips that would help selecting the right candidates
• How everyone should feel comfortable to disagree, but not be disagreeable
• how , as a technical guy, you can have all the answers, but as a leader, you should have all the questions
• His career advice:
• Being passionate about what one does
• Do not undervalue the importance of keeping your skills up to date
• Why you should become useless for your job

Please bear with some audio distractions in the background in patches. You will love this story..

Gopalaswamy Ramesh is an independent consultant, eminent author and has served as visiting / adjunct professor in several reputed universities and an acknowledged thought leader in the areas of global software project management, software testing and related areas as well as on soft skills. He has over three decades of experience in industry, consulting and teaching. He played a key role in establishing Oracle’s India Development Center and grew it from zero to close to 500 people. His contributions to this phenomenal growth were acknowledged in Oracle International magazine  When he left Oracle in 2002, he was their Senior Director, heading the engineering team at Bangalore.

Before returning to India in 1994 to set up Oracle IDC, Ramesh worked in Oracle Headquarters in Redwood Shores, California, holding several technical and management positions. He also headed pre-sales and post-sales support of Oracle products in the ASEAN countries while working at Far East Computers, Singapore from 1982 till 1988. During this stint, he actively participated in launching and supporting Oracle in several countries in the region.

Since 2002, Ramesh has been an independent consultant, offering consultancy services in the areas of global soft