How honest should we be in job interview situations when it comes to what we don’t know? Srikanth Bollavaram, our guest in episode 335, would encourage transparency in these situations, but we should also find a way to communicate what our capabilities are and our potential to meet the challenges of a role.

Srikanth is a product development leader with experience spanning the financial, railroad, and consumer packaged goods industries. His story showcases stepping beyond building systems to become a well-rounded leader capable of driving real business impact. Listen closely to the story of an unexpected job assignment in Switzerland that jumpstarted Srikanth’s embrace of industry expertise.

Pay special attention during this interview to learn from Srikanth’s experience:

• Supplementing technical skills with business acumen and continued education
• Embracing the mindset that every challenge is an opportunity, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first
• Explaining complex concepts through the lens of practicality to stand out as a job candidate

Original Recording Date: 03-30-2025

Topics – Meet Srikanth Bollavaram, Practical Approaches to Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Relocation and Experience as a Consultant, Execution and Delivery, Continued Education and a Step Beyond Building Systems, End-to-End Solutions in the Railroad Industry

2:13 – Meet Srikanth Bollavaram

• Srikanth Bollavaram leads a product development organization for a global consumer packaged goods (or CPG) company. His organization is currently focused on building a product for a major business transformation.
• Srikanth is originally from India but had the opportunity to relocate a couple of different times beginning early in his career. Srikanth relocated first to Switzerland to work in the financial industry and then later to the US. Today Srikanth and his family reside in Dallas, Texas.

2:54 – Practical Approaches to Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science

• Growing up in India, Srikanth wanted to be an engineer. He was curious about how to build things and how things worked. But at that time there was a general expectation to become either a doctor or an engineer.
  • After being unable to dissect a frog in middle school, Srikanth realized his path was engineering.
  • When you want to be an engineer in India, you have to pass a test similar to the SAT. Based on overall rank, students in the top 1% get to choose their major. Most pursuing higher education would go to either a government school or a private college.
  • Srikanth had only a couple of minutes with a counselor to choose between pursuing mechanical engineering at a top state school or attending a private college to focus on computer science. At the time, Srikanth chose mechanical engineering because he had always wanted to go to the school where this program was offered.
  • While he did like mechanical engineering, Srikanth wanted to be a computer science engineer as well. Many of his courses for mechanical engineering were computer courses, and he focused on the practical uses of computer science for mechanical engineering tasks.
• John mentions listeners might not know that the test and ranking Srikanth mentioned in India is nation-wide. Universities might differ on the requirements for entry based on your ranking.
  • Srikanth mentioned there was a state-level test in addition to the nationwide test, and based on your ranking you get a choice of major. But you don’t know which major you will get into until you go to counseling.
  • When Srikanth graduated there were not many national or state-wide engineering colleges. Now there is a quite a bit of choice for students in India.
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  Published on 2 months ago