Learning never ends:

How Mrs. Maniachari became a Software Engineer

      “I was very much fascinated by the power of programming and never stopped ever since.” This was Mrs. Gopikrishna Maniachari’s expression, a senior product architect and software engineer at Utopus Insights. In our interview, we discussed what it takes him to handle different tasks both as a system architect and software developer. He emphasized is not an easy job if the person is not clever, perseverance and willing to do it. Mrs. Maniachari’s job has to do a lot with problem-solving and logical thinking along with big projects along with his team. He is considered himself as a hardworking, self-starter and dedicated person. How are talks about his job is clear how much he enjoys programming in general and more than that being a contributor to Utopus Insights.

      Maniachari was born and raised in Kerala, India and graduated when he was 20 years old in 1999 from Calicut University in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. While pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, he started learning the C programming language which helps him to build his interest and enthusiasm in the computer science field. At that time, he started exploring this field and became a software engineer. His favorite programming languages are Java and Python. he worked with this language for more than 14 years. Now he finds python very interesting Mrs. Maniachari completed different certifications throughout his career to mention a few IBM Object Analysis and Design with UML and Sun Certified Business Component Developer. He didn’t do any internships, but he used to work as a faculty member in one of his computer sciences institutes in his hometown where he was teaching C++.

      By teaching others helped him to develop skills and be engaged in the field of computer science. Maniachari found his first job when he was still a junior student. It was in a walk-in-interview so not date or time was needed. This kind of recruiting process is done for companies when they do not have enough time for a selection procedure. Here companies ask for specific requirements, backgrounds and have this much experience. Kanbay Software Limited looked at Mrs. Maniachari’s resume and they liked him. He was selected for the next step of the process which was taking a scripting test. He points out the importance of this test during a technical interview as part of the recruiting process. Mrs. Maniachari passed the test. During his first job he worked with a senior guy who used to give him small tasks depending on what this person wanted. He states, “One thing I noticed was that in the computer science field programming. if you don’t learn you are out.” With this said he was forced to learn and face new challenges and tasks that he was not used to but would help him to become a better software developer.

       Mrs. Maniachari came to the United States in 2008. He works at the company Utopus Insights which is an independent energy analytics innovation leader. This company is located in Valhalla, New York and with a regional office in Bengaluru, India. According to utopusinsights.com “We deliver insightful software products that convert renewable energy sources into more predictable, reliable and cost-effective sources of power.” Mrs. Maniachari position is as a senior product architect but does a lot of not just architecting he does a lot of coding and writes programs every day to develop and contribute to the company’s product. One of the products is Scipher.Rx, created to predict wind assets and component failures. He works as a back-end analyst. He explains that is not a simple task to get the data from interwinds into their system. Using architecture, he and his teamwork build what are the software components needed and by doing data flows and formatting the data they agree in what can be developed. The architecture team has to meet with other multiple teams such as the engineering team or marketing team to understand what they need. The engineering team is the workforce because they develop things and along with the architecture team and decide how products will look like. What is key at Utopus Insights company is the amazing teamwork they have. People are distributed in India and the United States. “This is not an easy job to do,” Mrs. Maniachari said. His job is very delicate because if something goes wrong, he and his team will be questioned about why things are going wrong. However, there is a strategy they use when they develop something new which is that other coworkers and members of the team review the project and provide feedback, comments, and suggestions. This is one of the things he likes about his job.

     Sometimes we as students think we will never use our writing skills once we get a job. But that is not true. Mrs. Maniachari states the importance of writing. He says that besides writing code every day he has to write project documentation for a better understanding of the projects. He writes documents for architecture plans (not just diagrams). He also writes a lot of emails and uses the chatting app called Slack which allows him to discuss actual projects and collaboration with other people from India and Hungary. He uses emails when he has to communicate in a more formal way for instance with clients or other companies. He does not assist in conferences that often. However, presentations are part of his job. When he and his team have a new architecture project or design, they have to present and communicate it to the rest of the company. As in many companies, meetings are needed. They have meetings every day to talk about new projects, ideas and review their tasks. Mrs. Maniachari also focuses on the importance that reading is even though he does not consider himself as a super reader. He has to read a lot of technical details in programming.

     “Today everything is online so students should take advantage of this opportunity to expand their knowledge.” This was one of the comments he said about what students should be doing today. He said, “I would recommend students to have an open mind to accept a lot of challenges and to be ready to continue learning while they work, especially students in the computer science field.” We as students have to be prepared for challenges when we get a job or even an internship. Like computer science, he recommended me to have fun when learning new things otherwise it will be boring and tedious. That is important to learn about new technologies and new programming languages. One thing he said is not to focus on the money or how much you will make in your job, but that money will follow you.

     During the last part of our interview with discussed what other things Mrs. Maniachari likes to do when it is not working. He enjoys biking and listening to audible books while doing so. What he likes the most is to spend the time we his two daughters and his family. He said, “My kids are my biggest project.” He describes this as a unique feeling. This is the best thing he can do besides working. He talked about what are their favorite programming languages Java and Python. Java is his primary language, but that he finds python very interesting. Lastly, he ended by telling me to study hard and be prepared because every day is a challenge.

     Gopikrishna Maniachari, an Electrical and Electronics Engineer who had a lot of interested in computer science and programming. He became a software engineer and currently works at Utopus Insights where he is part of the architecture team. His jobs have to do a lot with data analysis and software developer. His position covers a lot of being a problem solver and logical thinker. In our interview, we discussed his career paths. He does not consider as one of the most important people of the company but as one contributor. He works in a team but all of them, but everybody has to do his/her own task. He ended by saying to find out the fun in learning new things and study a lot especially in technology with all the new programming and updates that come up every day. I am happy to have interviewed this clever and remarkable person.