Engineering and Design are like two sides of the same coin, impacting our daily lives in a myriad of ways !
Devashri Vagholkar, our next pathbreaker, works as R&D Engineer at Ansys (Pennsylvania), an engineering design and simulation software company with a broad portfolio of products catering to different kinds of physics simulations.
Devashri talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about merging her interests in mechanical engineering, with user experience design and software development.
For students, it is ok to have multiple interests and pursue them all. Generalists are as valuable as experts, in fact a right balance of both makes a good team.
Devashri, Your background?
I was born and raised in Mumbai, I am the younger of the two daughters in the family. My father worked in marketing for a pharmaceutical company and my mother works in Human Resources. As a child, I was fond of artistic and creative pursuits. From building my own dollhouse and miniature furniture as a little girl, to growing up and adding physics to these hobby projects, I was always passionate about making things hands-on. By the time I was in high school I had an inclination to pursue something that allowed me to build physical things and be creative. I identified Architecture and Mechanical Engineering as my potential options.
What did you do for graduation/post graduation?
I did my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai. After my BTech, I worked in Mumbai for 4 years followed by a Masters in Mechanical Engineering (focused on Design and Human Computer Interaction) from Purdue University, Indiana, USA.
Can you tell us how what were the influences that led you to a career at the intersection of mechanical engineering and design?
My interest in making things stems from my childhood hobbies. I grew up working on artifacts for my father’s carpentry and handicraft projects. I was always full of ideas and couldn’t wait to bring them to life. Around the time when I was in 9th grade, my art instructor introduced me to the field of “technical” sketching. This kind of sketching is used to communicate how something works or how it is constructed. When you add physics and math to your sketch, it is no longer an abstract piece of art but the starting point of a wide range of fields – Architecture, Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering. It was around this time that I started exploring options around Architecture and Mechanical Engineering. In the beginning, I started preparing for both the pathways, but very soon it was too hard to manage. Given my inclination towards making things hands-on, I decided to go ahead with Mechanical engineering. Mechanical engineering is also a very versatile stream of engineering, meaning, learning the basic principles of mechanical engineering opens up avenues to other streams – design, robotics, electronics, construction.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career path
My four years of bachelors in ME at VJTI (Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute), are the foundational pillars of my career. Being an active member of the aero-modeling club and pursuing various side projects, I had an opportunity to learn-by-doing. I had a steep learning curve through these out-of-classroom experiences.
During my final year, I volunteered at a makerspace- Maker’s Asylum. This was a fun place to experiment on my ideas and learn from other members. Maker’s Asylum (now located in Goa) is a community of makers that offers access to various fabrication tools – Laser cutters, 3D printers, wood working and electronics tools etc. It was a heaven for people who enjoy working on hobby projects but cannot afford space or tools to build them. After seeking my training on the machines, I was free to work on my own projects. In return, I used to train and support new members and manage the space. During this time, I explored working with modular cardboard pieces, corrugated plastic furniture, 3D printed parts to build an ornithopter and a few other projects.
I got my first job as a Mechanical Design Engineer in a Japanese oil and gas company- Toyo Engineering. This was my first industry experience, and I learned a lot on how engineering works in real life. The oil and gas industry deals with designing critical equipment. The design process of such equipment is linear and has to abide by the set of rules that have been established over the years to ensure the safety of the plant. Two years into this role I realized there wasn’t enough room to implement creative and novel solutions given the standardized nature of the design process.
It was around this time that I decided to take a break and look for other options. I took up a part-time job with a non-profit organization, where I designed and facilitated hands-on STEM learning workshops. I spent the rest of my time learning about new and upcoming fields and signed up for multiple online courses in product design, game development and coding. Honestly, I had no clarity on what I wanted to do next and was in this blur phase for some time, learning one new thing every week.
Soon, I got a job offer from a design company Future Factory (FF). My role was that of a product design engineer for home appliances. As a design company, FF directly dealt with end users to identify gaps and propose novel product ideas. Although my role mainly revolved around my expertise in the engineering aspects of the design, I was actively involved in the ideation process along with the designers and user researchers. I was able to practice the “user-centric” design process. I mainly worked on ceiling fans and water purifiers. I supported the designers in building mock-ups for client presentations, exploring new manufacturing and finishing processes, including visiting shops and factories to suggest process improvements and supporting end-to-end CAD generation for the selected manufacturing process. In the meanwhile, I decided to start preparing for master’s programs that would allow me to delve deeper in user-centric design.
During my master’s at Purdue, I worked under Prof. Karthik Ramani who runs an interdisciplinary research lab, the C-design lab at Purdue University. This lab has its own mini makerspace and thrives on collaboration of students from different fields. It was an ideal environment to learn and practice user-centered design. By working on different research projects with PhDs from the lab, I got hands-on experience in interface design and web-based application development. We developed applications that support creativity and ideation in design processes. We also ran user tests to verify the usability and performance of these apps based on various industry standardized metrics. The two years at the lab combined with multidisciplinary coursework, prepared me well for jobs beyond mechanical engineering, extending into User Experience and Software Development.
How did you get your first break?
My first job after my bachelors was at Toyo Engineering this was through campus placements.
Things in the US work slightly differently. While we did have on-campus career fairs, I got my first internship at Ansys through a regular online application. My role as an intern was in the testing team, mainly testing for UI/UX. My work in user-centered design was extremely pivotal in getting this role. I leveraged my internship to network and showcase my skills in ME combined with UX and software development. It is through this networking that I was able to interact with my current manager who happened to have a full-time opening around the same time as my graduation and I was able to join his team as a full-time developer.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
If you look at my career trajectory, I have changed roles and industries, but still it all ties together. Every new opportunity that I was offered was always because of the combination of my past experience which was not very easy to come across as most candidates would have a linear path. Now this could work in both ways, for example as a mechanical engineer who was applying for software development roles, I was competing with candidates with computer science background who checked all the boxes of the job description. I had to cover up for my lack of industry experience through course projects and research work from my Masters. Building an online portfolio of my software projects also helped in this process. Although the role was in software development, the product was made for mechanical engineers and as a mechanical engineer who understands user-centered design, I offered that unique combination of skills despite not being the best at programming.
Though learning skills that one is lacking is just a matter of time and practice, knowing how to put things together in ways that were not thought of before comes with diversity of experience. Unfortunately, most companies out there don’t care about such things and would prefer someone who meets all the requirements. The majority of times, such resumes that don’t completely align with the job description will be filtered out much sooner in the process. In such cases, networking and personal branding helps a lot. I worked hard on building my website and sharing a link to it whenever I met someone on LinkedIn or at a career fair. This was slightly a different cultural practice in the US as opposed to back in India where people tend to be modest about their accomplishments. The process could seem stressful as one has to deal with rejections without knowing the reasons, but it really pushes you to the edge and makes you think and know for sure what you want to do with your career.
Where do you work now?
I am currently working as an R&D Engineer at Ansys. Ansys is an engineering design and simulation software company with a broad portfolio of products catering to different kinds of physics simulations.
What problems do you solve?
My role requires me to create new software features that improve productivity and efficiency of the users who are designers, analysts and engineers. The software is used to simulate different physics conditions to predict product behaviour. The product in review could be anything from a piece of furniture to a jet engine.
What skills are needed for your role? How did you acquire the skills?
This job requires programming skills and a basic understanding of the engineering design process. One also needs to communicate with Product managers and UX designers to understand the expectation of the users and work backwards to implement the feature for optimal usability while following best programming practices. A developer also needs to work with testers and customer support teams to pick up on feedback and make the necessary changes.
What’s a typical day like?
I start my day with a hot cup of coffee from our coffee machine. Then I start with checking my task dashboard to look for any high urgency tasks and pick it up if there are any. Otherwise, I usually have an ongoing task from the previous day that I will get back to. Most of my work is coding independently coupled with regular check-ins with collaborating team members. Coding is like solving puzzles. Every time I get stuck with a hard one for a very long time, I take a break, grab a chat with a colleague and get back to the problem with a clean slate. Apart from my day-to-day work, I am actively involved in employee resource groups which allows me to grow professionally outside of my everyday responsibilities.
What is it you love about this job?
My favorite thing about the current job is that it puts me in situations that allow me to connect different aspects of the product design process. For example, as someone who has worked as a mechanical engineer, I can wear the hat of the user while developing the feature. Connecting this functionality and usability aspect of the product excites me. Another thing that I like the most is my colleagues, I have access to a spread of individuals from different backgrounds and levels of experience who are open to listening to new ideas and sharing their knowledge. There is a great sense of ease in sharing a different opinion or asking questions. Such welcoming and collaborative culture just makes it easy to work.
How does your work benefit society?
Everything we see around us, physical or digital has used some kind of design and/or simulation process. Ansys’ software solutions drastically speed up the development and time-to-market of all the products. Ranging from autonomous vehicles to prosthetics, the solutions cater to all industries that need to validate in-use scenarios before reaching the end users. The most impactful aspect of using these simulation tools is that it ensures safety and brings down the risk of failure.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!
The one that has topped the list is my undergraduate project “Chalopede” – a six legged walking robot. I always pictured engineering as building robots that looked like living creatures and Chalopede was one such attempt. We were a team of three girls and this project was jointly supported by our school VJTI and the Homi Bhabha Center for Science and Education. This project touched upon mechanics, electronics, programming and manufacturing. This project is particularly close to me since it gave us a lot of freedom throughout the process while at the same time, put us in situations that we had never been in before. Going to the streets of Loharchawl and Lamington road in Mumbai to manufacture and procure components from machine shops and electronics vendors, learning new skills from scratch like understanding the walking mechanism of 6-legged creatures and programming them to synchronize 18 motors, this project helped me develop a positive learning attitude under uncomfortable situations and normalized the critical step of failure in the design process. These lessons still remain with me and have come a long way in implementing the iterative design process at work.
Your advice to students based on your experience?
Say “yes” to every opportunity that comes your way but don’t overcommit and be too hard on yourself. Everybody has a unique journey, it’s best not to compare yourself with others. Don’t be too rigid and do not over plan every step from high school, take it easy and be flexible with your plans, be open to change. It is ok to have multiple interests and pursue them all. Generalists are as valuable as experts, in fact a right balance of both makes a good team. Do not blindly idolize a particular company or profession, take the chance to experiment, give yourself enough chances to fail and discover what really excites you. Surround yourself with a broad set of friends and don’t limit it to people with similar interests as yours. I cannot stress enough how people from different backgrounds shape your outlook. And most importantly, prioritize your health and lifestyle. In most cases, the timeline of building your career overlaps with adulting and living independently. It is very tempting to take shortcuts and develop an unhealthy lifestyle, so be sure to make conscious choices.
Future Plans?
I live by the “never settle” principle in my professional life and am always looking for the next interesting thing to do. These are exciting times for individuals in tech. The catch-up game is too fast with the rapid developments in recent times, but I am always working on learning new skills and pushing the comfort zone. I hope to continue to find unique ways to connect the dots.
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