Putting more software into hardware with Srinivasa Raghavan

In this conversation, S Srinivasa Raghavan better known as SS or Raghavan, shares his experience and perspectives onHow we mutually influenced each other in choosing our careers in hardware and softwareBeing strong in English grammar, that helped him though the came from a tamil medium educationGetting to know the power of  programmability in a calculator and being inducted into FORTRANDeveloping an interest in software as a way to solve problems more than writing programsAbout campus selection, tests and interviews - and how he got into a hardware role for his first jobLeading a team developing a disk controller and wanting to start something on his own with a friendWanting to do hardware, but put more software into itHelping one of Infosys clients solve a very difficult problem with their mainframe, in the area of connectivity using a hardware solution for data transferBased on the success of that assignment, getting an offer to form and lead a group working on hardware projectsHaving control over his timeAn expectation from the younger generation to get deeper understanding of the core and related technologies they work onWhere he gets ideas for innovationHis answer to the question: Can a software professional switch to hardware?Some stories of challenges in making rain gaugesHis views on the level of discipline comparing hardware and software engineersHis views and tips on aspirants to the hardware discipline as a career and whether software engineers should dabble in hardwareS.S. Raghavan, Founder & Managing Director Spatika Information Technologies, is a successful entrepreneur with a career spanning 40+ years. Spatika, under his able guidance, has developed products like Telemetric Rain Gauges and Telemetric Weather Stations which are currently installed in over 5000 Gram panchayat across various States in India. The team at Spatika also developed a VoIP phone as early as 1997 for Satyam Computers. As Vice President at Infosys, he made significant contributions by developing many indigenous telecommunication products that were first in India.  During his stint at Infosys, he was the main architect in developing the Bilingual Electronic Keyboard. He was also responsible for automating Rural Telegraphy in 7 states through the development of store and forward message switching system.  Prior to Infosys, he worked with HCL where he was responsible for designing and developing the entire Disk Sub System for the indigenous 16-bit computer.He holds a BE degree from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore