Welcome to the STEM Career Highlight Series, which is a Q&A series showcasing the people of Hughes and the STEM path they took to jumpstart their careers and get to where they are today. Through sharing these experiences, we hope to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders and instill in them the same enthusiasm and passion our employees have for what they do.
This week, we’re talking to Nagesh, a senior technical project manager.
What got you interested in STEM?
My dad worked in the STEM field in India, but it wasn’t until high school that I became really interested in STEM and spent more time learning about and understanding it. Even after working in STEM for more than 15 years, I still find this career incredibly exciting!
Did you study STEM in school?
Yes, my entire educational career has been devoted to STEM. I received my engineering degree from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in India and obtained my Master’s in computer science from Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Right now, I’m working on my Master’s of Business Administration degree in technology and management from Carnegie Mellon University, which Hughes is helping me pursue as part of their education stipend program.
How long have you been working for Hughes?
I’ve been a HughesNet employee for the last 12 years. I’ve worked as a software systems engineer, a product manager, and now I’m a technical project manager.
What role has mentorship played in your career?
Mentorship is an incredibly important part of everyone’s career – and it’s definitely underestimated. When I first started at Hughes, I was fortunate to have a manager who was not only a great mentor, but who also helped motivate me at a time when I didn’t have the technical knowledge or skills I do now. It’s important to have an open and honest relationship with your manager to help identify opportunities to build strengths and improve upon areas of weakness.
What’s been your favorite Hughes project to work on?
For the majority of my career at Hughes, I worked on network systems design and systems engineering for HughesNet service over the JUPITER 1 and 2 satellites. I have to say, working with our high-throughput satellites has been some of my favorite work. It’s exciting to have a part in projects that help improve customers’ experience with HughesNet service.
Can you recall a situation where a customer really needed help and you were able to go above and beyond to help?
Early in my Hughes career, I had the opportunity to help with our customer care team. They are the people who answer the phones and chats when customers need help with their service. If an issue was too technical for the agent to resolve, they would send it to the engineering department to help. I assisted with reaching back out to these customers to understand their service issues and then troubleshoot on the backend to resolve them as quickly as possible. It felt good knowing I helped make a difference for our customers who were depending on our service.
How are you/your team supporting the launch of Jupiter 3?
I started working on JUPITER 3 over a year ago and am looking ahead to where the satellite industry will evolve a few years from now. I look forward to working with Hughes to anticipate what new Internet demands customers will have and determining the best strategy for how Hughes service can accommodate them. Think about augmented reality, virtual reality, new gaming apps and IoT devices…it’s exciting to contemplate what will come next! Tthe sky’s the limit when it comes to satellites.
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