From Infosys 5-Pointer to Senior Director — Venkat's Unfiltered Tech Journey | Episode 1

What does it really take to grow from a curious coder to a senior director of engineering?

In this episode of Tech Leadership Club, Arunkumar sits down with Venkateshwaran Loganathan, Senior Director of Engineering at Converse, PhD holder, former Dean of Computer Sciences, and someone who has built technology that saved millions of dollars in food waste across 500+ Walmart stores.

Venkat opens up about his early days at Infosys as a "5-pointer," why he walked away from the industry to teach, how he secured Bitcoin infrastructure while consulting remotely before remote work was even mainstream, and the hard truth about unlearning old habits to grow as an engineer.

Topics Covered:
- How curiosity in 7th standard led to a tech career
- What the Infosys "5-pointer" system was and why it mattered
- Building Walmart's refrigeration alarm system at scale
- Why unlearning is harder than learning
- Stepping away from industry to academia and coming back
- What separates a good developer from a great one

🕐 Timestamps

0:00 - Intro & welcome to the podcast
1:50 - How did your interest in tech begin?
4:30 - Walmart alarm system — saving millions in food waste
5:55 - Why pursue a doctorate? Very rare in tech
8:40 - Taking a sabbatical to become Dean of CS
9:20 - Building Bitcoin infrastructure while consulting remotely pre-COVID
11:30 - The Infosys 5-pointer system explained
15:40 - What's harder, learning new or unlearning old habits?
18:10 - What separates a good developer from a great one?
20:30 - Designing for uncertainty — foreseeing stress points at scale

Whether you're a fresher just starting out or a senior engineer wondering what's next, this conversation has something for you.
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Guest: Venkateshwaran Loganathan
Senior Director of Engineering @ ConverSight
PhD | Author | Former Dean of Computer Sciences
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Host: Arun Kumar Krishna
Founder, AS13.ai | Managed IT & Cybersecurity for Modern Enterprises
Capturing insights from technology builders and sharing them with the next generation of founders and teams.
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1arun1/
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Complete Splunk Enterprise Admin & Architecture course 2026 discount coupon link: https://www.udemy.com/course/as13-complete-splunk-enterprise-admin-architecture-course-2026/?couponCode=SPLUNK2026

Watch the previous episode: https://youtu.be/ShrB_QYODO0?si=GxFmLhab_Z8ByBnQ
#podcast #cybersecurity #engineeringleadership #softwareengineering #careergrowth #techpodcast

Видео From Infosys 5-Pointer to Senior Director — Venkat's Unfiltered Tech Journey | Episode 1 канала AS13 Tech