WRITING AND INSPIRATION
Interview with Dr. Yogesh Haribhau Kulkarni, Ph.D.
Dr. Kulkarni is a principal architect, an inventor, an adjunct professor, and a top writer on Medium.
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Dear Reader,
Meeting inspiring writers each day delights me. Since I founded ILLUMINATION, which supports 21,000+ writers now, one of my writing goals in this and other platforms is to introduce influential writers to my readers by conducting interviews with them. I have introduced many writers since 2019.
In this post, I share a recent interview with Dr. Kulkarni, whom I approached and met after discovering his unique, creative, engaging, and informative stories on Medium and other platforms.
After following him for a while, I asked whether he would be interested in joining my publications, especially Technology Hits, as an editor. This unique publication showcase and amplifies the valuable content of tech storytellers on Medium.
He has an impressive background in technology, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing.
Dr. Kulkarni kindly accepted my offer and joined my editorial team to support our writing and reading community on Medium. Since then, he has reviewed stories, published them timely, and provided valuable feedback to contributors.
I enjoy reading his content on Medium and other platforms because he simplifies complex topics and informs readers with his research and experience. His content is educative, and his research rigor in technology is beyond reproach.
Dr. Kulkarni is a practicing technologist, inventor, consultant, and thought leader in his field. He is also a top writer on multiple topics on Medium.
I hope you will enjoy this interview and explore Dr. Kulkarni's unique background, content, and thought leadership.
Dr. Kulkarni, thank you for accepting my offer to introduce you to my readers on Medium. It is a pleasure to meet and collaborate with you on Medium and other platforms.
Could you please tell us a bit about your background?
Born and brought up in Pune, India, I completed a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP).
Then, I went on to do a master’s degree from Kansas State University, USA, specializing in CAD (Computer-aided Design, Geometric Modeling). I worked in Parametric Corporation, Boston, for a year and returned to India for good.
I then worked at various companies, such as Geometric, Unigraphics, and Autodesk, in the CAD Software Development domain, with roles ranging from Software Engineer to Software Development Manager — Site Leader.
In 2013, I left my job to pursue a full-time Ph.D. in Geometric Modeling. I have published a few domestic and international journal/conference papers. During this research, I came across Machine Learning (ML) as a new problem-solving tool and decided to switch to it.
In this new domain, i.e., Artificial Intelligence (AI), ML, and Data Science, I started doing consultancy and corporate/academic training.
In mid-2019, I joined Icertis in the full-time role of Principal Architect.
My work there primarily involves using NLP (Natural Language Processing) for legal documents. I was recently granted a US patent in the same field.
Here are the links to my Personal Selfie and a Professional Selfie, giving more visual details about me.
Your background is impressive. Please describe your typical day at work.
Being a Principal Architect, the central role is to conceptualize, design, develop and maintain end-to-end solutions, in my case, the AI-ML-NLP-based solutions.
Here is a quick intro to the type of work I am involved in. Another aspect of my role is to tailor the standard solution to customer-specific needs.
We evaluate new technologies in our RnD (Research and Development) department and build PoCs (Proof of Concepts) to demonstrate the efficacy of new ideas.
I also get involved in building AI-ML expertise, mainly mentoring juniors as well as recruitment. My typical day gets divided into any of these activities.
What do you recommend for new graduates desiring to enter the Artificial Intelligence field?
Most appointments in my Office Hours initiative are regarding guidance in transitioning a career to Data Science.
Folks from all walks of life, tech and non-tech, seem to be enamored by the prospects and potential of Data Science/Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning.
This article gives a high-level plan of what to do to transition to a Data Science career. Here is a story of my own transition.
You are working hard and creating a lot, but you are a healthy man. How do you maintain a work-life balance and keep your good health and well-being?
There are a couple of tricks we have done to make more time available, not just for me but for all in the family.
First, we don’t have a television in our house, saving a lot of time.
Second, I am personally not on most social media networks like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc. As for the daily plan, I have categorized my day into various slots to make my life easier.
I get up early. Mornings are for health (jogging, Yoga, Gym), the daytime is for Work, and the evening is for hobbies, reading, and family.
Saturdays are for social activities like teaching and office hours.
Finally, Sundays are for anything else.
Why do you choose to live in India?
I have stayed in India and one city, Pune, for all my life, except for three years, when I went to Kansas State University for a master’s and Boston for work.
Although I have very briefly worked in Tokyo as well, I just feel very comfortable in this city only.
As the whole environment, family-parents, culture, language, and people are known, one does not have to spend energy on acclimatization but can focus on what one wants to do.
Pune, mainly due to my domain in Software Development, offers good opportunities for technologists.
With remote working becoming the norm of the day, it is increasingly possible to participate in global activities from the comforts of your home.
Why did you join Medium as a writer?
When joining Medium, my only thought was to publish my content in one place, which otherwise was spread all over, in GitHub repositories, YouTube comments, LinkedIn articles, and other artifacts.
It took some time for me to get the structure and the mechanism of this site, but the help from various publications, especially the ones under the ILLUMINATION umbrella, helped me feel at home (thanks to Dr. Mehmet Yildiz).
Recently my name made it to ‘Top Writers’ lists in a couple of official categories (‘Ideas’ and ‘Future’) and a few unofficial ones (‘Sketchnote’, ‘Hobby,’ ‘natural language processing’).
What are your core values as a writer?
The primary intent of my non-job-related activities is to give it back or pay it forward. I learned so much from the content created by the selfless acts of many, so I consider it my duty to repay this loan by creating valuable content.
I started with summarizing long-form content, be it a book or an article, a YouTube video, or a podcast.
Off-late, apart from the text summaries, I have started doing graphical summaries and doodles, aka sketch notes.
My motto is ‘Making things simple but not simpler’ (per Einstein’s principles). One-page visual summaries (or sketch notes) are what I wish to use as a medium to convey my ideas and explanations.
How do you connect with Your readers?
If not on many social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, I am a regular on LinkedIn and Medium.
I post consistently and interact with connections/followers regularly.
Maybe because of this, I have maxed out on LinkedIn connections now, and new folks must just follow me and can’t connect with me.
So my renewed focus is Medium, and I now wish to build a similar follower base by giving quality content.
What are three books affecting your Life?
Writings of Indian saints such as Dnyaneshwar and Ramdas and the relatively recent philosopher, Swami Vivekananda, have had a significant influence on me.
Of modern times, if I must quickly pick up three books I liked, they would be “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant”, “Waking Up” by Sam Harris, and “Antifragile” by Nassim Taleb.
Tell us about your hobbies, Dr. Kulkarni.
I have been drawing and painting since childhood.
Now I dabble more into sketching, specifically Urban Sketching, i.e., going to certain places and sketching them live.
I love all kinds of music, but more Indian music, both classical and light. I sometimes try my hands at playing the Indian bamboo flute.
I am also a big fan of Yoga. My name is Yoga + ish, meaning ‘God of Yoga’.
Why did you join ILLUMINATION, and how did you find it so far?
After joining Medium, I shortlisted the publications with good reach, and obviously, ILLUMINATION was there.
My experience with it has been fantastic. I am delighted with the support and engagement of the community you established and supported via the Slack workspace, which now has over 14K members. The whole group makes me welcome and feel at home.
I serve your publication ‘Technology Hits’ as an editor since I am very much familiar with and interested in recent advances in the tech world.
Who are the writers you follow on ILLUMINATION?
Right from the beginning, I have been following you. I will explore more writers in the tech space, primarily from Technology Hits.
Besides following your content, I follow more ‘tags’ than writers.
Some of the tags I follow are: ‘Technology’, ‘Deep Learning’, ‘Artificial Intelligence’, ‘Data Science’, ‘Machine Learning’, ‘NaturalLanguageProcessing’, ‘Transformers’, and more.
What are the top 10 article tags that you use?
Apart from the story-specific subject tag, I use summary, ideas, advice, future, India, technology, sketchnote, artificial intelligence, hobby, and natural language processing.
Please introduce some of the stories you want to share with your audience.
Here are some samples of my stories on Medium.
Any recommendations for new writers contributing to ILLUMINATION?
The intent of joining Medium-ILLUMINATION is the key.
Being from India, we cannot be a part of the Medium Partner Program, meaning we don’t get a dime to write.
But still, there are a whole lot of people who write just because they wish to express and share.
I guess that is the core intent. Focusing on the quality of writing and the rest will follow.
How do you see your future as a writer?
I see myself continuing to write mainly using sketch note methods to make complex technical topics simple for easy and broader consumption.
And that is what I will keep doing!
Thank you for allocating your precious time to introduce yourself in this interview. How can your readers and other writers contact you and collaborate with you?
Medium writers can contact me via my writer profile, by leaving private notes, or by using your Slack workspace.
They can also send an email.
External readers may contact me via LinkedIn.
If you enjoyed this story, you might also check out other remarkable writers, such as physician Dr. ADAM TABRIZ, Mark Sanford, Ph.D., Ayodeji Awosika, Raymond M.E. Aguirre, Keri Mangis, Dr. Preeti Singh, and Hakima T A N T R I K A whom I featured recently. These top writers produce outstanding and authentic content that informs their readers.
You might find more interviews I conducted with other great writers in this collection and explore their inspiring and engaging content on Medium.
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Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
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