Akshay Thakker, EDI '09Technical Program Manager, Google
Alumni Interview
"I use what I learned in EDI a lot in my day to day work."
Tell us what your current title is and what your role entails.
I work as a Technical Program Manager in Augmented Reality. My primary task is to make sure the engineering teams I am working with can fully focus on writing software and not worry about anything else. AI has completely changed my job. The reporting and planning tasks that used to take so much time now take minutes. The tasks that needed software engineering help, I can do with AI. I spend a lot more time building tools to make my life and the life of engineers more efficient. Instead of worrying about the "how" I have the freedom to think about the "what". I look back to the various brainstorming sessions during my EDI days for inspiration. I can now come up with wild ideas and AI makes it all possible.
When you started EDI, did you know what industry you wanted to work in?
I had no idea. I wanted to work on designing consumer products but I didn't have any sense of the industry, the type of products, or the exact nature of the work. Now, I don't work in design but I do work on consumer products. I got recruited by Google directly from Northwestern and the opportunity was too good to let go. The compromise was not starting my career in design. I thought I could work my way towards it. While that didn't happen, I use what I learned in EDI a lot in my day to day work.
Tell us about an EDI course that made an impact on you.
Design conversations with Don Norman. Having the opportunity to sit in a room with a living legend, listening to him talk about the design of everyday things (pun intended), and exchanging ideas was invaluable. It helped me think about the design of products from perspectives that I didn't have. For instance, he taught us the visceral reaction people have to designs and how to make designs that evoke certain emotions of feelings in people.
What is one lesson you learned during your EDI journey that has stuck with you?
Defer judgement. There are lots of ideas that come up during the design process. It is extremely important to defer judgement when you brainstorm. That's the only way to come up with that one crazy idea that changes everything.
What advice do you have for an EDI student interested in working in your industry?
There's nothing unique about working in tech. The most important thing about working in any industry is that you must have initiative. Think about what problem you can solve and then just do the work, do it well. If you can, everyone will respect you as someone who gets things done.
