Kshitij Kakade

He/Him/They/Them
MSSM, 2025

This is how to say my name:

   

About

I am passionate about multiple things, including, but not limited to: anime, wildlife exploration, solving situational challenges on competition portals, etc. Solo travel has been my go-to unwinding activity for the longest time. On the personal front, I'm a great cook and would love to make my friends and professors at iii taste some local dishes from my region. On the professional front, I love to break down problems in a structured way, whether technical or non-technical. I used to prepare Acceptance criteria and Technical Implementation flow diagrams for several features during our release cycles. This ability to research a problem and develop possible hypotheses/solutions for is a skill I am excited to bring to iii.

Why MSSM?

While working as an engineer with Siemens, I had the opportunity to work closely with my Product Owner, which sparked my curiosity in the field of managing technical products. I researched various study programs that would help me to level up my skills to venture into the product domain and stumbled upon the MSSM program offered by CMU. The MSSM program's focused curriculum and initiatives, like tech treks and software management practicum, align with my goal of pursuing a career in product management/strategy, preferably within the Generative/Prescriptive AI product space.

Education

College of Engineering Pune, Bachelor of Technology in Computer Engineering

Experience

Associate Software Engineer at Siemens Digital Industries Software

What type of role are you looking to obtain after you graduate?

After graduation, I'm looking to foray into a product or program management role. I aspire to a communication-heavy strategy-based role that provides me the opportunity to contribute to multiple verticals within an organization. I want to leverage my previous knowledge of collaborating with Business and Design Teams, which I acquired while working as a Software Engineer in my previous organizations.