With eleven years in communications on his resume and the title of director, Bala Subramanian carries a full load of responsibilities for T-Mobile (Bellevue, WA). The company's subscriber IP network, its ATM backbone, its security systems, its wi-fi engineering and its multitude of general packet radio service (GPRS) apps all come under Subramanian's oversight.
Subramanian has been with the company since 1997, riding out name changes from Omnipoint to Voice-stream to T-Mobile. When he first joined Omnipoint he was stationed in the tech center as an expert on prepaid and wireless data, working with groups studying the deployment of GPRS technology.
Building a data network
After Omnipoint merged with Voice-stream, Subramanian moved to Seattle, WA as second in command of a new group set up to handle data systems engineering.
He had an absolutely blank slate to work with. "We had to build everything from the ground up," he says. Before they could create the wireless data network they had to build associated networks: an ATM network and an IP network to handle the higher level data.
"It was an incredible task," he says. "It presented me with the challenging role of building a data network while simultaneously building an organization."
Initially Subramanian's domain encompassed GPRS, data apps and ATM. Then intergroup mergers added security engineering, IP and data platforms to his area of responsibility.
"T-Mobile is extremely fast moving," he says. "There's a lot of freedom to get the work done in a very results-oriented ambience."
In 2002 he was put in full charge of the organization he had built. "From initially managing two employees, I'm now responsible for fifty people, both full-time employees and consultants."
Working together
Subramanian personally hired almost all the folks he now supervises. In making hiring decisions he prizes tech competence, of course, but he's equally concerned with building a cohesive team.
"We are all like cogs in a wheel here: everyone has to work together," he says. That's why he tries to assemble a complementary mix of task- and skill-oriented team members, researchers and visionaries.
Upward trajectory
Subramanian's rise in the telecom field has taken him a long way from his boyhood home in Madras, India. Education was prized in his family, and three-quarters of his near relatives are teachers. Outstanding at physics and math, Subramanian considered a career as a doctor, but ended up channeling his passions into EE.
His family strongly encouraged an American grad school experience. In 1992, Subramanian took his first-ever plane ride. He traveled to the U.S., where he entered the University of Oklahoma.
To support himself in school, Subramanian got a job as a dishwasher. Then he became a tutor in the school's Minority Engineering program, and later a research assistant working on fiber optics.
He found the university town of Norman, OK a diverse and welcoming community. In school, he joined the international student council and served as treasurer of the Indian student council.
Wireless integration and lots of travel
Even before his MSEE came through, Subramanian had a job as a support engineer with DSC/Alcatel (Dallas, TX). He spent a year there, but didn't have enough responsibility to suit him.
A friend from college suggested Ericsson (Stockholm, Sweden). "I liked what I learned about Ericsson's technology and wanted to look into wireless opportunities, so I applied for a job," he says.
The engineering job he got involved problem-solving all over the country. He lived for three- to six-month stretches in California, Wisconsin, Georgia and Alabama, helping Ericsson's clients with back-end engineering and QA as they integrated their networks.
This routine allowed little time for anything but work. "I realized that I needed some sanity in my life," says Subramanian. With the help of a former manager at Omnipoint he got a job there.
Time for a personal life
On a vacation to India, Subramanian met his wife-to-be, a pharmacist. They married in 1999, and now have a toddler girl and another child expected before the end of the year.
Subramanian's wife has been a big help in his career. "She's technical too, currently working on information management software for pharmacies," he explains. "I can tell her an idea and she'll ask the most incredible questions because she sees the issue from a very different perspective."
Proud to do the work
"As a director, I'm focused on people and projects," says Subramanian. "I want to build my organization and help it align with the business goals of the company."
He's well pleased with T-Mobile's commitment to coaching and ongoing leadership training. In fact, "Being a leading coaching company is part of our basic objectives and part of our job," he says.
Before his move to Seattle, he volunteered as a court-appointed special advocate for children in need. He'd like to do more social work in the future, but for now he concentrates on the important role his company is filling in mobile telecom.
"People make a 911 phone call and someone's life is saved," he says. "We should be proud that we are doing
this work."
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