Meeting Title: Brainforge Data Engineer Interview Discussion Date: 2026-04-08 Meeting participants: Yeshwanth C Mineni, Kaela Gallagher
WEBVTT
1 00:02:10.880 ⇒ 00:02:12.669 Kaela Gallagher: Hi, how’s it going?
2 00:02:16.050 ⇒ 00:02:17.619 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Hi, Kayla, can you hear me?
3 00:02:17.770 ⇒ 00:02:20.530 Kaela Gallagher: Hey, yeah, I can hear you just fine, how’s it going?
4 00:02:20.790 ⇒ 00:02:22.359 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Give me one moment, please.
5 00:02:22.360 ⇒ 00:02:23.380 Kaela Gallagher: No worries.
6 00:02:38.450 ⇒ 00:02:42.840 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I’m sorry, I’m unable to hear your voice, unfortunately.
7 00:02:43.510 ⇒ 00:02:46.659 Kaela Gallagher: Oh my gosh! Wait, can you… can you hear me okay now?
8 00:02:48.170 ⇒ 00:02:49.409 Kaela Gallagher: Let me see…
9 00:02:55.310 ⇒ 00:02:57.630 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Can you try speaking once?
10 00:02:57.630 ⇒ 00:02:59.240 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, can you hear me now?
11 00:02:59.820 ⇒ 00:03:01.170 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Just give me one moment.
12 00:03:01.510 ⇒ 00:03:03.060 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, no worries.
13 00:03:25.870 ⇒ 00:03:31.079 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Can you try speaking? Can you hear me?
14 00:03:31.080 ⇒ 00:03:33.649 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I can hear you just fine.
15 00:03:33.820 ⇒ 00:03:36.859 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I’m so sorry, it was something with my speakers, I’m so sorry about it.
16 00:03:37.480 ⇒ 00:03:40.389 Kaela Gallagher: It’s okay, you can hear me now? Okay, perfect.
17 00:03:40.620 ⇒ 00:03:57.829 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, awesome! Well, thanks so much for taking some time to meet with me. I think you had reached out, maybe, to Utam when he posted about our open roles, and so, just wanted to connect with you and learn more about what you’re looking for, and kind of more about your background as well.
18 00:03:58.500 ⇒ 00:04:03.820 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Yes, sure. I’m a data engineer myself, like, I’ve been working for several years.
19 00:04:04.190 ⇒ 00:04:17.729 Yeshwanth C Mineni: And, my… in my previous role, I was working with Upstart, where I handled, like, end-to-end data engineering solutions, where I processed, like, terabytes of data, like, millions of transactions on a daily basis.
20 00:04:17.899 ⇒ 00:04:31.399 Yeshwanth C Mineni: So that firm was basically a credit lending firm, where I handle stakeholder management as well, where I was, connecting with different vendors that we have for particular data sets that we need.
21 00:04:31.590 ⇒ 00:04:42.140 Yeshwanth C Mineni: And also, we do, have our own, on-prem data as well, which we use for our technical analysis for our machine learning teams.
22 00:04:42.540 ⇒ 00:04:45.810 Yeshwanth C Mineni: And, I, I get to use,
23 00:04:46.160 ⇒ 00:04:59.099 Yeshwanth C Mineni: LLMs on a daily basis, and I, manage the data solutions for the machine learning teams as well, where I burned, like, millions of tokens myself as well, when it comes to AI, yeah.
24 00:04:59.820 ⇒ 00:05:08.010 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. And can you tell me more about, like, what Upstart does, like, as a company? I’m not as familiar with them.
25 00:05:08.690 ⇒ 00:05:17.120 Yeshwanth C Mineni: So, they are a… basically, they are a credit lending firm where they analyze, customer data based on their, credit scores.
26 00:05:17.260 ⇒ 00:05:28.550 Yeshwanth C Mineni: using ML models, and that’s how they make decisions based on those ML models, whether to give certain type of loans that the customers apply for.
27 00:05:28.870 ⇒ 00:05:32.659 Yeshwanth C Mineni: So, basically, they’re a financial services company, so…
28 00:05:33.180 ⇒ 00:05:33.970 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
29 00:05:33.970 ⇒ 00:05:34.710 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Yeah.
30 00:05:34.710 ⇒ 00:05:39.840 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, cool. And then I noticed you had, like, a consulting background prior to that as well?
31 00:05:40.160 ⇒ 00:05:43.739 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Yes, with Cognizant and HCL back in India as well.
32 00:05:44.140 ⇒ 00:05:44.880 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
33 00:05:44.890 ⇒ 00:05:47.770 Yeshwanth C Mineni: The, consulting firms, yeah.
34 00:05:48.050 ⇒ 00:05:53.590 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, cool. And then, are you still with Upstart, or did that role, like, come to a close?
35 00:05:53.990 ⇒ 00:05:57.849 Yeshwanth C Mineni: That contract ended, last month, mid-last month.
36 00:05:58.630 ⇒ 00:06:03.910 Kaela Gallagher: Okay. Okay. And what, like, is most important to you in your next position?
37 00:06:05.410 ⇒ 00:06:16.820 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I’m looking forward for any customer-facing roles, or somewhere I would fit in, you know, because that’s what I’ve been doing, and I excel at that particular place.
38 00:06:17.400 ⇒ 00:06:17.820 Kaela Gallagher: What’s on.
39 00:06:17.820 ⇒ 00:06:26.660 Yeshwanth C Mineni: As a data engineer, it’s pretty hard to communicate the technical solutions to the stakeholders, usually.
40 00:06:26.910 ⇒ 00:06:38.409 Yeshwanth C Mineni: And I did that pretty well, and I’m confident about it. And when I saw them posting on the same, I felt like I would be a better fit for this role. I mean, I would… it’s like a dream come true, for sure.
41 00:06:39.130 ⇒ 00:06:42.640 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. And where are you based right now?
42 00:06:43.530 ⇒ 00:06:46.179 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I’m based in, Georgia currently.
43 00:06:46.840 ⇒ 00:06:54.459 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. Are you open to relocation in the future, or do you see yourself in Georgia long-term?
44 00:06:55.090 ⇒ 00:07:01.210 Yeshwanth C Mineni: No, I… I guess Brainforge is based out of Austin, right?
45 00:07:01.640 ⇒ 00:07:19.249 Kaela Gallagher: So, we are actually fully remote. We have team members across the globe. The reason I asked about relocation is because we do have quite a few team members located in LA and Austin, so if people are open to relocating to one of those cities, that would be a plus for us, just because
46 00:07:19.250 ⇒ 00:07:26.130 Kaela Gallagher: we like to get together in person. I’m actually, like, working with some LA people here right now, so… Oh, that’s cool.
47 00:07:26.130 ⇒ 00:07:34.809 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Great. I’m actually open to relocation anywhere across the US, but, like, Austin, I would love to relocate to Austin, if possible.
48 00:07:34.810 ⇒ 00:07:42.729 Kaela Gallagher: Yay, okay, awesome, cool. And then, in terms of compensation, what’s the range that you’re targeting?
49 00:07:43.220 ⇒ 00:07:51.259 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I mean, my previous role was a contractual role, so it depends on, like, what is… is this a full-time role, or this is a contractual role?
50 00:07:51.680 ⇒ 00:08:08.799 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so right now, our entire team is on a 1099 basis, so independent contractors, so we don’t offer any sponsorship, and the hourly rate that we’re offering right now is kind of like the total compensation amount.
51 00:08:09.030 ⇒ 00:08:19.479 Kaela Gallagher: In the future, like, we do hope to convert people and be able to offer benefits, but, like, right now, we would need to, you know, hire on a 1099 basis, and just want to preface that.
52 00:08:20.230 ⇒ 00:08:25.019 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Okay, sounds good, actually. And can we do, cog-to-corp on this, or no?
53 00:08:25.220 ⇒ 00:08:27.549 Kaela Gallagher: Unfortunately not, no.
54 00:08:28.000 ⇒ 00:08:31.750 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Okay, I need to check on this, on the 1099 part.
55 00:08:32.169 ⇒ 00:08:32.569 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
56 00:08:32.570 ⇒ 00:08:37.529 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I guess I could work on 1099. I just need to check with my employer about that.
57 00:08:37.850 ⇒ 00:08:41.060 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I can, I can, I can do that.
58 00:08:41.210 ⇒ 00:08:43.690 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Shortly, like, after a call or something.
59 00:08:44.120 ⇒ 00:08:47.689 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, got it. Are you on, like, H1B, then?
60 00:08:48.570 ⇒ 00:08:51.530 Yeshwanth C Mineni: No, currently I’m on, STEM OPT as of now.
61 00:08:52.240 ⇒ 00:08:56.009 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Okay. I fund STEM OPT, that’s my current work authorization.
62 00:08:56.310 ⇒ 00:08:57.329 Kaela Gallagher: Got it.
63 00:08:57.330 ⇒ 00:09:02.429 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I do have an upload hedge fund repetition, I can stay long-term, just to give you a heads up.
64 00:09:02.860 ⇒ 00:09:21.769 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, yeah, we actually have a couple team members right now that are on a STEM OPT, like, basis. They’ve been able to go direct with us, without needing an employer. We basically, like, provide a couple pieces of documentation to help with, like, the E-Verify process.
65 00:09:21.960 ⇒ 00:09:33.580 Kaela Gallagher: So, yeah, we have been able to arrange that, just for reference. But I guess in terms of, like, an hourly rate, what’s the range that you’re targeting there?
66 00:09:33.930 ⇒ 00:09:43.399 Yeshwanth C Mineni: My previous rate was around, it started at 65, I maxed out at 70, but I’m negotiable, like, what’s the range that we’re looking at?
67 00:09:44.600 ⇒ 00:09:54.150 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, for these rules, I would say we’re closer to, like, the 70 to 75 mark, so definitely, like, in line with what you’re looking for.
68 00:09:54.520 ⇒ 00:09:56.190 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Sounds good, actually, yeah.
69 00:09:56.360 ⇒ 00:10:16.249 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, cool. And just to tell you, like, a little bit more about Brainforge and what we’re looking for, so we’re a data and AI consulting company. We offer 3 service lines to our clients. One is data, one is AI, and one is strategy and analytics. And most of our team
70 00:10:16.300 ⇒ 00:10:35.280 Kaela Gallagher: falls, like, within one of those kind of categories. So, this position, being a data engineer, obviously would fall under the data, service line. Most of our clients are, like, small to mid-sized organizations, but, I think you would recognize a couple of the names. They’re, like, on the shelves at, you know, Target and Walmart.
71 00:10:36.840 ⇒ 00:10:49.920 Kaela Gallagher: sometimes we do short-term engagements, 3 to 6 months, and we have a very, like, specified mission to accomplish. Other times, we’re working with clients longer term, we have clients we’ve worked with for over a year, and we’re…
72 00:10:50.000 ⇒ 00:11:00.359 Kaela Gallagher: kind of, at this point, serving as, like, an in-house data team to them. So, it can vary, but in this role, you’d probably be working with, like, two to three clients at a time, so…
73 00:11:00.360 ⇒ 00:11:19.869 Kaela Gallagher: For us, when we’re hiring data engineers, obviously, like, having the technical expertise is important. We work with a lot of, like, Snowflake and dbt, so those skill sets would be important, but in terms of other tooling, like, our team has a wide variety of experience on that, just because we’re often adapting to clients.
74 00:11:21.350 ⇒ 00:11:36.770 Kaela Gallagher: And so, context switching is super important to us, like, somebody that has worked in a consulting background before would be really relevant, and then somebody that can communicate with stakeholders as well, because our engineers are oftentimes, like, on calls with clients as well, so…
75 00:11:36.770 ⇒ 00:11:45.410 Kaela Gallagher: The communication aspect is really important, but, yeah, seems like you’re pretty, like, familiar, I guess, with what we’d be looking for.
76 00:11:46.330 ⇒ 00:11:58.719 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Actually, as I was saying, like, that’s the part where I thrive, usually, and that’s pretty hard for a technical person to really communicate well.
77 00:11:58.850 ⇒ 00:12:03.259 Yeshwanth C Mineni: to a non-person. That’s the challenge that most of firms face.
78 00:12:03.510 ⇒ 00:12:14.080 Yeshwanth C Mineni: And also, I’ve done my end of research as well. There are a couple of clients, pretty interesting for Brainforge as well. VitaCoco is something that I know.
79 00:12:14.520 ⇒ 00:12:15.350 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
80 00:12:15.690 ⇒ 00:12:25.769 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, okay, cool. Yeah, are there any, like, questions that I can help answer for you? Like, any curiosities you have about Brainforge?
81 00:12:26.240 ⇒ 00:12:31.829 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Nothing as of now. I just want to know, like, what would be the interview process and next steps?
82 00:12:32.270 ⇒ 00:12:32.940 Kaela Gallagher: Yes.
83 00:12:32.970 ⇒ 00:12:50.239 Kaela Gallagher: So our process consists of 3 rounds, so after this, you’d be chatting with, Awash for the first round. That would be, an overview of your experience, a couple technical questions. He is, like, our service leader for data engineering.
84 00:12:50.240 ⇒ 00:13:07.289 Kaela Gallagher: then you would chat with Dami, he’s our service leader for analytics engineering, but he’ll go, like, more into the technical side of things. We don’t do any, like, live coding or anything like that, but, just seeing how well you can, like, explain technical concepts.
85 00:13:07.290 ⇒ 00:13:12.480 Kaela Gallagher: And then our final round, we give you, like, a take-home challenge to solve.
86 00:13:12.480 ⇒ 00:13:16.979 Kaela Gallagher: And then you come to the final panel with your solution to present.
87 00:13:17.950 ⇒ 00:13:19.820 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Sounds good, actually.
88 00:13:19.820 ⇒ 00:13:35.270 Kaela Gallagher: Cool. Cool. Yeah, and, for each round, we’ll send you, like, a booking link, to schedule your next interview, so I would recommend getting those on calendar, like, pretty quickly, and if you’re able to, you know, schedule each interview
89 00:13:35.690 ⇒ 00:13:42.210 Kaela Gallagher: Within the week, then we can probably get the entire process completed in, probably the next, like, 2 weeks.
90 00:13:43.250 ⇒ 00:13:49.760 Yeshwanth C Mineni: I’m ready for it. I’m up for the challenge, yeah. I would rather be even faster. I mean, like, I’m available all week.
91 00:13:50.960 ⇒ 00:13:57.509 Kaela Gallagher: Cool. Well, we can go as fast as… as fast as you book, so, perfect.
92 00:13:57.610 ⇒ 00:14:01.429 Yeshwanth C Mineni: about that part. And, like, coming to the,
93 00:14:02.330 ⇒ 00:14:11.700 Yeshwanth C Mineni: you said you have some people on STEM OPD, right? So, does that mean that I can work on your W-2? Like, I can transfer to your W-2? Or…
94 00:14:12.520 ⇒ 00:14:20.789 Kaela Gallagher: So we don’t have anybody on W-2 right now. The people that are STEM OPT and working with us are on a 1099 basis.
95 00:14:21.400 ⇒ 00:14:22.340 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Oh, okay.
96 00:14:22.520 ⇒ 00:14:23.610 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Makes sense. Yeah.
97 00:14:24.190 ⇒ 00:14:27.920 Yeshwanth C Mineni: And you’re an e-verified firm as well, so… right?
98 00:14:28.280 ⇒ 00:14:29.339 Kaela Gallagher: Yes, yeah.
99 00:14:30.100 ⇒ 00:14:30.720 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Sounds good.
100 00:14:31.330 ⇒ 00:14:40.629 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, cool. Yeah, if you need anything, like, throughout the process, just let me know, but I’ll send over an email shortly with a link to book the first round.
101 00:14:41.100 ⇒ 00:14:42.080 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Sure, sounds good.
102 00:14:42.080 ⇒ 00:14:42.450 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
103 00:14:42.450 ⇒ 00:14:43.069 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Thank you so much.
104 00:14:43.070 ⇒ 00:14:43.390 Kaela Gallagher: Come on!
105 00:14:43.390 ⇒ 00:14:44.460 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Yeah.
106 00:14:44.550 ⇒ 00:14:47.150 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, thank you for your time. Great meeting you.
107 00:14:47.330 ⇒ 00:14:48.530 Yeshwanth C Mineni: Same here, likewise.
108 00:14:48.530 ⇒ 00:14:50.409 Kaela Gallagher: Alrighty. Talk to you later. Bye.