Open to senior data roles & founding conversations
Data Engineer and Product Builder passionate about cloud platforms, automation, analytics, and creating real-world software products.
Senior Data Engineer | Cloud Architect | AI Builder | Product Creator · Chennai, India
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Shankar Arjunan
engineer × builder × founder
01 · About
I started as a mechanical engineer — trained to think in systems, tolerances, and failure modes. Then I discovered that the most interesting machines today are made of data.
I taught myself SQL and Python, switched into data engineering, and never looked back. Today I design multi-terabyte cloud architectures by day — and by night I build products: a wealth operating system for Indian families, a wellness marketplace, and AI tools for engineers.
The thread connecting it all: engineer by profession, builder by passion. I don't stop at pipelines — I ship the whole product.
# a typical week
09:00 design cloud data architecture
13:00 tune Snowflake & dbt models
18:00 mentor data engineers
21:00 ship features on GoldOS
23:00 experiment with local LLMs
# learning never stops · building never stops
02 · Skills
Seven disciplines, one goal: take an idea from raw data to a product people use.
Pipelines that move terabytes without drama.
03 · Featured Projects
Real software with real users in mind — from family wealth management to enterprise data platforms.
Wealth Operating System
A wealth operating system helping Indian families manage gold investments, savings goals, loans, net worth tracking, and long-term wealth planning.
Wellness Marketplace
Mobile platform connecting therapists and clients through appointment booking, payments, and wellness services.
Enterprise Data Architecture
Designed architecture for moving multi-terabyte datasets from on-prem systems to cloud platforms using Airflow, Snowflake, dbt, Spark, and cloud storage.
Career Intelligence
AI-powered interview preparation platform for Data Engineers and Cloud professionals — mock interviews with structured feedback and learning paths.
04 · Career Journey
Mechanical engineering taught me systems. Data engineering taught me scale. Building products is teaching me everything else.
2019
Graduated as a mechanical engineer — learned to think in systems, tolerances, and first principles.
2020
Self-taught SQL, Python, and analytics nights and weekends. Fell in love with data.
2021
Made the switch. Built first production pipelines and learned what 'data quality' really costs.
2022
Went deep on AWS and GCP — infrastructure as code, cost-aware architecture, multi-cloud patterns.
2023
Designed 5TB+ migration architectures, led data initiatives, and started training others.
2024
Started shipping AI-powered products — interview coaching, automation, LLM-driven workflows.
Next
Building GoldOS and the wealth-tech stack for Indian families. The next chapter is products.
05 · Founder Mode
A job title describes the present. These projects describe where I'm going.
The operating system for family wealth in India — gold, goals, loans, and net worth in one place.
A long-term bet: financial infrastructure designed for how Indian families actually save.
Interview coaching, automation agents, and LLM tooling — shipped as real products, not demos.
Combining data engineering rigor with product instinct to build a venture-scale company.
“Engineer by profession. Builder by passion.”
The goal isn't the next job — it's the next company.
06 · Impact
3+
Years Experience
Data & cloud engineering
2
Cloud Platforms
AWS and GCP, production-grade
100+
Hours Training Delivered
Analytics & interview mentoring
5TB+
Data Architectures Designed
On-prem to cloud migrations
3
AI Products Built
From idea to working software
2
SaaS Products Created
Wealth-tech and wellness
07 · Certifications
Amazon Web Services
AWS Certified
Cloud Architecture
Google Cloud
GCP Certified
Data Engineering
SnowPro
Snowflake
Data Warehousing
dbt Labs
dbt
Analytics Engineering
Professional Track
Data Engineering
Pipelines & Architecture
// more certifications loading — this section is built to grow
08 · Writing
Articles in progress. Topics I'll be writing about, from the trenches.
coming soon
Pipeline patterns that survive production.
coming soon
Warehouse design and cost optimization.
coming soon
Orchestration beyond the tutorial DAG.
coming soon
Building LLM features that ship.
coming soon
AWS vs GCP, from someone who runs both.
coming soon
Mechanical engineer to data engineer to founder.
09 · Testimonials
Recommendation slots reserved for managers, clients, students, and colleagues.
“
Reserved for a manager who watched a migration land on time.
Your Manager
Engineering Leadership
“
Reserved for a client whose data finally made sense.
Your Client
Founder / Stakeholder
“
Reserved for a student who cracked their data engineering interview.
Your Student
Mentee
10 · Contact
Hiring for a senior data role? Exploring a wealth-tech idea? Need a builder who ships? My inbox is open.