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Career Transition: From Switchgear to Strategy: Tridev’s Leap from Engineering to Consulting

  • April 25, 2025
  • Strategy

What does it take to move from a highly technical engineering role to management consulting and analytics?

For Tridev Kundu, the journey started inside a substation and ended up in client boardrooms. His story is not just inspiring—it’s a roadmap for many mid-career professionals looking to repurpose their domain expertise into a business-facing role.

Engineering in the Real World

Tridev began his career at Schneider Electric, working on medium voltage retrofit solutions—specifically, vacuum circuit breakers for oil & gas substations. Over nearly 8 years, he built deep expertise across:

  • Technical design of power distribution equipment

  • Working with marquee clients like IOCL, ONGC, and Shell

  • Implementing retrofit solutions across India’s aging infrastructure

But engineering, while fulfilling, had its boundaries. Tridev found himself asking:

“How do I influence more than just the technical solution? Can I work on the business side of impact?”

Phase 2: Building Transitional Skills

Two pivotal experiences nudged him toward the business world:

  1. Leading a Six Sigma project to reduce lead time:

    • This gave him exposure to process improvement, stakeholder management, and quantifying business impact.

  2. Setting up a new factory in Boda:

    • Here, he navigated vendor selection, operational layouts, and cross-functional coordination—key themes in operations consulting.

These weren’t just engineering tasks. They were business interventions disguised as technical execution.

The MBA Pivot

Recognizing the need for formal business exposure, Tridev pursued an MBA, focusing on operations, analytics, and strategy.

But even post-MBA, the shift wasn’t easy.

“My first few months at Genpact weren’t smooth. I was learning how to translate my engineering experience into consultative conversations with clients.”

Yet, it was this domain fluency that got him hired in the first place.

Analytics & Consulting at Genpact

Genpact saw potential in Tridev’s manufacturing background and placed him in manufacturing analytics.

He soon took on a leadership role in supply chain and pricing analytics for clients in GE Oil & Gas, GE Energy, and GE Renewables. His responsibilities included:

  • Client governance: Managing delivery, addressing performance concerns, and identifying new problem areas.

     

  • Solution building: From Excel-based dashboards to PowerBI visualizations

     

Operational impact: Optimizing manpower deployment, spare parts planning, and project forecasting

What Made the Transition Work?

  1. Domain to Dialogue:
     He didn’t abandon engineering—he learned to speak about it in business language. From cost drivers to KPIs, he re-framed his past work for consulting conversations.

  2. Project Thinking:
     Whether it was a factory setup or a lead-time reduction, Tridev learned to structure problems and highlight outcomes—skills that consulting firms prize.

Resilience in Ambiguity:


 “Most problems didn’t come with a playbook. We used first principles, common sense, and management frameworks—often in that order.”

Key Takeaways for Professionals Eyeing a Similar Shift

If you’re an engineer…

Start doing this…

Solving technical problems

Frame them as business impact stories

Working on process improvements

Quantify savings, time, and efficiency

Leading teams

Emphasize governance, escalation handling, and stakeholder updates

Learning in silos

Pick up project management, analytics, and supply chain theory

Wanting growth

Ask: what part of the business can I influence next?

Career Conversations for Career Transitions

Tridev’s journey reminds us that transitioning careers isn’t about leaving your past behind—it’s about repurposing your strengths in a new context.

If you’re in a technical role and wondering whether a business or consulting path is for you—start by mapping your experience to real-world impact. Because as Tridev’s story shows, that’s exactly what clients (and employers) pay for.

If you want to do a similar career transition, do a career conversation. 

GoCrackIt understands that transitioning careers often requires a mindset shift along with new skills. That’s why their coaching for career transition also includes soft skill development, interview preparation, and networking advice. With access to these comprehensive career transition services, you’re better prepared to position yourself effectively in a competitive job market. The career coach transition mentors offer encouragement and honest feedback, helping you stay motivated and focused throughout your journey.

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