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CURRENT ROLE · DATA ENGINEER III

Prajakta
Pohare.

Data Engineer at Caterpillar Inc. with 5+ years of experience optimizing workflows, automating processes, and delivering measurable outcomes across enterprise environments.

View work Resume ↗ LinkedIn ↗ GitHub ↗
ABOUT

Data, decisions, and the
space between them.

Data Engineer with 5+ years of experience transforming complex data into scalable, reliable systems. I specialize in building clean, trustworthy data workflows that teams can actually depend on.

At Accenture, I drove measurable outcomes across app development projects, reducing development cycle times by 40% and maintaining 95% SLA compliance. I worked cross-functionally with stakeholders to deliver on time, and with full documentation for cross-team transparency.

Today, at Caterpillar Inc., I design and orchestrate end-to-end pipelines that power business intelligence across Construction Industries. I work cross-functionally with analysts, data scientists, and business stakeholders, translating nuanced problems into scalable digital data products.

My background sits at the intersection of Engineering, Project Management, and Data Analytics, a combination that means I don't just build solutions, I deliver them with structure, precision, and a clear eye on business impact.

Languages

  • Python
  • SQL
  • R
  • Java
  • .NET / C#

Data & Pipelines

  • PySpark
  • Pandas
  • MS SQL Server
  • ETL/ELT design
  • Data wrangling

BI & Visualization

  • Tableau
  • Power BI
  • Minitab

Tools & Methods

  • Git
  • Jira
  • Agile
  • Six Sigma
  • AnyLogic
EXPERIENCE

Where I've built things.

Three roles across three companies. Management, analytics, and app delivery, most of it under SLA, all of it documented.

  1. Sep 2025 → Present

    Data Engineer III

    Caterpillar Inc. · Mossville, IL · Contract

    • Building the next evolution of analytics across Construction Industries (CI) segments.
    • Gather requirements from internal customers, transform raw data, and deliver intuitive reporting dashboards used by decision-makers organization-wide.
    • Collaborate cross-functionally with analysts, data scientists, and business stakeholders to design digital data products.
    • Manage database changes per software release; run validation checks for data integrity before production.
    • Automate manual processes to reduce technical debt and improve system reliability.
    • Python
    • SQL
    • Power BI
    • Data Pipelines

  2. Aug 2024 → May 2025

    Data Analyst

    Illinois State University · Normal, IL · Part-time

    • Redesigned the VanillaSoft CRM interface to improve usability, and reducing onboarding time for new team members.
    • Analyzed complex datasets to performance gaps, optimizing internal workflows and ensuring data integrity.
    • Automated repetitive tasks using Excel macros, reducing manual labor by over 40% and increasing operational efficiency.
    • Built and maintained performance dashboards, trends, and KPIs to support data-driven decision-making across teams.
    • Performed data cleaning and quality control across extensive datasets,, achieving a 35% improvement in data accuracy.
    • Python
    • SQL
    • Power BI
    • Excel
    • VanillaSoft CRM

  3. Jun 2022 → Jun 2023

    Application Development Analyst

    Accenture Solutions Pvt. Ltd · Bengaluru, India

    • Implemented user stories aligned with client expectations as a part of a delivery pod.
    • Upgraded existing application logic and held 95% SLA compliance across the project lifecycle.
    • Drove a 40% reduction in development cycle time through workflow refactors.
    • .NET
    • C#
    • SQL
    • Agile
PROJECTS

Selected work.

All on GitHub ↗
RESEARCH · PUBLISHED WORK

Published work.

Two papers — one a thesis on AI-assisted data wrangling, one a conference paper on hybrid wireless networks. Both reflect a long-running interest in making infrastructure work harder so the people using it have to think less about it.

M.S. Thesis

2025

Enhancing Data Wrangling Efficiency Using AI

Illinois State University — Theses and Dissertations, No. 2071

Investigates how AI can structure data wrangling tasks via Work Breakdown Structures, benchmarking AI-generated task prioritization against manual methods. Finds AI delivers structured, timely task sequences comparable to human plans — meaningfully reducing planning overhead while preserving quality.

Citation 

Pohare, P. (2025). Enhancing Data Wrangling Efficiency Using AI.
M.S. Thesis, Illinois State University.
Theses and Dissertations, No. 2071.
Read thesis ↗

Conference Paper

2024

Cutting Edge Network Technology: Creating Li-Fi and Wi-Fi Hybrid

SITE 2024 — AACE, pp. 1066–1071. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Examines hybrid Li-Fi / Wi-Fi networks as a response to RF spectrum limitations. Analyzes how combining Li-Fi's high-bandwidth light transmission with Wi-Fi's broader coverage produces faster, more reliable indoor wireless networks.

Citation 

Pohare, P. & Schmidt, K. (2024). Cutting Edge Network Technology:
Creating Li-Fi and Wi-Fi Hybrid. In Proceedings of SITE 2024
(pp. 1066–1071). Association for the Advancement of Computing
in Education (AACE).
Read paper ↗
EDUCATION

Academic background.

  1. 2023 → 2025

    M.S. Technology Project Management

    Illinois State University

    Thesis: Enhancing Data Wrangling Efficiency Using AI.

    See research →

  2. 2024 → 2025

    Graduate Certificate — Business Information Systems

    Illinois State University

  3. 2023 → 2025

    Graduate Certificate — Quality Management & Analysis

    Illinois State University

  4. 2016 → 2020

    B.E. Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

    G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering, India

CONTACT

Let's
work together.

Whether it's a data engineering challenge, a pipeline collaboration, or just a conversation about data — I'd love to hear from you.