Building Leadership Skills in Engineering Management
Yash Shashikant Nikam, MS’25, engineering management, started his career journey in the automotive manufacturing industry. Looking to progress his career in the engineering field, the engineering management program was the perfect opportunity to blend his industry experience with his enthusiasm for leadership and collaboration.
Prior to coming to Northeastern University, Yash Shashikant Nikam completed a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in India. He worked for two years in India’s automotive manufacturing industry. Yash wanted to expand his career opportunities while exploring his interest in leadership roles, so he decided to continue his academic career with a master’s degree. Yash chose the engineering management program at Northeastern to enhance his skill set and knowledge of the engineering field and to prepare himself to achieve his career ambitions.
Co-op at BMW
Yash and his fellow interns at BMW.
Yash started his co-op at BMW as a process quality engineering intern in January of 2025. In this role, he worked on process optimization, continuous improvement, value stream mapping and data analysis and visualization. Yash thoroughly enjoyed his role’s responsibilities and the projects his role allowed him to collaborate on. His co-op at BMW was supposed to end in May of 2025, but he was given the opportunity to extend his time at BMW as a product analyst.
His new role as product analyst has allowed him to expand his skillset and work on larger-scale projects. As a product analyst, Yash has been building an internal digital platform that aims to connect subject-matter experts with employees across departments within BMW. Yash was able to utilize his classroom knowledge and apply it to a real-world project that has made communication and collaboration within the company more efficient. He additionally developed a data visualization initiative that required him to create Power BI dashboards. This project helped managers view operational trends in interactive charts and graphs.
Yash visiting the BMW Performance Center.
While at BMW, Yash has taken the responsibility of mentoring new interns and teaching them what he has learned during his co-op. He has enjoyed this experience and finds it both rewarding and exciting. He believes becoming a mentor has helped improve his leadership skills.
Inside and Outside the Classroom
Yash said the introductory co-op course he took, taught by Senior Co-op Coordinator John Bleakney and Assistant Co-op Coordinator Lauren Pamas, helped him immensely in preparing for his co-op at BMW. He says, “What I learned in that class was very crucial and very important for me.” Since Yash is an international student, learning about the functions of the workplace in the U.S. was beneficial for him. Through this class, Yash learned to format and build a resume for a job in the U.S and how to approach and answer interview questions. Yash praises Bleakney’s and Pamas’ teaching approach and said they additionally outlined how to act professionally at work and what students should expect during their co-op experience, which was equally helpful.
Besides the co-op course, “Digital Product Management” and “Computation and Visualization” were two courses that Yash attributes to his success at BMW. Yash took “Digital Product Management” as an online course with Associate Teaching Professor Andrei Guschin. Yash said Professor Guschin was extremely engaging with students and managed to get every student involved.
In each class, Professor Guschin would give students a few tasks to accomplish, such as creating an application, and then students would have to create a presentation based on their task and present it to the class. The time limit for completing the task and creating the presentation was limited, and at first, Yash faced challenges with the classwork required of him. As the class progressed, Yash started to get more comfortable with presenting and completing the work within the time constraints. He said doing this in class has had many positive advantages while working at his co-op. At BMW, Yash must give various presentations and complete work on tight deadlines, but through “Digital Product Management” he has the skill set to accomplish it. Additionally, the class curriculum involved learning about market research, data analysis and app building, all topics Yash works with daily at his co-op.
Yash took “Computation and Visualization” with Associate Teaching Professor Srinivasan
Yash giving a presentation at BMW.
Radhakrishnan. Yash said before taking this course, he had zero experience in data visualization and analysis. The class helped him understand data better and taught him how to use important tools, such as Tableau, Power BI and Python. A main component of Yash’s co-op is working with data, so this course was useful in preparing him for co-op. As well as “Probability and Statistics” with Teaching Professor Hanay Sadaka, which strengthened Yash’s understanding of probability and statistics, which has been essential for solving engineering problems both during co-op and classes.
To strengthen his leadership skills, Yash took an 8-week non-credit class called “LEAD360”. This program is designed to teach students leadership skills and to improve their existing skills. Yash said participating in this program has been one of the highlights of his experience so far at Northeastern. Yash was elected as an emerging graduate leader through the program due to his hard work.
Reflections
Yash has made the most of his time in the master’s program in Engineering Management. He has explored the various unique programs Northeastern has to offer, such as experiential learning, impactful student organizations and the LEAD360 program. He believes his opportunities have allowed him to build a strong foundation in his technical background and have given him a strong sense of his career aspirations. Yash is graduating from the engineering management program in December 2025. He hopes to pursue a career in project management due to his passion for building products that solve problems and bring people together.
Yash at BMW.