Life as a Distinguished Engineer | Joakim Recht (Uber)
Release Date: 04/30/2024
Building 2 Iconic OSSs Back-to-Back | Maxime Beauchemin (Airflow, Preset)
Software Misadventures
If you’ve worked on data problems, you probably have heard of Airflow and Superset, two powerful tools that have cemented their place in the data ecosystem. Building successful open-source software is no easy feat, and even fewer engineers have done this back to back. In part 2 of the conversation, we talk about Max’s journey in open source. Segments: (00:03:27) “Project-Community Fit” in Open Source (00:08:31) Fostering Relationships in Open Source (00:10:58) Dealing with Trolls (00:13:40) Attributes of Good Open Source Contributors...
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Become a LLM-ready Engineer | Maxime Beauchemin (Airflow, Preset)
Software Misadventures
If you’ve worked on data problems, you probably have heard of Airflow and Superset, two powerful tools that have cemented their place in the data ecosystem. Building successful open-source software is no easy feat, and even fewer engineers have done this back to back. In Part 1 of this conversation, we chat about how to adapt to the LLM-age as engineers. Segments: (00:01:59) The Rise and Fall of the Data Engineer (00:11:13) The Importance of Executive Skill in the Era of AI (00:13:53) Developing the first reflex to use AI (00:17:47) What are LLMs good at? (00:25:33) Text to SQL...
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Life as a Distinguished Engineer | Joakim Recht (Uber)
Software Misadventures
Out of thousands of engineers at Uber, there’s only a handful of Distinguished Engineers and Joakim was one of them. In this conversation we chat about Why software engineering is a lot like a sausage factory. Considerations for leaving big tech for a startup. “How to beat the promo commitee”. How can one effectively shape engineering culture? “Mentoring two people on the same team is a waste”. Much More. Segments: [0:01:52] The “reverse sausage” architecture [0:07:36] How to get people on board with the new deployment system? [0:13:55] What does it mean to be a...
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Learning in public | Kelsey Hightower
Software Misadventures
We’re super excited to have Kelsey back on the show! Our last conversation was around his incredible career journey - from working at McDonald’s after school to starting his own computer store, to hacking on python infrastructure with the core developers, to meeting Satya Nadella for an interview. In part two of this conversation, we dive deep into Kelsey’s experiences learning in public and writing “Kubernetes: Up and Running”: The biggest barrier to getting started with learning in public and a step-by-step guide to overcome it Cautionary tale of the “JavaScript sucks” guy ...
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Engineer's guide to startup advising | Kelsey Hightower
Software Misadventures
We’re super excited to have Kelsey back on the show! Our last conversation was around his incredible career journey - from working at McDonald’s after school to starting his own computer store, to hacking on python infrastructure with the core developers, to meeting Satya Nadella for an interview. In part one of this conversation, we dive deep into Kelsey’s experiences and expertise as a startup advisor: How to break into advising when you don’t have a lot of connections How to influence without authority Passive vs. active advising How to add value as an advisor Setting...
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The hard power of management and the soft power of senior ICs | Josh Wills
Software Misadventures
As a self-described “gainfully unemployed data person”, Josh Wills is an angel investor and has worked on and led data teams at Slack, Cloudera, WeaveGrid and Google. We discuss: How to get started with angel investing without a ton of $$ Attributes that define great engineering managers What’s it like transitioning from management back to IC Challenges in Climate Tech from a software perspective And more Segments: [0:01:35] Transitioning from management to individual contributor (IC). [0:10:19] Emotional intelligence and its role in engineering management. [0:25:21]...
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From High School Suspension to US Chief Data Scientist | DJ Patil
Software Misadventures
Known for coining the term “Data Scientist”, DJ is a renowned technologist with a diverse background spanning academia, industry, and government. Having led product teams at companies like RelateIQ and LinkedIn, DJ was appointed by President Obama to be the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist where his efforts led to the establishment of nearly 40 Chief Data Officer roles across the Federal government, new health care programs as well as new criminal justice reforms. We discuss: “Dream in years, plan in months, evaluate in weeks, ship daily” High school misadventures that shaped DJ’s...
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Building Diverse Engineering Teams | Erica Lockheimer
Software Misadventures
Erica is a former VP of Engineering at LinkedIn. Having almost dropped out of college, Erica’s journey in tech is a testament to her perseverance and dedication. In addition to leading engineering teams at LinkedIn, Erica founded WIT (Women In Tech) to empower women within the company as well as the broader tech community. We discuss: How to create incentives for diversity-building work. Building your personal “board of directors”. Balancing mentoring work vs sprint tickets. Structuring a community for long-term success. Much more. Segments: [0:18:04] building...
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Stories behind building HashiCorp | Mitchell Hashimoto
Software Misadventures
Mitchell co-founded HashiCorp in 2012 and created many important infrastructure tools, such as Terraform, Vagrant, Packer, and Consul. In addition to being a prolific engineer, Mitchell grew HashiCorp into a multi-billion-dollar public company. We discuss: How to structure large projects to avoid demotivation or burnout The "A.P.P.L.E" framework for diffusing tense situations and handling trolls How to decide what to work on Mitchell's unconventional transitions from CEO to CTO and then back to an individual contributor (IC) The quality that Mitchell values the most in an engineering...
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Practical Guide to More Effective Mentorship | Dave O'Connor (Google, Twilio, Elastic)
Software Misadventures
After 17 years building SRE teams at Google and serving as the Site Lead for Engineering in Dublin, Dave joined Elastic as the Sr Director of Engineering and later VP of Engineering at Twilio. Following a recent career break, Dave now divides his time between coaching engineering leaders and consulting to help busy teams be more effective. In the heart of our conversation, Dave shares the frameworks and practical tips he's amassed for making the most of the mentorship experience. Segments: [00:01:45] Growing remote SRE team as the Google Dublin Site Lead [00:19:49] Company Culture vs...
info_outlineOut of thousands of engineers at Uber, there’s only a handful of Distinguished Engineers and Joakim was one of them. In this conversation we chat about
-
Why software engineering is a lot like a sausage factory.
-
Considerations for leaving big tech for a startup.
-
“How to beat the promo commitee”.
-
How can one effectively shape engineering culture?
-
“Mentoring two people on the same team is a waste”.
-
Much More.
Segments:
[0:01:52] The “reverse sausage” architecture
[0:07:36] How to get people on board with the new deployment system?
[0:13:55] What does it mean to be a distinguished engineer?
[0:17:47] Under-appreciated soft skills?
[0:21:28] How to improve technical writing
[0:24:16] Do all senior engineers need to write and review code every day?
[0:30:19] How to search out where to contribute when your time is so constrained?
[0:43:10] How to maximize your impact as a mentor
[0:48:52] “How to beat the promo committee”
[0:52:56] Effective means to influence engineering culture?
[0:57:09] Capping the company at 150 employees
[1:03:33] Why join a startup instead of moving to another big tech company?
[1:11:14] What Joakim is working on now at Beyond Work
Show Notes:
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Joakim on leaving Uber to start Beyond Work: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-left-uber-start-beyond-work-joakim-recht-o63of?trk=public_post_feed-article-content
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Read Joakim’s other excellent posts here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recht/recent-activity/all/
Stay in touch:
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