Episodes
#28 - The Art of Engineering Management, with Rebecca Murphey, EM at Stripe
March 31, 2021
Rebecca Murphey tried a lot of things on her way to becoming an engineering manager at Stripe - from journalism to advertisement, and even learning how to fly. In this episode, I sit down with Rebecca to learn more about her path, what were the important lessons learned in her non-tech career that helped her be an efficient engineering leader, and what aspiring engineering managers can start doing today to figure out if this career track is for them.
#27 - How to Build a Career in Human Resources, with David Daniels
March 20, 2021
There is a certain air of mystery around careers in Human Resources (HR), and David Daniels, who is a veteran HR leader in tech, is here to bring some clarity about the work. David has extensive experience being in HR at Microsoft, Pinterest, and now - Snapchat. He shares his insights about going from education to leadership in some of the most prominent tech companies, fighting against the fixed mindset, and uncommon recommendations for folks wanting to get started with their careers.
#26 - How to Grow as a Product Manager, with Dan Olsen
March 14, 2021
There is no single, well-defined path to becoming a product manager. There are more questions than answers when it comes to figuring out which skills are necessary, what books or blog posts to read, or which courses to take. Dan Olsen, the author of The Lean Product Playbook, former product leader at Intuit, Friendster, Box, and the US Navy (he worked on submarine design) shares with us some insights on what it means to grow as a product manager.
#25 - How to Build a Career in Design and Pitch Gary Vee, with Jack Zerby
March 7, 2021
Jack Zerby is not your typical designer. His experience producing music, working at Pentagram and Frog, building startups, pitching to Gary Vee, and now - building tools for creators at Gumroad, puts him square in the middle of a very uncommon career path. In this episode, I chat with Jack to learn more about what motivated him to grow his career, how to break into design, how to make the transition from a big company to a startup, and what does it mean to build compelling narratives in deck form.
#24 - Building Communities with Jess Lee
February 28, 2021
Jess Lee is the co-founder of dev.to - a developer community that emphasizes the importance of a friendly approach to guiding folks through the tumultuous waters of software development. In this episode, we chat about Jess’ career, the journey to founding Forem - the open-source platform powering large communities, and her experience building successful distributed teams.
#23 - From Servers, Phones, and Voice Assistants to Space with Charlie Kindel
February 21, 2021
Charlie Kindel is a tech industry veteran who helped bootstrap, grow, and manage teams that built home servers, phones, voice assistants, home automation software, and hopefully soon - space technologies. In this episode, we dive a bit deeper into Charlie’s approach to product ideation and design, discuss the importance of having a principled organization, and ask questions about his most recent adventure around space.
#22 - Paige Bailey on Building a Career In Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
February 1, 2021
Paige Bailey is one of the few Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) experts who is able to convey complex technical topics in an easy-to-understand and relatable language. Her Twitter feed is full of AI/ML paper recommendations, open source projects, and insights about the ever-evolving tech space.
#21 - Mayuko Inoue on Building a Content Creator Career Path
January 17, 2021
Mayuko Inoue made a bold step by defying the stereotypical career path of a software engineer, and became a full-time content creator. Her videos on YouTube answer some of the more salient questions that are almost never covered in your typical coding tutorials and overviews. What was behind this career decision and what were the lessons learned? How do you build a healthy community, and develop a good work-life balance? We talk to Mayuko about her personal take on the unique trajectory she's carving, as well as the lessons learned along the way.
#20 - Scott Hanselman on Intentionality
January 14, 2021
Our first episode of the year is with the one and only Scott Hanselman. We tried to come up with a catchy title, but the entire episode could be summarized in one word - intentionality.
#19 - Wrap Up Episode For 2020
December 28, 2020
Den and Courtny reflect on the year we just went through, and discuss our plans for 2021.