career
#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.
#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.
#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.
#15 - Tarun Gangwani on Innovation, Navigating Product Decisions, and Building Growth Engines
November 1, 2020
We sit down to chat with Tarun Gangwani, Senior Product Manager at Sanity.io. Tarun is a seasoned PM with tons of expertise to share about the product management domain.
#14 - Interview with Richard Lander
October 18, 2020
In this episode of The Work Item we interview Richard Lander, Principal Program Manager on the .NET team at Microsoft. Richard does a deep dive on communication, being a generalist vs. specialist, and growing one's career.
#13 - Interview with Amanda Silver
September 27, 2020
In this episode of The Work Item we interview Amanda Silver, Corporate Vice President, Developer Division at Microsoft. We discuss the process of building great developer tools, the human element in product design, and career advice for the long run.