Discover the collection of The Work Item podcast episodes with the Engineering tag. Go to the Episodes page to listen to the latest releases, find interesting guests, or navigate through the history of the show.
Engineering Podcast Episodes
#84 - Tools Do Not Matter - Jason Lengstorf (Founder, Learn With Jason)
October 31, 2024
If you've been immersed in the tech world for some time, you probably have heard one specific YouTube channel mentioned more than once - Learn With Jason. It's a project started by Jason Lengstorf, a former VP of developer experience at a web tooling startup (he was a head of developer relations prior to that too), that is aimed at helping everyone navigate the always changing landscape of developer tools and frameworks. Which, by the way, according to Jason do not matter.
#83 - Don't Take The Easy Path - Jennifer Wong (Engineering Leader)
August 8, 2024
Jennifer Wong is a seasoned engineering manager who started her journey in civil engineering. The fast pace of the tech industry drew her in, and she stuck with it for years since making that call. In this episode, I chat with Jennifer about her transition from a non-traditional career path into software, reasons to take on management instead of being an individual contributor, and why taking the road less traveled in terms of career progression might just be the recipe for long-term growth and success.
#80 - Web Development Is Theatre - Miriam Suzanne (CSS Working Group, OddBird)
June 12, 2024
One of the things that Miriam Suzanne realized early in her developer journey is that web development is a tool - she wanted to build a website for her theater company and ended up building a career and a company around it. And not just that, but she also joined the CSS Working Group - the official standards body that determines how the CSS stack evolves. In this show, we talk about her early discovery of the power of the web, how she joins creativity with technical prowess, and how CSS is really like poetry written in the browser.
#79 - How To Get Promoted To Tech Executive - Lena Reinhard (VP Engineering, CircleCI, Travis CI)
May 28, 2024
We often talk about promotions and growth, but the moment the conversation shifts towards paths to staff or executive positions, the advice goes blank. There is very little actionable information out there that can tell you how you can get to the highest echelons of leadership. To get a clearer picture on this topic, I sat down with Lena Reinhard, a seasoned executive with an extensive track record at CircleCI, Travis CI, and more.
#78 - I Left Hawai'i To Work In Startups, With Katie Fujihara
May 14, 2024
One's journey from their early career to working at startups in Silicon Valley can take many forms. Some folks take the more traditional route of joining a company right after college. Others get tired of their corporate life and decide to try something different. Katie Fujihara, an engineer and a technical program manager amalgam, decided that her journey to the heart of "startup land," San Francisco, would be an impromptu one - she just packed up her bags and set out on an adventure.
#75 - From Pandemic Pastime To Real VC-Funded Startup, with David Khourshid
March 30, 2024
In this episode of The Work Item, I had a conversation with David Khourshid, founder of Stately.AI. You might know him as @DavidKPiano on social media. Today, we're breaking new ground around unconventional paths of building an engineering career, entrepreneurship, and leveraging your audience as the potential first customers for your product. And of course - we talk a bit more about state machines (David is also the developer behind XState) and lessons learned from launching and growing a startup in the midst of a pandemic.
#72 - Give People What They Came For, with Jerod Santo
February 5, 2024
Today I got the pleasure to chat with Jerod Santo, the Managing Editor at Changelog Media. Picture this – a podcast that not only uncovers the intricacies of Jerod's career but also shares some unconventional lessons learned from his work. From navigating the ever-evolving tech landscape to spearheading Changelog, Jerod brings a wealth of experience that transcends your typical engineer expectations and taps into the heart of what it means to build a sustainable developer community.
#71 - Going Solo As A Developer Educator, with Kent C. Dodds
January 29, 2024
Kent C. Dodds is a developer, educator, community organizer, and above all, a person that is passionate about making the world a better place by giving as many folks as possible the opportunity to learn web development. I sat down with Kent to chat more about his career, what bootstrapped his interest in programming, and what his takeaways from building his path as an entrepreneur are.
#70 - Building a Career In Developer Tools, with Kenneth Auchenberg
December 31, 2023
Today, you're in for a treat as I sit down with Kenneth Auchenberg, a seasoned product manager - you might know him from his work at Microsoft on Visual Studio Code as well as on developer tools at Stripe. He is also a developer and overall a very nice person to know.
#63 - Beyond Just Engineering Skills, with Adrienne Braganza Tacke
November 8, 2023
If you want to be intentional about your career and become a multidisciplinary professional, this conversation with Adrienne Tacke is for you.