Hear from the best software engineering leaders in the world as they share their leadership journey and how they are solving their Priority Zero with our host, ...
S1E10 Taming your imposter syndrome with Medium's Melissa DePuydt
Melissa DePuydt, Director of Engineering at Medium, joins the show to talk about making the switch from journalism to software engineering, her experiences with imposter syndrome, and a Scrappy vs. Scale framework for adapting your management approach to different contexts.
06:00 Transitioning from journalism to engineering
13:00 Learning to live with imposter syndrome
21:00 The Scrappy vs. Scale framework (Check out Melissa's LeadDev New York talk on the Scrappy/Scale Mindset)
31:20 Establishing stability at Medium
Melissa's recommendation: Horseback riding (yes, horseback riding)
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46:42
S1E9: Making the "scary" jump to management with Cloudflare's Matt Boyle
Matt Boyle, an engineering manager at Cloudflare, joins the show to talk about joining the tech giant during the pandemic, how that influences his management style, and the vital importance of regular retrospectives.
06:00 The difference between working at big and small companies
09:00 The terrifying transition from IC to manager
15:00 The vital importance of retrospectives
18:00 Managing distributed teams and the importance of asynchronous work
21:00 Matt's Priority Zero: Ensuring high availability
24:00 The importance of continuous improvement after incidents
Matt's recommendation: Acquired podcast
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28:42
S1E8 Navigating the scaling journey with Gymshark's Engineering Director, Dan Blundell
Dan Blundell, Engineering Director at Gymshark, joins the show to talk about his journey from an aspiring musician to self-taught developer.
He reflects on his experiences in the public sector, including working on the UK's Covid-19 test and trace application, and his transition to the fast-growing retailer Gymshark, where he has learned the importance of understanding business needs, hiring for culture, and the significance of maintaining leadership capacity during periods of rapid change.
00:00 The MySpace years and discovering the spark
09:00 Becoming an accidental manager
12:00 Lessons learned from the public sector
15:00 The fear of joining Gymshark and navigating leadership challenges
21:00 The importance of understanding business needs
24:00 Dan's Priority Zero: Scaling at Gymshark
27:00 Hiring for culture and values
Dan's recommendation: The Engineering Leader by Cate Huston
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41:05
S1E7 How AI will change travel booking with Trainline's Gary Stevens
Director of Engineering at Trainline, Gary Stevens, joins the show to talk about the role of machine learning in the travel booking experience, the importance of engagement as an engineering leader, and mentoring vs coaching.
00:00 Gary's journey to director of engineering and learning from great managers
09:00 Coaching vs. mentoring
13:00 The importance of engagement in engineering and the importance of celebrating good work
21:00 Machine learning and the future of travel user experiences
Gary's recommendation: The Hard Fork podcast
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29:44
S1E6 From self-taught developer to engineering manager with Incident's Alicia Collymore
Alicia Collymore, a Senior Engineering Manager at Incident.io joins the show to chat about entering the industry without a formal computer science degree, transitioning from tech lead to management, setting goals for people who don't want them, and her priority zero of a big Microsoft Teams integration.
03:10 From self-learning to getting her big break
06:00 Transitioning from Tech Lead to Engineering Manager
12:00 The key to good hiring
15:00 Setting goals for engineers
17:30 Delivering a big MS Teams integration project
Alicia's recommendation: Medusa by Rosie Hewlett
Hear from the best software engineering leaders in the world as they share their leadership journey and how they are solving their Priority Zero with our host, LeadDev editor in chief, Scott Carey.