Level-up Engineering

Transforming teams doesn’t go without its challenges.Let’s look at Tinder’s example. In this episode, Chris O'Brien, Director of Engineering at Tinder, shares his insights on building and leading engineering teams, particularly focusing on turning around existing teams. He discusses transforming teams, transitioning into a leadership role, Tinder’s culture and hiring process and a lot more.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Building a new team by turning another one aroundTransitioning into a leadership roleTinder’s cultureKeeping business, customer and team needs alignedTinder’s hiring processExcerpt from the interview:“Change isn't easy for anyone, especially in the workplace where stability and predictability matter. Switching teams suddenly can be unsettling, and it takes time for people to adapt and build trust with their new colleagues. That's why I've always believed in prioritizing relationship-building. It's something my mentor taught me early on, and it's proven to be invaluable. When there's already a foundation of trust and camaraderie, transitions become smoother, and teams become stronger.”

Scaling engineering teams can happen in a lot of different ways. Let’s take a look at a real-life example, how Fleetio scaled their product and team over the years.Their Principal Software Engineer, Richard Young shares what challenges they faced, the strategies they implemented and gives valuable tips to those who consider joining or scaling a startup. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Fleetio’s approach to scalingFleetio’s approach to hiringMentorship programsScaling as a startupCross-functional collaborationBonus advice for scaling engineering teamsAdvice for engineers joining startupsExcerpt from the interview:“Unlike many startups driven by external investor pressure to rapidly expand, Fleetio charted its own course, prioritizing autonomy and organic growth. This autonomy allowed us to make decisions aligned with our vision and pace of development, a significant draw for me when I joined the company.Navigating the demands of a small engineering team posed its own set of challenges. With just a handful of us, balancing the delivery of customer features with support across various departments like sales, marketing, and product marketing became crucial. Our engineering efforts weren't limited to coding; we had to be nimble in assisting other teams to ensure customer satisfaction and sustained growth.”

Liam Martin, Co-Founder of Time Doctor, debunks myths around remote work and shares valuable tips on managing remote engineering teams so they remain well-aligned in an asynchronous environment. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Finding unbiased informationSocial implicationsState of remote workingAsynchronous team managementRemote work is here to stayExcerpt from the interview:"If you try to force employees back to the office, you'll likely end up with a team of B players, as the top talent will have the freedom to choose how they want to work. Right now, it's a seller's market, especially for engineers.For managers uncomfortable with leading a remote engineering team, I don't have any comforting solutions. The reality is, if you insist on running your engineering team from the office, it's likely to fail. It's a tough truth, but there's no way around it."

Ian Tien, CEO and Co-Founder of Mattermost, talks about these core principles and their impact on his company. He highlights the importance of customer obsession, self-awareness, transparency and earning trust, just to name a few.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Customer-centric approach and its impactEngineering principlesFollowing the engineering principles in day-to-day processesStories of the engineering principles in real life The role of managersFinding the right engineering principles for MattermostAre engineering principles set in stone?Excerpt from the interview:“Great companies are always changing and improving. We never reach a point where we say, "That's it, we've learned everything we need to know." Our values and principles are always evolving as we learn more and as our needs change. For example, we used to have a principle called high standards. It was important when we were struggling with quality issues early on. But as we improved our quality and introduced other principles like earned trust, having high standards started to cause confusion.High standards were sometimes in conflict with our other values. For instance, it clashed with customer obsession when we needed to release features quickly. It also conflicted with high impact when we focused too much on polishing things instead of delivering important changes. So, we decided to remove high standards from our principles. We realized that its role could be filled by other values and that it was causing more confusion than clarity.This shows that our values aren't set in stone. We're always willing to reassess and make changes when needed. Our goal is to create a culture that meets the needs of our team and our customers both now and in the future.”

Gil Broza, Value Delivery & Agile Leadership Expert, gives actionable advice for leaders who want truly great product development. He emphasizes the importance of putting people first, creating a culture of continuous improvement and a lot more.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Why isn’t product development great yet?Improving your software delivery system step by stepPutting people first in practiceThe right mindset for better product deliveryValue delivery system - Next stepsFitness for purposeRevising your value delivery systemReal-life examples of the strategiesExcerpt from the interview:"Success in software development requires continuous improvement, yet many companies seem to plateau after adopting certain methodologies. Few actively strive to enhance their practices throughout the development lifecycle. New methodologies like Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps emerge, but their adoption is often partial and not fully effective. Implementing changes can create unintended consequences, leading to stalled progress. (...)Oftentimes, there's no unified approach to developing successful products, which is concerning for the industry's future success."

Magda Miu, Senior Engineering Manager at Adobe, discusses the importance of mentoring and shares her experiences as both a mentor and mentee. She highlights the benefits of mentoring, explains how she created a program at Adobe, and offers tips for others looking to organize something similar in their organization.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Magda’s personal experience with mentoringHow to seek mentorsMagda’s mentoring program at AdobeKey takeaways from the programExcerpt from the interview:"Many people view mentoring as a one-way street, and understanding that it’s actually a two-way street only comes after you’ve been on both sides: being a mentee and a mentor later on. As a mentee, you may think your mentors won’t gain anything from helping you, but the reality is different. Being a mentor improves your communication skills, so that you can resonate with all sorts of people. You also gain knowledge, because your mentee will share stories and challenges from their industry. If there’s an age gap between the mentor and mentee, it’s also a chance to get new perspectives from a different age group. Last but not least, the feeling of helping others and giving back is just extremely rewarding. It’s an amazing feeling to see your mentee improve in their career."

Dave Yeager, Director of Data Infrastructure at Recurve, shares aspects of healthy organizations, lists some signs of unhealthy ones and gives you actionable tips that you can implement today to make your company a better place to work at. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Creating healthy work environments in bigger vs. smaller organizationsSome aspects of a healthy cultureSpotting an unhealthy cultureThe impact of managersAdvice for managersExcerpt from the interview:“One thing I find very interesting about continuous integration is that it only works if the tests are successful. However, there are endless stories about engineers not understanding why the release failed on the test, so they change the test itself. It’s a good example of a broken company culture - instead of being vulnerable and admitting there’s an unsolved problem that the team needs to address, we just twist the tests around to meet a deadline. This way, nobody’s going to learn anything. Pull requests should be an opportunity for engineers to walk each other through the task, discuss solutions and overcome potential hurdles.”

Mayakrishnan Chakkarapani, Senior Director of Software Engineering at Salesforce, shares interesting insights on how his organization uses Agile to meet business goals and empower developers while doing so. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Agile in SalesforceSome benefits of implementing Agile What to keep in mind when implementing AgileHow to empower developers when following AgileSetting up and managing virtual teamsExcerpt from the interview:"View your organization as a doctor and your customers as patients; getting your customers’ desired business outcomes means you treated a patient. If one of your patients needs surgery, you need to focus on ensuring they recover as quickly as possible. Agile is nothing but an operational procedure ensuring you’re doing the operation methodically and iteratively.  It means you’re running a diagnosis first, then you come up with various techniques, and finally, you perform the operation the best way possible.  But just because you have a thorough pre-surgery process, it doesn’t mean you can neglect postoperative care. You still have to monitor the patient, and if something seems off, you have to do the process all over again. A lot of times, I’ve seen people taking Agile for granted, thinking it’ll solve everything on its own without thinking about the culture or empowering their teams. It leads them to just force people to do more, causing lots of engineers to burn out eventually. What happens with these dysfunctional organizations is that the operation may succeed because they followed Agile, but the patient still died."

Robert Hodges, CEO of Altinity, discusses various important aspects of open source software development. He talks about the decisions every company should make before embarking on an open source journey, the unresolved issues within the community, some interesting predictions about the future of OSS, and a lot more. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Robert’s open source journeyEarly vs. current principlesThe benefits of open sourceCurrent trends in the open source communityOpen source concerns & adviceMain challenges in the future of open sourceExcerpt from the interview:"Releasing your software openly and letting people do anything they want to do with it definitely scares some people. Maybe it’s less of an issue for developers who are just writing a piece of code - as an individual, if someone finds my work useful, I’m pretty happy about it. However, when businesses make their software open source, they might worry about others using it to build a competing product.The problem is, open source software is typically licensed in a way that you can do anything you want with it. You can build a new business out of it, competing against the people who wrote the code in the first place. This can cause real tension, and it’s not fully resolved at this point within the community. To grasp this issue from a philosophical standpoint, Cicero claims that there’s never a conflict between your own interests and doing the right thing. If you shape the problem the correct way, you can do the right thing, and that can also serve you at the same time."

Peter Anderton, Founder of Internal Alignment, shares actionable tips to become a better leader by creating alignment, fighting your own ego, improving your listening skills and appreciating the differences within your team.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Strategies for leadersCreating true diversity comes down to truly appreciating differences  Presenting constructive criticismMore tips for leadersCommon mistakesExcerpt from the interview:"A lot of people talk about leadership as if there’s a magic tool that’ll make everything fall into place. Here’s a secret: it doesn’t exist. In fact, looking for another tool or another technique to solve all of our management problems just creates even more confusion for teams. We need to stop looking for the secret tool and realize that leadership is about mindset. It isn’t a hat you put on when you come into work; it’s the way you think. Until leaders fully grasp this rule, attentive listening might remain a challenge. Leaders will probably think they’re great listeners, but their teams would say otherwise."

Level-up your software engineer career development through other professionals’ stories: meet Max Rudman, CEO of Prodly, who went from IC to CEO over the years and has even founded a startup of his own. He shares interesting details about his career development and gives valuable advice to people interested in a similar path. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Max’s career development Skills for software engineering career developmentChoosing between different opportunities Is being CEO for everyone?Advice for aspiring managersAdvice for aspiring foundersChallenges of CEOsLegacy aimsExcerpt from the interview:"Both in entrepreneurship and product management, you have to say no to a lot more things than you say yes to. How to decide between a yes and a no boils down to what you’re focusing on: what kind of customers you’re serving or what problems you’re trying to solve. Based on this, you can differentiate between opportunities and see what would make your solution stand out in the market. At the beginning of the founding journey, your resources are usually very limited, so you’ll have to be very picky about what you say yes to."

Interview with Varun Mohan, CEO & Co-Founder of Exafunction and Codeium. He gives valuable insights on the considerations of AI deployment in the enterprise and shares his own thoughts and predictions on what the future holds for these models.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Considerations of AI deploymentBenefits of deploying AI in the enterpriseConcerns regarding AI deploymentTypical mistakes when deploying AIExcerpt from the interview:"When I think about the last 40 years, there hasn’t been a sparsity of software in the world; there are just more and more software companies providing more and more value. Every ten years, we’re having larger IPOs, and more companies are building systems that can automate different parts of enterprises. There’s more software that can be consumed and generated across companies, but that doesn’t reduce the need for employees. It’ll just increase the value businesses can provide. Perhaps in the future, AI systems are going to understand more and more company-wide context over time, which is a big gap in their knowledge currently. When they’re able to piece together more information from your systems, your documents in the cloud and your other products, they’ll aid humans to be even more productive and perhaps even enable stronger cross-functional collaboration."

Interview with Dan Lines, CPO and Co-Founder of LinearB. He talks about the importance of representing engineering teams and gives valuable advice on how to start communicating your team’s impact.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:The importance of communicating your engineering team’s impact Tips to get started on representing your engineersCommunication channels to useTypical mistakesStorytime: Founding LinearB to track KPIsExcerpt from the interview:"We’re in the golden era of engineering leadership. I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be VP of Engineering or a manager or director. The reason is, a lot of companies are product-focused, and software is the key to their success - when you’re an engineering leader in that environment, the business is relying on your expertise a lot. There’s a stereotype that executives tell engineering teams what they want, and they just build it without any desire to be at board meetings and have a say in business-level goals. That’s not the case anymore. It’s becoming more and more expected from engineering leaders to be actively involved in business discussions, as they drive one of the most impactful and expensive departments of the company. Being part of these conversations also helps tech leaders allocate their engineering resources more effectively."

Interview with Joey Wilhelm, Security Engineer at Pinwheel. He talks about the benefits of open source software and gives great advice for companies who want to join the open source community. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Getting to know open sourceBenefits of open source softwareOpen source vs. proprietary software from a security perspectiveCommon mistakes of releasing open source software Storytime: Becoming an open source advocateOpen source at PinwheelExcerpt from the interview:"There’s a common misconception about contributing to open source projects. A lot of people will say that it’s just altruism; you’re expected to work on projects for free. However, that’s not entirely true. By being active in the open source community, you’re building a public portfolio - even if you don’t work for prestigious companies like Google or Microsoft, you can contribute to their products, which improves your software engineer resume. As you build more, you’ll build an impressive library of contributions, which will help you stand out from the crowd in any job application. "

Interview with Yaron Perlman, author of the book DevStreams: Scaling Software Delivery. Naturally. He talks about the main ideas of DevStreams - a new paradigm for scaling software delivery. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Defining DevStreamsMain ideas of the book DevStreamsDevStream’s impactWhat type of companies benefit most from DevStreamsImplementing DevStreams Common objections regarding DevStreamsExcerpt from the interview:"After publishing the book, some VPs told me they liked the concept, but didn’t find it realistic to have streams where everyone does everything proficiently. My answer is, how do you know? Have you tried it?When you start experimenting with the paradigm, you'll see that it’s not that far-fetched. Especially with today’s technological advancements in AI, it’s easier to pick up new skills than it was a year ago. We have so many tools available to make our work more effective, and our technology landscape is changing rapidly that it really merits a new paradigm. "

Interview with Alan Watkins, CEO and Founder of Complete. He talks about managing workplace stress through breathing techniques and overcoming our animal instincts.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!

Interview with Morgan Teachworth, VP of Engineering at Cisco Meraki. He shares valuable insights on building and managing innovation-oriented teams.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Defining innovationEncouraging innovation at workBuilding teams that prioritize innovationCommon pitfalls when focusing on innovation

Interview with Gopal Erinjippurath, CTO and Head of Product at Sust Global. He shares valuable insights on how to build and manage analytics engineering teams.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Analytics engineering 101Success metricsAssembling analytics engineering teamsProcessesToolsCommon pitfallsExcerpt from the interview:"We’re a mission-driven team that wants to serve the environment and businesses as well. We’re looking at business impact and expertise, so we like to hire engineers who have the required skill set of climate modeling, remote sensing, machine learning and platform engineering and who also resonate with our mission. There’s an increased drive across junior and mid-level engineers to work in a climate-related field and to use technology to combat the climate crisis. There has never been a better time to get into the field of climate, and it benefits both parties. The companies are very lucky to have access to this kind of talent, and engineers who want to work in this field can choose from a lot of jobs recently."Click here to read the full interview!

Interview with Sophie Wade, Founder of Flexcel Network. She talks about quiet quitting and how empathy can help employees and leaders deal with difficult workplace situations. Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Defining quiet quittingQuiet quitting vs. Acting your wageQuiet quitting nowadays vs. in the pastHow to prevent quiet quitting as an employeeHow to prevent quiet quitting as a leaderExcerpt from the interview:"If a particular area of your job motivates you, you can tell your manager you’d like to do more of that. Offer some suggestions and see what you can do to contribute to the company in a way that keeps you motivated. It’s a win-win situation: not only will the company benefit from your work, but you can also surround yourself with enjoyable tasks and projects while improving your skillset, which makes you a better professional in your field. People may quiet quit because they had already made such suggestions to their bosses, but their ideas got shut down and they were stuck with a role that no longer fulfilled them. It might be true that the company is not interested in doing what they brought up, but too many nos take a toll on people’s motivation, and they might decide they aren’t going to bother coming up with new ideas anymore."Click here to read the full interview!

Interview with Hadi Hariri, VP of Developer Advocacy at JetBrains. He talks about the challenge of dealing with the constant influx of information, creating processes to manage information overload, and the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.Sign up to the Level-up Engineering newsletter!In this interview we're covering:Defining information overload Dealing with information overloadPossible drawbacks of poor information managementMethods to track relevant informationDealing with information overload as EMs and ICsJetBrain's approach to managing informationFinding the golden meanExcerpt from the interview:"Tooling doesn’t help you decide what to push and what to pull, because the issue isn’t rooted in your tech stack. It’s a people problem, and it has to be approached as such. When we talk about leadership and management, one of the characteristics that a leader must have is being able to see the bigger picture. They don’t just focus on the team they manage, but how their work relates to other teams’ work inside the company, and how that relates to products and services. Having this company-wide vision contributes to deciding what’s important and what’s unnecessary noise for each team."Click here to read the full interview!