Ben Vinegar has spent the last 8 years at Sentry in a variety of roles, from Software Engineer to VP of Engineering.

Today, Rebecca and Ben discuss non-linear careers, engineering career ladders, acquisitions, and more.

Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/ben-vinegar-sentry-reflecting-on-ladders-acquisitions-and-personal-trajectory

Timestamps
(00:00 ) Introduction
(01:26 ) Third-Party JavaScript and Sentry
(02:33 ) Ben’s journey to VP of Engineering
(03:24 ) Sentry’s growth
(05:08 ) The ladder: differentiating engineering levels
(08:45 ) How Ben became the Co-VP of Engineering
(12:42 ) A new role focused on innovation
(16:40 ) Building an emerging tech team
(19:26 ) Preserving innovation outside the innovation team
(21:37 ) Lessons from acquisitions
(26:11 ) Leading Syntax.fm
(28:34 ) A company within a company
(30:36 ) Non-linear careers

Where to find Ben
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benvinegar/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bentlegen

Where to find Rebecca
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmurphey

Links and mentions
• Sentry: https://sentry.io/
• Third-Party JavaScript, a book by Ben Vinegar and Anton Kovalyov: https://www.manning.com/books/third-party-javascript
• Disqus: https://disqus.com/
• Shape Security (now part of F5): https://www.f5.com/cloud/products/bot-defense
• Specto (a Sentry acquisition): https://sentry.io/about/press-releases/sentry-acquires-analytics-firm-specto-to-add-continuous-profiling-to-mobile-application-monitoring/
• Syntax.fm (a recent Sentry acquisition): http://Syntax.fm