The Peterman Pod

In this episode, I talked to Marc Brooker, a distinguished engineer at AWS who started there as a new grad and rose through the ranks. We discussed technical learnings from 3,000+ cloud system postmortems, how software engineering is changing with AI, how to find impactful problems and much more. 🔶 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/u3GjIXP9N0s • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qX2GfpbzxzGpGvDZVINdO?si=wsDGZo9PTbCNalKVybFVnA • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/aws-distinguished-eng-learnings-from 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Post we discussed on hobbies and apparent expertise: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2023/04/20/hobbies.html • Post on software engineering changing: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/02/07/you-are-here.html • Post about Senior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/20/ic-leadership.html • Post on Junior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/25/ic-junior.html 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 0:00 - Intro 1:27 - Finding problems that matter 11:42 - Learnings from 3000 postmortems 23:58 - Why caches are bad 29:37 - How AI will change software engineering 36:49 - Advice for junior engineers given AI 44:02 - Thoughts for senior engineers 49:59 - Why engineers should write 57:51 - Visibility and apparent expertise 1:04:23 - AWS engineers he admires 1:06:53 - Technical book recommendations 1:09:06 - Advice for his younger self 1:10:37 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-brooker-b431772b/ • Twitter/X: https://x.com/MarcJBrooker • Personal Blog: https://brooker.co.za/blog/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is James Everingham, former head of engineering at Instagram and a veteran of the tech world with experience at Netscape. We talked about his unconventional start in the industry, learnings from every leg of his career, and regrets he has looking back. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/VIF5Fm8NdE8 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/ex-head-of-eng-at-instagram-career 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 0:00 - Intro 0:57 - Kicked out of college 5:35 - FBI showed up at his house 7:43 - Pre-IPO Netscape experience 25:19 - Joining Instagram as head of eng 29:12 - Why shrinking teams improves velocity 32:59 - Working with Mike Krieger 37:16 - Leading Cryptocurrency project at Meta 42:30 - What he is working on now 54:29 - Career regrets 56:27 - Advice for his younger self 57:42 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jevering/ • Twitter/X: https://x.com/jevering • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@jevering 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon has seen pretty much every possible type of corporate politics. Now that he's retired, he could share everything he'd seen including stories about empire building, hidden politics, reorgs, senior promos and dealing with bad managers. 🔸 The keyboard I'm building: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/6WaeGfLnRvc • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/amazon-vp-reveals-everything-hes 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 2:33 - Empire Building 31:54 - Stealing scope 44:03 - Managing out via reorgs 51:01 - Bad managers and mutiny 01:01:43 - Political messaging 01:11:48 - Handling politically skilled operators 01:20:01 - Orgs trying to steal scope 01:30:26 - Handling difficult people from other orgs 01:36:19 - Handling weak managers 01:46:30 - Backchanneling 01:52:04 - Influence without authority 01:58:04 - Sexual harassment 02:00:49 - Skip overruling firing 02:05:39 - How to fire managers 02:11:31 - Leverage when people are getting fired 02:24:01 - How to grow past senior eng 02:43:01 - How to avoid politics 02:48:15 - Advice for younger self 02:49:51 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP • Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiA 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is a conversation with Brendan Burns, co-creator of Kubernetes and current technical fellow at Microsoft working on Azure. We discussed what it was like building it at Google, how he got buy-in, and what he learned along the way. 🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/FKijpCEH9D8 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/the-creator-of-kubernetes-on-building 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:37 - How he convinced Google leaders 00:09:26 - Building the MVP 00:11:43 - How he made time for Kubernetes 00:25:28 - Technical details on building Kubernetes 00:38:46 - Rallying the open source community 00:50:01 - Scaling Kubernetes up for AI training workloads 00:55:31 - Reflections on getting a PhD 01:00:22 - The inevitable trajectory of software is death 01:04:16 - Top book recommendations 01:05:22 - Advice for his younger self 01:06:21 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-burns-487aa590/ • Twitter/X: https://x.com/brendandburns • Github: https://github.com/brendandburns 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Austen McDonald is a former hiring committee member at Meta, where he led mobile hiring and conducted hundreds of interviews. In this episode, we talked about what happens behind the scenes in a hiring committee, unethical candidates, and the role referrals play. 🔸 (Sponsor) Hello Interview's Website - https://www.hellointerview.com/ 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/nOapM8i5jr0 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-hiring-lead-on-behind-the-scenes 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:49 - What goes on in hiring committees 00:09:02 - Unethical candidates 00:12:50 - How leveling is determined 00:23:12 - Can you negotiate level mid-process 00:32:30 - How non-tech leads can signal scope 00:39:11 - Referrals and bias 00:45:28 - What the rubric looks like 00:50:00 - OpenAI and Anthropic specific discussion 00:52:22 - Most common mistakes senior candidates make 01:02:31 - How to prep depending on your level 01:08:34 - Subjectivity and bias 01:21:02 - The questions you ask at the end matter 01:23:59 - Storytelling tips 01:30:31 - How he got promoted to Senior Manager (M2) at Meta 01:33:32 - His biggest career regret 01:38:13 - The best advice he ever received 01:39:54 - Advice for younger self 01:41:46 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻: • LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austenmc/ • His book - https://thebehavioral.tech/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is Michael Bolin, the tech lead for the open source Codex repository and a former distinguished engineer at Meta. We talked about his career path, how OpenAI engineers use Codex and the difference between research-led vs engineering-led company cultures. 🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/hN5ZFzWFhhg • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/openai-codex-tech-lead-on-how-his 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:56 - Chickenfoot 00:02:45 - Working at Google 00:06:34 - Overhauling Facebook's build system 00:16:36 - Rewriting Facebook's IDE 00:26:01 - Struggles after Principal Eng (E8) promo 00:28:39 - Building a virtual filesystem for Facebook 00:35:47 - Delayed Distinguished promo (E9) and learnings 00:39:56 - Joining OpenAI 00:43:05 - Research-led vs engineering-led cultures 00:44:53 - The story behind Codex 00:51:00 - How he uses Codex 00:57:00 - Why Codex's harness is open source 00:59:50 - Top technical book recommendations 01:05:02 - Why deep technical skills are still valuable (for now) 01:11:07 - How to start projects well 01:14:27 - Advice on writing better and career planning 01:17:06 - Advice for his younger self 01:19:10 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹: • His personal blog - https://blog.bolinfest.com/ • Twitter/X - https://x.com/bolinfest • Threads - https://www.threads.com/@bolinfest • LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bolin-7632712 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Bryan Cantrill was a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems and has now founded his own company called Oxide Computer Company. We discussed his career experiences through boom/busts, what competing with Bezos was like, and career regrets. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/qhSL-5GtmQM • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-eng-on-stack-ranking 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Link to the part in the talk on Oracle/Sun we discussed - https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?si=eExjIMZROGjJcDsw&t=1977 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:42 - Working at Sun Microsystems 00:10:17 - His growth to distinguished eng 00:19:14 - Why goaling on promotion is bad 00:29:34 - Stack ranking and layoffs 00:36:00 - Why he hated the Oracle acquisition 00:44:19 - Why Bezos is the apex predator of capitalism 00:48:04 - Differences between CTO and VP 00:49:58 - Starting his own company 01:02:37 - Grilling him on his past 01:11:57 - AI boom and bust advice 01:14:41 - When he was happiest in his career 01:17:22 - Top career regret 01:19:21 - Advice for younger self 01:20:57 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗻: • LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-cantrill-b6a1/ • Twitter/X - https://x.com/bcantrill • Personal Website - https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/ • His company - https://oxide.computer/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

I interviewed Leslie Lamport, a Turing Award winner known for his contributions to distributed systems and the inventor of the Paxos algorithm. We walked through the major contributions of his career for the stories behind them and what he learned along the way. 🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/U719vQz-WFs • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-on-working-with 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Bakery Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/bakery.pdf • Time Clocks Paper (most cited): https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf • The Byzantine Generals Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/byz.pdf • The Paxos Algorithm Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/lamport-paxos.pdf 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:25 - The Bakery Algorithm 00:08:28 - Experiences with Dijkstra 00:14:44 - His most cited paper 00:23:26 - The "Byzantine Generals" problem 00:38:05 - The Paxos Algorithm 00:46:57 - Paxos vs Raft Algorithm 00:51:26 - Building LaTeX 00:54:45 - Why writing improves your thinking 01:00:21 - Why he wasn't an academic 01:02:08 - Grand theory of concurrency 01:07:25 - Why he doesn't think he's smart 01:09:07 - Advice for his younger self 01:09:44 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗲: • His works: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/pubs.html 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

David Ronca joined Netflix in 2007 and grew to an engineering director there. Later he joined Meta as a Director and transitioned to a Principal engineer working on video technologies. Now he's retired and was graciously willing to share his career story with us. I asked him for everything he learned in his 36 year career. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/retired-netflix-engineering-director • YouTube: https://youtu.be/ApG9vjbHDCk • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Netflix culture memo (2009) - https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/culture-1798664/1798664 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:40 - How Netflix was different 00:08:01 - The legendary Netflix culture memo 00:18:54 - How to hire engineers well 00:30:52 - The strongest engineer he's ever met 00:33:02 - Joining Meta 00:50:52 - Near death experience 00:59:04 - Where he learned the most 01:04:09 - Book that impacted his career most 01:11:33 - Advice for his younger self 01:18:32 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidronca/ • Personal Website: https://www.roncatech.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

This is Adam Ernst, a Distinguished Engineer at Meta (IC9) who’s built iOS infrastructure that has impacted the entire company. We talked about how his career grew, a major failed project of his, and everything he learned growing to that level. 🔸 My keyboard project link: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/YA_OYJF3Mmw • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-distinguished-eng-ic9-on-influencing 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:47 - His middle school company 00:03:50 - His first project and promo at Meta 00:10:03 - Why code review is undervalued 00:12:42 - Senior Staff (IC7) promo story and project 00:19:26 - His major failed project 00:26:35 - How to handle a failed project 00:29:04 - Thoughts on management 00:31:35 - Technical depth vs breadth 00:33:32 - IC9 expectations 00:34:46 - Senior engineers he admires 00:37:39 - Advice for his younger self 00:39:52 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗺: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjernst/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Ryan Olson grew from mid-level engineer (IC4) to a principal engineer (IC8) at Instagram through a series of famous projects. The most notable was when he was the lead iOS developer that built Instagram Stories. We discuss his career journey and learnings. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-principal-eng-ic8-on-building • Spotify: Episode link from Spotify after scheduling • YouTube: https://youtu.be/gpVETZnY9Y0 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Zuckerberg emails I mentioned: Twitter link: https://x.com/TechEmails/status/1944451283236303184 Threads link: https://www.threads.com/@techemails/post/DMDi5IWpPyC 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:31 - Failing his FB interview 00:03:27 - Interning /w future billionaires 00:14:08 - Interview nerves tip 00:16:37 - Early Instagram experiences 00:34:08 - Building Instagram Stories 00:45:03 - 1 promo per half to Staff (IC6) 00:49:51 - Senior staff promo project (IC7) 00:57:37 - IG labs & his principal promo (IC8) 01:08:19 - Starting Retro and leaving big tech 01:21:33 - Small teams hypothetical 01:25:17 - Examples of talented individuals 01:31:16 - Advice to his younger self 01:34:45 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Retro (his company): https://retro.app/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanolsonk/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanolsonk • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanolsonk/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanolsonk 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

In this episode, I talked to "Asian Dad Energy" an anonymous big techie who was laid off after 25 years in the industry. We discussed his layoffs experience, his early career in engineering consulting, and the realities of big tech compensation. 🔸 My keyboard project link: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/8bs6KmJX4_g • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ApCuf04MXv0nBRqKNLyiQ?si=bko-M46xQM2FHhTG6Vcy6Q • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/laid-off-from-big-tech-after-25-years 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:41 - His layoff story 00:07:02 - Why he expects more layoffs 00:09:42 - Tech consulting before big tech 00:19:25 - Consultants shipping bad code? 00:26:57 - Why do people dislike consultants? 00:30:55 - Big tech compensation 00:40:27 - When age impacted his flexibility 00:42:04 - Why YouTube 00:46:46 - Speaking advice for engineers 00:49:09 - Advice for younger self 00:49:35 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺: • https://www.youtube.com/@AsianDadEnergy 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

In this episode, I talked to Nimit Sohoni, a Stanford PhD and AI Researcher at Cartesia who previously worked as a quant at Citadel. We discussed the differences between AI research and quant careers, including work-life balance and the value of a PhD in these fields. Nimit also shared what he's currently working on and offered advice for those looking to transition into AI research. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/_jECS37M3dQ • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/stanford-phd-ai-researcher-and-quant 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:45 - Do you need a PhD? 00:06:25 - Research taste and finding problems 00:09:04 - Why become a quant 00:12:01 - What quants do 00:14:53 - How quants and SWEs collaborate 00:16:29 - Quant vs tech culture 00:26:39 - Quant firm tier list 00:27:56 - Quant insider trading and perf culture 00:30:53 - Going back to AI research 00:35:08 - Who the top competitors are in voice AI 00:39:22 - AI startups vs big labs 00:42:08 - State space models vs transformers 00:49:33 - AI labs: research or product? 00:52:38 - Advice for SWEs who want to try AI research 00:56:48 - Advice for younger self 00:57:49 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁: • Twitter/X: https://x.com/nimit_sohoni • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimit-sohoni-68998854/ • Cartesia: https://cartesia.ai/sonic 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

In this episode, I talked to Igor, a senior staff engineer who has worked at Meta, Google, and Cruise. We discussed his experience of wanting a demotion at Meta and the challenges he faced in that process. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • YouTube: https://youtu.be/i1iBweuOQI4 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-senior-staff-ic7-engs-honest 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Igor's post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7401415295409700864/ 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:37 - Why he wanted a demotion 00:07:32 - Why Senior Staff at Meta was different 00:16:01 - Meta vs Google culture 00:19:09 - Downleveling at Google 00:23:17 - Why he's willing to be transparent 00:25:11 - Best quality of life eng level 00:30:42 - Senior Staff promo at Google 00:42:27 - Mentorship stories 00:43:11 - Biggest career regret 00:46:46 - Advice for younger self 00:49:06 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗴𝗼𝗿: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorts/ • ML basics youtube videos he made: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVcptlT8D7DgN5FtLMFUdHb5pJXW1g0YL 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Laurent Charignon was a Staff engineer at Stripe, Airbnb, and Instagram with some experience in management as well. We discussed the unspoken rules you learn as a manager, how he transitioned, what good mentorship looks like, and advice for senior engineers who are stuck looking to grow to Staff. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/airbnb-staff-eng-on-how-to-not-get • YouTube: https://youtu.be/cgQY_1Uz2b8 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:44 - Joining Airbnb and transitioning to EM 00:18:29 - Untold rules of calibrations 00:23:50 - How to dispute bureaucracy 00:29:54 - Airbnb culture 00:31:36 - Leaving Airbnb for Meta 00:35:56 - Uber TL at Stripe 00:42:52 - How to scale yourself 00:45:22 - What people get wrong in coaching 00:52:58 - Why people get stuck at Senior eng 00:57:24 - Most career impacting book 00:58:39 - Advice for younger self 01:00:27 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurentcharignon/ • Personal Website: https://blog.laurentcharignon.com/ • Twitter/X: https://x.com/lc2817 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Adrien Friggeri went from a new grad to a principal engineer (IC8) at Meta. He is the original TL who started Bento if you’re familiar with that infra at the company. He got to where he was through a series of promotions across different teams and projects. I interviewed him about everything he learned along the way 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/new-grad-to-principal-engineer-ic8 • YouTube: https://youtu.be/2Sjzd9pt6Ts • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 00:43 - First team at FB 07:24 - Senior promo /w IG 16:30 - Story behind Bento (Senior staff promo) 25:33 - Taking on perf risk to start the project 29:03 - Learnings from leaving big tech 32:46 - Joining Clubhouse 35:08 - Return to Meta (again) 40:51 - Principal promo (IC8) and tips 51:37 - Maximizing your luck /w people 54:26 - Advice for younger self 55:42 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/friggeri/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrien/ • Personal Website: https://friggeri.net/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Fiona Fung currently supports the Claude Code team at Anthropic and was previously a Senior Director at Meta. She grew quickly through the ranks at Microsoft and Meta before joining Anthropic. I interviewed her about what she learned along the way. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/anthropic-eng-leader-and-ex-senior • YouTube: https://youtu.be/b5-d8u-c99s • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Impact vs team health 03:04 - Managing managers for the first time 05:31 - Advice on mentoring others 06:55 - What you should use 1 on 1s for 07:56 - Leaving Microsoft for Facebook 10:59 - Microsoft vs Facebook culture 12:01 - Why dogfooding is important 21:25 - Joining Anthropic 27:23 - Feedback that changed her career 28:43 - Advice for younger self 29:14 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionafung/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Hi all, it's been such a fun project for me this year launching this podcast and trying my best to make the content as helpful as possibleAppreciate everyone who has taken the time to watch my videos and give feedback on how to make it betterIt wouldn't be the same without your support! Next year I plan to work hard to keep improving the content, see you in 2026 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 00:50 - Meta Distinguished Eng (Philip Su) 05:23 - Amazon Principal Eng (Steve Huynh) 06:23 - Google Staff Eng by 28 (Ricky Lee) 07:30 - Meta Staff Eng by 25 (Evan King) 08:51 - Shopify Distinguished Eng (Ilya Grigorik) 10:49 - Amazon VP (Ethan Evans) 12:24 - Meta Senior Staff Eng (Dwayne Reeves) 13:14 - CloudKitchens CTO, Ex Uber Senior Staff (Brian Attwell) 13:55 - Instagram Principal Eng (Jake Bolam) 14:42 - Uber Distinguished Eng (Joakim Recht) 15:03 - Creator of Claude Code, Ex Meta Principal (Boris Cherny) 15:45 - Outro

Rong Yan went from a frontline manager at Meta to a Senior Director at Snapchat in 3 years. I interviewed him to ask what led to that rocketship career trajectory in management. We went over how he job hopped into his first Director role and much more. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/frontline-manager-at-meta-to-senior • YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHlko_Mg-Jk • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 00:46 - Joining Facebook 03:06 - Moving up into a Director role 05:09 - Director skill gaps 15:31 - Domain knowledge & management 18:45 - LA vs SF cultures 20:48 - Senior Director growth at Snapchat 22:43 - Evan Spiegel stories 24:59 - Recruitment at higher levels 32:05 - Career planning in hindsight 34:08 - Biggest career regret 35:33 - How much of growth is luck? 38:19 - Advice for younger self 41:53 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗻𝗴: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rong-yan-2004692/ • Personal Website: https://cs.cmu.edu/~yanrong 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Boris Cherny is the Creator of Claude Code but few people know his full career story. I interviewed him about everything he learned growing at Meta and for insights from his time building Claude Code at Anthropic. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/boris-cherny-creator-of-claude-code • YouTube: https://youtu.be/AmdLVWMdjOk • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:59 - Starting at FB 00:09:43 - Early side projects and book rec 00:17:05 - Being under leveled 00:18:55 - Staff (IC6) promo story 00:25:19 - Proximity to leadership learnings 00:29:36 - Scoping out work for 100s of engs 00:35:31 - Senior Staff (IC7) promo story 00:44:39 - How to find side projects 00:50:45 - Principal (IC8) promo story 00:54:20 - Building credibility in a new org 01:04:23 - Joining Anthropic 01:10:05 - Why Claude Code succeeded 01:15:56 - Claude Code use outside of code 01:17:22 - What he thinks of competition 01:22:57 - Advice for his younger self 01:23:57 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcherny/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/bcherny • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@boris_cherny 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Marius Schulz grew to a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Instagram by redefining expectations three times (once for each promotion). We talked through each promotion and how he did it. There were also interesting learnings from when his promotion got blocked once even though he greatly exceeded expectations. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-senior-staff-eng-ic7-on • YouTube: https://youtu.be/OXJHfb_lZII • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 00:55 - Choosing his specialty 02:29 - Greatly exceeding expectations with no promo 08:04 - Senior promo 15:30 - Staff promo 24:43 - Leverage and IC4/5/6 way of solving problems 29:51 - Senior staff promo 44:29 - Career planning past IC7 47:32 - Did IC7+ expectations scare him 49:49 - Advice for his younger self 52:29 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘂𝘀: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariusschulz/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/mariusschulz/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@marius.schulz • Personal Website: https://mariusschulz.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Jayendra Jog left Robinhood and raised $35m to start his own crypto startup (Sei Labs). Before he left, he got jaded about software engineering career ladders yet was coasting through promotions at Robinhood. I asked him about how he did that along with a bunch of questions about when to leave your job, how to raise money, and what to expect as a founder. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/quitting-robinhood-and-raising-35m?open=false • YouTube: https://youtu.be/f4eeoetb8t4 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:54 - Big tech internships 00:04:51 - Joining Robinhood 00:07:58 - Big tech vs startups discussion 00:10:16 - Getting jaded about Robinhood career growth 00:16:04 - Coasting and getting promoted 00:18:54 - Gamestop stories from the inside 00:22:34 - Leaving Robinhood 00:30:25 - Learnings from raising $35m 00:34:07 - What value does crypto provide? 00:37:47 - Learnings and when to leave 00:40:41 - Advice for his younger self 00:41:58 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝘆: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayendrajog • X/Twitter: https://x.com/jayendra_jog • His Company: https://x.com/Sei_Labs 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Brian Attwell grew to Senior Staff at Uber by age 25. After that he left Uber to join CloudKitchens (Travis Kalanick’s current startup) and quickly became the CTO after his team doubled in size every 6 months. I asked him about how he did it. He also had a bunch of interesting takes about big tech and stories about Travis Kalanick and Steve Jobs. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/cloudkitchens-cto-on-intelligence • YouTube: https://youtu.be/egNtHu4q-vI • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:26 - Growth to Senior Staff at Uber 00:10:05 - Was it luck? 00:11:45 - Interviewing for IQ 00:18:02 - Intelligence and prioritization 00:22:19 - How his team doubled every 6 months 00:28:30 - Manager promos tied to scope 00:39:13 - Amazon and Google brutal honesty 00:43:39 - CloudKitchens behind the scenes 00:50:24 - Biggest career regret 00:54:17 - Travis Kalanick experiences 00:56:01 - Most impactful advice received 00:56:56 - Most impactful book for career 00:57:53 - Advice for his younger self 00:58:48 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-attwell/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/attwellbrian • CloudKitchens: https://cloudkitchens.com/careers/ • CloudKitchens tech blog: https://techblog.cloudkitchens.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Joakim Recht grew to a Distinguished Engineer at Uber and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the project that got him promoted, what makes a great software engineer, and learnings from promo committees. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/uber-distinguished-eng-on-unfair • YouTube: https://youtu.be/feNh_ubBAMI • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:56 - Distinguished promo project 00:19:07 - How to grow your influence 00:22:38 - Unfair promo story 00:33:09 - On delegation 00:39:05 - Why engs don’t trust management 00:47:58 - Politics as he grew 00:57:00 - How to pick mentees 01:03:22 - Why he left Uber 01:15:16 - Biggest Uber eng mistake 01:20:15 - Uber scandals 01:24:35 - Advice for younger self 01:26:14 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗺: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recht/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Ilya Grigorik grew to a Distinguished Engineer (VP-level role) at Shopify and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the behind the scenes of his startup getting acquired by Google, his growth to Director at Google, and what it means to operate like a Distinguished engineer. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-engineer-at-shopify • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:45 - Thoughts on Waterloo 00:04:36 - Starting his own company 00:08:40 - Google acquisition story 00:14:04 - Joining Google 00:20:28 - Switching back to IC 00:26:42 - Principal+ Engineering at Shopify 00:40:09 - Career regrets 00:44:53 - Top career-impacting book 00:46:59 - Advice for younger self 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗹𝘆𝗮: • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@igrigorik • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igrigorik/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/igrigorik • Personal Website: https://ilya.grigorik.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Bobby Holley went from an intern to the CTO of Mozilla Firefox. I asked him about everything he learned in that process. We cover his full career including some interesting stories on living through the browser wars and advice on career growth. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/mozilla-firefox-cto-on-browser-war • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • NYT article link: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/q2EjgGX6d5Ouwec479WSqM/For-Mozilla-Google-group-hugs-get-tricky.html • Mozilla VP twitter thread: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1722183/former-mozilla-exec-alleges-google-torpedoed-firefox-with-oops-excuses.html • Internal memo on writing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1518xKjijjEWHQb6wZjAWJrUN8liZGGI9v5pRFr9eFHo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.1gfr5hva69qx 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:57 - Starting at Mozilla 00:04:57 - Browser wars history 00:10:55 - Google relationship changing 00:16:11 - Why work for free 00:19:02 - Projects that drove his career 00:33:12 - No performance reviews 00:34:42 - Rust adoption 00:43:33 - Career progression 00:47:54 - Should you focus on promos 00:57:14 - Distinguished promo rejection 01:00:56 - Examples of distinguished engs 01:10:54 - Advice for aspiring distinguished engs 01:14:40 - AI browser wars 01:26:32 - Biggest technical regret 01:29:11 - Book that impacted his career most 01:32:09 - Advice for his younger self 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyholley • X/Twitter: https://x.com/bhology 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

David Fowler went from an intern to a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft. That’s 11 different promotions all at the same company. I asked him about everything he learned by going through that process. 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/intern-to-microsoft-distinguished • YouTube: https://youtu.be/d8tRM8RJ52M • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: (00:00) Intro (00:53) Microsofts leveling system (03:17) Joining Microsoft (10:18) First successful project (16:22) Bootstrapping his own project (25:44) His principal promotion (37:10) His distinguished promotion (49:51) Engineers he looks up to (53:40) Expanding on his top tweets (1:05:20) Big company tip on reorgs (1:08:25) What keeps him at Microsoft (1:17:22) Microsoft culture after Satya (1:23:04) Career regrets and work life balance (1:29:51) Advice for his younger self 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfowl/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidfowl 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

David Singleton was the CTO at Stripe for 7 years before he left to start /dev/agents. Prior to Stripe, he grew from a junior engineer to a VP at Google. I recently asked him about everything he knows about career growth and being an excellent engineering leader. We discussed how Stripe hired at scale without Leetcode, why he thinks all engineering leaders should write code, the book that impacted his career most and many more topics. Episode Links: • Transcript • Youtube • Apple Timestamps: (00:00:00) Intro (00:00:56) Before Google (00:06:34) Joining Google (00:12:56) Deciding to try management (00:24:15) How to decide on EM vs IC (00:28:58) Biggest gap in managing managers (00:34:21) The difference between VP and Senior EM (00:37:43) How to communicate well (00:46:14) How managers can scale themselves (00:51:17) How to build a new engineering site (01:01:21) What kept him at Google (01:03:57) The story behind joining Stripe (01:12:34) Comparing and contrasting cultures (01:20:55) How to set culture (01:29:25) Is Stripe too reliable? (01:33:48) Hiring at scale without Leetcode (01:38:06) Lessons learned working with Stripe's leadership (01:40:31) Why leave Stripe (01:44:55) How his AI startup plans to compete (01:48:46) Career reflections, regrets, what went well (01:54:03) Top book and habit that impacted his career (01:57:40) Advice for younger self (01:59:04) Outro Where to find David: • If you are a builder: https://sdsa.ai/build • If you are very excited about what they are building and would consider joining his talent dense team, you can email David here: [email protected] • X/Twitter: https://x.com/dps • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpsingleton/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidsingleton Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@petermanpod This episode was produced with the help of SF Podcast Studio: https://www.sfpodcast.studio/

We hit 25,000 subscribers! 🎉🎉🎉 Thanks so much to everyone who has supported my work, never thought we'd be here let alone this fast Had some spare studio time booked and figured I might as well use it as time for an FAQ episode. This episode is for anyone whose curious about some of the story behind the podcast Feeling very lucky, thank you all! 🙏 Also if you have any feedback for me about the show and how to make it better, I'd love to hear it. Feel free to drop a comment Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:58) Story behind the podcast (05:30) Behind the scenes of the top episodes (10:06) Dream guest list (12:03) Learnings from podcasting (13:10) Balancing content with a full time job (14:28) Outro

Stefan Mai was a Senior Manager (M2) with experience across Meta and Amazon. We went over his career story in growing to M2 which is equivalent to Senior Staff (IC7) in big tech. Since he started his own company now, he was happy to be fully transparent about the behind the scenes of managing in big tech. Since he founded the interview prep company, Hello Interview, I also thought it’d be interesting to talk about trends he’s seeing in AI cheating tools and how to get offers at OpenAI/Anthropic. We discussed: • Meta Senior Manager (M2) career growth story • Amazon vs Meta culture • Which company had stronger engineers • How low performer quotas & PIPs work • Eng vs manager career growth • Transitioning to AI/ML as an eng • Getting offers at OpenAI and Anthropic • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:59) Early career at Amazon (05:46) Growth to eng manager at Amazon (11:31) Storytelling tips (16:28) Why he left Amazon (22:59) Transitioning to AI/ML (27:01) Senior manager (M2) promo story at Meta (31:30) Mutiny and manager politics (40:34) Are managers harder to layoff? (49:50) Senior manager (M2) skill gaps (53:21) Eng vs manager career growth (56:27) Amazon vs Meta culture (01:00:34) Amazon vs Meta performance (01:05:24) Low performer quotas (01:08:55) Can you get out of a PIP? (01:12:23) AI interview cheating (01:16:42) Passing OpenAI & Anthropic interviews (01:18:33) Job hopping (01:22:37) When he grew the most (01:24:22) How to write better (01:26:22) Career motivations past M2 (01:28:11) Advice for younger self Where to find Stefan: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanmai/ • His company: https://www.hellointerview.com/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

Sash Zats grew to be a Staff Engineer (IC6) at IG despite switching teams 10 times in 9 years. His career journey was a series of jumps to exciting projects and letting career growth happen as a byproduct. I interviewed him to show you how team switches can play out. We discussed: • How 10 team switches in 9 years affected his career • The story behind the Instagram blockchain initiative • His 2 diff in 6 month performance review • What working on Instagram Threads was like pre-launch • The value of prototyping Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:49) First team: iOS on Newsfeed Delight (05:30) What makes a good designer partner? (08:30) Joining a hardware team (12:08) 2 diffs in 6 months (15:03) Joining the Instagram blockchain team (21:37) Joining Instagram Threads pre-launch (28:53) Working with an exceptional engineer (Peter) (33:02) Working on AI prototyping teams (37:15) Reflecting on team switching’s impact on career growth (44:35) Why leave Meta (46:15) Advice for younger self (47:53) Outro Where to find Sash: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sashzats/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/zats Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

Ethan Evans went from being fired twice because of poor soft skills to getting promoted to Vice President at Amazon with a team of over 800 engineers. I asked him about everything he learned along the way. We discussed: • Being fired for poor soft skills • What VP promotions look like • Working with Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy (current Amazon CEO) • VP performance reviews • Stack ranking, PIPs and how managers can fire anyone • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:01) Experience before Amazon (05:03) Getting fired twice & learnings (14:02) Joining Amazon (16:02) What VP promotions look like (26:03) Promotion failure story (29:14) Integrating Twitch into Amazon (33:48) Jeff Bezos vs Andy Jassy stories (36:53) VP performance reviews (41:10) Stack ranking & PIPs (46:11) A manager can fire anyone they want (50:45) Advice for his younger self (53:03) Outro Where to find Ethan: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP • Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiA Where to find Ryan: • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

Dwayne Reeves is a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Meta who is the Tech Lead of the most used programming language (Hack) at the company. He started at the company as a new grad from MIT and shared the story of how his career grew. We discussed: • His promotions to Senior (IC5), Staff (IC6), and Senior Staff (IC7) • The value of type systems • Transitioning to a TLM and why he switched back • Working with brilliant engineers and overcoming imposter syndrome • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:39) Joining Facebook (04:52) Did MIT help with career? (07:13) His first team (10:37) Why static typing is superior (13:17) The uncanny valley of type systems   (16:11) Senior Eng (IC5) promotion story  (19:24) Staff Eng (IC6) promotion story  (23:38) Manager transition story (28:57) Managing ICs vs EMs (32:54) Senior staff Eng (IC7) promotion story (35:42) Impressive ICs (40:33) Why stay at Meta (44:28) Advice for younger self (45:46) Outro  Where to find Dwayne: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwaynereeves/ Where to find Ryan: • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

Carey Nachenberg was a Chief Scientist at a GoogleX moonshot, a Fellow (senior most eng at Symantec) and a professor at UCLA. I interviewed him about his career story and we discussed: • Story behind his growth to IC10 (VP equivalent) • How high-level IC recruiting works • How imposter syndrome held him back • How to develop “project taste” • How AI is affecting his students Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:54) Growth to Fellow at Symantec  (13:13) The most complex malware (16:13) Why C was faster than assembly (17:17) Imposter syndrome (21:28) What matters more than intelligence (28:03) Experience at GoogleX (34:24) Leaving GoogleX (37:43) Experience at Lyft (43:40) Getting credit on collaborative projects (46:53) Becoming a professor at UCLA (49:13) How to speak well (53:23) How AI affected his students (1:03:53) Career regrets (1:07:16) Finding work you enjoy (1:09:03) Advice for younger self (1:11:04) Outro Where to find Carey: •  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carey-nachenberg-14bbb03/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

Michael Novati got promoted to Senior Staff (IC7) Eng at Facebook by the age of 27. He did it while the company was still called Facebook so he had a bunch of interesting pre-IPO stories. In our conversation, we discussed: • Growth to Senior Staff (IC7) by 27 • Being the #1 code committer at Meta • Volunteering to resign if his code broke prod • Stories of working with Zuck pre-IPO • What was common among IC7+ engineers • How LLMs will affect the code machine archetype Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:46) Joining Facebook (10:26) Facebook IPO experience (16:30) His internal newsletter (24:26) Working with Zuck (29:50) Engs that impressed him (36:20) Will LLMs kill coding machines? (47:20) Operating as an IC7 (1:10:30) IC7+ only group (1:12:55) Landing code faster (1:18:29) Why he left Meta (1:20:52) IC7+ talent (1:24:28) Advice for younger self (1:25:58) Outro Where to find Michael: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelnovati/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

Simon Kindström is a Staff Software Eng (IC6) at Instagram who joined the company as a new grad and got promoted every year. He also achieved the highest ratings ("Redefines Expectations") twice which is almost unheard of. He shared stories about his high performance including what it's like to receive secret equity bonuses. In this episode, we discuss: • His promotions to Staff in 3 years • The story behind his "Redefines Expectations" ratings • What it's like to receive performance-based equity bonuses • His transition to management • Why he switched from management • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:34) Staff promotions in 3 years (10:32) “Redefines” expectations ratings (20:01) Redefining expectations without promotion? (29:55) Staff promotion story (41:00) Transitioning to and from management (54:50) Secret equity bonuses (58:14) The best interns (1:07:50) Where most of his growth came from (1:12:04) What keeps him at Meta (1:15:20) Advice to his younger self (1:17:05) Outro Where to find Simon: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonkindstrom/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

Jake Bolam grew from Staff Eng (IC6) to Principal Eng (IC8) at Instagram. He had some hot takes about diff reviews and risk (he accepts diffs that’ll break prod). He also shared interesting stories about his promotions as well as many tips on how to have IC8 impact with a solid work life balance. We discuss: • Struggling initially at Facebook • His promotions from IC6 -> IC8 • Accepting diffs that break prod • Systems for reasonable work life balance at IC8  • His note taking system in VSCode • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:50) His rough onboarding to Facebook product team (04:32) Switching to Instagram  (06:39) What IC7 scope looks like (09:48) Thoughts on management (10:32) Why he always makes time for others (13:31) His IC7 & IC8 stories (20:54) Swapping out infra for 1000s of engs (22:37) Work life balance tips (IC6 -> IC8)  (27:26) Diffs reviews & risk  (36:07) Being a good tech lead  (42:12) Taking notes in VSCode (47:03) Advice for his younger self (49:54) Outro Where to find Jake: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakebolam/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@theregularbuiltozzy Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/  • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Philip Su grew to Distinguished Engineer (IC9) at Meta and OpenAI. He has a bunch of interesting stories about working with people like Zuck and John Carmack as well as a ton of advice for software engineers. I was really looking forward to chatting with him and enjoyed this conversation a lot. I hope you find it helpful! In this conversation, we discussed: • What Distinguished Eng (IC9) expectations look like • How he got promoted to IC9 • Working with impressive engineers like John Carmack • What made Zuck and Boz special as coworkers • Learnings from switching between IC and EM 6x • Why he joined OpenAI • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:02) Growing to Senior Staff (IC7) at Microsoft (06:38) Management vs IC transitions (17:32) Demotion from IC9 to IC7 at Meta (20:28) IC7, IC8, and IC9 expectations (28:58) IC9 promo story (31:30) Building a strong eng team culture (36:16) Working with Zuck + Meta CTO (38:57) Working with John Carmack and other impressive ICs (41:44) Buying $23000 of coffee in a day (45:35) Why leave Facebook (49:25) Joining OpenAI (55:38) Writing well as a software engineer (1:03:00) Does software eng performance decline as you age? (1:07:00) Building credibility as a young manager (1:10:25) Should you be a generalist or a specialist? (1:12:43) Advice for his younger self Where to find Philip: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suphilip/ • Peak Salvation podcast he referenced: https://peaksalvation.com/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/  • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Ricky (Google Engineering Manager) and I were recently invited to give a talk at UCLA for the UPE/ACM clubs. We wanted to share the industry secrets that college didn’t teach us about the tech industry, career growth, and more. Students were able to submit questions in advance that we prepared slides for. We received a bunch of interesting questions that should be helpful to any college kids looking to get into tech. You can look at the timestamps below to jump to whatever questions you’re most interested in. Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:47) Primer on SWE levels (06:12) How to succeed as an intern?  (09:13) How did you get promoted quickly? (11:36) How much of success is luck? (13:32) If you had one piece of advice, what would it be? (16:11) What if I’m not a gigachad coder? (19:12) How to handle imposter syndrome? (21:36) How to advocate for yourself? (24:20) Big tech vs startups for new grads? (30:28) How do people measure impact? (32:17) Would an MBA help for eng management? (33:45) How was college recruiting? (36:10) How do you make as much money as possible? (38:00) Parting words (40:10) What are your current goals? (42:02) Thoughts on job hopping? (45:49) What Ricky works on? (46:06) Thoughts on how AI affects engineering? Thank you to Jordan Nguyen (ACM), Ashley Cheng (UPE), and Lune Chan (Videography) for hosting and helping produce this event!! Where to find Ricky: • YouTube: https://youtube.com/@findingricky  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingricky Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/  • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Jia Chen is a 21 year old that won 21x hackathons and co-founded her own startup, all while being a content creator. She’s worked hard to succeed in tech despite attending a non-target school, and has recently dropped out to work on her startup, Sprint.dev. We discuss: • Winning hackathon strategies • How to stand out as a college student • Content creation • Dropping out to build a startup • College reflections and advice Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:55) Getting into hackathons (04:10) Hackathon strategy (15:20) Developing agency & time management (19:27) Standing out at a non-target school (20:19) Is college useful? (24:28) Personal brand (26:25) Dropping out to build a startup (32:32) Advice to younger self Where to find Jia: • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jia.seed/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-chen-tech/ • Startup (Sprint.dev): https://www.sprint.dev/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/  • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Steve Huynh became a software engineer at Amazon with a Liberal Arts degree. He started as a Support Engineer and eventually became a Principal Engineer (top ~1% at Amazon) before starting his own career growth YouTube channel, A Life Engineered. We discuss: • Why most interview prep advice is garbage • Why most people don’t become Principal Engineers • Amazon’s performance-based layoff culture • How to avoid being laid off • Regrets & advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:37) Transitioning from liberal arts to tech (06:31) Becoming a software development engineer (17:37) Breaking into the tech industry today (22:56) Future of software engineering with AI (26:06) SDE1 → SDE3 promos (33:11) Perf-based Layoffs at Amazon (46:22) His Principal promotion project (59:53) Best parts of Amazon's culture (1:05:22) His best and worst managers among 20+ (1:09:09) Career reflections Where to find Steve: • Newsletter: https://alifeengineered.substack.com/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ALifeEngineered • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-life-engineered/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alifeengineered/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Evan King went from Junior (IC3) to Staff (IC6) at Meta 3 years out of college. After that he quit FAANG to start a few companies that were each acquired. In this conversation we go over his career growth, his transition to startups and what he learned along the way.  We discuss: • What got him promoted to Staff in 3 years • What stands out in Meta’s culture • Creating and leading a new team at IC5 • Differences between big tech and startups • Regrets looking back • Advice for his younger self Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:28) Getting into programming (09:34) Leetcode (15:45) Picking his first team (22:00) P*nis story (25:13) Mid-level promo (29:03) How to ship code fast (35:28) Senior promo (52:45) Staff promo (1:12:02) Meta impact culture (1:13:16) On being a tech lead (1:16:46) Influence without authority (1:19:29) Management vs Eng (1:26:46) Why leave Meta (1:36:25) Technical learning (big tech vs startups) (1:40:26) When to build a startup (1:44:27) How much he worked (1:49:02) Biggest career regret (1:51:54) Advice for new grads & past self Where to find Evan: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-king-40072280/• His Company: https://www.hellointerview.com/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/  • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman Referenced: • Evan's post on Substack: https://www.developing.dev/p/new-grad-to-staff-at-meta-in-3-years • Ryan’s eng blog for Meta (part of IC6 promo): https://engineering.fb.com/2022/11/04/video-engineering/instagram-video-processing-encoding-reduction/ • Meta’s graph database, Tao: https://engineering.fb.com/2013/06/25/core-infra/tao-the-power-of-the-graph/ To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Rahul Pandey (@rpandey1234) grew to Staff at Meta through a few interesting legs of his career: • Stanford to Startup - He joined a startup that one of his professors was starting right out of college. This startup was acquired within a year by Pinterest. • Junior to Mid-level @ Pinterest - His promotion was rejected twice. He appealed the second rejection and got the promotion. • Senior to Staff @ Meta - He interviewed for Senior at Meta and got a promotion through job hopping. From there, he worked towards his Staff promotion and got it. After getting to Staff at Meta, he started his own YCombinator-funded startup, Taro. In our conversation we cover: • What got him promoted to Staff at Meta • Joining startups and “two-way doors” • How his promotion was rejected twice and he appealed successfully • When job hopping is good and when it is bad • What real networking looks like — Where to find Rahul: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rpandey1234/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RahulPandeyrkp • Twitter: https://x.com/rpandey1234 • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rpandey1234/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: instagram.com/ryanlpeterman In this episode, we cover: 00:00 – Intro 1:12 – Stanford to Startup 12:25 – Jr to Mid-level at Pinterest 30:20 – Senior to Staff at Meta 45:12 – Management (TLM) at Meta 53:40 – Leaving Meta to create a startup 1:05:32 – Career reflections To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Ricky (@findingricky) went from Junior (IC3) to Staff (IC6) at Google by 28. He doesn’t consider himself the best engineer, instead crediting his blend of technical and soft skills for his ability to land promotions quickly. In our conversation, we discuss: • Managing your manager • Finding good projects (and rejecting bad ones) • Imposter syndrome • Switching from IC to engineering management • Work-life balance — Where to find Ricky: • Instagram: https://instagram.com/@findingricky  • YouTube: https://youtube.com/@findingricky Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://instagram.com/@ryanlpeterman In this episode, we cover: 00:00 – Intro 01:08 – Promotion timeline 02:34 – Junior to Mid-level 04:24 – Finding independence 10:39 – Mid-level to Senior 11:20 – Learning how to say no 17:26 – Senior to Staff 20:18 – Finding next-level work 23:42 – Transitioning to management 33:46 – Reflections To hear more, visit www.developing.dev

Zach Wilson is an engineer who grew to Staff (IC6) at Airbnb by age 26. He worked at Meta, Netflix, Airbnb and more recently has started his own company. In our conversation, we discuss: • His promotion from Junior (IC3) to Mid-level (IC4) at Meta • What blocked his promotion to Senior (IC5) at Meta • Job hopping to Senior at Netflix instead • Burning out at Netflix when given Staff scope • Negotiating Staff at Airbnb • Regrets & learnings — Where to find Zach Wilson: • Instagram: https://instagram.com/eczachly/ • X: https://x.com/EcZachly • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@eczachly • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eczachly/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EcZachly_ • Newsletter: https://blog.dataengineer.io/ Where to find Ryan: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@ryanlpeterman In this episode, we cover: 00:27 Introducing Zach Wilson 03:14 Landing a Job at Facebook 06:33 Choosing the Right Team at Facebook 07:28 IC3 to IC4 at Meta 13:54 Trying for IC5 at Meta 23:49 Getting hired as an IC5 at Netflix 39:49 Negotiating IC6 at Airbnb 52:09 Building internal brand when job hopping 56:55 Reflection & learnings To hear more, visit www.developing.dev