Interviews and Resources for Engineering Managers and Leaders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I’m Margaret Schmitt, Senior Director of Business Performance in the Systems Business Unit at ANSYS, a leader in engineering simulation technology; prior to this role, I served as Chief of Staff to the CEO at ANSYS. I have 20 years’ experience in semiconductor and electronic systems design, and I specialize in the areas of low-power and power/thermal management.
Location: Denver CO
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I have a technical background which includes an undergraduate and graduate degree in civil engineering and a professional engineering license in several states. Speaking in the context of my industry (e.g.: consulting engineering), I transitioned into management the traditional way. I started my career as an entry-level staff engineer, worked hard at the opportunities in front of me and built upon those experiences to earn management positions and new opportunities.
Role: Director of Product at Lola.com
Location: Greater Boston Area
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I’m a former Army officer and had my first opportunity to manage when I was 23. I was an engineering platoon leader deployed to Iraq and was given the honor of leading 30 soldiers. Together with my platoon, we improved the quality and protection of Soldiers living facilities across Northern Iraq.
Since leaving the Army and joining tech startups,
Role: Director, Software Development at Box
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
What is your background, and how did you get into management?
My first management job was at Okta. I started as one of the first engineering hires and developed an expertise in a particular domain. I eventually became a tech lead, and then I moved into management.
People sometimes ask me, “What’s your advice? I want to get into management,” or “I’m interested in engineering management.
Current role: VP of Engineering, Founder Partner at Planet Argon
Location: Portland, Oregon
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
It’s not conventional. In the second half of the 90s, I began dabbling with open source technologies. In particular, with Linux and Perl. During this time, I was also a high school dropout painting houses for three years.
The idea of working in tech didn’t appeal to me.
Current Role: CTO at Alloy
Location: Vancouver, Canada
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I have a background in Mechatronics Engineering, but I’ve always been drawn to the software side of things. When I graduated from University of Waterloo, I expected to stay in Canada and work on software in the robotics space. Instead, I ended up at Addepar and spent 3 years in Silicon Valley.
Current role: Director, Green & Energy Services
Location: Irvine, CA (headquarters)
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
After finishing my BS and MS in mechanical engineering, I went to work for a firm that works on large-scale energy efficiency projects. It was at this firm that I was given the opportunity to work on all aspects of these projects from the initial walk through & calculations/design,
Location: New York
Current Role: Codecademy VP of Engineering
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I’ve been working in technology since I was 15 years old and initially started by working with computer networks and data centers. After graduating with a computer science degree, I took my technical skills to build out technical pre and post sales teams. It was early on in my career that I realized it was much more rewarding and empowering to set others up for success and see them achieve their goals as opposed to being an individual contributor.
Location: San Francisco, CA
Current Role: Engineering Manager at DoorDash
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I come from a software engineering background. Prior to joining DoorDash, I worked at Esurance where I was promoted from developer to senior developer and finally manager over a three to four year period. I had a wonderful female boss who showed me my strengths and encouraged me to be a mentor and manager,
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Current Role: VP of Engineering
What is your background and how did you get into management?
My background in both management and engineering management is pretty unconventional. In college, I started out as a business major. After taking electives my first year, I took an accounting course in my second year and quickly realized that it was not for me. Ultimately, I took a bunch of science and philosophy of science courses that really reinvigorated me so I decided to go pre-med.
