In this interview (and podcast), with Rukmini Reddy, VP of Engineering at Abstract, we discuss motiving and aligning your team, working in a remote company, hiring, and tips for being organized.
Stories from VPs of Engineering
Interview with Vishal Saxena, VP Global SaaS Operations at Aktana
In this interview (and podcast), with Vishal Saxena, VP Global SaaS Operations at Aktana, we discuss handling organization change, the relationship between engineering and IT and Dev-ops, and advice for new managers.
Interview with Randy Raw, VP of Information Security at Veterans United Home Loans
Read or listen to my interview with interview with Randy Raw, VP of Information Security at Veterans United Home Loans. We discuss working w/ info security. lessons learned as a leader, recommend podcasts, and more!
Interview with Eugene Bochkarev, VP of Engineering at Xero
In this interview (also available as a podcast), I speak with Eugene Bochkarev, VP of Engineering at Xero who wants to make the whole community of engineers and managers better. We discuss advice for new managers, hiring strategies in the highly competitive SF Bay Area, and a lot of great learning and book recommendations.
Interview with Juan Pablo Buritica Vice President of Engineering at Splice
- What’s your background and how did you get into management?
- What are the biggest challenges you face?
- What are your thoughts on diversity?
- What is your approach to hiring?
- What’s your advice for managers who are just starting out?
- What’s your workday like and how do you manage your time, emails, etc.?
- What’s a personal habit that contributes to your success?
Interview with Robby Russell, VP Engineering, Partner at Planet Argon, LLC
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.
Interview with Oliver Plattner, VP of Engineering at Codecademy
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.
Interview with Saminda Wijegunawardena, VP, Engineering @ Box
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.
Interview with Lei Yang, VP of Engineering at Quora
Location: Mountain View, CA
Current role: VP of engineering at Quora
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I was born and raised in China. I got my Bachelors degree from Peking University and then came to the US for grad school. I started my first full time job at Google after I got my PhD. After seven years at Google, I joined Quora. In my professional life,
Interview with Mike Oliver, VP of Product Engineering at Runkeeper / ASICS Digital
Location: Boston, MA
Current Role: VP of Product Engineering at Runkeeper / ASICS Digital
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I have a traditional technical background with a Computer Science degree from Northeastern University. When I graduated, I can’t say I thought much about leadership or my career path; my goal was simply to work on interesting projects and solve hard problems. I was tapped for my first management role at a reasonably early stage in my career,