CloudKitchens CTO on Intelligence, Regrets, Steve Jobs and Travis Kalanick Stories
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/id1777363835𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:01:26 - Growth to Senior Staff at Uber00:10:05 - Was it luck?00:11:45 - Interviewing for IQ00:18:02 - Intelligence and prioritization00:22:19 - How his team doubled every 6 months00:28:30 - Manager promos tied to scope00:39:13 - Amazon and Google brutal honesty00:43:39 - CloudKitchens behind the scenes00:50:24 - Biggest career regret00:54:17 - Travis Kalanick experiences00:56:01 - Most impactful advice received00:56:56 - Most impactful book for career00:57:53 - Advice for his younger self00:58:48 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 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
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Uber Distinguished Eng On Unfair Promos, Influence, Engineering Regrets (Career Story)
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/id1777363835𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:56 - Distinguished promo project00:19:07 - How to grow your influence00:22:38 - Unfair promo story00:33:09 - On delegation00:39:05 - Why engs don’t trust management00:47:58 - Politics as he grew00:57:00 - How to pick mentees01:03:22 - Why he left Uber01:15:16 - Biggest Uber eng mistake01:20:15 - Uber scandals01:24:35 - Advice for younger self01:26:14 - Outro𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 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
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Shopify Distinguished Eng (L10) on Principal+ Engineering, Career Story, Regrets
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/id1777363835𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:45 - Thoughts on Waterloo00:04:36 - Starting his own company00:08:40 - Google acquisition story00:14:04 - Joining Google00:20:28 - Switching back to IC00:26:42 - Principal+ Engineering at Shopify00:40:09 - Career regrets00:44:53 - Top career-impacting book00:46:59 - Advice for younger self𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 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
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Mozilla Firefox CTO on Browser War Stories and the Path to Distinguished Engineer
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/id1777363835𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 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.1gfr5hva69qx𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:57 - Starting at Mozilla00:04:57 - Browser wars history00:10:55 - Google relationship changing00:16:11 - Why work for free00:19:02 - Projects that drove his career00:33:12 - No performance reviews00:34:42 - Rust adoption00:43:33 - Career progression00:47:54 - Should you focus on promos00:57:14 - Distinguished promo rejection01:00:56 - Examples of distinguished engs01:10:54 - Advice for aspiring distinguished engs01:14:40 - AI browser wars01:26:32 - Biggest technical regret01:29:11 - Book that impacted his career most01:32:09 - Advice for his younger self𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyholley• X/Twitter: https://x.com/bhology𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 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
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Intern to Microsoft Distinguished Engineer in 11 Promotions (Career Story)
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/id1777363835𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:(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 self𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfowl/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidfowl𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 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
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