VP of Engineering

Helping Your Reports Grow in Their Careers

This article discusses a management philosophy that focuses on building upon people's strengths and helping them become the best version of themselves. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding what the individual wants and what the company needs in order to create the best path for them. The article also provides lessons learned, such as not having a template to follow for guiding someone on their career path and getting comfortable with the fact that neither the manager nor the direct report knows the definitive answer on the best way to develop and grow.

Taking the Initiative to Transition from Engineering to Product

A technical program manager wanted to transition into a product management role, but faced bias from their company. To prove themselves, they built a strong relationship with a VP of product, took on a small project, and studied for interviews. In the end, they received the offer to become a product manager. The lesson learned is that it is best to transfer internally and find a sponsor on the product team who will support you through the transition.

Creating Impact as One of the First Hires in a Startup

This article recounts the experience of joining a startup as the seventh employee and becoming a VP of engineering. It highlights the importance of self-awareness and adaptability when joining a startup, as well as the benefits of understanding the inner workings of a company. It also emphasizes the importance of being financially responsible when considering a startup job.

In Need of Extra Hands: Hiring Independent Contractors and External Vendors

When needing to hire additional capacity or expertise, it is important to secure the hiring budget, identify contractors or vendors, vet their quality, and be prepared on the logistical, product, and engineering side. Contracting is a good opportunity to make the right hire and it is important to ensure that the regular team knows and understands what the contractors are building.

Hiring Rapidly and Time Efficiently

This article outlines the steps taken to rapidly hire engineers while maintaining quality. The author front-loaded the design, coordination, and preparation of the hiring funnel, set up hiring teams, and treated the hiring process as a product. Three metrics were used to measure success: percentage of hires from referrals, time taken to make a decision, and face-to-face interviews to hire ratio. The author also reduced the interviewing process to four hours and in one session. Lessons learned include the importance of treating the hiring process as a product, not letting quality fall to the wayside, and understanding that every hiring process is unique.

Setting Clear Expectations of the Leadership Roles

The CTO of an organization faced a taxing problem of having to address the preconceived notions of what the role of CTO entails. To address this, the CTO set up expectations of what the role of CTO, VP of Engineering, and VP of Product entails, and highlighted the differences between the roles. As the organization grew, the expectations of the team evolved and three specific leadership roles were defined. This evolution has been a major growth point for the organization.