In this interview (and podcast), with Lavanya Ramani, Software Development Manager at Amazon, we discuss “detached attachment,” careers (it’s not a race), hiring with LinkedIn Recruiter, how to avoid being distracted by your phone, and more.
Stories from Engineering Managers
Gergely Németh, Engineering Manager at Uber
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
Originally, I’m from Hungary, where I was the co-founder of RisingStack, a small consulting company, focusing on JavaScript and DevOps. Early on, I took on the responsibilities of the CEO – I’ve always enjoyed helping others grow and succeed, so early on I’ve found joy in it. I’ve been leading RisingStack for a bit over three years – during that time we worked for companies small and big,
Interview with Shilpi Sanchetee, Engineering Manager at Slack
Location: San Francisco
Current Role: Senior Engineering Manager @ Slack
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I was a software engineer for most of my career. At my first job in a small startup, I grew my team from 1 to 20 in 1.5 years in India and San Francisco. My manager at the time strongly believed in my leadership and put me in front of our main customers,
Interview with Federico Soria, Engineering Manager at Airbnb
In this interview (also available as a podcast), with Federico Soria, Engineering Manager at Airbnb, we discuss inbox zero, diversity and inclusion, hiring strategies in the highly competitive SF Bay Area, and hacking career development.
Interview with Allison McMillan, Engineering Manager, GitHub
Location: Washington, DC
Current Role: Engineering Manager, GitHub
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I actually have a degree in political science! After college, I worked in nonprofit management for a while managing an organization working with college students. There were a lot of things that I loved about management. It’s great to watch people grow and learn and help them develop skills they’ll use for the rest of their lives.
Interview with Karen Cohen, Engineering Manager and Product Architect at Wix.com
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Current Role: Engineering Manager and Product Architect at Wix.com
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
My first encounter with management was at age 21, working as an officer and software developer in the Israeli army. I led a team of developers who worked on multiple applications I had little to no knowledge about. To lead the team well, I had to find ways to provide value and gain their trust despite not being an expert in their focus areas.
Interview with Jeba Singh Emmanuel, Engineering Manager at Linkedin
Location: Sunnyvale, California
Current Role: Engineering Manager at LinkedIn
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
My transition to management was natural. I was the tech lead at SlideShare on the team that managed the upload and playback experience for a couple of years, and then, led the team that built SlideShare’s iOS app (LinkedIn’s first Swift app). I was also the tech lead on the desktop rewrite of the LinkedIn Feed on Ember.
Interview with Swaroop C H, Engineering Manager at Helpshift
Location: San Francisco
Current Role: Engineering Manager at Helpshift
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I was a software engineer for 14 years when I decided to get into management.
I love writing software and yet I decided to venture into this arena. There were 2 thoughts that drove me:
- I know how to build good software. Am I capable of building a good team?
Interview with Varsha Dudani, Engineering Manager at DoorDash
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,
Interview with Ritu Vincent, Engineering Manager at Checkr
Location: San Francisco, CA
Current Role: Engineering Manager
What’s your background and how did you get into management?
I was a software engineer for many years and it got to the point where I wanted to expand my skill set outside of technical capabilities. Growing teams and interest to me, so while at Dropbox I became involved with the summer internship program.
Running the internship program brought on a whole new set of challenges that weren’t in my comfort zone,