Early startup tradeoffs: learning over pay

Ryan Olson grew from mid-level engineer (IC4) to a principal engineer (IC8) at Instagram through a series of famous projects. The most notable was when he was the lead iOS developer that built Instagram Stories. We discuss his career journey and learnings.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-principal-eng-ic8-on-building

• Spotify: Episode link from Spotify after scheduling

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/gpVETZnY9Y0

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

• Zuckerberg emails I mentioned:

Twitter link: https://x.com/TechEmails/status/1944451283236303184

Threads link: https://www.threads.com/@techemails/post/DMDi5IWpPyC

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:31 - Failing his FB interview

00:03:27 - Interning /w future billionaires

00:14:08 - Interview nerves tip

00:16:37 - Early Instagram experiences

00:34:08 - Building Instagram Stories

00:45:03 - 1 promo per half to Staff (IC6)

00:49:51 - Senior staff promo project (IC7)

00:57:37 - IG labs & his principal promo (IC8)

01:08:19 - Starting Retro and leaving big tech

01:21:33 - Small teams hypothetical

01:25:17 - Examples of talented individuals

01:31:16 - Advice to his younger self

01:34:45 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Retro (his company): https://retro.app/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanolsonk/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanolsonk

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanolsonk/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanolsonk

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