Post-promotion struggles and picking the right problems

This is Michael Bolin, the tech lead for the open source Codex repository and a former distinguished engineer at Meta. We talked about his career path, how OpenAI engineers use Codex and the difference between research-led vs engineering-led company cultures.

🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/hN5ZFzWFhhg

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

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/openai-codex-tech-lead-on-how-his

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:56 - Chickenfoot

00:02:45 - Working at Google

00:06:34 - Overhauling Facebook's build system

00:16:36 - Rewriting Facebook's IDE

00:26:01 - Struggles after Principal Eng (E8) promo

00:28:39 - Building a virtual filesystem for Facebook

00:35:47 - Delayed Distinguished promo (E9) and learnings

00:39:56 - Joining OpenAI

00:43:05 - Research-led vs engineering-led cultures

00:44:53 - The story behind Codex

00:51:00 - How he uses Codex

00:57:00 - Why Codex's harness is open source

00:59:50 - Top technical book recommendations

01:05:02 - Why deep technical skills are still valuable (for now)

01:11:07 - How to start projects well

01:14:27 - Advice on writing better and career planning

01:17:06 - Advice for his younger self

01:19:10 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹:

• His personal blog - https://blog.bolinfest.com/

• Twitter/X - https://x.com/bolinfest

• Threads - https://www.threads.com/@bolinfest

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bolin-7632712

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