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.
๐ธ My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal
๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐:
โข YouTube: https://youtu.be/hN5ZFzWFhhg
โข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
โข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/openai-codex-tech-lead-on-how-his
๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐:
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
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฒ๐น:
โข His personal blog - https://blog.bolinfest.com/
โข Twitter/X - https://x.com/bolinfest
โข Threads - https://www.threads.com/@bolinfest
โข LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bolin-7632712
๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ป:
โข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/
โข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman
โข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/
โข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman
โข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
โข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman
