The Tech Trek

Some of what Guillaume talks about: Equilibrium between people and process Culture of safety What happens when you don’t know how to test something Balancing innovation and safety Blameless post mortem Avoiding gaps in ownership Meet: Guillaume Binet is the Vice President of Software Infrastructure at Motional, a global leader in driverless technology. Guillaume’s 20-year career in technology spans multiple start-ups and established organizations, including over six years in the autonomous vehicle industry. Early in his career, Guillaume led Twilio’s API team and Google’s App Engine team, helping both organizations scale and grow at a rapid pace. In 2016, Guillaume joined the self-driving industry, first at Uber ATG, starting the organization’s software performance team, and then Argo, where he helped pioneer the concept of a Robotics Infrastructure team to bridge the gap between autonomy research and applied software on a real-time system. He joined Motional in 2020 to oversee the development of its vehicles’ on-board and off-board infrastructure. In his positions, Guillaume has managed global teams of 100+ engineers. He holds multiple patents under his name. Raised in Paris, Guillaume developed a passion for computers and automotive technology at a young age. Along with his professional career, Guillaume has received his pilot's license and competes in car and sailboat racing. If you have any questions for Guillaume, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gbinet I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Some of what Swarna talks about: Understanding DevOps maturity prior to starting a new position Defining separation between backend and DevOps teams DevOps maturity impacts the skills you need to hire for Meet: Swarna Mani is the Head of DevOps at Datavant. She formed and led the DevSecOps team at Guidewire. Swarna started her career in telecom software as a developer. Her passion is problem-solving. Her experience as a developer helps her to enable DevOps and approach it with a mindset to solve Ops issues using software. Swarna holds a BS in Electronics and Communications from the University of Madras, MS in Software Systems from BITS, Pilani, and a Diploma in Management Essentials from Harvard Business School. If you have any questions for Swarna, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swarna-mani-a815402/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Some of what Brian talks about: Developers own the QA process Adding sand in the gears Technical asset development (technical debt) explained as a positive experience TAD is nothing to be ashamed about Service intervals to make sure you have scheduled a “monthly oil change” to address framework/language updates Meet: Brian Hosie has worked for a decade helping small businesses owners to succeed, grow and thrive. He's passionate about building tech that solves real problems for real people. Over his 15 year career in technology, he has led and grown several highly functioning engineering teams that deliver on time without heroics or 2 AM death marches. Brian currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Lendio, the largest online marketplace for small business lending in the United States. If you have any questions for Brian, please feel free to reach out via: https://linkedin.com/in/bhosie I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Some of what Jeff talks about: Upscaling the relationship between testing and SRE Ensuring the quality of the platform Being error-free is the lowest bar The first mandate is to protect the health of the production environment Moving from quality assurance to quality engineering Meet: Jeff Vier - Technical Operations Leader.  Metrics enthusiast.  Testing evangelist. If you have any questions for Jeff, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffvier/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Some of what Jeff talks about: Making the decision to move to a larger organization Making decisions when things aren’t greenfield Finding interesting opportunities by uncovering legacy work Managing technical debt within a larger organization Meet: Jeff Byrnes is the SRE Manager at athenahealth. Jeff is a musician turned web dev turned ops/infrastructure engineer turned engineering manager. If you have any questions for Jeff, please feel free to reach out via: https://twitter.com/thejeffbyrnes https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbyrnes https://www.instagram.com/jeffbyrnes I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Some of what Ali talks about: Handling the hiring process to overcome the challenges of hiring remote Adjusting the software development process to minimize the impact of employees that might leave Paying attention to context switching Building a team post-pandemic Shifting the development process from Scrum to Kanban Meet: Ali Hosseinkhani is the Director of Software Engineering at Next Trucking leading four teams focusing on data engineering, machine learning, platform application development, and infrastructure. If you have any questions for Ali, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kosarh/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Chad dives into everything data platform product management including: Why does your org need a data product manager Origin of where the role comes from Measuring the impact of the data platform product manager What to look for in hiring a data platform PM Take advantage of internal-facing PM roles Meet: Chad Sanderson is the Head of Product for Convoy’s Data Platform team, which includes the data warehouse, streaming, BI and visualization, experimentation, machine learning, and data discovery. If you have any questions for Chad, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-sanderson/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Some of what Juan Pablo talks about: Lean into potential An early-stage startup can take risks to let people grow into roles Hiring someone with experience means you are hiring someone that has already made mistakes Experience can be a double-edged sword People grow linearly; organizations grow exponentially Interviewing is part of building software and you must account for that process Meet: Juan Pablo Buriticá is a software engineering leader who has built and led distributed teams at companies like Stripe and Splice. He currently leads Engineering at Ritchie Bros, is originally from Bogotá, Colombia, and lives in New York City. After a decade of building distributed engineering teams, he compiled his experience in The Holloway Guide to Remote Work. Juan Pablo has built high-performing software engineering organizations by emphasizing Open Source software values, technical excellence, trust, and empathy. He has also organized more than 10 software engineering conferences in the US & Latin America, founded multiple JavaScript meetups, and led the creation and growth of Colombia’s JavaScript community, now one of the largest Spanish-speaking JS communities in the world. His favorite food group is empanadas. If you have any questions for Juan Pablo, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/buritica/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Gap analysis to forecast data pipeline needs Work backward from the end-user point of view Every system has to have some human involvement Going beyond the initial scope of work to learn about a new industry Working with stakeholders to help them understand what goes into getting analytics to them Meet:  Trenton Huey is the Director of Data at Vida Health, which provides access to therapists, registered dietitians, and health coaches for mental and physical health conditions. His team drives innovation, clinical outcomes, and business growth through machine learning, AI, and reporting and analytics. If you have any questions for Trenton, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentonhuey/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Optimize resource allocation by examining maturing applications Find ways to offload activities to 3rd party services to help scale Being remote requires an open work culture Meet:  Aniket Soneji is passionate about solving the world's most important and difficult problems with innovative engineering solutions. He holds multiple engineering degrees from UC Berkeley, and spent his first few years in technology consulting, helping clients across the US build-out and scale their IoT and Analytics platforms. He currently serves as the VP of Engineering at AutoGrid, where his team is building the software to help support, optimize and monetize today's energy transition. If you have any questions for Aniket, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aniket-m-soneji/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.