Avsnitt
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Vlad Feinberg is Google DeepMind’s pre-training area lead and I asked him all about how to land a job at a frontier lab like Google DeepMind, Anthropic or OpenAI.
• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done
Podcast links:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/cDyi91onoJ8
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/google-deepmind-pre-training-lead
Thank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:33) Skills frontier labs need
(08:45) The difference between AI research and engineering
(21:41) Domains that matter for the frontier
(30:50) Marketing yourself to frontier labs
(35:13) Concrete steps engineers can take
(38:29) Overview of pre-training areas
(47:23) Jeff Dean spot bonus story
(50:14) Favorite Gemini war story
(58:59) Advice for his younger self
(01:03:07) Outro
Where to find Vlad:
• Personal Website: https://vladfeinberg.com/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/FeinbergVlad
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimirfeinberg/
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
Referenced in this episode:
• How to Land a Job at a Frontier Lab: https://vladfeinberg.com/2026/05/10/how-to-land-a-job-at-a-frontier-lab.html
• ThunderKittens: https://github.com/HazyResearch/ThunderKittens
• Deedy's doomer Tweet: https://x.com/FeinbergVlad/status/2056383124829872466?s=20
• Jacob Steinhardt's "Research as a Stochastic Decision Process": https://cs.stanford.edu/~jsteinhardt/ResearchasaStochasticDecisionProcess.html
• The Scaling Book: https://jax-ml.github.io/scaling-book/
• Dwarkesh and Reiner's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkSf5IS-zw
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Simon Peyton Jones is the co-creator of Haskell (pure functional programming language) and I interviewed him about functional programming, why it matters, and his thoughts on other programming languages.
• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
Podcast links:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/xcB_LF3cdqw
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/co-creator-of-haskell-functional
Thank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:39) What functional programming is
(09:18) Downsides of functional programming
(10:53) Specialized hardware for functional programming
(21:47) Haskell is useless
(25:59) Rust vs C
(28:26) Haskell vs OCaml
(35:26) Side effects in Haskell
(44:26) Type systems
(57:30) How the Haskell compiler works
(01:04:35) Why Haskell is talked about more than used
(01:09:07) Avoiding success at all costs
(01:11:12) LLMs and programming languages
(01:13:57) New programming language design
(01:15:59) Should students continue to learn programming
(01:22:33) Why Excel is his 2nd favorite programming language
(01:25:04) Advice for his younger self
Where to find Simon:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonpj/
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Peyton_Jones
• Personal Website: https://simon.peytonjones.org/
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
Referenced in this episode:
• Haskell is useless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSmkqocn0oQ
• John Backus Turing Award lecture: https://worrydream.com/refs/Backus_1978_-_Can_Programming_Be_Liberated_from_the_von_Neumann_Style.pdf
• Why functional programming matters: https://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/dat/miranda/whyfp90.pdf
• Excel is his 2nd favorite programming language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M4P5M85KO8
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Avi Wigderson is the only person in history to have won both a Turing Award (computer science) and Abel Prize (math). I interviewed him all about his field.
• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
Podcast links:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/5GUcvSAJcJw
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-p-vs-np-zero
Thank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:08) P vs NP
(14:51) What if you relaxed correctness
(25:38) Why NP complete problems are equivalent
(30:33) Space vs time complexity
(43:06) Why people use SAT solvers
(45:53) Randomness is a resource
(55:48) Randomness depends on computational power
(01:21:20) Zero knowledge proofs and their significance
(01:38:30) Quantum computation and why it matters
(01:56:24) Math vs computer science
(02:08:16) Major breakthroughs and his experience
(02:12:31) Advice for his younger self
(02:14:48) Outro
Where to find Avi:
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avi_Wigderson
• Personal Website: https://www.math.ias.edu/avi/home
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
Referenced in this episode:
• PCP Theorem paper: https://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/TOPICS/pcp/AS.pdf
• Paper on SAT approximation hardness: https://www.cs.umd.edu/~gasarch/BLOGPAPERS/max3satl.pdf
• Turing's paper: https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/Turing_Paper_1936.pdf
• Original paper on NP completeness: https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~sacook/homepage/1971.pdf
• Ryan William's breakthrough result on space vs time: https://people.csail.mit.edu/rrw/time-vs-space.pdf
• Old result on space vs time: https://www-wjp.cs.uni-saarland.de/publikationen/HPV75.pdf
• Paper describing constant space majority solution: https://people.cs.umass.edu/~barring/publications/bwbp.pdf
• Fast primality test paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022314X80900840/pdf?md5=6f748cd82fa8efa1a637efab5f632baa&pid=1-s2.0-0022314X80900840-main.pdf
• Deterministic primality test paper: https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/manindra/algebra/primality_v6.pdf
• Randomness vs observer paper: https://people.csail.mit.edu/silvio/Selected%20Scientific%20Papers/Pseudo%20Randomness/How_To_Generate_Cryptographically_Strong_Sequences_Of_Pseudo-Random_Bits.pdf
• Hardness vs randomness paper: https://www.math.ias.edu/~avi/PUBLICATIONS/MYPAPERS/NOAM/HARDNESS/final.pdf
• Erdos original sum vs product paper: https://users.renyi.hu/~p_erdos/1983-18.pdf
• Terrence Tao sum vs product paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0301343
• Seminal interactive proof paper: https://www.cs.miami.edu/home/burt/learning/csc609.221/goldwasser-micali-rackoff-knoweldge-complexity.pdf
• Zero knowledge proof paper: https://www.math.ias.edu/~avi/PUBLICATIONS/MYPAPERS/GMW86/GMW86.pdf
• Shor's algorithm original paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/quant-ph/9508027
• Lattice paper (new hard problems): https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/258533.258604
• MIP* vs RE paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2001.04383
• Zero knowledge non-interactive proofs: https://eprint.iacr.org/2025/1296.pdf
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James Cowling is the CTO at Convex and was previously the most senior engineer at Dropbox. We discussed technical details of his past projects, simplicity vs complexity, and career advice given where AI is today.
• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
Podcast links:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/3XkmNSuHFmY
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/dropboxs-former-most-senior-eng-building
Thank you to this episode's sponsor for supporting my work:
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:53 Systems work during his PhD
00:13:05 Dropbox technical deep dive
00:21:57 Why Dropbox migrated from AWS
00:36:40 How to do massive migrations
00:44:31 Simplicity vs complexity in promos
00:49:23 What technical teams should be focused on
01:00:25 Doing the right thing vs promo hypothetical
01:08:13 Why he dipped into management sometimes
01:11:36 Why you should not lead by example
01:23:23 How to mentor Senior Staff engineers
01:27:30 Career advice for the AI era
01:37:21 Why he started his own company
01:46:05 The most technically challenging work of his career
01:48:10 How he got involved in Silicon Valley
01:52:16 Career regrets
01:55:54 Top technical book recommendation
01:56:36 Younger self and permanent underclass advice
Where to find James:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcowling/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/jamesacowling
• His company: https://www.convex.dev/
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
Referenced in this episode:
• His PhD Thesis: https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/atc12/atc12-final118.pdf
• Masters paper: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall19/cos418/papers/vr-revisited.pdf
• Papercuts writing he mentioned: https://medium.com/@jamesacowling/embracing-papercuts-e6390055dfc4
• "Don't lead by example": https://medium.com/@jamesacowling/dont-lead-by-example-4f86b1174e64
• His writing about orienting teams around missions: https://medium.com/@jamesacowling/your-system-is-not-a-sports-team-e17f9eb16b94
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Bjarne Stroustrup is the creator of the C++ programming language and a former researcher at Bell Labs. We talked about what Bell Labs was like, programming language design, and interesting anecdotes from his experience.
• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/U46fJ2bJ-co
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/creator-of-c-bell-labs-negative-overhead
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲'𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:
• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - The origin of C++
8:46 - What Bell Labs was like
17:24 - Dennis Ritchie
24:00 - When to build a programming language
31:59 - Bootstrapping a language
33:58 - C++ is not object-oriented
37:32 - Discussing type systems
46:20 - Memory safety
49:26 - Standards committee anecdotes
1:09:40 - Adding automatic garbage collection to C++
1:18:25 - Template instantiation is Turing complete
1:21:57 - Abstraction and performance
1:28:51 - AI writing code
1:35:54 - His motivation
1:39:18 - Famous quotes
1:46:48 - Reflecting on building C++
1:49:12 - Top C++ book recommendation
1:50:59 - Advice for his younger self
1:58:06 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗷𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲:
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarne_Stroustrup
• Personal Website: https://www.stroustrup.com/
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
𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:
• "A History of C++": https://www.stroustrup.com/hopl2.pdf
• "Evolving a language in and for the real world": https://www.stroustrup.com/hopl-almost-final.pdf
• "Thriving in a Crowded and Changing World": https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2020/p2184r0.pdf
• The lecture where he mentioned he lost half his hair: https://youtu.be/69edOm889V4?si=IAZxYNwlUALodEV7&t=474
• Quotes I pulled: https://www.stroustrup.com/quotes.html
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David Malan is a Harvard professor known for turning CS50 into a popular online computer science course. We discussed the story behind CS50, how to lecture well, and how AI is changing CS education including in cheating/academic dishonesty.
• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/bB2o81DnKHk
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/harvard-professor-cs50-what-matters
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲'𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:
• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
1:09 - Getting into computer science
3:27 - Becoming the professor of CS50
11:19 - How to lecture well
14:25 - Depth vs engagement in education
18:11 - Why don't we consolidate educational resources
23:20 - Why start with C
31:51 - The ideal use of AI in education
34:54 - Cheating and AI
38:21 - Should we really learn CS still?
45:24 - College vs online education
47:06 - The most difficult concept to learn
51:00 - Growth vs fixed mindset
52:35 - The future of CS50
55:56 - Biggest career regret
1:00:29 - Top book recommendations
1:02:36 - Advice for his younger self
1:03:35 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:
• Personal website: https://cs.harvard.edu/malan/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dmalan
• Github: https://github.com/dmalan
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidjmalan/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malan/
• Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/davidjmalan/
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidjmalan
• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidjmalan
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
𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:
• His first program for CS50: https://x.com/davidjmalan/status/1432538424590929920
• Paper about CS50 improvements: https://cs.harvard.edu/malan/publications/fp310-malan.pdf
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy
• How Computers Work book (not affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/How-Computers-Work-Evolution-Technology/dp/078974984X
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John Myles White recently left his role as a director of engineering at Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) so we spoke freely about promo culture, how big tech has changed, and how his career grew.
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/aPfnP4iAIH8
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/msl-eng-director-promo-hacking-industry
𝗕𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘆:
• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/
• My ergonomic keyboard project, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
0:54 - Is he bullish on MSL
5:23 - Running promotions at Meta
15:15 - Growing at Meta
22:22 - Julia core language contributor
29:24 - Academics failing into industry
31:48 - Stats book recommendations
38:02 - Biggest career regret
41:05 - Advice for his younger self
42:46 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-myles-white-115697180/
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/johnmyleswhite
• Personal Website: https://www.johnmyleswhite.com/
• Github: https://github.com/johnmyleswhite
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
𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:
• Evaluating the design of the R language - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240040602_Evaluating_the_Design_of_the_R_Language
• Stats book he mentioned (not affiliate link) - https://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Agnostic-Statistics-Peter-Aronow/dp/1316631141
• Stats book he mentioned (not affiliate link) - https://www.amazon.com/All-Statistics-Statistical-Inference-Springer/dp/0387402721
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Barbara Liskov is a Turing Award winner known for her work in programming languages and distributed systems. We discussed the major problems she solved in her career, stories about Dijkstra, getting rejected from Princeton because she was a woman and misc topics around her work.
🔸 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/T9CGjbPZeaM
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-data-abstraction
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Go To Statement Considered Harmful: https://homepages.cwi.nl/~storm/teaching/reader/Dijkstra68.pdf
• Viewstamped Replication: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall09/cos518/papers/viewstamped.pdf
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Getting rejected from Princeton
2:53 - The software crisis
9:03 - The drawbacks of Python
10:17 - Getting into distributed computing
13:09 - Paxos vs Viewstamped replication
21:44 - The significance of Dijkstras letter
25:04 - Why she stayed in academia
30:39 - Why her award was questioned
33:51 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗮:
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Liskov
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
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Mike Stonebraker is a Turing Award winner famous for his contributions to fundamental database technologies. We discussed the story behind building Postgres, where he disagrees with Google/Amazon on databases, and what he's working on now.
🔸 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/YPObBOwIrHk
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-postgres-disagreeing
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Red book of database readings: http://www.redbook.io/
• BEAVER: An Enterprise Benchmark for Text-to-SQL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.02038
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
1:03 - How he got into databases
6:43 - Competing with Oracle
9:07 - What made Postgres special
15:55 - One size fits none
21:37 - Why he disagreed with Google
29:14 - Why he chose academia over big tech
30:58 - Replacing state in an OS with a DB
42:02 - Future problems in databases
51:36 - Technical book recommendations to learn databases
52:20 - Advice for younger self
55:52 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲:
• His current company DBOS: https://dbos.dev/
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
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In this episode, I talked to Marc Brooker, a distinguished engineer at AWS who started there as a new grad and rose through the ranks. We discussed technical learnings from 3,000+ cloud system postmortems, how software engineering is changing with AI, how to find impactful problems and much more.
🔶 My keyboard Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/u3GjIXP9N0s
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1qX2GfpbzxzGpGvDZVINdO?si=wsDGZo9PTbCNalKVybFVnA
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/aws-distinguished-eng-learnings-from
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Post we discussed on hobbies and apparent expertise: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2023/04/20/hobbies.html
• Post on software engineering changing: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/02/07/you-are-here.html
• Post about Senior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/20/ic-leadership.html
• Post on Junior engineers and AI: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2026/03/25/ic-junior.html
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
1:27 - Finding problems that matter
11:42 - Learnings from 3000 postmortems
23:58 - Why caches are bad
29:37 - How AI will change software engineering
36:49 - Advice for junior engineers given AI
44:02 - Thoughts for senior engineers
49:59 - Why engineers should write
57:51 - Visibility and apparent expertise
1:04:23 - AWS engineers he admires
1:06:53 - Technical book recommendations
1:09:06 - Advice for his younger self
1:10:37 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-brooker-b431772b/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/MarcJBrooker
• Personal Blog: https://brooker.co.za/blog/
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
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This is James Everingham, former head of engineering at Instagram and a veteran of the tech world with experience at Netscape. We talked about his unconventional start in the industry, learnings from every leg of his career, and regrets he has looking back.
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/VIF5Fm8NdE8
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/ex-head-of-eng-at-instagram-career
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
0:00 - Intro
0:57 - Kicked out of college
5:35 - FBI showed up at his house
7:43 - Pre-IPO Netscape experience
25:19 - Joining Instagram as head of eng
29:12 - Why shrinking teams improves velocity
32:59 - Working with Mike Krieger
37:16 - Leading Cryptocurrency project at Meta
42:30 - What he is working on now
54:29 - Career regrets
56:27 - Advice for his younger self
57:42 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jevering/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/jevering
• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@jevering
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
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Ethan Evans is a former VP at Amazon has seen pretty much every possible type of corporate politics. Now that he's retired, he could share everything he'd seen including stories about empire building, hidden politics, reorgs, senior promos and dealing with bad managers.
🔸 The keyboard I'm building: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-done
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/6WaeGfLnRvc
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/amazon-vp-reveals-everything-hes
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00 - Intro
2:33 - Empire Building
31:54 - Stealing scope
44:03 - Managing out via reorgs
51:01 - Bad managers and mutiny
01:01:43 - Political messaging
01:11:48 - Handling politically skilled operators
01:20:01 - Orgs trying to steal scope
01:30:26 - Handling difficult people from other orgs
01:36:19 - Handling weak managers
01:46:30 - Backchanneling
01:52:04 - Influence without authority
01:58:04 - Sexual harassment
02:00:49 - Skip overruling firing
02:05:39 - How to fire managers
02:11:31 - Leverage when people are getting fired
02:24:01 - How to grow past senior eng
02:43:01 - How to avoid politics
02:48:15 - Advice for younger self
02:49:51 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanevansvp/
• X/Twitter: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP
• Newsletter: https://levelupwithethanevans.substack.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BAdkBGjOIlccGLZ3jbLiA
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
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This is a conversation with Brendan Burns, co-creator of Kubernetes and current technical fellow at Microsoft working on Azure. We discussed what it was like building it at Google, how he got buy-in, and what he learned along the way.
🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/FKijpCEH9D8
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/the-creator-of-kubernetes-on-building
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:37 - How he convinced Google leaders
00:09:26 - Building the MVP
00:11:43 - How he made time for Kubernetes
00:25:28 - Technical details on building Kubernetes
00:38:46 - Rallying the open source community
00:50:01 - Scaling Kubernetes up for AI training workloads
00:55:31 - Reflections on getting a PhD
01:00:22 - The inevitable trajectory of software is death
01:04:16 - Top book recommendations
01:05:22 - Advice for his younger self
01:06:21 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendan-burns-487aa590/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/brendandburns
• Github: https://github.com/brendandburns
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
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Austen McDonald is a former hiring committee member at Meta, where he led mobile hiring and conducted hundreds of interviews. In this episode, we talked about what happens behind the scenes in a hiring committee, unethical candidates, and the role referrals play.
🔸 (Sponsor) Hello Interview's Website - https://www.hellointerview.com/
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/nOapM8i5jr0
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-hiring-lead-on-behind-the-scenes
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:49 - What goes on in hiring committees
00:09:02 - Unethical candidates
00:12:50 - How leveling is determined
00:23:12 - Can you negotiate level mid-process
00:32:30 - How non-tech leads can signal scope
00:39:11 - Referrals and bias
00:45:28 - What the rubric looks like
00:50:00 - OpenAI and Anthropic specific discussion
00:52:22 - Most common mistakes senior candidates make
01:02:31 - How to prep depending on your level
01:08:34 - Subjectivity and bias
01:21:02 - The questions you ask at the end matter
01:23:59 - Storytelling tips
01:30:31 - How he got promoted to Senior Manager (M2) at Meta
01:33:32 - His biggest career regret
01:38:13 - The best advice he ever received
01:39:54 - Advice for younger self
01:41:46 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻:
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/austenmc/
• His book - https://thebehavioral.tech/
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
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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
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Bryan Cantrill was a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems and has now founded his own company called Oxide Computer Company. We discussed his career experiences through boom/busts, what competing with Bezos was like, and career regrets.
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/qhSL-5GtmQM
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-eng-on-stack-ranking
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Link to the part in the talk on Oracle/Sun we discussed - https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?si=eExjIMZROGjJcDsw&t=1977
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:42 - Working at Sun Microsystems
00:10:17 - His growth to distinguished eng
00:19:14 - Why goaling on promotion is bad
00:29:34 - Stack ranking and layoffs
00:36:00 - Why he hated the Oracle acquisition
00:44:19 - Why Bezos is the apex predator of capitalism
00:48:04 - Differences between CTO and VP
00:49:58 - Starting his own company
01:02:37 - Grilling him on his past
01:11:57 - AI boom and bust advice
01:14:41 - When he was happiest in his career
01:17:22 - Top career regret
01:19:21 - Advice for younger self
01:20:57 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗻:
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-cantrill-b6a1/
• Twitter/X - https://x.com/bcantrill
• Personal Website - https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/
• His company - https://oxide.computer/
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
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I interviewed Leslie Lamport, a Turing Award winner known for his contributions to distributed systems and the inventor of the Paxos algorithm. We walked through the major contributions of his career for the stories behind them and what he learned along the way.
🔸 My keyboard project: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/U719vQz-WFs
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-on-working-with
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Bakery Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/bakery.pdf
• Time Clocks Paper (most cited): https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf
• The Byzantine Generals Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/byz.pdf
• The Paxos Algorithm Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/lamport-paxos.pdf
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:25 - The Bakery Algorithm
00:08:28 - Experiences with Dijkstra
00:14:44 - His most cited paper
00:23:26 - The "Byzantine Generals" problem
00:38:05 - The Paxos Algorithm
00:46:57 - Paxos vs Raft Algorithm
00:51:26 - Building LaTeX
00:54:45 - Why writing improves your thinking
01:00:21 - Why he wasn't an academic
01:02:08 - Grand theory of concurrency
01:07:25 - Why he doesn't think he's smart
01:09:07 - Advice for his younger self
01:09:44 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗲:
• His works: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/pubs.html
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
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David Ronca joined Netflix in 2007 and grew to an engineering director there. Later he joined Meta as a Director and transitioned to a Principal engineer working on video technologies. Now he's retired and was graciously willing to share his career story with us. I asked him for everything he learned in his 36 year career.
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/retired-netflix-engineering-director
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/ApG9vjbHDCk
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• Netflix culture memo (2009) - https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/culture-1798664/1798664
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:40 - How Netflix was different
00:08:01 - The legendary Netflix culture memo
00:18:54 - How to hire engineers well
00:30:52 - The strongest engineer he's ever met
00:33:02 - Joining Meta
00:50:52 - Near death experience
00:59:04 - Where he learned the most
01:04:09 - Book that impacted his career most
01:11:33 - Advice for his younger self
01:18:32 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidronca/
• Personal Website: https://www.roncatech.com/
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
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This is Adam Ernst, a Distinguished Engineer at Meta (IC9) who’s built iOS infrastructure that has impacted the entire company. We talked about how his career grew, a major failed project of his, and everything he learned growing to that level.
🔸 My keyboard project link: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal
𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/YA_OYJF3Mmw
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835
• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-distinguished-eng-ic9-on-influencing
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:47 - His middle school company
00:03:50 - His first project and promo at Meta
00:10:03 - Why code review is undervalued
00:12:42 - Senior Staff (IC7) promo story and project
00:19:26 - His major failed project
00:26:35 - How to handle a failed project
00:29:04 - Thoughts on management
00:31:35 - Technical depth vs breadth
00:33:32 - IC9 expectations
00:34:46 - Senior engineers he admires
00:37:39 - Advice for his younger self
00:39:52 - Outro
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗺:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjernst/
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
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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
- Visa fler
