Life as a Distinguished Engineer | Joakim Recht (Uber)

Software Misadventures

Out of thousands of engineers at Uber, there’s only a handful of Distinguished Engineers and Joakim was one of them. In this conversation we chat about

• Why software engineering is a lot like a sausage factory.

• Considerations for leaving big tech for a startup.

• “How to beat the promo commitee”.

• How can one effectively shape engineering culture?

• “Mentoring two people on the same team is a waste”.

• Much More.

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Segments:

[0:01:52] The “reverse sausage” architecture

[0:07:36] How to get people on board with the new deployment system?

[0:13:55] What does it mean to be a distinguished engineer?

[0:17:47] Under-appreciated soft skills?

[0:21:28] How to improve technical writing

[0:24:16] Do all senior engineers need to write and review code every day?

[0:30:19] How to search out where to contribute when your time is so constrained?

[0:43:10] How to maximize your impact as a mentor

[0:48:52] “How to beat the promo committee”

[0:52:56] Effective means to influence engineering culture?

[0:57:09] Capping the company at 150 employees

[1:03:33] Why join a startup instead of moving to another big tech company?

[1:11:14] What Joakim is working on now at Beyond Work

Show Notes:

• Joakim on leaving Uber to start Beyond Work: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-left-uber-start-beyond-work-joakim-recht-o63of?trk=public_post_feed-article-content

• Read Joakim’s other excellent posts here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recht/recent-activity/all/

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