The Tech Trek

Host Amir Bormand meets with Vivek Menon in this episode of The Tech Trek . Vivek is the Head of Cybersecurity & Compliance at Digital Turbine who also boasts a strong background in Data. He and Amir explore Vivek’s unique experiences and discuss how more Data experts can impact Cybersecurity. Highlights: 04:12 - Why aren’t there more Data experts in Cybersecurity? 11:12 - Will the CISO role d...

On this episode of The Tech Trek, host Amir Bormand speaks with Tony Dong, the Senior Director of Engineering at Rippling. Tony is a major advocate for maintaining a startup mindset regardless of your team’s size. He and Amir also discuss strategies for effectively scaling a team. Notes 04:29 - Tony explains why he prefers to maintain a startup mindset even as his teams grow. 09:03 - How can engin...

In this episode of The Tech Trek , host Amir Bormand speaks with Amit Gulati, the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Angi. Amit reflects on his 20 years of experience as an engineering leader - sharing the ups, downs, ins, and outs of the various roles he’s taken on. Highlights 00:02:51 - Amit discusses some of the changes that he encountered while he progressed as an engineering leader. 00:0...

In this episode of The Tech Trek , our host Amir Bormand speaks with Lee Eason, the Director of Digital Branch Experience at Edward Jones. Amir and Lee share insights about working with distributed/remote teams, supporting new leaders, and prioritizing team health. Highlights: 00:05:35 - Lee shares his experience with adapting to leading a distributed/mostly remote team . 00:12:55 - What’s the lin...

In this episode of The Tech Trek , Amir Bormand speaks with Shruthi Murthy, the Executive Vice President of Engineering at Modern Treasury. Amir and Shruthi discuss the various phases of growth that companies like Modern Treasury and WhatsApp experience. They also discuss how businesses and entrepreneurs can choose the right growth strategies for their needs. Highlights: 00:01:47 - Shruthi breaks...

In this episode, Hadi Radwan, Co-founder at Asteya, talks about leadership and the core function of facilitation! Key takeaways: Executing the strategy The leader should not be the bottleneck 2-way communication Wearing different hats when communicating Fail fast, learn fast Lines of communication: remove yourself from the centerpiece Thinking frameworks - how do you structure problems Dunning-Kru...

In this episode, Ozan Bilgen, Co-founder and CEO at base64.ai, talks about technical debt and why you should avoid over-engineering! Key takeaways: Tech debt is a conscious way of something things can wait Knowingly you under-engineer certain parts where you can afford to Focusing on the thing that does 99% of the job SW is short-lived anyways, so why over-engineer Scale and compliance are drivers...

In this episode, Rob Phillips talks about making an impact through data transformation at a large public company. Key takeaways: Becoming a more data-driven company Using data to predict what’s going to happen What does that mean to the company? How far down the maturity path do you look to build your roadmap Benefits of moving quickly to prove your MVP Focus on testing out new capabilities Give t...

In this episode, Shweta Saraf, Head Of Engineering, Edge Infrastructure Services Engineering at Equinix, talks about how she handles hiring for a niche skill set and things you can do to help find the right talent. Key takeaways: Focus on optimizing the talent pipeline Removing the requirements friction Have existing staff find opportunities to grow skill sets Training from within What happens whe...

In this episode, Mark Isham, VP of Engineering at FullStory, talks about how he handles planning across the engineering organization. Key takeaways: Identifying the top 2-3 priorities Tips for effective planning. Building a product security team. Dealing with different personalities/styles Flexibility is important in teams. Running effective one-on-ones About today’s guest:  Mark Isham has le...

In this episode, Dan Kador, VP of Engineering at Clockwise, walks us through how and where engineering teams spend (and "waste") their time! Meetings and coordination “tax” “Focus time” What activities do companies spend the most time on? Learn to implement no-meeting days Ways to run a team effectively Productive one-on-one meeting structure Pros & cons of asynchronous stand-up meetings Diffe...

In this episode, Zeeshan Khadim, Head of Security at Panther Labs, discusses how to improve security adoption by building security into an engineer's workflow. Key Takeaways: Security and privacy are part of the core product, not an overhead Security implications from the design phase Empower users to start with security in mind Make sure you triage before involving other teams Understand what the...

In this episode, Selim Onal, the Director of Engineering at Ladder Life, talks about managing in a fast-growing environment. Challenges involved in managing rapid growth. Being intentional in the people systems you implement. The power of “putting people first” Balancing a people-first culture with delivery. People systems should support career growth Benefits of hiring non-traditional people How...

In this episode, Claude Jones, an engineering leader, talks about how to build a high-performing team. At the time of this recording, Claude was the SVP of Engineering at Strava. Key takeaways: How to ramp up as a new leader? Tips for planning smooth transitions. Learn how to scale engineering teams. Steps to build a high-performance culture What is envisioned as engineering excellence? Strategy t...

In this episode, Mike Bennett, Head of Data Governance at Bayer Crop Science, discusses starting and growing a data governance strategy. Key takeaways: Access and control Touches on security and compliance Compliance is just one aspect of governance Treat data as a physical product Start with a minimal process, then evolve and mature it Embracing data privacy as it’s not going away Build an adapti...

In this episode, Omar Turner, Managing Director of Cloud Security at Microsoft, discusses data privacy and protection. Key takeaways: Data protection and privacy Evaluating smaller vs. big companies Stakeholder buy-in Data protection/privacy divergence from security Classifying data Privacy defines who has access Being aware of the data you have Understanding data sovereignty About today’s guest:...

In this podcast, Eddie Flaisler, Head of Products Engineering at Lob, talks about managerial strategies for frontline managers. What frontline managers do Making sure the team is delivering high business value Conveying the problem statement, not the strategy Balancing constraints and business priorities Delegation Strategies for Leaders and Managers Importance of asking the right questions A key...

In this episode, Kevin Dotzenrod, VP of Engineering at Total Expert, talks about the mental health of your team’s individual contributors. Dealing with Impostor syndrome. Being as fearless as possible when you are starting off How do you manage your first-time manager Balancing of Empathy and Accountability Managing managers on their responsibilities Helping people flourish in a new environment Wh...

In this episode, Balaji Prabhakar, co-founder of Clockwork and Professor of Computer Science at Stanford, discusses congestion problems in data centers and real-life congestion issues. Challenges when dealing with network congestion within cloud infrastructures. What does it mean to build out a system of accurate clocks? Understanding the package switching networking and distributor systems. Creat...

In this episode, Karim Fanous, VP Engineering @ strongDM, talks about the impacts on an engineering team's productivity. Key Takeaways: Impacts on productivity for the team Context switching between interviewing and development Importance of Having a repeatable and objective process Challenges in onbarding process for newly hired engineers. Understanding the people retention process. ___ About tod...

In this episode, Beth Scheer, Talent Partner at Homebrew, talks about the drivers for hiring a coach and what to look out for while going through the process. Key Takeaways: Why would a founder should look for a coach? Big commitment to hiring a coach Make sure you do a reference check with people the coach has worked with the right questions are a must. A good coach for someone else might not be...

In this episode, Jeremy Eastwood, the Head of Engineering at DroneDeploy, talks about velocity and adding processes as your team grows. Key Takeaways: Metric to measure velocity Reconciling struggles Experimenting while using guardrails Devote an engineer to reliability during each sprint Making sure there is an expected result when experimenting When to sit back and let the team execute Definitio...

In this episode, Che Sharma, Founder & CEO of Eppo, talks about the relationship between data and engineering teams and how both teams can originate impactful experiments. Key takeaways: Data teams are trying to improve decision quality across the org How do data quality metrics affect the engineering team? Importance of experiments and feedback loops Experimentation maturity curve Engineering...

In this episode, Ty Sbano, an Information Security executive with over 17 years of experience heavily focused on empowering end users securely, talks about “Empathy-Driven Process Development.” He speaks about driving change and how we are changed by empathy. Key takeaways: What is empathy-driven process development Taking yourself out of the equation when changing processes How fast do you want t...

In technology, scaling your team is not an easy thing to do!  In this episode, Doron Segal, the Co-Founder & CTO at Per Diem, talks about his insights regarding hiring & retention. Key Takeaways: Improving your hiring and retention process. Recruiting pitfalls and how to avoid them. Hiring junior vs. senior-level employees Going after different talent as you scale Hiring the right per...