The Tech Trek

What you’ll learn: Team health as a good barometer for team velocity Tech debt is inevitable; keeping it at a sustainable rate Balancing team size Meet: Scott Persinger is the VP Engineering at Tatari. He previously managed alternative payments at Stripe and was Director of Platform Services at Heroku. Scott was a co-founder at Cloudconnect (acquired by Salesforce), and a co-founder at Remixation...

What you’ll learn: Reasons why you should hire a data product manager Data product manager roadmaps are typically longer Being data-informed rather than being data-driven Meet: Murali Bhogavalli has a proven track record of building data products that span the entire spectrum from raw data to self-serve analytics tools. Currently, he is a Group Product Manager at Tinder, leading, directing, and ma...

What you’ll learn: Benefits of incorporating security earlier in the process Balancing between business and security goals Avoid looking for the “unicorn” hires Meet: Eiwe Lingefors leads Director of Engineering, Cybersecurity & Platform at Teachable, an edtech company that enables independent professionals to turn experience and know-how into thriving businesses. If you have any questions for...

What you’ll learn: Leading with empathy in managing your team Making sure to allocate time to prioritize learning Meet: Nathan Wan is the Director of Machine Learning Platform at Freenome where he leads a team of researchers and engineers building a blood test to detect early-stage cancer. He believes that technology is most powerful when applied to the hardest problems we face not just as individ...

What you’ll learn: Moving from a non-traditional degree program into data and machine learning Stubbornness as a superpower (sticking to a problem is key) Improving the hiring process by understanding the limitations of using a data-driven hiring process Meet: George London is the Director of Engineering at Survata and the Co-Organizer of the San Francisco PyData Meetup Group. He has over a decade...

What you’ll learn: Looking at the number of merges to evaluate team velocity Reducing wait times during code reviews Software is getting cheaper to make and faster to deliver Meet: Ben Garvey heads up the team building the next generation of financial management software at Betterment for Advisors. Previously, he led world-class SAAS data engineering teams at RJMetrics, Magento Commerce, and Adobe...

What you’ll learn: Using stand-downs to check-in at the end of the day Clarifying expectations and establishing a clear technical ladder Doubling down on creating communication channels within the team Meet: Myles Guanzon is a servant engineering leader with a strong passion for data-driven, lean product development, Myles comes from a non-traditional engineering background. His career started in...

What you’ll learn: Focusing on predictability rather than velocity How the code base’s complexity can affect estimation Balancing the effect of technology change on the team David references the following book: Nicole Forsgren’s book: Accelerate Meet: David Kaplan is the head of engineering at Policygenius, the nation’s leading online insurance marketplace. David has been an engineering leader for...

What you’ll learn: Inversion of talent vs seniority Hiring is not all about the hard skills Focusing on employees motivations for the long term benefit to the company Meet: David Relyea received a Ph. D. in physics from Princeton in 2003. He has worked in the defense sector, ad tech, fintech, and cybersecurity, largely in the areas of machine learning and optimization. He is currently Director of...

What you’ll learn: Growing security awareness and maturity Starting with a security framework in mind Cybersecurity is an accessible field (moving past the myth) Meet: Ryan Weeks - As Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Ryan is responsible for directing and managing Datto's Information Security program. Ryan spent 11 years securing enterprise applications, systems, and sensitive customer fi...

What you’ll learn: Challenges in moving to CI/CD What is continuous testing? The new skills required for people in testing Meet: Liliya Frye is a Technology Leader and a Manager of Quality Assurance Engineering with over 20 years of experience in IT. She is very enthusiastic about digital product quality, security, cloud computing, and leadership. She is naturally curious and loves the continuous...

What you’ll learn: Being curious, staying curious Servant leadership style Pushing for opportunities to grow Meet: I am an experienced technologist with over 10 years of experience in the Internet industry. I've worked with companies that build and distribute web applications internally within an organization as well as externally to users around the world. I've seen the industry grow and advance...

What you’ll learn: Evaluating where data science and machine learning can be applied Complimenting human decision making with algorithms Being aware of impacting existing processes Meet: George Bezerra is a strategic data executive with expertise in Machine Learning and Data Science. Currently VP of Data Science at Frontdoor, he was previously the head of data science at car insurance startup Metr...

What you’ll learn: Modernizing a legacy data infrastructure and culture Pushing people out of their comfort zone Quick wins while building the long term foundation Meet: George Bezerra is a strategic data executive with expertise in Machine Learning and Data Science. Currently VP of Data Science at Frontdoor, he was previously the head of data science at car insurance startup Metromile and spent f...

What you’ll learn: Security professionals and mental health Accepting that there are inherent limitations in security If you burn yourself out you are doing more harm to the business than you think Simulate how you would handle a security breach Meet: Ian Amit is the CSO at Cimpress. Ian is an executive manager in the security and software industry with vast experience in multiple fields - from en...

What you’ll learn: Setting up an internal MSSP (managed security service provider) Establishing a baseline of security (using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework ) Using the M&A process to get a headstart on security Meet: Ian Amit is the CSO at Cimpress. Ian is an executive manager in the security and software industry with vast experience in multiple fields - from enterprise security, through r...

What you’ll learn: Managing the complexities of the modern data platform Balancing between hiring for the right data skill Breaking out roles by areas of specialization Meet:  Peter Fishman is the co-founder and CEO of Mozart Data (YCS20), the easiest way to spin up a modern data stack.  Previously, he was the Chief Strategy Officer at Eaze, a cannabis technology platform. He has also wo...

What you’ll learn: Security shifting left Taking security from afterthought to active participant Keeping up with the pace of change in security Meet: Cassio Goldschmidt is regarded as an internationally recognized, award-winning security expert. With more than 20 years of experience, Mr. Goldschmidt has a remarkable record of industry accolades and honors. They include: Winner of the 2019 (ISC)²...

Meet: Cassio Goldschmidt is regarded as an internationally recognized, award-winning security expert. With more than 20 years of experience, Mr. Goldschmidt has a remarkable record of industry accolades and honors. They include: Winner of the 2019 (ISC)² Information Security Leadership Award for all Americas Nominee for the 2019 TEN Information Security Executive Award for North America Winner of...

Meet: Michael Remyn is a product management executive who is passionate about creating intuitive user experiences within enterprise software. As a Director of Product Management at American Express, Michael has delivered products aimed to bring user efficiency and productivity to multiple instances of Salesforce, from complex transformations such as combining instances and overhauling the user int...

Meet: Mike Arbitman, Senior Director, Technology Organization Data and Analytics at Medidata, a technology leader skilled at defining, building, improving, and optimizing data-focused organizations delivering innovative and leading-edge solitons What you’ll learn: Modernization of master data management Determining the system of record The changing complexity of data projects If you have any quest...

Meet: Mark Shasha is the Head of Security at Braze. He is a career security professional specializing in enterprise application and infrastructure security. What you’ll learn: Working in an engineering org where the CTO still checks in code Owning  security processes Looking for transferable skills in hiring DevOps and Security professionals. If you have any questions for Mark, please feel fr...

Meet: Chris Ham is the Engineering Operations Manager and Chief of Staff to the CTO at Novantas. He is responsible for DevOps, Cloud/on-prem implementation and integration, the interface between Engineering and Infrastructure, and Big-data infrastructure. Chris’s career path has focused on blending leadership and deep technical expertise. His CV includes: -Continued service, including a deployment...

Meet: Maria Latushkin is responsible for leading Omada Health’s technology vision and team. Prior to joining Omada Health and moving to the healthcare space, Maria has spent over 15 years in eCommerce, retail, and enterprise SaaS companies ranging from series B startups to large companies, such as Walmart. What you’ll learn: Don’t hire for culture fit, make culturally additive hires Hiring people...

Meet: Greg Miaskiewicz, CEO & Co-Founder at Capbase, a startup building legal & financial tools for startups. Previously, CEO & Co-Founder of Swarm, a bot detection startup, which exited to Integral Ad Science in 2016. Greg has over a decade of experience working at early-stage Silicon Valley startups in product, engineering, and design roles. What you’ll learn (disclaimer - this is no...