I’ve been through my fair share of engineering interviews over the past few years. I’ve looked at large companies and smaller start-ups like companies. Everyone has a different process, but there’s one thing in common: you need to have stories. Being a leader is being a storyteller. I’ve added some tips below to help you […]
It’s hard when you have someone sandbagging your team. The underperformer is dragging everyone down with their performance – but it’s also hard to eliminate them. You know them, and you’ve built up a rapport. You know about their family and their struggles over the past few years. Ideally, we shouldn’t be here. Everyone should […]
We’ve considered what we value as an engineering manager (or leader). How can you do performance appraisals without a concrete framework for evaluation? How do you evaluate those wishy-washy soft skills that are so clearly not objective? And does being a good manager mean that you will perform well? Today, I’ll discuss engineering management. What […]
How do you know if you’re ready to switch careers and become an engineering manager? That question has been asked often since I made the switch several years ago. I’ve written previously about how I trained engineers to be managers, but that’s only part of the problem. The better question is are you ready for […]
Recently, I had a small debate with other leaders on the impact of communication and its role across the team. We debated that repeating material in the town hall format adds no value and that they would prefer smaller more personal modes of communication. I believe that we need to communicate widely and personally. The […]
Essay Leadership Management Strategy
An engineering strategy goes beyond your OKRs (if that’s what you use for goal setting). It goes into where you want the organization to be in the next few years. As a leader, you need to decide the short-term tactics you wish to use and your long-term plays. A strategy doesn’t necessarily need to be […]
It’s been a long time since I sat down to write out my thoughts. Over the past couple of years, I’ve been working on my MBA. I successfully graduated and learned a lot about business in the process. Today, I want to write about something I’ve been working on over the past few years. I […]
When I first started at Traveloka, I realised that there are some good engineering practices, but other practices could be improved. It’s only through this crisis that we could discover how to embrace our inner engineers through working from home. One of the first things I noticed was missing was a lack of centralised documentation. […]
Unfortunately, the world has gone a bit upside down over the last few months. We’ve seen countless layoffs across many different industries and countries. Now, more than ever, we’re also seeing leaders truly emerge and help their people navigate through the choppy waters. Be Clear One thing I’ve now noticed that great leaders like Jacinda […]
