alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

#106 - Meritocracy, Backend and Engineer-led Sales feat. Shyam Sankar // CTO @ Palantir Technologies


Listen Later

Diversity in Meritocracy Through Rebellion

Discover new ways to do things with Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir, who is working to deprecate backend development using their experience with 150 independent dev teams running a collection of 5,000 microservices. Yet this podcast is more than that (although I was blown away by the demo)—expect great nuggets of wisdom on meritocracy, data, and of course, backend. Think of this podcast as a series of back-to-back nuggets of wisdom that not only help you make sense of what you've observed but also open your mind to emerging trends.

Listen to find out

  • 👨‍🍳 How French Restaurants Inspired Engineer-led Sales
  • ⚖️ Finding Success in Contradicting Ideas
  • 🧑‍💻 The Two Types of Engineers: Artists 🎨 vs. Hackers 🔧
  • 🏗️ How he is working on deprecating backend development
  • 📊 Why data is only as good as the decisions it guides and actualizes
  • 📚 The Power of Ontologies
  • 🧩 Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning
  • 🌈 Diversity in meritocracy through acts of rebellion 💥
  • ℹ️ Why you need to reduce information asymmetry
  • +🤖 Like Analog to Digital: How LLMs will change things

    TIMESTAMPS:

    00:00 Introduction to Alphalist Podcast
    00:59 Meet Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir
    01:59 Early Days at Palantir
    03:12 Impact of Florida 'Space Coast' Childhood
    04:26 Power of Software
    05:24 Move to LLMs: Like Analog to Digital
    07:10 A Day in the Life of an In-The-Trenches CTO
    08:37 Engineers in Product and Sales
    09:46 Value of Contradiction
    11:28 Two Types of Engineers: Artists and Hackers
    12:10 Power Law: Solving the Problems of the Most Futuristic Clients
    13:37 Building the Future of Backend Development
    14:55 No Greenfield Enterprise Tech: Need to Make Sure It Works with Old Tech
    16:13 Companies as Decision Chains and Why Data Is the New Snake Oil
    17:21 Ontology
    21:17 Inductive Over Deductive Problem Solving
    21:56 Deprecating Backend Development
    24:36 Will We Need IDEs in the Future?
    26:07 Tackling the Application Layer with Clean Abstractions
    26:43 Leveraging LLMs for Enterprise Use Cases
    27:40 How to Avoid Being a "Jack of All Trades but Master of None"
    29:12 Focus on Your Strengths
    31:50 Hierarchies: Flexibility Over Flatness
    32:28 The Qualitative Reward of Meritocracy
    33:19 Diversity, Meritocracy, and Rebellion
    34:42 How a Flat Hierarchy Helps the Creative Process
    36:52 Reduce Information Asymmetry
    38:08 Empower Your Team and Get Out of Their Way
    41:47 Don't Settle for the Comfortable Playbook - Innovate
    43:34 Reindustrialization and Software-Defined Production
    44:37 Why He Is Involved as an IC on Some Projects
    45:36 Focus on Your Strengths

    QUOTES:

    “Focus on your strengths, go figure out what your superpowers are. Don't worry about the rest of the world, right? It's really that some of the value comes from the internal creative process and knowing who you are, not from being what you think the world needs you to be.” - Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir

    “Your position of maximum growth is also likely a position of maximum pain. Like, no one is telling you this is going to be a pleasant journey, but it is going to be rewarding.” -- Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical LeadersBy Tobias Schlottke - alphalist CTO Podcast

    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5
    • 5

    5

    6 ratings


    More shows like alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

    View all
    Kassenzone | CEO Interviews by Alexander Graf & Karolin Junker De Neui

    Kassenzone | CEO Interviews

    4 Listeners

    OMR Podcast by Philipp Westermeyer - OMR

    OMR Podcast

    36 Listeners

    Lage der Nation - der Politik-Podcast aus Berlin by Philip Banse & Ulf Buermeyer

    Lage der Nation - der Politik-Podcast aus Berlin

    267 Listeners

    brand eins-Podcast by detektor.fm – Das Podcast-Radio

    brand eins-Podcast

    4 Listeners

    The OMR Podcast International – Go inside the minds of the biggest names in digital and tech by Philipp Westermeyer, founder and CEO of OMR / Scott Peterson, digital marketing editor, OMR

    The OMR Podcast International – Go inside the minds of the biggest names in digital and tech

    3 Listeners

    Handelsblatt Morning Briefing - News aus Wirtschaft, Politik und Finanzen by Teresa Stiens, Christian Rickens und die Handelsblatt Redaktion, Handelsblatt

    Handelsblatt Morning Briefing - News aus Wirtschaft, Politik und Finanzen

    48 Listeners

    Deffner und Zschäpitz – Der Wirtschafts-Talk von WELT by WELT

    Deffner und Zschäpitz – Der Wirtschafts-Talk von WELT

    34 Listeners

    OMR Media by Pia Frey

    OMR Media

    3 Listeners

    OMR Education by OMR Education / Rolf Hermann / Andre Alpar / Tarek Müller

    OMR Education

    1 Listeners

    Handelsblatt Disrupt - Der Podcast über die Zukunft der Wirtschaft by Sebastian Matthes, Handelsblatt

    Handelsblatt Disrupt - Der Podcast über die Zukunft der Wirtschaft

    17 Listeners

    Finanzfluss Podcast by Finanzfluss

    Finanzfluss Podcast

    29 Listeners

    OMR Silicon Valley Update by Christian Byza

    OMR Silicon Valley Update

    11 Listeners

    Startup Insider by Startup Insider

    Startup Insider

    4 Listeners

    Doppelgänger Tech Talk by Philipp Glöckler, Philipp Klöckner

    Doppelgänger Tech Talk

    12 Listeners

    Wall Street mit Markus Koch - featured by Handelsblatt by Markus Koch

    Wall Street mit Markus Koch - featured by Handelsblatt

    16 Listeners

    Handelsblatt Today - Der Finanzpodcast mit News zu Börse, Aktien und Geldanlage by Solveig Gode, Nicole Bastian, Sandra Groeneveld, Nele Dohmen, Anis Mičijević

    Handelsblatt Today - Der Finanzpodcast mit News zu Börse, Aktien und Geldanlage

    35 Listeners

    OHNE AKTIEN WIRD SCHWER - Tägliche Börsen-News by Noah Leidinger, OMR

    OHNE AKTIEN WIRD SCHWER - Tägliche Börsen-News

    11 Listeners

    5050 by OMR by Isabelle Gardt & Kira Schubert

    5050 by OMR

    0 Listeners

    OMRap by Torben Lux, Falk Schacht, Niko Hüls

    OMRap

    0 Listeners

    OMR Rabbit Hole: Die Höhle der Löwen by Florian Rinke, OMR, Podstars by OMR

    OMR Rabbit Hole: Die Höhle der Löwen

    0 Listeners

    Handelsblatt KI-Briefing - Das News-Update zu Künstlicher Intelligenz by Larissa Holzki

    Handelsblatt KI-Briefing - Das News-Update zu Künstlicher Intelligenz

    3 Listeners

    Make Economy Great Again by WELT

    Make Economy Great Again

    19 Listeners