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#12 Victoria Kirst (VP of Eng @ Glitch, Tech Lead @ Google): 13 Years in Software Engineering, Big Tech vs Startups, and Going All-In on Paper
The first episode recorded LIVE on the new Boba Talk couch! 🛋️
Victoria Kirst, better known online as vrk, is a tech veteran (former VP of Engineering at Glitch, Tech Lead @ Google, Software Engineer @ The Browser Company) based in Brooklyn, NY. She's currently on a 2-year sabbatical exploring her love of paper through Pouch, her indie magazine, and her email newsletter.
In this episode, Ellie sits down with Victoria to talk about her coding journey, from playing with MS Paint and building anime fansites to spending 7+ years at Google (twice!) working on Google Chrome, Google Maps, VR, transitioning to a people manager at Glitch, and joining one of the hottest startups in the recent years, The Browser Company, before leaving to pursue the medium of paper through the lens of cute handdrawn zines. So many great stories and gold nuggets, a must-listen for any code newbies and creative technologists.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:30) Origin story with MS Paint and anime fansites
(05:00) The Google Chrome team, Flash / Web APIs, Chromium
(08:04) The vibe at Chrome team vs Maps team
(10:03) Leaving Google; immigrant parent, taking a risk
(13:02) Teaching CS at Stanford, math tutoring, advice for Gen Zs
(16:45) Not liking school and going back to Google / Recurse Center
(20:56) The second time at Google
(22:30) Joining Glitch, a platform for building & hosting web apps
(25:33) People managing at a startup / building trust
(30:14) Trying a venture-backed startup
(32:01) Fast-paced environment at The Browser Company
(36:20) Sabbatical / leap of faith / the medium of paper
(43:13) Pouch, a magazine for stationary lovers
(45:52) Analog journal vs digital journal
(47:54) Photo printing
(53:04) Plug & outro
Episode links:
- 🪟 Windows 3.1
- 🎨 MS Paint
- 🫰 Anime fansite
- 💜 University of Washington
- 🌐 Google Chrome
- 📺 Flash video
- 🧰 Web APIs
- 🚀 Multi-Process Architecture
- 🛜 Chromium
- 🗺️ Google Maps
- 🌈 CSS
- 🧘 Recurse Center
- 🎏 Glitch
- 👤 Individual contributor (IC)
- 🟦 The Browser Company
- 💰 Ventured-backed startup
- 📟 PagerDuty
- 🧑🏻🏫 Executive coach
- 🛢️ Amazon S3
- 🧠 NP-Hard
- 📝 Bullet journal
Keep up with Victoria:
- Website: https://victoriakirst.com
- Newsletter: https://vrklovespaper.substack.com
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/victoriakirst
Keep up with Pouch:
- Pouch: https://pouchmagazine.com
- Instagram: @pouch.studio
Boba Talk:
- Host: Ellie Popoca
- Producer: Jay Yow
- Videographer: Naomi Lee
Codédex:
We are a gamified learn-to-code platform with 1m+ happy learners. Made with <3 in Brooklyn, NY.
- Start your coding adventure: codedex.io
- Instagram: @codedex.io
- Twitter: @codedex_io
View all episodes
By CodédexThe first episode recorded LIVE on the new Boba Talk couch! 🛋️
Victoria Kirst, better known online as vrk, is a tech veteran (former VP of Engineering at Glitch, Tech Lead @ Google, Software Engineer @ The Browser Company) based in Brooklyn, NY. She's currently on a 2-year sabbatical exploring her love of paper through Pouch, her indie magazine, and her email newsletter.
In this episode, Ellie sits down with Victoria to talk about her coding journey, from playing with MS Paint and building anime fansites to spending 7+ years at Google (twice!) working on Google Chrome, Google Maps, VR, transitioning to a people manager at Glitch, and joining one of the hottest startups in the recent years, The Browser Company, before leaving to pursue the medium of paper through the lens of cute handdrawn zines. So many great stories and gold nuggets, a must-listen for any code newbies and creative technologists.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:30) Origin story with MS Paint and anime fansites
(05:00) The Google Chrome team, Flash / Web APIs, Chromium
(08:04) The vibe at Chrome team vs Maps team
(10:03) Leaving Google; immigrant parent, taking a risk
(13:02) Teaching CS at Stanford, math tutoring, advice for Gen Zs
(16:45) Not liking school and going back to Google / Recurse Center
(20:56) The second time at Google
(22:30) Joining Glitch, a platform for building & hosting web apps
(25:33) People managing at a startup / building trust
(30:14) Trying a venture-backed startup
(32:01) Fast-paced environment at The Browser Company
(36:20) Sabbatical / leap of faith / the medium of paper
(43:13) Pouch, a magazine for stationary lovers
(45:52) Analog journal vs digital journal
(47:54) Photo printing
(53:04) Plug & outro
Episode links:
- 🪟 Windows 3.1
- 🎨 MS Paint
- 🫰 Anime fansite
- 💜 University of Washington
- 🌐 Google Chrome
- 📺 Flash video
- 🧰 Web APIs
- 🚀 Multi-Process Architecture
- 🛜 Chromium
- 🗺️ Google Maps
- 🌈 CSS
- 🧘 Recurse Center
- 🎏 Glitch
- 👤 Individual contributor (IC)
- 🟦 The Browser Company
- 💰 Ventured-backed startup
- 📟 PagerDuty
- 🧑🏻🏫 Executive coach
- 🛢️ Amazon S3
- 🧠 NP-Hard
- 📝 Bullet journal
Keep up with Victoria:
- Website: https://victoriakirst.com
- Newsletter: https://vrklovespaper.substack.com
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/victoriakirst
Keep up with Pouch:
- Pouch: https://pouchmagazine.com
- Instagram: @pouch.studio
Boba Talk:
- Host: Ellie Popoca
- Producer: Jay Yow
- Videographer: Naomi Lee
Codédex:
We are a gamified learn-to-code platform with 1m+ happy learners. Made with <3 in Brooklyn, NY.
- Start your coding adventure: codedex.io
- Instagram: @codedex.io
- Twitter: @codedex_io