On this episode of the 1st10 Podcast, Boris Epstein and Alexis Munger sit down with Sophie Z. Novati, founder and CEO of Formation.dev. Formation is a company dedicated to build a more equitable tech industries by helping underrepresented engineers reach their full potential. Sophie shares her journey from being an early engineer at Facebook and Nextdoor to founding Formation, driven by her mission to bridge the skills gap in tech hiring. She discusses the challenges of traditional interview processes, the importance of mission-driven work, and how her experiences shaped her approach to building Formation. 

Tune in to hear them talk about:

• Mission-Driven Work: Sophie's passion for creating equitable opportunities in tech fueled her transition from engineer to founder.

• Succeeding at Technical Interviews: Success in technical interviews requires a holistic approach, including problem exploration, collaboration, and testing.

• The Engineering Method: This problem-solving framework is applicable not just to coding but also to product development and business decisions.

• Embracing Chaos As A Founder: Building a startup is a rollercoaster, and founders need to find deep fulfillment in their work to navigate the inevitable challenges and setbacks.

• Diversity in Tech: Sophie's experience with hiring processes revealed systemic barriers for underrepresented groups.

• Sustainable Business Models: Founders must focus on building sustainable business models that align incentives and solve real problems.

Specifically, don't miss the part where Sophie shares the incredibly insightful advice she received from Mark Zuckerberg during a late-night chess session, while she was an intern at Facebook!

Chapters:

00:00 Introductions

04:58 From Facebook Intern to Mission-Driven Founder

10:07 Chess with Zuck and the Art of Problem-Solving

15:59 Sophie’s Journey From Engineering to Leadership

22:15 The Birth of Formation: Solving the Interview Paradox

28:50 Common Mistakes Engineers Make During Coding Interviews

35:30 The “Engineering Method” Framework For Problem-Solving

37:09 Sophie’s Contact Details & Advice For Early-Engineers & Founders

Quotes:

• "If you're able to capture people's valuable attention, you can always figure out how to turn that into money later."  – Mark Zuckerberg, quoted by Sophie Z. Novati (12:20)

• "If your business is, I'm going to give you $10 and you give me $5 back, then of course people are going to be happy with you. But that's not actually a business model."  – Sophie Z. Novati (34:40)

• "Coding interviews are only maybe 40% about coding. So much of it is about how you're exploring the problem space, understanding what the constraints are in your problem."  – Sophie Z. Novati (29:42)

• "If you're going to embark on the journey of being a founder, figure out a way to absolutely love your work. You have to have such a deeply anchored sense of fulfillment in the grand scheme of things to get you past the hard things."  – Sophie Z. Novati (40:19)

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Links:

Formation: https://formation.dev

Music by Roman Senyk from Pixabay

Producer: Shrikant Joshi