The Tech Trek

By Elevano

The Tech Trek brings together technology leaders and innovators to share insights on software, data, AI, DevOps, and more. Hosted by Amir Bormand, the podcast explores scaling tech, building high-perf... more

· Technology

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FAQs about The Tech Trek:

How many episodes does The Tech Trek have?

The podcast currently has 466 episodes available.

The Tech Trek episodes:

August 16, 2022Clay Alvord - Organizing and managing the work to get done
Highlights of my conversation with Clay:
What does a full stack DevOps Developer do

Managing SW engineers as a non-SW engineer

Engaging your employees to maintain a high degree of performance and innovation

Helping people stay focused on their core competencies

Managing different types of engineers/skillsets on a team

Being transparent about your own weaknesses with the team

Making sure that everyone can see a path forward for their career

Survey your team quarterly with their technology comfort level to see gaps in your team

Planning work with the entire team and not just with the senior people

Each person driving the project will create and maintain their own wiki (Confluence) page

Driving personal ownership of the project plan will help increase the quality of the plan
Meet: Clay Alvord, a Bay Area native, got his start in IT helping his dad out at Fry's electronics doing low voltage work. From there, he got a job as a sys admin at a startup that eventually sold to Oracle. At that point, he moved into hardware and data centers like Apple and VMware. Clay eventually landed as the Senior Data Center Engineer at Box and eventually became the Global Data Center Manager, managing data centers across the planet for Box. With a passion for infrastructure and automation, Clay built a tooling team to enhance and better scale the management of Box's physical infrastructure. As a Senior Manager, Clay now runs 2 DevOps teams that build software and tools to effectively manage Box's on-prem infrastructure and its vast public cloud presence.
If you have any questions for Clay, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/clayalvord/
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please message me if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
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28min
August 11, 2022Ana Lebron - SRE is an engineering function with a strategic business focus
Highlights of my conversation with Ana:
The intersection of SRE/business

Complex systems always fail

Reliability is a feature of the system

SLAs are a partnership with the customer

Managing SLAs in proactive and reactive situations

Measure everything

Impact of outages and communicating to business

Collaboration with Security

Involving SRE at the beginning of the implementation is important

Planning for future tools

Celebrating team wins

Learning opportunities from outages
Meet: Ana Lebron is the leader of the Site Reliability Engineering team at Enova International. She has been in the technology industry for the last 15 years in different roles. She started her career as a system engineer in the aerospace industry, working in Germany and Spain. In 2010 Ana undertook an MBA specializing in Technology Operations, and since then, she has worked at Enova International, leading change management, problem management, and site reliability engineering teams. Ana has co-organized Chicago Women in Tech Conference (Chiwitcon) and is passionate about DevOps and Agile practices.
If you have any questions for Ana, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-a-lebron/
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please message me if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
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23min
August 09, 2022Moitree Rahman - Building a cross-functional analytics team
Highlights of my conversation with Moitree:
Building an analytics team to support the company's digital transformation initiatives

The skill sets of an analytics team have become diverse

Investing in emerging technologies and using them

Evaluating resourcing to be able to get the most out of your investment

Business vs technical chops

Finding hybrid skills is a challenge to growing teams

Define your requirements to drive the skill set you need on your team

When do you add new capabilities vs keeping it with external partners
Meet: Moitree Rahman is a marketing analytics and data professional with 12+ years of experience making an impact in data and tech strategy roles for Fortune 500 companies that span across diverse business verticals, including CPG (Colgate-Palmolive), Telco (AT&T), Media-Entertainment (AT&T/Warner Media/ Xandr) and SaaS (LiveRamp) companies.
Currently leading the Digital Measurement transformation at Colgate-Palmoliveer efficiently and at scale.
If you have any questions for Moitree, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/moitreerahman/
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please message me if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
...more
27min
August 04, 2022Laku Adedoyin - Communicating the “why of engineering work”
Highlights of my conversation with Laku:
Aligning work to the broader company goals

Engineers like to work on things that actually get used

CTO should focus on customer success channels

Focusing on what impact we can bring to the customer

Translating that to daily motivation

Distilling the message into the simplest form

Not using release dates as motivation

Explaining technical debt to the broader organization

Engineering bandwidth as a pie chart
Meet: As CancerIQ’s CTO, Laku Adedoyin leads a growing engineering team that is helping to end cancer as we know it by focusing on early detection and efficient screening. He has over 20 years of experience in software development, engineering, and product leadership. Before joining CancerIQ, he led engineering and product management teams that built electronic data collection and clinical trial management systems used by leading research centers, clinical research organizations, sponsors, research sites, and large health systems.
Laku is very passionate about building products that bring value to customers and building engineering and product teams to deliver efficiently and at scale. In his free time, he spends time hiking, woodworking, cooking, and with his kids.
If you have any questions for Laku, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lakuad/
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please message me if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
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25min
July 28, 2022Cindy Chu - Growing your engineering team with diversity in mind
Highlights of my conversation with Cindy:
Starting as the only female engineering hire in a startup

Bring up diversity hiring plans before you are hired

Transparency is at the center of inclusivity

Putting women on interview panels is important, but making sure it’s not just a check box

Be careful not to reward the wrong traits

Advice for female engineers looking to move into management

Ask for the opportunity; don’t wait for it

Educational opportunities to move into STEM
Meet: With over a decade of experience developing consumer web products, Cindy currently leads the engineering team at imgix. Previously, Cindy led the web and mobile engineering teams at Polyvore, which was acquired in 2015. She has a degree in computer science from Stanford.
If you have any questions for Cindy, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindywangchu/
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please message me if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
...more
25min
July 26, 2022Alonzo Benavides - Growing an engineering team at a (crypto-focused) information services company
Highlights of my conversation with Alonzo:
Drivers for leaving a large public company for a startup

Moving into the blockchain information space

Trying to maximize time zone overlap in a remote-first strategy

Avoiding information lag for remote employees

Innovating the hiring process to fit your needs

Throwing out the 2-week sprint and redesigning the process

Building autonomous teams and trust
Meet: Alonzo is SVP of Engineering at The Block and is focused on leading the Product Development department through the Growth stage. He is responsible for building software and data products that enhance users' experience while supporting the business as it grows and scales. Before joining The Block, Alonzo was Vice President of Software Engineering at Mastercard Data & Services. He is passionate about technology, innovation, people leadership, investing, and entrepreneurship. Alonzo earned dual degrees in Computer Science and Physics from Carnegie Mellon University and is committed to working in the Blockchain & Digital Assets space at this stage in his career.
If you have any questions for Alonzo, please feel free to reach out via:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alonzobenavides/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zobenavides
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please message me if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
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45min
July 21, 2022Jeff Gabriel - Balancing research and coding in the research (machine learning) space
Highlights of my conversation with Jeff:
An idea can come from a one-off problem or a long-term strategic issue to tackle

Relationship between research and product management

Impact on roadmaps

Investment grows as you prove the value

Moving from research to POC

When a hypothesis doesn’t work out (building corporate memory)

Finding the balance in an engineer between implementing and researching

Nurturing the kernel of an idea
Meet: Jeff Gabriel has been delivering software one way or another for the last couple of decades and is now primarily focused on helping our teams to deliver high-value products for customers of DataRobot's machine learning platform. When not at work, Jeff likes to spend time with his wife and their three grown children whenever they can get hold of them.
If you have any questions for Jeff, please feel free to reach out via:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-gabriel-88395b/
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
...more
25min
July 19, 2022Fabian Frank - Planning for and hiring the right mix of technical talent
Highlights of my conversation with Fabian:
Hiring the best talent vs a specific seniority level

Hiring “scrappy” technologists

Allowing your senior engineers to grow

Calibrate team mix based on organizational goals

Find a balance as you need to shift your hiring needs (avoid whiplash)

A roadmap update shouldn’t require a complete alteration of the hiring plan

Revisiting interview questions quarterly as you grow your team
Meet: Fabian Frank is the VP of Engineering at Airkit, a customer experience automation platform. Before Airkit, Fabian worked at Salesforce and Yahoo.
If you have any questions for Fabian, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabianfrank87
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
...more
31min
July 14, 2022Dehron Hite-Benson - Spirit vs letter of the law in Agile
Highlights of my conversation with Dehron:
Be an advocate for your engineers

Typing methodology changes to values

People want scrum to drive autonomy and accountability

Let people make mistakes to drive better project management skills

Culture is an “output” (ask the why)

Use bottom-up feedback

Giving away control leads to a better scrum team

Pilot ideas (tweaks vs grenades)
Meet: Dehron Hite-Benson is an engineering leader with driving engineering teams. He is focused on the future of our software technologies and resource needs, as well as the governance model that drives everything. At the time of this recording, Dehron was working at DroneUp
If you have any questions for Dehron, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dehron
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests or know someone that might want to be on the show.
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31min
July 07, 2022Jose Asuncion - Growing your team from startup stage to publicly-traded company
Highlights of my conversation with Jose:
Being promoted into a role too quickly

Continuing education to grow and enhance leadership skills

It's important to have strong routines within a team

Identifying patterns and focusing on the optimal ones

Consistent processes help establish team expectations

Identify your hiring gap and find the strongest person to cover that

Searching for your next hire might not always offer the team the best value

Adding to your organization's core competencies by being able to identify future superstars
Meet: For the past three years, Jose Asuncion has been honing the art and science of building software engineering teams that look corporate but carry a killer instinct. He was an early employee at two Silicon Valley startups that had successful exits of more than $100M. He still works at one of these companies and is enjoying the challenge of blazing new trails in engineering management.
If you have any questions for Jose, please feel free to reach out via:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeunito
I hope you enjoyed the episode. The best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you want me to cover specific topics with future guests.
...more
25min

FAQs about The Tech Trek:

How many episodes does The Tech Trek have?

The podcast currently has 466 episodes available.

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