The Tech Trek

The Tech Trek

By ElevanoTechnology
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The Tech Trek episodes

  • Anwar Reddick - Build vs buy in the security industry

    Key takeaways:

    • Build vs buy in the security industry
    • Focusing on speed to get value out of tooling
    • Avoiding tools that tie you into a rigid structure
    • Carrying over Anwar’s software engineering background to security

      • Meet: Anwar Reddick is a 15+ year computing technology veteran. He started his career in software engineering and computer science research and quickly pivoted into information security. He has security experience doing applied research and development, defending business technology assets, supporting business development, and leading compliance programs. After working in multiple verticals, contexts, and tech stacks, he has found a niche managing security teams and programs for cloud-native SMB technology product firms. He holds BS Computer Science and MS Information Security degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

      If you have any questions for Anwar, please feel free to reach out via:

      https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwarreddick

      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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

      22 min
    • Noah Beddome - Aligning the security roadmap to business objectives

      Key takeaways:

      • Aligning the security roadmap to business objectives
      • Preparing for the initial requirements  assessment
      • Making sure you understand what is important to the business and not just 1-2 people
      • Assessing internal capabilities
      • Iterating and collaborating on the roadmap
      • Coming into the job with a blank slate view

        • Meet:  Noah Beddome is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Opendoor, the leading digital real estate platform, where he is responsible for protecting the data and technology infrastructure as well as overseeing Opendoor’s information security program and IT. Noah has more than a decade of experience working in information security in enterprise and government environments. Most recently, he served as VP of Security Engineering and interim CISO for Datadog. Prior to that, Noah worked as the Practice Director for Strategic Infrastructure Services (SIS) at NCC Group, where he built and led the SIS practice. Noah began his career in security consulting, conducting assessments and penetration testing for several firms. He also served as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years.

        If you have any questions for Noah, please feel free to reach out via:

        https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-beddome-6b794940/

        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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

        21 min
      • Josh Scherbenski - Building and improving data quality through more testing

        Key takeaways:

        • Building and improving data quality through more testing
        • Dividing work among geographically remote teams
        • Quality decline as a symptom of team burnout
        • Honing in on understanding the team's emotional and mental health

          • Meet:  Josh Scherbenski is the VP of Data at Zeus Living, where he leads the analytics, machine learning, data engineering, and pricing teams. His teams are located here in the US and remotely in Singapore. He has more than a decade of experience working in the data science and engineering fields where he’s developed multiple data architectures and machine learning data products from end-to-end. Prior to Zeus, Josh worked for NASA as a program manager and space systems engineer. After leaving NASA, he went on to work for Google and a couple of other startups, including Glassdoor, where he was the company’s first data scientist. He has an MBA and a Master’s of Engineering in Space Systems.

          If you have any questions for Josh, please feel free to reach out via:

          https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshscherbenski/

          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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

          24 min
        • Jason Wilcox - Engineers and the business value they generate

          Key takeaways:

          • Importance of having context around the greater pieces of what the business is doing
          • Staying engaged in the business vision post-onboarding
          • The 1-on-1 is the employees time
          • Transparency helps employees stay aligned to the company vision

            • Meet:  Jason Wilcox is head of technology for automotive services at Jerry. Jason leads teams using artificial intelligence and machine-learning-powered customer flows to develop software that makes managing vehicle financing and products easier.

            Jason brings 20 years of expertise in software design, development, information security, data security, data analytics, and subject matter knowledge in fintech to Jerry. A proven people leader, Jason was most recently Chief Technology Officer at RefiJet, where he led software development, information technology, and analytics teams. He’s also held leadership roles at LCS Financial Services, LenderLive, and Chess.

            Jason holds bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and physiological sciences from Marquette University. A lifelong learner, he also holds a master’s degree in strategic and competitive intelligence from the American Military University, a master’s degree in predictive analytics from Northwestern University, and a master’s degree in business administration from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.

            If you have any questions for Jason, please feel free to reach out via:

            https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilcoxjasone/

            https://twitter.com/jwilcoxdata

            https://amioraretheotherscrazy.substack.com/

            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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

            23 min
          • Brian Pivar - Transforming the data capabilities at Kraft Heinz

            Key takeaways:

            • Bringing modern tech thinking to a legacy company
            • Moving away from a FAANG to a non-tech company
            • Ability to move the needle
            • Building agile pods aligned to company objectives
            • Adjusting compensation and hiring strategies

              • Meet:   Brian Pivar is the Senior Director of Data and Analytics at Kraft Heinz.  He has been at Kraft Heinz for over 2.5 years and is responsible for building out the data science, and business intelligence engineering teams from the ground up.  Previous to Kraft Heinz, he led the data and analytics org at Amazon Restaurants (think food delivery for Amazon...like a Door Dash or Uber Eats).  Previous to that he spent about 3 years at Uber in various strategy, analytics, and leadership roles.  Brian Graduated from Purdue with a degree in finance and a minor in computer science.

              If you have any questions for Brian, please feel free to reach out via:

              https://www.linkedin.com/in/pivar/

              https://twitter.com/pivar

              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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

              44 min
            • Liran Eisenberg - Scaling your data engineering team

              Top takeaways:

              • Challenges around scaling data engineering teams
              • Pros and cons of keeping job descriptions vague
              • Waiting to make the “right” hire?
              • Focusing on retention and career progression


                • Meet: Liran Eisenberg is a forward-thinking Data Architect with 20 years of technical management experience guiding the development and design of enterprise database platforms for global organizations. Working both as a consultant and employee, oversee implementation of data architecture projects and platform solutions within highly regulated high-tech, financial, military, and health care sectors ranging from startups to large corporate enterprises.

                If you have any questions for Liran, please feel free to reach out via:

                https://www.linkedin.com/in/liraneisenberg/

                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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                36 min
              • Anil Beniwal: Preparing to scale your engineering team

                What you’ll learn:

                • What to think about when you are looking to scale your engineering team
                • Healthy tech debt to support fast growth
                • 3 categories of tech debt
                • Team design and growth ladders

                  • Meet:   Anil Beniwal is the Head of Engineering at Arcadia, an organization with the goal of accelerating the world's adoption of renewable energy. He was previously VP of Engineering at Betterment, an automated money management solution, and had spent the majority of his career in fintech. Anil cares a great deal about providing a safe and productive environment for engineers to do their best work and to drive the business forward.

                  If you have any questions for Anil, please feel free to reach out via:

                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/abeniwal/

                  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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                  22 min
                • Anthony Girolamo: A good process should solve an acute problem

                  What you’ll learn:

                  • 1-way vs 2-way doors
                  • Making a transition from a FAANG to a startup
                  • A good process should solve an acute problem

                    • Meet:   Anthony Girolamo leads the product and engineering organization at FLEXE. His teams are responsible for the development of the FLEXE Technology Platform and the capabilities that set FLEXE apart. Prior to joining FLEXE, Anthony spent 9 years at Amazon as a senior technical leader of Amazon Fulfillment Technologies and Supply Chain Optimization Technologies. He also held senior software engineering positions at Microsoft and received both his BSE and MSE in Computer Science at the University of Michigan.

                    If you have any questions for Anthony, please feel free to reach out via:

                    https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-girolamo-b3b21b2/

                    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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                    20 min
                  • Nate Loomis: High-performing teams and getting to Teal!

                    What you’ll learn:

                    • Very important to define stretch goals
                    • Leveraging eNPS - employee net promoter score
                    • Using employee net promoter score within your agile process
                    • Constantly tweaking and improving the methodology
                    • Getting to Teal! (Laloux Cultural Model)

                      • Meet:   Nate Loomis is a Director of Cloud Engineering at Ally Financial and Product Manager of the Cloud Patterns (Patterneers) squad.  At Ally, his squad is focused on patterns of automation that implement public cloud services and enhance the capabilities available to development teams from their workspace or the command line.  He has been a developer, architect, and various levels of manager throughout his career, always searching for new challenges.  His friends say he is now a #developer (commented out) but he still loves to tinker with new languages and tools.  He loves to hear from others and hopes you find this episode useful.

                      What is Servant Leadership?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKk0AaaFqtU

                      Simon Sinek on Inspiration: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

                      Laloux Cultural Model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Jc5aAJu9g

                      If you have any questions for Nate, please feel free to reach out via:

                      https://www.linkedin.com/in/nloomis/

                      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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                      31 min
                    • Mike Brittain - The looming retention problem: returning to the office

                      Top 3 takeaways:

                      • The looming retention problem - returning to the office
                      • Balancing team distribution via fewer time zones
                      • Adjusting salary bands to account for location and experience

                        • Meet: Mike Brittain is the VP of Engineering at Transfix, where he leads technology initiatives to build a simpler, smarter, and more sustainable freight ecosystem. His career in Internet software dates back to the late ‘90s and includes over 15 years in team leadership and executive roles. Mike played a significant role in building the team and shaping culture at Etsy over a 7-year period spanning pre and post-IPO phases. He lives with his wife and four kids in the Greater New York area.

                        If you have any questions for Mike, please feel free to reach out via:

                        https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikebrittain

                        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 would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

                        28 min

                      About The Tech Trek

                      From the publisher's feed

                      The Tech Trek is a podcast about how founders, operators, and technology leaders build and scale technology companies.