The Technology Leadership Podcast

About Daniel:

Daniel Paulus is the Director of Engineering at Checkly. He started his professional career in the German Air Force as an officer for 13 years, where he studied computer science at a military university. Throughout his time in the forces, Dan held various roles such as team lead, engineering manager, project manager, and IT manager, and valued the sense of purpose the military offered. In 2017, he transitioned from the military to the startup tech world in Berlin, starting as a lead developer at Sauce Labs, and later joining Contentful as an engineering manager before finally getting into his current company Checkly.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Daniel Paulus discusses hiring in technology companies. He goes over Checkly's global hiring process and what it has taught him. The most important lessons include working with local recruiters to benefit your hiring process, conducting live coding challenges rather than take-home tests to find the right fit, and focusing on stability over aggressive growth in light of the current economic situation. In addition, he talks about building cross-functional engineering teams and the importance of mentoring and coaching junior engineers, which brings positive energy to the team. In Daniel's view, having a diverse team of engineers leads to challenges, innovation, and better understanding.

Key Takeaways:

• Working with local recruiters is effective if you’re looking to hire globally.
• Live coding challenges are more effective than take-home tests for hiring purposes.
• It is important to ensure engagement and quickness in the hiring process.
• The biggest challenge in technology in 2023 will be the economic situation.
• Mentoring and coaching junior engineers is important for growth and retention.
• Hiring people from bootcamps helps you find good candidates who’re not only talented but confident.
• A diverse team with a mix of junior and senior engineers is important for innovation and understanding.
• Mentoring and coaching junior engineers can bring positive energy to the team.
• Junior engineers from bootcamps bring a combination of confidence and technical ability.
• University graduates have a strong computer science background but lack professional experience.

Episode Outline:

[0:09] Meet Daniel
[2:30] How did Daniel get into tech?
[02:57] What does Checkly do?
[6:53] Hiring juniors vs. senior engineers.
[07:38] Why do companies hire junior engineers?
[12:33] The importance of diversity in an engineering team.
[14:33] Learning to code as a kid and pursuing tech going forward.
[18:06] The importance of interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence for professional growth. 
[19:38] Helping juniors become future engineering leaders.
[22:54] Performance Framework for engineers.
[25:35] How to hire junior and senior engineers: the tips.
[27:54] Lessons from hiring junior and senior engineers at Checkly.
[30:30] Daniel’s thoughts on technical recruitment.

About Kaylie:

Kaylie Boogaerts is a remote culture and processes consultant with over 5 years of experience in people and culture in remote-first companies. As the Director of People at Checkly, she leads a team of 31 people across 13 countries, and also consults with startups to help them attract and set up their first people person for success.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Kaylie discusses onboarding in startups. She gets into various aspects of onboarding for new hires at a company, including setting up profiles and access to tools, compliance training, and establishing office hours and boundaries. She emphasizes the importance of breaking down larger goals and tasks into smaller, manageable chunks that new hires can quickly contribute to and set expectations early on, among other things, to create a safe and supportive environment for new hires. She also explains how and why not to discourage failure and support junior employees who may not yet have the necessary skills and knowledge. Kayleigh also doesn’t hold back on sharing her onboarding strategies and why every company must implement them.

Key Takeaways:

• Kaylie’s Notion template for onboarding new employees has three parts that contain a) a high-level overview of the new employee’s role, manager, and onboarding buddy, b) a clear overview of expectations, c) mandatory documentation/handbooks to go through and details about the employee’s pay.
• Break down tasks and goals into smaller, manageable tasks so new hires can quickly contribute to the assigned project.
• For more senior engineers, try to give them a more challenging task or project within the first month to three months to keep them engaged and motivated.
• Make sure new joiners have access to accounts and know where to go for communication and company events on their first day.
• A good onboarding strategy for a startup should start with preparation and being intentional. The onboarding process includes setting up profiles and access to tools, compliance training, and establishing office hours and boundaries.
• Create a safe and supportive work environment where failure is not discouraged.

Episode Outline:

[01:16] Meet Kaylie
[02:26] Why is onboarding so important?
[05:14] Kaylie’s onboarding strategies for company success
[13:40] The process of onboarding new hires: Kaylie shares her top 3 steps
[23:06] How to enable your new hires to add value to the company
[23:27] For engineers, give the first coding task on their first day at work 
[28:20] How to ensure you provide your employees with the right environment for work
[33:17] The most important aspects of onboarding
[36:22] Kaylee’s top three pieces of advice for you

About Mirza:

Mirza Beširović is a group PM at Dixa, a B2B SaaS customer service platform. As a poetry translator turned tech professional, Mirza's career journey has been non-linear and unique. He began his journey a decade ago translating poetry, but eventually found his way to Germany and a part-time student gig at a tech company. This opportunity later led to a team leadership position and a full-time focus on the tech industry. Though his initial focus was on data management and working with machine learning teams, his career path also included roles in business development and consulting. Eventually, he discovered his passion for product strategy and moved into product management, rising to a group product manager role at Dixa, where he currently leads teams in the development of automated customer service software and messaging products.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Mirza Berisovic discusses growth in product management and leadership roles. He elaborates on the two tracks in product management: an individual contributor track and a management track. While the individual contributor track is focused on becoming an expert in the craft of product management, the management track is more focused on people management, strategy, and mentoring. Mirza emphasizes the importance of self-realization and actively seeking to upskill oneself in order to grow in product management and leadership roles. He suggests finding a mentor, being part of a community, and educating oneself as key ways to improve. He also stresses the importance of constantly learning and growing in not only product management, but in life in general. According to Mirza, due to the current economic climate, companies may be hiring less, and it may be more beneficial to develop within one's current company, and seek mentorship to advance in one's career.

Key Takeaways:

• There is no standard path into product management, and many people find themselves in the role through accident or by showing their transferable skills.
• It is important to understand that there are two tracks in product management: an individual contributor track and a management track.
• Moving into a leadership role in product management requires different skills and focus than working as a PM.
• Find a mentor, be part of a community, and educate yourself to improve in a product manager role.
• Strategy and metrics, specifically financial metrics such as annual recurring revenue and net retention rate are key areas that senior PMs should focus on developing and becoming more familiar with.
• It's important to understand how a business develops strategy and how it trickles down to departmental strategy and how it affects product and department at large.
• One way to move into a leadership role is to develop within one's existing company by being proactive and explicit about one's career goals with their manager and creating a growth plan.
• Seek mentorship from networks such as ADP list, the mentoring club, mentor mesh, and My mentor path as they can be very valuable in helping people evolve into leadership roles.
• Be proactive and intentional in communicating and working cohesively with other teams such as sales and marketing.

Episode Outline:

[00:24] Meet Mirza
[01:42] How Mirza got started in tech
[06:36] Understanding leadership and management.
[11:08] Advice for people moving into leadership.
[13:37] The importance of upskilling yourself.
[18:23] Advice for senior PMs (Product Managers).
[22:14] Breadth of experience vs. depth of experience.
[24:47] Advice on how to hire for a leadership role.
[29:52] The importance of speaking to your manager.
[34:15] Advice for people who want to become product managers.

About Glyn:

Glyn Roberts today is the CTO of Digital Solutions at iTechArt Group, a leading software development company that helps VC-backed mature startups and fast-growing tech companies build successful, scalable products. He’s worked as a CTO for many startups in the past, helping them with successful solutions to business problems. In addition, Glyn founded his own technology solutions company, called Zappit, that focused on bringing innovation to the OOH industry, retail space and events by heavily incorporating NFC, BLE and QR for payments coupons and personalised experiences.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Glyn Roberts discusses what it takes to be a CTO or technology leader in today’s times. He talks about the technology trends he’s witnessed in life so far, what he learned from founding his own technology solutions company in the past, the work-from-home culture and its benefits, and when and how to approach recruiters for your company. Glyn also shares what he means by building high-performance distributed teams and how they help in the growth of your organisation.

Key Takeaways:

• You need to have a deep understanding of technology trends, be client-focused, and direct your company from that standpoint as a CTO. 
• Working from home gives you more flexibility to structure your day how you need to structure it. You get to suit your life goals a lot more. 
• You can't be fully reliant on the organisation you work for to be training you; you also need to take additional responsibility for your own path from that standpoint.
• Try to make technology as simple as possible. Utilise those services that make your job easier.
• How you phrase things and convey your ideas has a lot to do with diversity and inclusion within your organisation.
• Before you decide to work with a recruiter full-time, you can set goals for a trial period working with them. For example, as Glyn does, you can set a two-week window at the start to see if they're able to get you your desired candidates.
• A distributed team is one that's based in multiple locations. Though there are barriers to communication and exchange of information in such a situation, you can use available technologies to ensure they work proactively in streamlining the project vision.

Episode Outline:

[00:53] - Meet Glynn
[04:44] - Glynn’s most significant achievements in life so far, including the factors that led him to become successful as a CTO
[13:07] - Why the things that look hardest at the start are sometimes rewarding in the end
[13:58] - How working from home gives you more flexibility to structure your day
[16:37] - Taking responsibility for your growth
[17:53] -  How to pick up the right startup as a leader
[21:43] - The first startup Glynn worked with and his experience being in it
[28:43] - Five things to keep in mind while approaching a startup to work with
[31:39] - How can you build high performance distributed teams?
[34:57] - How Glynn works with recruiters to find the best employees for his company
[41:19] -  Glynn’s experience switching to his new company amid COVID
[48:30] - What is a high performance distributed team?
[52:02] - How can you avoid burnout at work?
[01:00:13] - Why self-awareness in so important, especially in today’s times

About Turan:

Turan Rustamli is the CTO at One Dome, a platform that enables home movers to conduct an end to end property transaction via a single interface. Previously, Turan served as the CTO of an early-stage startup, Landmax Software, focused on innovation around the property in the street. As someone who’s always been into mathematics and AI, Turan has successfully established himself in the software engineering industry without any engineering degree.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Turan discusses new models of work and how to develop an employee-friendly and vision-led structure of working, to keep up with the changing times. Turan also talks about building a successful startup and why open source softwares offer huge advantages to developers to launch their startup ideas. We look into the role and skills of a CTO and how technology leaders today can discover the right opportunities for them. In addition, Turan talks about the importance of having an enthusiasm to learn, shares how his learning curve looks like (and the most challenging parts of it), and the softwares he uses (including Rom Research) to help save time and increase efficiency.

Key Takeaways:

• If you have an idea that you want to try building your startup on, you need to first invest in your learning.
• If you already have a solid idea about your startup, there are creative ways to start with it. You can use open source technology ideas or implement a basic version of it and put it in the open-source community.
• Invest in knowledge management and communicate asynchronously. Let your team get on with things, and don't micromanage by constantly tracking the deliverables.
• The advantages of building open source software are that you get feedback quickly, people are genuinely interested in making them better, and you encourage participation authentically.
• As a leader looking for opportunities in startups, it would help if you never compromised on the team, saw if the company's product was an interesting challenge for you, and foresee the opportunities in there for you to learn and grow. 
• Turan explains that a bottom-up approach works best for engineers in most cases. It also ensures easier collaboration with the team members.
• While working remotely, you need to avoid looking at the working model as similar to an office setup.

Episode Outline:

[02:51] - Turan’s most significant achievements in life so far
[03:30] - The things you need to practice to reduce written code 
[05:34] - What are the foundations to lay down to make sure your company gets the right funding?
[08:17] - Turna’s advice for engineers and CTOs wanting to start their own startup
[12:17] -  Turan’s Personal Learning System and what you can learn from it
[13:33] - What is Rom Research?
[17:35] - What are the advantages and benefits of open source and starting a project in open source?
[19:39] - Turan’s advice for leaders wanting to pick a startup to work with
[22:28] - Turan’s thoughts on learning from challenges
[25:09] -  Turan’s learning curve and the associated challenges
[31:21] - Turan’s advice for managing remote teams and his critical learnings out of that 
[34:24] - Some softwares and applications Turan uses to enhance productivity
[41:08] -  Turan’s thoughts on the new work culture post-pandemic and the changes we need to bring in for hiring and work to adapt to the changing times
[43:52] -  How do you cultivate a culture of excellence within a team? 
[51:42] -  Turan shares about his work culture and team
[55:10] - Laying the foundations for remote working culture
[58:30] - What are the most significant challenges technology leaders will face in the years to come?

About Josh:

Josh Cole is the CTO at InsideOut, an award-winning mental health platform for employees across organisations. He has worked in the technology industry for over a decade doing software engineering, team and performance management, cloud infrastructure, secure development lifecycles, shiring, and product development, to name a few.

Interestingly, Josh has never studied in an engineering school. He explains that coding was always the thing he knew better and believes that schools and universities need to better focus on the other aspects of the industry like innovation, management, and hiring. Josh, in fact, graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a First Class Degree focused on entrepreneurship and innovation in business.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Josh discusses creativity and innovation as pre-requisites to hiring in the technology industry. He talks about employee well-being, and the steps companies could take to ensure their associates are in good health. Josh also explains the metrics for evaluating new candidates, including problem-solving, creative thinking, and programming fundamentals. Additionally, Josh explores emerging programming languages and frameworks and explains how they compare with native languages such as JavaScript and what we can expect of them in the near future. Listen to this episode to learn what it takes to be a solution-driven engineering leader in today’s times. 

Key Takeaways:

• Innovation and creativity are at the heart of engineering. 
• Mental health issues are a common occurrence in workplaces. Even if you are mentally resilient, it is possible that the individuals around you are not. It is especially true for males, who are conditioned to believe that they should not be vocal about their mental woes.
• Practising meditation, journaling, gratitude, and setting goals can greatly benefit your mental health. 
• TypeScript has massive benefits in terms of increasing productivity and reducing the number of bugs for developers. 
• Go developers have to follow specifics while writing code in the language. Although it’s an easy way to write code, it’s harder to reason and understand the language.
• Today, you cannot build a complex application without automated testing. Many tests, including unit feature integration, end-to-end testing, UI testing, regression testing, have to be performed to ensure code optimisation.
• Education in schools or colleges rarely ever teaches problem-solving. And that’s the thing most engineers need to aim for.

Episode Outline:

[04:41] - Do you need a computer science degree to get into coding and development?
[05:45] - What are the skills you need to make a more significant impact in the world?
[08:04] - How are Josh and his company helping employees manage their mental health?
[10:04] -  Why men find it more challenging to talk about mental health than women
[12:29] - What is Josh doing with InsideOut to innovate and create something different to help employees' mental health
[13:43] - Steps taken by InsideOut does for the mental health of employees across organisations
[18:22] - How does InsideOut function?
[21:50] - Josh explains his role in helping InsideOut grow  
[23:57] - What does Josh’s tech ecosystem look like right now?
[27:04] - What are the benefits of introducing TypeScripts to their code?
[29:44] - What technologies or tools does Josh plan on introducing at InsideOut in the future?
[37:54] - Will JavaScript be replaced in the next few years?
[40:24] - Why are Go Developers very specific about how they want developers to handle exceptions and errors in Go?
[58:36] - The biggest challenges to technology in the next few years, according to Josh.

About Jules:

Jules Decol is the Engineering Lead at The Big Search, an organisation that helps manage recruitment for growing organisations. He was the Co-Founder and CTO at Chosen AI, a company that used AI to provide people analytics to optimise the workforce at any organisation. Chosen AI was acquired by The Big Search in 2020.

Jules is also involved in the Technical Advisory of startups, managing them on the technological front of launching their product. He uses his vast knowledge of the recruitment industry and a people-first approach to help solve complex business issues around hiring and innovation.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Jules Decol discusses leading engineering teams in a startup. He shares why it’s necessary to establish a clear line of communications within the company, stay up-to-date about various technological developments, and master your skills before venturing into leadership roles to better guide your teams through changes and innovation. He also shares the challenges to recruitment in any startup, why hiring passionate and skilled talent is especially important in their cases, and the steps to take to ensure your startup is continually growing.

Key Takeaways:

• It is necessary to implement weekly or monthly catch-ups between data scientists and engineers. This way, you get to learn what's going on in both areas and discover how you can solve problems together as a team.
• It is essential to implement a clear line of communication within any company. It ensures you have a safe and healthy working atmosphere where concerns can be raised and discussed respectfully and promptly.
• A few things to take care of when joining a company
• How Jules introduced a clear line of communication within their company - asking queries, concerns, and work-related questions between engineers in public channels.
• Jules explains the hiring process and ideas for a startup. In the case of startups, the initial hires matter a lot to the company, and it's difficult to get established candidates to join in because of the absence of branding.
• For an early-stage startup, hiring passionate candidates is equally important. You need to aim for a collaborative and friendly work atmosphere.
• Jules explains why you should know what happens when you don't do something you're supposed to. 

Episode Outline:

[02:45] - Jules shares the most significant challenges in his career so far
[06:12] -  What are three things every startup founder or aspiring data science and human engineer working in a startup should implement in their lives?
[09:00] -  Jules walks us through their acquisition experience. How did Jules manage the acquisition as a CTO? What were the rules, lessons and changes observed?
[13:40] -  The architecture Jules and his team used to help their products integrate to necessary platforms quickly. How did they set up their products?
[17:11] -  How did Jules, as the technical lead and head of engineering, build trust with a new team, implement new tools, technologies, and processes, while also keeping his teammates informed on them?
[23:46] - Jules talks about getting along with a well-established team and how to integrate yourself within it, even when you're working remotely
[25:45] - Apart from introducing unit testing, what other things does Jules think he could've done differently as part of an engineering team?
[28:39] - Tips to smoothen the recruitment process in a startup 
[38:35] - Why is it important to set expectations, keep track of what you're doing, and find out the reasons behind doing anything?
[42:28] - What is the best way to move forward as a young startup?
[43:37] - Why is it important to keep a good balance between optimism and pessimism? 

About George:

George Good is the CTO at Healios, a leading digital healthcare services company based in London. He has over two decades of experience in the technology industry and has explored different programming languages, tech stacks, and roles. George also serves as the Software Engineering Team Leader at Board Intelligence, a product-based company that helps transform how you read, write, and manage board reports.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, George Good talks about remote hiring and collaboration. We discuss why you need to devise innovative ways of conducting interviews, focusing on assessing a candidate’s problem-solving skills and creativity above syntactic knowledge. He also talks about the essential skills engineers need, including the importance of effective communication, the different routes an engineer can pivot to at the later stages of their career, and how to establish yourself as a highly sought-after engineer in the competitive world of tech. Tune in for greater insight into the various challenges to technology in the upcoming years and why AI and ML would drive most business processes as we advance. 

Key Takeaways:

• Communication is the key to your growth in any role in the tech space, especially since the advent of online working methods.
• The different paths to choose from as an engineer - leadership and management, development, mentoring, and others.
• Blame culture could be detrimental to your company’s growth. To handle it well, you need to stay composed, find out ways to solve problems when they arise and refine the process of moving forward.
• How the hiring process looks like at Healios - about their hiring team, innovations involved, the refining process, and interview rounds.
• Why you need to be open when conducting interviews - the key is to assess a candidate’s problem-solving skills and ability to be creative with their methods.
• Learn about the importance of test-driven development and how to assess candidates on that skill.
• How to build an effective remote team - communicating and understanding employee concerns, staying connected, and practising effective management.

Episode Outline:

[00:31] - Meet George Good, CTO at Healios.
[01:45] - Why did George decide to take the leadership route in his career?
[04:18] - What are the most significant challenges for a CTO within the startup world right now?
[08:57] - What processes have Healios brought in to bridge the gap between its tech and non-tech wings?
[13:31] -  What does the “Healios’ Way” stand for at their company?
[21:22] - What are the top three or four things George could do to build a successful remote team over the past few years?
[25:39] - Healios’ process of remote recruitment
[24:06] - Why problem-solving is the core of engineering and why you shouldn’t be limiting people during their interviews
[30:47] - As a CTO himself, what does George look for in an engineer? 
[35:36] - George’s advice for people plateauing in their career and how they can polish their skills to become quality engineers.
[39:31] - As someone in the technology industry for several decades, what is George’s approach to solving problems?
[42:28] - Why George wishes to hire a diverse range of developers always 
[45:09] -  How can you assess and train candidates with Bootcamp or relevant university experience?
[39:55] - George talks about their company, Healios and how they hold relevance in the world today.
[51:45] - The importance of personal touch in understanding and being there for your employees. 
[55:50] - How to become successful in a non-tech focused business
[58:36] - The biggest challenges to technology in the next few years, according to George Good.

About Ali:

Ali Haidar is a senior threat intelligence analyst at UBS, a Swiss multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. He started his career in security services in 2003 and has been in the industry for over 18 years. 

Starting in the small country of Lebanon, Ali was a security consultant for a prime minister. He went on to do private consultancy for companies. Over the years, Ali offered his services to many known organisations and gradually expanded his work to take international clients. Prior to joining UBS, Ali also did his Master's in Computer Security and Forensics.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Ali Haidar discusses the need to strengthen information security practices in companies and the most significant challenges faced along the way. By digging deeper into the different security attacks we’ve seen in the past, Ali explains how to overcome the known and unknown roadblocks to securing information transfer and how to stay in line with the latest technology always. He also touches on the eight disciplines of information security, how they differ in the implementation for big and small companies, and ways to help small businesses create enhanced security controls by investing smartly.

Key Takeaways:

• The greatest challenge in information security is staying up to date with emerging technologies.
• The benefits in the security aspect for a small business is - it can start to set information security practices from the ground up. The downside of it is the monetary expense incurred. Companies could minimise this with well-thought-out investment choices.
• The eight disciplines of information security
• It’s essential to hire people with a good understanding of security controls to avoid mismanagement. 
• The most significant investment you need to make for your company’s information security benefit is hiring the right people. 
• For any small-to-mid-sized company wanting to implement information security, keep in mind to hire security consultants and have your architectural and business workflow documents ready.
• The connection between 5G and cyberattacks - Since 5G gives a greater bandwidth to devices, it can cause bigger DDoS attacks.
• Learn the math behind encryption and decryption

Episode Outline:

[02:48] - The biggest challenge Ali has ever faced in his career
[04:40] - Ali shares the most significant achievements from his career so far - keeping people safe, securing a job at one of the best organisations in the world
[06:32] - Some general security measures every company can take - email encryption tips and sharing confidential information
[12:13] - Security tips for a small-to-mid-sized company
[16:30] - How to optimise authentication, authorisation, and accountability practices in your company
[19:52] - Learn about the eight disciplines of security
[27:12] - Planning and investing in the case of startups
[29:11] - What can be the costs associated with setting up security for a small company?
[32:34] -  Common misunderstandings that small business owners face occasionally
[37:44] - What are the repercussions of not handling cybersecurity properly in the initial stages of setting up your company?
[41:55] - What steps can you take to get security issues quickly sorted out in a company?
[44:34] - Why do you need to meet a security specialist for your company?
[45:43] - What are the different attacks happening in the tech space today? 
[50:13] - About different ransomware families, their ways to attack, and how to keep away from them 
[53:58] - What are remote access attacks?
[57:21] - What do you mean by quantum computing?
[01:02:59] - The security aspects behind self-driving vehicles

About Alexey:

 Alexey Tschudnowsky is the Head of the Software Development department at gematik GmbH. He is a PhD holder with extensive experience working as a Research Associate and has managed many students during the period.

Alexey works on national healthcare solutions and is responsible for the technical excellence of more than 30 software engineers. He is an expert in technical leadership, agile development processes and software architectures.

Synopsis:

In this episode of The Technology Leadership Podcast, Alexey discusses hiring strategies and the techniques to retain employee motivation in your company. He shares the competence model practised at gematik while also outlining the ways to discover and grow into roles that suit your interests the best. Alexey details the different security and development practices at their company and shares the importance of staying up-to-date with recent technological and methodological advancements in the industry. 

Key Takeaways:

• How to check if your startup idea would take off - check if your idea solves a problem, check if you have the team and resources to build the idea, and figure out if the market really needs your idea.
• Learn more about Neural Jam - an e-learning community that educates people on new technology and business skills.
• Interdepartmental knowledge and cross-functional skills can help you significantly in growing your career.
• Communication is an essential skill to have if you aim to grow in more significant roles in your company.
• Career growth becomes even more straightforward if your individual goals align with your company’s vision.
• It is important to know the strengths and weaknesses of every member of your team.
• You need to give your employees the space to think and act freely for optimal performance.
• As a leader, you need to focus on your entire company - including every department - micromanagement could hamper your overall growth. 

Episode Outline:

[00:39] - Meet Alexey
[02:27] - Alexey introduces their team of 22 members at gematik and what growth plans are discussed with them before they join the company
and startups to partner with or invest in
[03:06] - Career growth at gematik - how the hierarchy of roles look like
[04:44] - What kind of engineers does gematik look for in their hiring process?
[08:10] - How do you then ascertain a candidate’s mindset through the interview process?[09:52] - What are the first skills that senior engineers need to build to get to the next level in their career?
[11:37] - How do conferences work in a company?
[13:02] - Alexey’s conference recommendations for you
[15:17] - How to keep your engineers motivated on long-term projects year-on-year within your company?
[23:47] -  What are the differences between someone suited to architecture as compared to an engineering manager?
[26:56] - Some lessons learned along Alexey’s professional journey 
[29:57] - What will be the biggest challenge for engineering leaders and software engineering in 2021 and beyond?
[32:02] - What expertise are they building in their employees at gematik?