In episode six, I sit down with Kshitij Saxena, a Senior Product Engineer at epilot in Munich. Before that, he spent nearly four years at NewStore, growing from Software Engineer to Software Engineer II, building systems like an asynchronous message delivery pipeline and a historical order import system on AWS.

We talk about the difference between shipping a feature and actually knowing if it worked, and why the best engineers refuse to just take orders:

• Why a product engineer isn't good at accepting solutions, even when they're handed one, and digs into the why instead
• Output versus outcome, and the exact moment a phone number field taught him the difference
• Why he doesn't just ask why, he asks why now, and what that's taught him about timing and prioritization
• When AI got good enough to trust running overnight, and when it still makes expensive mistakes
• Why almost nothing is a failure if you stop, acknowledge it, and actually reflect

Kshitij's recommendations: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and the Huberman Lab podcast.

If you've ever shipped something and never checked whether it actually mattered, this one's for you.

I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Kshitij Saxena and his background

01:19 What is product engineering and how does it differ from traditional software engineering?

02:13 The importance of asking 'why' before building a feature

03:52 Focusing on outcomes rather than just outputs

06:22 Deciding when enough information has been gathered to proceed

08:22 Distinguishing between output and outcome in feature development

09:47 Thinking in problems, not just solutions

11:26 Balancing user feedback, data, and experimentation

14:36 Using metrics to guide product iterations

16:18 The role of experimentation and learning from failure

18:30 Leveraging AI agents and prompt engineering in product work

24:44 From idea to shipped feature: the lifecycle and challenges

28:53 Prioritization, impact, and timing in product development

32:48 Dealing with uncertainty and learning from mistakes

38:26 The importance of asking 'why now' in feature development

42:16 Key takeaways: impact over output and continuous learning

#softwareengineer #techcareers #productengineering #engineeringcareers #AI

In episode six, I sit down with Sumit Mudliar, who leads Customer Success at iceDQ, a role built entirely on influence rather than authority. Before that, he spent years as a software engineer, moving from engineer to his current leadership role.

We talk about what influence without authority actually means, and how to get people on board when you can't just tell them what to do:

• What influence actually means, when I hear the word I still picture Instagram influencers before anything else
• Why listening, not solutions, is the real strategy, meeting people halfway before you tell them what you want
• The moment he got pulled into a room at Morgan Stanley he wasn't technically supposed to be in, and what it taught him
• Why avoiding speaking isn't always weakness, sometimes it's giving someone else room to think
• His book recommendations

If you've ever had to get buy-in from someone who doesn't report to you, this one's for you.

I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to influence without authority

02:05 What influence without authority really means in practice

04:06 Sumit's journey from engineer to customer success

05:56 Listening and understanding before proposing solutions

08:08 Building trust through research and expertise

09:59 The importance of empathetic listening and story behind problems

11:58 Prioritizing stakeholder needs and managing expectations

13:54 Influencing without authority in technical decisions

15:52 The role of proof of concept and visual demonstrations

17:51 Aligning solutions with organizational vision and future state

20:01 Changing perspectives: from possessiveness to openness

22:05 Learning from humility and embracing change

24:03 Effective communication with internal teams and stakeholders

26:09 The significance of understanding and addressing priorities

28:03 Handling pushback and resistance in influence

29:53 The importance of continuous research and preparation

32:00 Common mistakes in influence without power

33:48 Leveraging stakeholder priorities for better influence

36:00 Key takeaways: openness, listening, and humility

38:05 Personal habits for disconnecting and recharging

#softwareengineer #techcareers #leadership #influence #engineeringcareers

In this episode, I share insights from revisiting past podcast episodes, highlighting surprises, disagreements, and personal growth. This episode explores how reflection enhances understanding and guides future actions.
Every four episodes, I pause and do this, sit down alone and actually listen back to what we talked about. Not a recap. Not a highlight reel. The things that surprised me, the things I disagreed with and never said out loud, and the questions I'm still sitting with.

This episode, I went back through Eduardo, Kate, Nobel, and Dan:

• What I assumed going in that turned out wrong, on measuring impact, and on what building a writing habit actually takes
• What surprised me, from measuring impact through complexity to the relief of writing what you're already thinking
• The disagreements I never said out loud, on AI and the boundaries of engineering, on the stoic view, on whose job it is to connect impact to leadership, and on who's actually posting on LinkedIn
• What's actually changed in how I think and work since these conversations
• The questions from each episode I'm still carrying with me

If you've ever wondered what a host actually thinks after the recording stops, this one's for you.

I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

#softwareengineer #techcareers #reflection #engineeringcareers #podcastlife
Keywords:
self-reflection, podcast insights, impact measurement, AI in engineering, career growth, personal development, leadership, content creation, mental models, self-awareness

In episode four, I sit down with Dan Johnson, whose career started in a small mountain town in Vermont, where instead of doing homework, he built websites to post ski pictures. That curiosity took him all the way to building software at Netflix, with stops as a Director of Engineering, a Principal Engineer, and the first engineering hire at an early-stage startup. Along the way he moved from Director back down to an individual contributor role, not a common move, and he tells us why. These days he writes about tech careers, with the occasional farm post mixed in from where he lives in Tennessee.

We talk about what happens when writing good code stops being enough to define you, and how to actually build presence without it feeling gross:

• Why "if you're not known for code, what are you known for" is the question every engineer eventually has to answer
• Career fitness, and the four things worth assessing before you need them, goal clarity, network strength, impact visibility, industry awareness
• Why the bar for standing out is low, because most people don't do anything
• Start ten conversations on LinkedIn every week, and why that alone changes everything
• Why nobody should apply for jobs on LinkedIn, and what it's actually good for instead
• Why AI-written posts and comments are obvious, and why that's the actual opportunity

If you've ever felt like LinkedIn is something you're supposed to do but don't know how to start, this one's for you.

I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

0:00 Introduction to Dan Johnson's Career Journey
1:21 Starting in Vermont and Building Websites
2:17 Transition from Freelance to Corporate Programming
4:03 Teaching Programming and Helping Others Learn
5:10 Moving into Engineering Management
6:40 Joining Netflix and Focus on Front-End Development
7:17 Why Building Things and Interacting with People Matters
9:17 Navigating Roles as a Director and IC
12:22 The Changing Role of Engineers in the Age of AI
14:15 Helping Engineers Prepare for the Future
16:34 Building a Presence and Career Fitness
18:03 Addressing Engineers' Fears About AI and Automation
19:25 Assessing Career Goals and Network Strength
20:47 The Power of Comments and Engagement on LinkedIn
22:31 Defining Your Personal Brand and Interests
24:39 Small Steps to Build a Professional Presence
26:23 Patience and Long-Term Career Building
33:15 The Biggest Mistake Engineers Make in Building Presence
35:14 Key Takeaway: Start Ten Conversations Weekly

#softwareengineer #techcareers #linkedin #careergrowth #engineeringcareers

In episode three, I sit down with Nobel Xavier, Nobel is Director of Engineering at Indeed, where he leads Auth Identity & Profiles experience for Glassdoor- an Indeed company. Nobel has spent 9 years in the Indeed and Glassdoor family, climbing from Senior Software Engineer to Senior Engineering Manager and now Director, with earlier roles at Dassault Systèmes and Intuit.

We talk about what impact actually looks like from a director's seat, and how engineers can measure and talk about their own value without it sounding like bragging:

• What real impact looks like from a director's seat, versus what just looks like it
• Why complexity isn't the same as impact, and how to tell the difference in your own work
• How busy work quietly creates dependence instead of moving anything forward
• How to talk about your own impact without it sounding like you're bragging
• The biggest mistake engineers make trying to show their value

If you've ever wondered whether the work you're doing actually counts, this one's for you.

I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

#softwareengineer #techcareers #leadership #engineeringcareers #impact

It took Kate Astrid eight months to ask what "entity" meant at her job. Not because she didn't know how to ask. Because she was afraid of being misunderstood and considered stupid for not already knowing.

Kate is a Senior Product Engineer at Cogram, and she's spent time studying cognitive bias, the mental shortcuts our brains use to feel confident instead of correct. In this episode, we get into how that shows up at work, in code review pushback, in meetings where everyone agrees a little too fast, in the terms nobody explains because everyone's afraid to be the one who asks.

We talk about:

• Confirmation bias, and why "I found evidence" doesn't mean you're right
• What to do when a whole room agrees too quickly
• Closing the "inferential distance" between people who know something and people who don't
• Why the scariest bugs are the ones we don't know what we don't know
• Microservices vs. monolith, and why understanding a decision's history matters more than judging it
• Being kind to yourself and to others, especially in the moments you don't know something yet

Kate's recommendations: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and Rationality: From AI to Zombies, both by Eliezer Yudkowsky

If you've ever sat in a meeting nodding along to a word you didn't understand, this one's for you.

I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

#softwareengineer #techcareers #cognitivebias #frontend #engineeringcareers

Not advice. Not a script. Just engineers talking honestly about how this career goes.

In episode one, I sit down with Eduardo Aparicio Cardenes — the first person I asked to be on this show, and someone who's been mentoring me through my own job search. He's spent 18+ years in frontend development, currently shaping frontend architecture across the Transactions Tribe at Super, where the platform handles €300M+ in monthly deposits. He's also founder of DreamMakerFactory, co-founder of InnerVirtuoso, and one of ADPList's top 10 frontend mentors among 30,000+.

We talk about how the software engineer's role has changed — and what it's becoming:

- The two skills that haven't changed in two decades
- What AI actually did to code review workload
- Who's accountable when AI writes the code
- Technical debt in the AI era
- What's replacing the ticket-taker role
- What interviews measure vs. what the job actually is
- How the next generation of engineers will learn
- Eduardo's book recommendations for engineers

Eduardo's recommendations: Never Split the Difference (Chris Voss) · The Staff Engineer's Path · The Elegant Puzzle · The 80/20 Principle
Newsletter & podcast: thisweekinreact.com & Dan Neciu's podcast

I'm Vish — a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public.

#softwareengineer #techcareers #AI #frontend #engineeringcareers

Everything out there feels AI-generated — the advice, the tips, half the internet. This show is the opposite.

I'm Vishakha, a frontend engineer ten years in, currently between jobs and asking the questions myself: What actually changed in this industry? What did it cost? What would you tell someone standing in the middle of it right now?

Honest conversations with engineers who've lived it.

First episode drops August 13, 2026. Come join us with a coffee. ☕