The Tech Trek

In this episode of The Tech Trek, our host Amir Bormand speaks with Lee Eason, the Director of Digital Branch Experience at Edward Jones. Amir and Lee share insights about working with distributed/remote teams, supporting new leaders, and prioritizing team health. Highlights: 00:05:35 - Lee shares his experience with adapting to leading a distributed/mostly remote team. 00:12:55 - What’s the link between team health and team performance? 00:19:05 - Strategies to support new leaders taking on their roles for the first time. 00:21:39 - How can autonomy strengthen the confidence and effectiveness of a team? About Lee Eason: “Do you know much about computers?” After a moment of consideration, desperate for a job, Lee Eason replied, “I can do anything you need with computers.”  As a just-graduated History Education major, he knew almost nothing about computers.  But he made up for what he lacked in experience with determination and curiosity.  That first job at a small furniture plant in Raleigh, NC, launched a 20+ year career that would take Lee through roles as an IT manager, software developer, architect, Agile and DevOps leader, entrepreneur, Chief Technology Officer, and now Director of Digital Branch Experience at Edward Jones.  Those roles have spanned several industries including marketing, education, healthcare, and financial technology.  His passion for learning and teaching has been central to his success as a leader and change agent.  You can read more about Lee at https://eason.blog. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leejeason/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir Bormand speaks with Shruthi Murthy, the Executive Vice President of Engineering at Modern Treasury. Amir and Shruthi discuss the various phases of growth that companies like Modern Treasury and WhatsApp experience. They also discuss how businesses and entrepreneurs can choose the right growth strategies for their needs. Highlights: 00:01:47 - Shruthi breaks down her role and responsibilities as the Head of Engineering at Modern Treasury. 00:04:53 - What were the phases of growth for Modern Treasury? How can an organization determine the right approach for itself? 00:09:25 - Shruthi discusses her time working at WhatsApp and how the company adapted to an incredibly uneven user-to-employee ratio. 00:13:46 - Can the same strategies that large companies use to be applied by smaller businesses and start-ups? If so, how? 00:23:04 - How can organizations make better decisions as they transition through different growth phases? Guest: Shruthi Murthy is EVP of Engineering for payments operations software provider Modern Treasury. Modern Treasury’s platform automates each step of the money-moving process, enabling companies to instantly close books with continuous accounting, manage payments via dashboard or API, and automatically reconcile cash across multiple bank accounts versus having to spend hours or days doing so with more legacy or even manual systems. Before joining Modern Treasury, Shruthi was with messaging giant WhatsApp for eight years, where she served as Director of Engineering, leading the zero-to-one product and engineering teams. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shruthi-murthy-abb731/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Hadi Radwan, Co-founder at Asteya, talks about leadership and the core function of facilitation! Key takeaways: Executing the strategy The leader should not be the bottleneck 2-way communication Wearing different hats when communicating Fail fast, learn fast Lines of communication: remove yourself from the centerpiece Thinking frameworks - how do you structure problems Dunning-Kruger effect Shape the culture You always don’t have the answer unless you have seen the situation before About today’s guest: Hadi Radwan is an industry-leading expert in insurance technology, product, and operations. Hadi has conceptualized, designed, and developed Asteya’s state-of-the-art cloud-based insurance platform, leading Asteya from conceptualization to its launch and post-launch performance. Hadi holds an MBA from IE Business School and a BA in Accounting from the American University of Beirut. He also graduated from the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. In addition, he is an avid biohacker who is big on wellness. Hadi is passionate about traveling, martial arts, and music in his free time. In addition, he is obsessed with productivity and likes to find solutions to problems simply and efficiently. Hadi is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and a Certified Financial Consultant (CFC). Hadi is also the host of the Podcast “The First 100”, a podcast about how successful entrepreneurs acquired the First 100 paying customers. LinkedIn Hadi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hadiradwan/ Podcast: https://thefirst100.buzzsprout.com/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Ozan Bilgen, Co-founder and CEO at base64.ai, talks about technical debt and why you should avoid over-engineering! Key takeaways: Tech debt is a conscious way of something things can wait Knowingly you under-engineer certain parts where you can afford to Focusing on the thing that does 99% of the job SW is short-lived anyways, so why over-engineer Scale and compliance are drivers for revisiting the architecture Tech debt is the delta between MVP and V1 When to decide to through away your MVP and restart The tradeoffs between over or under engineer something - the tradeoffs To get sizing correct, it takes time (and over-analysis) About today’s guest:  Ozan Eren Bilgen is the CEO of Base64.ai, the artificial intelligence solution that can process all types of documents worldwide. Ozan has BSc and MSc degrees in computer sciences. He previously worked as a software engineer and manager in top tech companies such as Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, Uber, and Palantir. Some of his notable works include Netflix's credit card payments system, PayPal's online gateway, and Uber's vehicle leasing services. Ozan is a Turkish American who is also an airplane pilot and a scuba diver in his free time. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozanerenbilgen/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Rob Phillips talks about making an impact through data transformation at a large public company. Key takeaways: Becoming a more data-driven company Using data to predict what’s going to happen What does that mean to the company? How far down the maturity path do you look to build your roadmap Benefits of moving quickly to prove your MVP Focus on testing out new capabilities Give the team a problem to solve and allow them to figure out how How do you compete and attract the type of talent you need Innovation garage and teams share About today’s guest: see below ⬇️ Rob Phillips was the Director of Technology at CarMax. He was responsible for creating their Master Data Management, Data Science, and Machine Learning technologies, enabling CarMax to continue to be the leader in both in-person and digital car buying experiences.  Before CarMax, he was responsible for all applications and data at a healthcare company in Atlanta.  Rob is currently the Vice President of Software Engineering at UDig in Richmond, Virginia.  When not at work, Rob would prefer to spend his time with his family sailing the Chesapeake Bay.  He holds a B.S. in IT Management from the University of Richmond and studied Computer Science at Virginia Tech. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rophilli/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Shweta Saraf, Head Of Engineering, Edge Infrastructure Services Engineering at Equinix, talks about how she handles hiring for a niche skill set and things you can do to help find the right talent. Key takeaways: Focus on optimizing the talent pipeline Removing the requirements friction Have existing staff find opportunities to grow skill sets Training from within What happens when you can't check the boxes Everything is now engineering About today’s guest: see below ⬇️ Shweta Saraf is the Head of Engineering for Edge Infrastructure Services at Equinix. She leads the teams responsible for two of the highest-growing digital products - Equinix Metal and Network Edge. Shweta was recognized on Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 under 40 list for 2022. She actively mentors tech leaders to give back to the community. She has previously held leadership positions at Packet, DigitalOcean, and Cisco. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shwetasaraf/ Twitter: @shwetahari ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Mark Isham, VP of Engineering at FullStory, talks about how he handles planning across the engineering organization. Key takeaways: Identifying the top 2-3 priorities Tips for effective planning. Building a product security team. Dealing with different personalities/styles Flexibility is important in teams. Running effective one-on-ones About today’s guest:  Mark Isham has led engineering teams for over 25 years, focusing primarily on hyper-growth Enterprise startups in e-commerce, web performance, and digital analytics. Mark is VP of Engineering at FullStory, where he leads up the Channels Engineering group responsible for its developer API and massive data ingestion platform. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtisham/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Dan Kador, VP of Engineering at Clockwise, walks us through how and where engineering teams spend (and "waste") their time! Meetings and coordination “tax” “Focus time” What activities do companies spend the most time on? Learn to implement no-meeting days Ways to run a team effectively Productive one-on-one meeting structure Pros & cons of asynchronous stand-up meetings Different kinds of one-on-one meetings About today’s guest:  Dan Kador currently runs the engineering teams at Clockwise. Clockwise optimizes your team’s calendars to create more time in everyone’s day. Before that, Dan helped run engineering @ Handshake to change college recruiting and get more economic opportunities for all students. Earlier in his career, he helped run the teams @ Lyft that worked to make things even more real-time for its passengers and drivers and founded and served as CTO at Keen IO. Link to report: https://www.getclockwise.com/eng-meeting-benchmarks ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Zeeshan Khadim, Head of Security at Panther Labs, discusses how to improve security adoption by building security into an engineer's workflow. Key Takeaways: Security and privacy are part of the core product, not an overhead Security implications from the design phase Empower users to start with security in mind Make sure you triage before involving other teams Understand what the “Crown Jewels” are to put things in perspective Treat the root cause and not the symptom Instead of alerting in production, leverage the tools to warn for issues sooner When it comes to tooling, ask what capabilities the team is missing Moving away from plug and play Managing your resources Pushing work left is too easy…don’t About today’s guest:  Zeeshan Khadim is the Head of Security at Panther Labs. With over 13 years of professional experience, Zeeshan has worked with global companies, including his last roles as the Security Engineering Manager at Facebook HQ and Senior Security Engineer at Google HQ. Zeeshan did his Bachelor's in Computer Systems from GIKI, Pakistan, and Masters in Computers & Information Sciences from the University of Delaware. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeeshanalikhadim/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Selim Onal, the Director of Engineering at Ladder Life, talks about managing in a fast-growing environment. Challenges involved in managing rapid growth. Being intentional in the people systems you implement. The power of “putting people first” Balancing a people-first culture with delivery. People systems should support career growth Benefits of hiring non-traditional people How do internships prepare you for your career? About today’s guest: see below ⬇️ Selim Onal was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He graduated from Sabancı University with a major in Computer Science and Engineering in 2008. He then moved to the US to do a Ph.D. in Computational Biology at Brown University, but left his Ph.D. and joined Oracle in June 2010. After working at Oracle for one year, he worked at Google Search from June 2011 to January 2016 and at Palantir from January 2016 to June 2017. He joined Quip, Salesforce in July 2017 and worked at Quip until May 2022. He joined Ladder Life Insurance as a director of engineering in May 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/selimonal/ https://www.facebook.com/selimonal ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Claude Jones, an engineering leader, talks about how to build a high-performing team. At the time of this recording, Claude was the SVP of Engineering at Strava. Key takeaways: How to ramp up as a new leader? Tips for planning smooth transitions. Learn how to scale engineering teams. Steps to build a high-performance culture What is envisioned as engineering excellence? Strategy to measure the progress of your team Ways to evaluate team performance. 3 tips to becoming a great team leader. What should be the end goal of a leader? About today’s guest: Claude Jones is a seasoned technical leader with over 20 years of experience. He has a passion for creating opportunities to help others succeed. And for over a decade, his life’s mission has been to encourage, inspire, and motivate others through his words and actions. In his spare time, Claude runs the Elevate Foundation (http://elevate.foundation), an organization he started focused on giving back to the community by helping others in need. The Practical Leadership Guy (http://thepracticalleadershipguy.com) offers services for motivational speaking, life coaching, and his leadership thoughts on common sense leadership techniques through his blog, encouraging others to be the best they can be. He is also the CEO of San Diego Tech Hub (http://sandiegotechhub.com), an organization focused on connecting businesses, organizations, and individuals, leveraging their resources, passions, and talents to build a stronger San Diego tech community through collaboration. Recently, Claude created a series of children’s picture books to foster the development of leadership skills in children ages 5-8, helping them cultivate a mindset of equity and inclusion.  More information on the series can be found at https://astrothemonster.com  Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudejones/ practicalleadershipguy.com ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Mike Bennett, Head of Data Governance at Bayer Crop Science, discusses starting and growing a data governance strategy. Key takeaways: Access and control Touches on security and compliance Compliance is just one aspect of governance Treat data as a physical product Start with a minimal process, then evolve and mature it Embracing data privacy as it’s not going away Build an adaptive model About today’s guest:  Mike Bennett Head of Data Governance, Bayer Crop Science An accomplished leader with extensive experience across multiple technical disciplines, biotechnology, and digital agriculture. Proven ability to define vision and strategy through implementation, spanning various business models from Silicon Valley start-ups to Global-500, multidivisional corporations. Bayer Science and Technology Fellow recognized for contributions to digital agriculture and early gene sequencing technologies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsbennett ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Omar Turner, Managing Director of Cloud Security at Microsoft, discusses data privacy and protection. Key takeaways: Data protection and privacy Evaluating smaller vs. big companies Stakeholder buy-in Data protection/privacy divergence from security Classifying data Privacy defines who has access Being aware of the data you have Understanding data sovereignty About today’s guest: Omar A. Turner is a Managing Director of Cloud Security for Microsoft. He brings over 25 years of experience supporting, deploying, architecting, and securing solutions for startups and globally recognized organizations. He holds numerous certifications, including the CISSP, CCSP, CRISC, CISA, CDPSE, and CISM, and holds B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science. Omar is passionate about cybersecurity enablement and training and career mentoring for those looking to start their journey in the fantastic and important field of cloud security. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarturner/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this podcast, Eddie Flaisler, Head of Products Engineering at Lob, talks about managerial strategies for frontline managers. What frontline managers do Making sure the team is delivering high business value Conveying the problem statement, not the strategy Balancing constraints and business priorities Delegation Strategies for Leaders and Managers Importance of asking the right questions A key to delegation is people that can resolve dependencies and break down tasks About today’s guest: Eddie Flaisler heads Products Engineering at Lob - A YC-backed API company. Lob revolutionizes direct mail by introducing intelligence and sustainability to one of the traditional industries. Eddie has had a longstanding diverse career in engineering. He served as Box's head of Enterprise Engineering, was a leader in Security and Compliance Engineering at Uber, spearheaded the development of Video Network Management and Transcoding products at Harmonic, and even dabbled in money transfers to federal prison facilities. Eddie led teams in Israel, the US, India, Japan, Mexico, Poland, and Ukraine. He is an avid cook and a new paw-rent to a 4-month-old pug. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-flaisler-660a9039/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Kevin Dotzenrod, VP of Engineering at Total Expert, talks about the mental health of your team’s individual contributors. Dealing with Impostor syndrome. Being as fearless as possible when you are starting off How do you manage your first-time manager Balancing of Empathy and Accountability Managing managers on their responsibilities Helping people flourish in a new environment What triggers imposter syndrome? Adjusting different learning styles How to develop a culture of meritocracy About today’s guest: Kevin brings over 20 years of software development, technical architecture, and engineering expertise to Total Expert. He has led engineering and technology teams at some of the most recognized companies in finance and retail, including Target, Amazon, and Dow Jones, most recently serving as Director of Engineering at Target. There, he led a series of strategic initiatives in supply chain and store technology. In his new role as VP of Engineering, Kevin will lead the Total Expert engineering team as it scales product architecture to a high-throughput enterprise system. By focusing on process development and long-term architecture management, Kevin will support the rapid growth of the Total Expert platform and the team surrounding it. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-dotzenrod-7931a41/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Balaji Prabhakar, co-founder of Clockwork and Professor of Computer Science at Stanford, discusses congestion problems in data centers and real-life congestion issues. Challenges when dealing with network congestion within cloud infrastructures. What does it mean to build out a system of accurate clocks? Understanding the package switching networking and distributor systems. Creating fair transactions (first come, first serve) Uses cases for highly accurate clocks How do to evaluate and solve congestion problems? About today’s guest: Balaji Prabhakar is VMWare Founders Professor of Computer Science and a faculty member in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and, by courtesy, in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. His research interests are computer networks, notably in Data Center Networks and Cloud Computing Platforms. His work spans network algorithms, congestion control protocols, and stochastic network theory.  He has also worked on Societal Networks, where he has developed "nudge engines" to incentivize commuters to travel in off-peak times so that congestion, fuel, and pollution costs are reduced. Balaji has been a Terman Fellow at Stanford University and a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, IEEE, and ACM. He has received the NSF CAREER Award, the Erlang Prize from the INFORMS Applied Probability Society, the Rollo Davidson Prize was given to young Statisticians and Probabilists, and he delivered the Lunteren Lectures of the Dutch Operations Research Society. He is the inaugural recipient of the IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure Award, which recognizes "significant technological achievements and contributions to the establishment, development, and proliferation of innovative societal infrastructure systems." He has received the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Award for his work on Computer Networks and the ACM Sigmetrics Award for his work on Stochastic Network Theory.  He is a co-recipient of a few best paper and test of time awards  In 2011, he co-founded Urban Engines (acquired by Google in 2016) and is currently on leave at Clockwork.io where he is co-founder and CEO. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balaji-prabhakar-45426bb7/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Karim Fanous, VP Engineering @ strongDM, talks about the impacts on an engineering team's productivity. Key Takeaways: Impacts on productivity for the team Context switching between interviewing and development Importance of Having a repeatable and objective process Challenges in onbarding process for newly hired engineers. Understanding the people retention process. ___About today’s guest: Karim Fanous https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimfan/ Link to article: https://karimfanous.substack.com/p/scaling-an-engineering-team-will Karim is the VP of Engineering at strongDM. Before that, he was in similar roles at startups like Qumulo and Dremio. Karim also spent 10 years at Microsoft. ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Beth Scheer, Talent Partner at Homebrew, talks about the drivers for hiring a coach and what to look out for while going through the process. Key Takeaways: Why would a founder should look for a coach? Big commitment to hiring a coach Make sure you do a reference check with people the coach has worked with the right questions are a must. A good coach for someone else might not be the right coach for you How to interview a coach Costs of hiring a coach Red Flags to look for when hiring a coach About today’s guest:  At Homebrew, Beth Scheer works closely with founders and their executive team members as an advisor on all things Talent-related, including recruiting, diversity & inclusion, compensation, onboarding, and people operations. Before Homebrew, Beth spent 5+ years at Salesforce leading executive search, sales leadership search and the sales growth/professional services recruiting teams. Before that, she built the Google AdSense team in 2003 and then spent 6 years hiring for business operations, corporate communications, and various engineering teams. She is a proud graduate of The Colorado College with a BS in Psychology. https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethscheer/ beth@homebrew.co  ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Jeremy Eastwood, the Head of Engineering at DroneDeploy, talks about velocity and adding processes as your team grows. Key Takeaways: Metric to measure velocity Reconciling struggles Experimenting while using guardrails Devote an engineer to reliability during each sprint Making sure there is an expected result when experimenting When to sit back and let the team execute Definition of done and compliance Seeing the whole field and providing feedback to your managers About today’s guest: Jeremy Eastwood is the Head of Engineering at DroneDeploy.  Jeremy oversees the talented engineering org at DroneDeploy and aspects of its core product offering, including mobile applications, cloud platform and infrastructure, computer vision engine, and 3rd party ecosystem.  He was one of the first hires at DroneDeploy and has been a part of the growth from a seed-stage startup to the market leader in digital reality capture, with over 250 employees and offices worldwide. Before DroneDeploy, Jeremy worked in research on the design of jet engines and holds a Ph.D. in aerodynamics from the University of Cambridge.  Outside work, he enjoys hiking around the Bay Area with his family. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-eastwood/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Che Sharma, Founder & CEO of Eppo, talks about the relationship between data and engineering teams and how both teams can originate impactful experiments. Key takeaways: Data teams are trying to improve decision quality across the org How do data quality metrics affect the engineering team? Importance of experiments and feedback loops Experimentation maturity curve Engineering can be a source of experimentation Leadership needs to provide clear metrics to help prioritize Moving requirements from sales-driven to product-driven About today’s guest:  Che Sharma is the Founder & CEO of Eppo, a next-gen AB experimentation platform designed to spur entrepreneurial culture. As the 4th data scientist at Airbnb and early data scientist at companies like Webflow, Che has been focused on the maturity curve of growth-stage companies and how data can drive ROI. Che previously led the team that developed Airbnb's knowledge repo and has led data teams focused on production machine learning and instrumentation integrity. Twitter:  @chesharma87 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chetanvsharma/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Ty Sbano, an Information Security executive with over 17 years of experience heavily focused on empowering end users securely, talks about “Empathy-Driven Process Development.” He speaks about driving change and how we are changed by empathy. Key takeaways: What is empathy-driven process development Taking yourself out of the equation when changing processes How fast do you want to drive change Understand the impact of change on people The larger the scale of the impact, the more time you might need Understanding your change curve and having your champions Avoiding thrash by making only a finite number of touches to your process Intentional process development Thinking about the process, so your successor is set up for success About today’s guest:  Ty Sbano is an Information Security executive with over 17 years of experience heavily focused on empowering end users securely.  Ty currently serves as Vercel’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). Previously, Ty was the Chief Security & Trust Officer at Sisense.  Ty’s career has been focused on developing application and product security programs for Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, LendingClub, and Target. Key areas of knowledge include developing security champions, threat modeling, secure code training, static code analysis, component analysis, dynamic analysis, penetration testing, and red teaming. Outside of being a CISO, Ty is an active angel investor in Silicon Valley CISO Investment Groups (SVCI) and advisor to Cider Security, Nightfall.ai, and Identify Security. Ty’s security mentality has been concentrated on enabling engineering and product teams to move securely at the speed of the business to make it a competitive advantage. Ty graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Information Science & Technology and from Norwich University with a M.S. in Information Assurance. He currently holds a CISSP, CEH, CCSK, and CPT. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tysbano/ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In technology, scaling your team is not an easy thing to do!  In this episode, Doron Segal, the Co-Founder & CTO at Per Diem, talks about his insights regarding hiring & retention. Key Takeaways: Improving your hiring and retention process. Recruiting pitfalls and how to avoid them. Hiring junior vs. senior-level employees Going after different talent as you scale Hiring the right person at the right time How employee feedback loops increase employee retention About today’s guest:  Doron Segal: Co-Founder & CTO at Per Diem (YCW21) A seasoned, hands-on, technical leader with a track record of building teams and products. He focuses on building organizations and enabling them to get things done. His leadership mantra is Leadership is not wielding authority; it's empowering others. I lead by listening and example. He served in the Israeli Army as Platoon Commander for four years in a technology combat unit. He led a platform team at Beats Music (later Apple);  was an Engineering manager at OpenTable, and was Director of platform engineering at Saildrone. Currently, Doron is the CTO & co-founder of TryPerDiem, a YC-backed startup. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doronsegal ----------------------- Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

On the show, I speak to Yanyan Wu, the Vice President of Data and Analytics at Verisk. Yanyan shares her strategies, from structuring to scaling an analytics team.  Key Takeaways: Challenges in building and scaling an analytics team. Dealing with the technology gap Getting the right people on your team, Roles and responsibilities of a team leader Learning metrics that matter to your members. Challenges in finding someone technically strong and a great analyst. Ways to Identify the future leader in your team and traits that must-haves. About today’s guest:  As a vice president and data analytics expert, Yanyan Wu develops innovative data analytics strategies and transformed data platforms for big data used in the oil&gas industry. She layout the multi-year product development roadmap and execution to deliver the data and data insights to internal and external clients to enable them to make smart investment decisions/recommendations. Yanyan’s 15-year career in product management and digital technologies spans the head of data analytics in Halliburton digital solution, Principal digital production manager at GE Digital and Senior production manager at GE Oil&Gas from transforming digital technologies to new product development and its commercialization in financial service and energy businesses. She led the team to help businesses to increase productivity by more than LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wuyanyan/ ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Ishmael Samuel, the co-founder and CTO at Paragon, discusses how to effectively onboard new hires. He goes over what should be included in onboarding and thinking about the team's velocity when making a new hire. Key Takeaways: Walk through the onboarding process A holistic view of products as a customer Importance of filing issues Opinionated frameworks and tools Integrations as a core value prop Understanding a new hire's biggest blocker is key Why is it important to ask team members for feedback? Building a real relationship with your team members. Sprint planning About today’s guest:  Ishmael Samuel is CTO and co-founder of Paragon, an embedded integration platform that allows SaaS companies to connect their product to their customers’ data and expedite their integration roadmap. Before Paragon, Ishmael founded CTRL LA, a software development agency that built web and mobile apps for companies, including Universal Studios and Uber. Alongside building Paragon, Ishmael advises technical teams and angel invests in startups. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishmaelsamuel ___ Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, I have on Nate Lee, the Chief Information Security Officer at Tradeshift, a B2B SaaS platform specializing in digitizing supply chain financing. He talks about how to grow and establish a security program. Key takeaways: Preparing a security plan for your business. Avoid process for the sake of process Security program priorities Tools that you can use to help - SQL injections, static code analysis, vulnerability management When do you make your first security hire What you need to look for when hiring your security personnel. How to introduce a security person into your program. Benefits and value of having a “security champion” Dealing with security later will just cost more down the road About today’s guest:  Nate Lee is currently Chief Information Security Officer at Tradeshift, a B2B SaaS platform specializing in digitizing supply chain financing. With over 25 years in the tech industry, Nate has a wide variety of experience in engineering and management roles at startups, as a consultant, and in the Fortune 50. Nate led at various points platform operations, site reliability engineering, and IT. Subsequently, he started the security program at Tradeshift, building the security team from the ground up with a heavy focus on automation and driving business value through partnerships across internal business units. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-lee-2179302/ ----- Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

On this episode, Luis Bruder, the Director of Data Science, Machine Learning, and Advanced Analytics at Foot Locker, talks about managing experiments and how these experiments drive decisions.  Key Takeaways: Definition and Classification of experiments Moving from experiments to project evaluation Who owns the experiment Metric evaluation Experimentation to Production Life Cycle Aligning your team with new experiment opportunities. Balancing project and maintenance work About today