Training & Mentorship

Restructuring or Reorganizing an Organization

A leader had to restructure a team and combine several teams, which required training and a long-term vision. The leader had to understand the business need for the restructure and get input from stakeholders. Lessons learned include looking beyond what a manager would normally envision, restructuring for the right reasons, and getting input from senior engineers and product people.

Health and Emotions Should Not Come with Targets and Goals

In order to understand the emotions of employees in the age of data and OKRs, a cultural identity exercise was conducted with three basic questions. It was found that self-awareness and deprecation are key to understanding people's thoughts and how to make situations better. Additionally, it was found that quantified and direct interviewing misses out on the impact of people who bring excitement to the conversation.

Motivational Public Speaking for Non-Tech Audience

After transitioning from an EM role to a director and VP of Engineering, the author had to adjust to speaking to a non-technical audience in a brief, laser-focused format. To improve their public speaking skills, the author worked with an executive coach, studied different communication styles, and practiced with a partner. Through this process, the author learned to enjoy public speaking, experimented with the style and messaging that worked best, and had a positive impact on the business. The author's team also appreciated that they were well represented.

Creating and utilizing an engineering career path

A startup realized that their ad-hoc responses to career growth weren't enough and began researching career paths from other companies. After collecting a dozen paths, they created their own with six positions, four qualities per position, and one to three sentences per quality. They received feedback from their most experienced engineers and rolled out the path with a presentation. Lessons learned include understanding the problem, finding a starting point, avoiding "Not Invented Here," training managers and engineers, and working with HR.

Online Representation of You and Your Brand

Having an online presence is just as important as meeting someone face to face. This article provides tips for setting up a website and a LinkedIn account in order to make a good first impression. It suggests having a professional website, an easy call to action, and regularly updating content. For LinkedIn, it suggests having a professional headshot, making it easy to find you, and regularly sharing content. All it takes is dedicating a small amount of time to work on your online presence.

Learnings of a Solo Game Developer — Wacky Drivers video game

The author shares their journey of creating a video game called "Wacky Drivers" for Android and iOS. They had the idea for the game since they were a teenager and decided to use Unity as their development tool. They emphasize the importance of having a Game Design Document (GDD) to stay on track and discuss the development process, including creating reusable components and optimizing performance. They also highlight the importance of refining aspects such as controllers, game balancing, settings, and particles. The author advises releasing a minimum viable product (MVP) and gathering feedback early on. They also discuss their marketing efforts and future plans for expanding the game. The author encourages readers to try the game and provide feedback, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of consistency and sharing their enthusiasm for video game development.