All of our Engineering articles

New Engineering Managers Have a High Failure Rate — This Figma Leader is on a Mission to Fix It

Are leaders setting up new engineering managers to fail? Marcel Weekes (VP of Engineering at Figma) sure thinks so. He unpacks his playbook for supporting the tricky transition from senior engineer to people manager and tested tactics for avoiding the common traps.

How to Scale Yourself Down — Not Up — as a Leader

After a four-decade career of toggling back and forth between big and small, Lightspark SVP of Engineering James Everingham shares his playbook for scaling down your leadership as you go from an org of hundreds or thousands to a handful of direct reports.

The Startup Founder’s Guide to Hiring a Data Scientist

Are you ready to hire a data scientist? Mengying Li, Growth Data Science Lead at Notion, shares her framework for testing whether you should invest in this key hire and how to find the right data science skillset for your startup.

Investing in Internal Documentation: A Brick-by-Brick Guide for Startups

David Nunez, an early hire at Stripe and Uber, shares his step-by-step playbook for establishing good internal documentation habits at your startup. He unpacks his tested tactics for creating a culture of documentation, setting the quality bar and keeping things organized.

How to Chart Your Engineering Career Path: IC, Manager or Technical Founder?

From early employee to technical founder: Amber Feng shares essential lessons for engineers up and down the org chart, drawing from her 8-year career at Stripe and becoming a technical founder of Cocoon.

“Get Off the Floor” and Other Career Advice from Microsoft, Looker, Reddit & Twitter

Nick Caldwell's resume includes an enviable list of companies — Microsoft, Reddit, Looker and Twitter. He shares his biggest lessons from each for a crash course in finding success across different company cultures, scales & functions.

Hiring a VP of Engineering? Use This Framework from Shopify’s VPE to Get it Right

After more than 20 years in tech, eight companies, and thousands of hires, Shopify's Farhan Thawar shares his go-to-framework for snagging a VP of Engineering. From the skills that are most important to the questions to ask and red flags to watch out for, his advice will help founders dive several l

The Engineering Leader’s Guide to Crafting a Personal Brand that Stands Out From the Crowd

As an Engineering Leader at Help Scout, Anjuan Simmons has carved out a robust side hustle as a public speaker and blogger. Here, he shares his playbook for engineers to get started with personal branding and stand out from the crowd.

How to Build a Culture of Ownership, and Other Engineering Leadership Tips from Plaid & Dropbox

Jean-Denis Grèze has led engineering teams at Plaid and Dropbox: Here’s what he’s learned about crafting a bottoms-up culture, hiring and motivating large teams.