Decoding Careers
Decoding Careers is a podcast designed to help software engineers transition into leadership roles. Hosted by Sam Yates, it features interviews with engineering leaders who share their own career journeys, the actions they took, and the challenges they faced. The show is presented by Discovered People, an Australian recruitment agency that connects ambitious companies with software engineers.
Episodes
Proactive Ownership & Leadership at Scale
How do great engineers grow into great leaders?Nik Zavgorodniy, Head of Engineering at Mutinex, joins us to talk career ownership, why onboarding is a secret weapon and how leadership evolves as startups scale.Packed with practical takeaways for ambitious engineers.📩 Subscribe to The Knowledge Base — our newsletter for career-minded devs: https://decodingcareers.substack.com/
Keeping Everyone on the Same Page: Decision-Making in Cross-Functional Teams
We’re joined by Simon O’Connor from Tikpay to explore leading from scratch, navigating cross-functional teams and choosing the right tech stack.📩 Subscribe to The Knowledge Base — our Decoding Careers newsletter: https://decodingcareers.substack.com/
Nurturing Career Growth & Keeping in Touch With Code
This week on Decoding Careers, we’re joined by Guillaume Renoult to explore how leaders can help others grow into strong leaders themselves. We’ll dive into the role of vulnerability and a learning mindset in leadership.📩 Subscribe to our newsletter — The Knowledge Base by Decoding Careers: https://decodingcareers.substack.com/
Hiring in Tech Leadership & Context Switching
This week, we are joined by Alex Taylor, Global Head of Emerging Technologies at QBE Ventures. Alex gives us a different perspective on leadership. With experience in Venture Capital, Alex has witnessed different types of leadership and practices that really make or break startups. We talk roles in startups, from hiring for it and defining it. Moreover, we talk about context switching — a topic we
Authentic Leadership && Role of Community
This week, we’re joined by Rebecca, CTO at Australasian Progressive Group. Rebecca gives us great advice on how to find your voice and who you are as a leader, and how communities have helped her become a better leader.📩 Subscribe to our newsletter — The Knowledge Base by Decoding Careers: https://decodingcareers.substack.com/
Vision Driven Product Teams && Stepping Back to Step Up
This week, we’re joined by Hugo, CTO at Budgetly. We sit down and talk about what being a co-founder and CTO for a startup entails, and the role of vision in creating strong product decisions — and how leaders champion that.
Navigating Technical Challenges && Ambient Knowledge
Welcome to season three of Decoding Careers. In today’s episode, we sit down with Ming Quah, CTO and part of the founding team at Graceview. Ming shares his experience as taking on the role as CTO for a startup, continuous learning through ambient knowledge, and understanding the role of passion in leadership.
Zehua Liu: Carving Your Career Path & Startup Leadership
In this week's episode, we sit down with Zehua Liu, Head of Engineer at Veridooh. We discuss navigating various careers in tech and leadership in Startups. Additionally, Zehua gives advice to those feeling pressured to go into leadership.
This wraps up our second season of Decoding Careers. We are continuously trying to improve the show! Stay tuned for some major updates.
In the meantime, do
Ameya Bhurke: Award-Winning Teams & Embracing the Unknown
In today’s episode, we sit down with Ameya Bhurke, Head of Engineering at Athena Home Loans. We dive into the leadership strategies that earned him and his team ‘Leader of the Year’ and ‘Team of the Year’ respectively. Ameya shares his approach to mentoring the next generation of leaders and offers advice on how to be comfortable with uncertainty.
Dinesh Reddy: Cutting Through The Noise & Effective Task Delegation
This week at Decoding Careers, we chat with Dinesh about how engineers can stand out and stay ahead of the curve, building trust as a leader, and what it takes to cut through the noise as an engineer.
Netally Castilho: Developing Confidence as a Leader & Overcoming Impostor Syndrome
Netally Castilho, Engineering Manager at Encompass, joins us to share valuable tips on overcoming self-doubt, their journey from Software Engineer to Product Manager, and why celebrating small wins is crucial for long-term success.
Chaitanya Kuber: The Ambiguity of Leaderships & Organizational Entropy
We sit down with Chaitanya Kuber, CTO of Airtasker, who brings wisdom from roles at Atlassian and Expedia. We discuss choosing your career path, tackling organizational entropy to drive meaningful change, and what it truly means to empower your team.
Devesh Maheshwari: Finding Your Pace & Evolving C-Suite Roles
We sit down with Devesh Maheshwari, CTO at Lendi, to discuss the importance of finding your groove as a leader in today’s industry. We dive into the unique challenge of remote teams. And, how the roles of a CPO and a CTO continue to evolve in the tech landscape.
Pierre Bergamin: Leading Leaders & Shifting Through Different Industries
We’re excited to welcome Pierre Bergamin, CTO at Indebted, as we explore transitioning into various industries, leadership to other leaders, and navigating both the technical and business sides of an organization.
Claire Tran: Stepping into Leadership & Leaving a Lasting Legacy
Welcome back to a new season of Decoding Careers. This week, Claire Tran, VP of Engineering at Sendle, joins for an insightful conversation on taking small and meaning steps into leadership. We dive deep into the evolving landscape of female leadership in tech, the unique challenges women face, and how a leader's legacy can leave a lasting impact on teams and the industry.
Mitchell Dowd's Journey Through Code, Confidence, and Career
Join host Sam Yates as he sits down with Mitchell Dowd, Head of Engineering at Xemplo, to discuss his journey from software developer to leader in the fast-evolving world of tech.
Building Trust & Engagement in Remote Work with Sam Wolski
In this episode, Sam Wolski, Head of Engineering at HumanForce, discusses his journey in the tech industry and shares insights on transitioning from an engineering manager to a head of engineering.
He emphasizes the importance of understanding the business and customer needs, rather than just focusing on writing perfect code.
Sam also highlights the challenges of delegating and letting go of own
Engineering Leadership with Kumaresh Ponnusamy
Kumaresh is the Head of Engineering across Digital at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank.
During this episode, we delve into the challenges engineering leaders can expect to face when leading teams and how they should prioritise their time/tasks.
Kumaresh also delves into the importance of leading a team rather than managing.
The Art of Leadership: Insights from Tomas Stvrtecky
During this episode, I chat with a super-focused and strategic senior engineering leader, Tomas Stvrtecky.
Tomas has climbed the career ladder with promotions left and right, all thanks to his knack for leadership and teamwork. We'll dive into his innovative mindset, how he recognises and drives process improvements, and his passion for IT.
Plus, Tomas shares tips on building trust, fosterin
The People-First Leader: Insights from Adam Becker
Join us as we dive into the career of a seasoned tech leader Adam Becker from Coles who has built and led successful teams across diverse industries, including communications, fintech, health tech, manufacturing, and more.
Discover insights on how Adam fosters a people-first culture, the importance of clear objectives, and the power of global, diverse teams in delivering impactful results.
Product & Engineering with Jacob Richter, CTO at Propeller Aero
In this episode, we delve into the dynamic world of product development and engineering with none other than Jacob Richter, CTO at Propeller Aero.
With over a decade of experience in the startup arena, Jacob brings unparalleled insights into the blend of innovation, perseverance, and strategic vision required to thrive in this ever-evolving landscape.
From founding startups to spearheading produc
Daniel Palmers Journey to Managing Engineers: An Honest Look at the Transition
Looking to understand the transition from engineering to leadership and the innovative world of AI technology?
In this video, Daniel Palmer, founder of Relevance AI, shares his insights and experiences from his unique career journey.
Innovation Down Under: Adaca's 8-Year Odyssey in Software Development
Lambros Phodios was originally a software developer who
specialised in building early-stage software products for some of Australia’s largest banks, insurance companies, and government departments.
He founded Adaca in 2015 while at university and grew this over 8 years to a team of 100 software developers. The company was initially founded by a local software development team in Sydney, servicing
From Pilot to CTO- Nicholas Tan's Journey as a Leader
Nicholas Tan is an accomplished technology executive spanning digital/CX transformation, strategy & architecture development, agile delivery, solution design/engineering leadership & global digital IT & Cyber delivery with a strong customer focus.
Nick shares his journey from starting as an Air Force Pilot in the RAAF to now leading the tech as a CTO for the FinTech organisation of th
From Startups to ASX: A Conversation with Paul Keen
Paul has been the CTO at Tyro Payments since August 2022. He has over 25 years of experience leading engineering teams from start-ups to large ASX-listed companies. Before joining Tyro, Paul was the VP of Engineering for Nuix, the Head of Group Architecture and Engineering at Qantas, Chief Technology Officer at Airtasker, and Chief Information Officer at Dick Smith Electronics.
Realbase Reimagined: Ken Greef's Engineering Odyssey, Blending Code Mastery with Health Enthusiasm
Ken Greef is a creator and a health enthusiast who discovered his passion for web development at 15. In 2013, he started a print and sign business with his youngest brother, which led to the development of a tool for basic production management called Realhub.
For those of you who don’t know, Realhub is a platform that automates the creation of artwork for real estate agencies and manages the prod
Code to C-Suite: Unveiling the Tech Odyssey of Jeremy Burton
Jeremy Burton is currently Chief Technology Officer at Hipages Group. He has been messing around with technology for the best part of 40 years before getting his professional start in the heady early days of the internet.
He's worked across a variety of industries and domains, from having launched a failed startup to working in Large Enterprises, and everything in between. Having swung to both end
Climbing the Digital Summit: Coles Engineering Leaders Unveil Tech Triumphs
For our inaugural episode of Decoding Careers, we are thrilled to welcome you to an insightful conversation with these industry leaders from Coles Digital.
In this doubleheader 2 Coles Digital leaders spill their career secrets, and we dive deep into the journeys and insights of two dynamic leaders from Coles Digital.Anton Vishnyakov is Coles Digitals Senior Engineering Manager, shaping the future
Bridging Tech and Strategy: Brandon's Expertise Unveiled
Our guest today is Brandon a technology professional with nearly two decades of experience in software engineering, project management, financial services, and edtech. Brandon's career is a unique blend of deep technical expertise, strategic leadership, and innovative problem-solving. Currently serving as the Engineering Manager at Mathspace, Brandon is keenly focused on mentoring his team and fos
Artem Kolesnikov: Senior Software Engineer to Director of Software Engineering
Artem Kolesnikov is the Director of Software Engineering at Cover Genius, a global leader in embedded insurance for the e-commerce business. He has progressed from a Senior Software Engineer to Director of Software Engineering during his time with Cover Genius and he is also now coaching 4 Engineers in his team as they make their first step into leadership.
Discovered People https://discoveredpeop
From Tech Unicorn to Ethical Investing- The inspiring journey of HHH
Today host Sam Yates is thrilled to collaborate with an inspiring CTO Huan Huan (HHH) that has recently left a successful startup Safety Culture with over 500 employees, to becoming a board director and CTO at an early-stage startup up with fewer than 10 team members.
She was included in the Logz.io Top 100 Emerging Engineering Leaders globally in 2021.
HHH has an impressive history at the helm of
Engineering Excellence: Lisa's Path to Success in Tech
Lisa has over 10 years of experiences in a broad range of organisations. From start ups, to scale ups, to multi-national tech companies. She loves how technology can bring meaningful change and solve real world problems. As a technologist, she loves the opportunities to learn and try new things, so it's never a dull moment.
As a leader, she is passionate about seeing people succeed and achieving t
Level Up Your Career with Chris: Remote Work Mastery
Chris Wu is a Senior Engineering Manager at Playco, boasting over a decade of engineering experience. What sets him apart is his expertise in remote work, where he excels at providing engineers with guidance and reassurance. His ability to nurture and inspire engineering talent has transformed them into confident leaders in their field.
Join us in this episode as we unpack the secrets to Playco's
Tech Trends & Beyond: A Conversation with Leo, the Tech Advocate
Meet Leo Borges, a multifaceted leader, software engineer, author, speaker, mentor, and tech advocate. Passionate about cultivating healthy engineering organizations, he believes culture is the key to success. Leo loves exploring innovative ideas with motivated individuals, delivering practical solutions on a large scale.
Currently, he serves as Director of Engineering at Canva, the free-to-use on
From Startup to Scaleup: The Steve Krizanovic Experience
Steve Krizanovic, a highly respected and people-centric technical leader. With a strong track record of delivering scalable platforms. Steve's leadership style is centred around empowering people and fostering highly engaged engineering teams, creating an environment that encourages collaboration and fuels innovation.
Cashrewards has gracefully transitioned from being a startup to a scaleup. Steve
Rising through the ranks: Vasanth’s Engineering Odyssey
Sam Yates had the privilege to host a remarkable guest - Vasanth, an eminent Engineering Leader with a stellar track record of nearly two decades in the software industry. 🚀
Vasanth's career journey has been nothing short of awe-inspiring, encompassing experiences across Start-ups, Consulting, and Enterprise, where he played a pivotal role in helping businesses build exceptional products through c
Innovation Amplified: Simran Ghumman on Engineering Culture and Uplifting Technology
innovation-amplified
The Frisbee Engineer: Conversations on Tech & the Ultimate
Adam Woods has been in the tech industry as a software engineer and leader for over 14 years. During that time he has worked in a variety of industries across start-ups, scale-ups, and enterprise. He now serves as the CTO of Clipsal Cortex, which is an energy intelligence platform that empowers homeowners to make smarter energy choices by providing apps that allow them to visualise and understan
To be a leader is to always be learning
After moving to Australia from Israel, Nadav Yogev noticed a deficiency of leadership in the technology industry. That leadership gap is therefore an opportunity for IT professionals to exploit with the right attitude and aptitude.
Nadav Yogev is the CTO of Blueberry Markets, a globally regulated forex broker providing access to trading instruments to thousands of traders.
Nadav explains to host
Unveiling the journey of a People-Centric Leader
Vinny Lawrenson-Woods is a people-first technology leader specialising in engineering and product delivery in start-up and enterprise-level organisations. He’s scaled and coached large local and globally distributed engineering teams across the UK, USA and Australia.
Since his move to Sydney in 2013, Vinny has led large engineering teams at Vodafone, Qantas and Atlassian before moving to Prezzee a
To be a leader, you need to put yourself forward
Gita Charan is a highly experienced technologist, with a diverse career. Born in Fiji and educated in New Zealand, her career has taken her across the south Pacific and various roles in the technology industry. Gita’s recognised as a skilled leader and she believes in providing the right support to enable people to grow and reach their full potential.
The combination of technical skills, attitude,
Obi-Wan McAlister
Ricky McAlister is a technology leader with a passion for crafting robust technical solutions and building high performing, collaborative teams. He is fascinated by both the technical aspect of software engineering and the psychology of leading and managing people. Currently, Ricky is the Head of Engineering at Shift. The company looks to him and his engineering teams to deliver value to customers
From $150 side project to an engineering leader
Robert Love is currently the CTO of Q-CTRL, Australia's first venture-capital-backed quantum technology startup, and is responsible for leading Q-CTRL's Engineering teams, and delivering value to customers by ensuring scientific R&D translates to product development. Having recently celebrated its fifth birthday, Q-CTRL is focused on accelerating the pathway to quantum advantage by delivering
Start-ups can be a smart career path
Simon Litchfield is a highly accomplished technology leader with extensive experience in the software engineering industry. With a successful career that spans over two decades, he has worked with a wide range of companies, from start-ups to large corporations.
Simon discusses with host Sam Yates his career progression and how he’s currently serving as Chief Innovation Officer at Nano, previously
A new podcast for talented people in tech
Decoding Careers is a new podcast to help software engineers transition into a leadership role. Hosted by Sam Yates, you’ll hear directly from engineering leaders who have themselves successfully transitioned to their current roles, you’ll discover what they did and the challenges they faced to get there.
Decoding Careers is proudly brought to you by Discovered People, a recruitment agency matchi
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