In today’s episode, we’ll share simple actions you can take to help you get started as an ally! Read more...
Wondering what it is and how to be a better ally? Well in today’s episode, we’ll cover what allyship is and how it can help you build a more inclusive company. Read more...
When you start building a new product, you have the best of intentions to revise old processes and move away from bad habits. But it’s easier said than done. So this week, we’re going to share some best practices for keeping a new product on track! Read more...
If you’ve been building a product for a while, you know it’s natural to start accruing tech debt and product debt. And there comes a point when it becomes really hard to add new features without paying down the debt through rebuilding or redesigning the product. However, there may come a point when neither of those makes sense, and you may be evaluating building a brand new product. Read more...
In today’s episode, we’re going to dive into the specific tactics for how you can explain abstract technical concepts to an audience of either lay people or one that may be a little bit more advanced. Read more...
In today’s episode, we’ll debunk the misconception that if someone doesn’t understand a technical concept immediately, then it’s their fault. Read more...
In today’s episode, we’ll explore why current practices often fall short of meeting a new employee’s expectations and some alternate best practices for onboarding, training, retaining, and evaluating the performance of product managers. Read more...
In today’s episode, we’ll share some best practices around interviewing and coming up with objective criteria to use when screening candidates. Read more...
In today’s episode, we’ll focus on giving you a lay of the land, starting with how product management is evolving and how to go about sourcing candidates for a product manager position at your company. Read more...
Today’s Build episode debunks a number of myths related to blockchain, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies. Read more...
Today’s Build episode debunks a number of myths related to blockchain, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies. Read more...
It’s not until after a product is in the market that the lack of design thinking and its importance becomes obvious. Design can give a product a competitive edge, increase adoption, and incorporating design thinking into a product development process consistently can make a team and company run smoothly. Read more...
Rose Haft, the CEO and Founder of Lumenora, is back, and together we’re going to share some applications of augmented reality and virtual reality that are here to stay, and how you can get started tinkering with the technology. Read more...
In today’s Build episode, we’re going to dive into the major differences and similarities between augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Read more...
And after running a remote team for almost a decade now, we thought we’d share a list of resources that have worked for us, and could help you out depending on where you are in your lifecycle of remote work and remote team building. Read more...
In the final episode for this month, we’re going to address a BIG concern that often holds people back from recruiting and managing a remote team: the nature of the work that needs to be done. Read more...
In today’s episode, we’re going to share a number of proven strategies that have worked across job roles. Read more...
All this month, we’re going to focus on recruiting, training, retaining, and managing remote workers. Read more...
Giving a new hire a meaty project can seem like a big risk. It’s easier just to keep them fixing bugs while they ramp up on the code base. But endlessly fixing bugs can be demotivating. Read more...
Today we’ll be sharing why pair programming and mob programming can be beneficial to getting new hires up to speed quickly on a new language or framework, and help you scale your efforts efficiently and effectively. Read more...
Have you recently hired a software engineer or maybe a few? Congratulations! Are you starting to worry that they haven’t shipped any code yet? Maybe they’re a bad hire… Read more...
We received a lot of questions, concerns, and objections about Hiten Shah’s EAT Method, so in today’s episode, we’re going to dive into the top three we heard again and again. Read more...
In the last episode, we mentioned how a number of the current approaches fall short. If you were left wondering what to do next, don’t fret, because in today’s episode, Hiten Shah is back. He’ll be introducing a new approach to coming up with product estimates, and it’s coincidentally called the EAT method. Read more...
In this episode, we’re going to talk about the issues specific to diversity and inclusion in tech and provide you with some strategies for navigating those tricky conversations with your teammates and your peers. We’ll also dive into what isn’t working and why. Read more...
In this episode, we’re going to talk about the issues specific to diversity and inclusion in tech and provide you with some strategies for navigating those tricky conversations with your teammates and your peers. We’ll also dive into what isn’t working and why. Read more...
In this episode, we’re going to talk about the issues specific to diversity and inclusion in tech and provide you with some strategies for navigating those tricky conversations with your teammates and your peers. We’ll also dive into what isn’t working and why. Read more...
This week, we’re going to answer two questions that inspired this series from one of our audience members, Jane. We chose these two because we figured they might also be on your mind! Read more...
The goal of the last episode was to give you solid understanding of accessibility, and all the things you could think about when designing a product with accessibility in mind. But we understand it might be a lot to tackle, which is why in this episode, we’re going to boil it down into three key tips that are critical and will make a big impact. Read more...
When designing products, we think a lot about usability—how easy to use a product is. But we often overlook another aspect of product design: accessibility. So all this month, we’re going to dive into accessibility. Read more...
After what might seem like endless reality checks, I’ve saved the best episode for last! In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about what it’s going to take to get a yes from an investor. Read more...
Think you’re onto something big, and surprised you’re receiving so many noes from investors? It can really make you second-guess yourself, and shake your confidence…but it shouldn’t! Receiving a lot of noes is natural. Read more...
This week, we’re going to continue our theme and focus on what compels us to think we need to raise capital, like competition heating up, the belief that the business will stop growing, or that the idea we’re pursuing isn’t really big enough. Read more...
While I’m all for optimism, I’ve also gotta stay true to them theme of Build: debunking myths and misconceptions when it comes to building tech products, companies, and your career in tech! So we’re going to spend the next four episodes of Build debunking themes around fundraising for startups. Read more...
Charbel Semaan and I are back this week and prepared to help you get over the pushback you received or will receive once you bring up the idea of product design sprints to your teammates. Read more...
How many times have you and your team spent countless hours building, bug fixing, and finally releasing a new feature only to hear feedback from a customer that it’s not what they wanted? Or worse, they don’t say anything. Why? Read more...
I don’t know about you, but before I decided to take on my first leadership role, I agonized over it for months! I worried that as an engineer, the coding skills that I had taken years to learn and hone would get rusty. And I wasn’t alone in worrying. Read more...
Have you been in your current role for a while, and are eager to try something new? Perhaps you’ve thought about transitioning from being an individual contributor into a leadership role, but you’re not sure if it’s the right move for you? Read more...
All this month on Build, we’ve been talking about project management. First, we shared two ground rules you need to set for yourself to get through a software project successfully, and in the last episode, we shared strategies for handling new ideas and unexpected challenges that may derail your project. Read more...
In the last episode, we talked shared two ground rules you need to set for yourself to get through a software project successfully. But we know that managing our own anxieties is only half the battle to keeping the project on course; the other is navigating new ideas or unanticipated challenges. Read more...
So you got tasked with managing your first high-stakes software project? Like handling tech debt, breaking up a monolithic code base into a microservices architecture, or something else? Congratulations! Are you excited? Maybe a little nervous? Read more...
All this month, we’ve been focused on the theme of pitching. We started out by talking about why many creative problem solvers shy away from pitching, leaving it up to CEOs, founders, and salespeople. But pitching is a valuable skill that all of us need to hone in order for people hear us out, adopt our ideas, and believe in our solutions. Read more...
One of the reasons people don’t like pitching is because they feel like they have to be someone else. They have to abandon their personality, get into character, and speak in a way they normally wouldn’t in order to impress a colleague, customer, or investor. Read more...
Have you ever had an idea for something, like a process or product that you wanted to improve? But instead of sharing your idea with others, like your friends or coworkers, you just kept it to yourself because the thought of having to “pitch it” felt icky and salesy? Read more...
In the final episode on side projects for this month, we’re going to talk about how to keep your passion project growing despite challenges. Read more...
In last week’s episode of Build, we began exploring the theme of pursuing a side project while keeping your day job. Jox Dixon and I did some mythbusting around the need to go all in. If you missed the episode, you can check it out here. Read more...
It’s a brand-new month, and we’ve got a new theme we’ll be tackling on Build! We’re going to be talking about building, managing, and growing a side project you are passionate about while keeping your day job. Read more...
All this month, Karen Catlin and I have been digging into the theme of mentoring. We started out by sharing the debut “Build” episode on why some people are reluctant to seek mentoring, and last week we talked about how to approach mentors, set expectations, and thank them. In today’s final episode on mentoring for this month, we’re going to talk about what you can do to become an effective mentor yourself. Read more...
Have you already tried mentoring and found that it’s not working for you? Is it because you’re just not getting what you want out of it, or other people have convinced you it’s just not worth your time? Read more...
Last month, I mentioned we’d be changing the format of FemgineerTV and going with a new format. We’ve broken up each episode into weekly bite-sized segments, making it more convenient for you to watch during daily breaks or to listen on the go. Read more...
There’s been a lot of debate and controversy around the lack of women and minorities being represented in tech companies, from entry level to the C-suite and board room. However, what isn’t showcased is how there is sisterhood within tech, where women are helping each other out and enacting change at every level from schools to the board room. Read more...
There are a lot of people who want to change their career later in life. They want to do more challenging work, earn more money, and have a better lifestyle. Given the growing need of technical talent in the US, it would seem like a technical career would be a great choice, right? Read more...
If your company doesn’t produce a hockey stick graph for growth by the end of the first year, you’ve done something wrong. Don’t expect it to become one of the fastest-growing companies, just shut it down! Seems drastic, no? Sadly, that’s what many founders are led to believe. Read more...
Two common pieces of startup advice that get doled out are: 1) you need to be in Silicon Valley to start your startup; and 2) you need to cater to customers in the US market. Read more...
Many of us think of a career as the period between college graduation and retirement. We’ve bought into the myth that taking a pause is considered a career killer because to truly be successful, we have to keep working! Read more...
Welcome to the third season of FemgineerTV! We’re stoked to have some great guests coming up who will help us explore themes that you probably haven’t come across before, like the power of saying no, planning pauses into your career, and more! Read more...
There has been a lot of conversation in the tech community about how to build a pipeline of computer scientists for the next generation, bring awareness to groups that aren’t current represented, and improve diversity numbers. Read more...
I’m a huge proponent of working for an early stage startup, having already done it three times in my career. Read more...
Working on teams is great because we get to share our skill sets and learn from one another as we build. However, there are moments that prove to be challenging, like…when you think you’re in agreement with your team, get to work, then days later the decision gets shot down. All that wasted time, energy, and effort! Read more...
What’s the best problem to have, hands down? Most people would say growth. And I’d agree 100%. But it’s not as rosy as you’d imagine. Whether you’ve gone from a five-person garage startup to a 15-, 50-, or 500-person team, there will be some challenges. Read more...
Did you ever take a risk and then realize, “OMG, I am in too deep?” But by the time you realized it, it was too late. There was no time for a do-over. You were stuck and really the only logical thing to do next was to throw in the towel and call it quits. Or was it? Read more...
Have you contemplated leaving the comforts of a company to strike out on your own to pursue a creative calling? Perhaps you have an idea for a product or service. While there’s a strong pull to pursue it, hesitation maybe holding you back. You’re worried about being good enough, attracting customers and clients, and how to make it all come together to find fulfillment, while at the same time tending to the practical side of things like paying the bills! Read more...
For the past few weeks, I’ve been writing about personal advancement. I started out by posing the question: Are you asking for permission to advance? This was followed by: Are you in a culture that values enforcement or empowerment? Then last week I wrote about why we don’t go after what we want. Read more...
Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a boss you just didn’t quite get along with. Both of mine are reaching for the stars. ;) I always thought it was just me…until one day I met up with a previous boss I had, who saw all the work I had done since leaving the company and told me, “Wow, we were really holding you back!” That statement was vindicating. Read more...
You’ll recall in that in the last episode of FemgineerTV, I interviewed Maria Giudice, the VP of Experience of Autodesk and author of The Rise of the DEO. We talked about how traditional CEOs have been replaced by a new breed called DEOs. Read more...
I’ve got a new episode of FemgineerTV for you! In this episode, we’ll be talking about why traditional CEOs have been replaced by a new breed called the design executive officer (DEO), and how companies are basically being led by executives who embrace design thinking. Read more...
Welcome to a brand-new season of FemgineerTV! We’ve got some great guests lined up for you this season, and we’ll be tackling some tough topics related to startups, design, engineering, product development, and leadership. To kick the season off, we’re going to be tackling one of the toughest topics that not a lot of people talk about: The Challenges Immigrant Tech Entrepreneurs Face. Read more...
It’s the final episode of FemgineerTV for the 2015 season! It felt like just yesterday I was waking up at 5 am on a January morning to buy bagels for Ben Congleton, our first guest, before driving up to SF with him to beat the traffic on 101. Still can’t believe we made it in one piece for the live pilot episode! Read more...
In today’s episode, we’re going to expand beyond the mechanics of funding, and learn about a startup that’s helping investors and founders learn all they can to make decisions when it comes to investing. Danielle Morrill is the CEO and co-founder of Mattermark, a data platform that keeps track of startups and their growth signals. Read more...
If you’ve been following along with the show, you’ll have learned what the investor-founder dynamic is like from the viewpoint of an entrepreneur. In the last episode, I sat down with the CEO & Co-Founder of StyleSeat, Melody McCloskey, to understand what it takes to raise capital at the various stages of a startup, from Seed to Series A and beyond. In today’s episode, we’re going to get the opposite perspective by diving into an investor’s mindset. We’ll try to understand what compels them to write a check and, more importantly, how they add value beyond a check. Read more...
You’ve probably noticed the ongoing debate about whether or not we’re in a tech bubble. Headlines are always gushing about the latest companies with billion-dollar valuations. There’s a lot of investment capital out there right now, and if you’re a startup founder who hopes to raise money, you might be wondering what it takes to attract some of that capital to you. Read more...
In the new episode of FemgineerTV, we’re going to talk about the balance of science and art that goes into amazing design and discuss the building process behind products that delight users every single time. To help us out, I’ve invited Pauly Ting, a user experience designer who has helped brands like Bloomingdale’s, Lexus, and American Express to reveal their purpose, express their personality, and deliver a complete and authentic user experience. Read more...
In today’s episode of FemgineerTV, we’re going to talk about how to pick partners, assemble a founding team to get your idea off the ground, and reveal the key ingredient to a lasting partnership. Read more...
In today’s episode of FemgineerTV, we’re going to tackle your to-do list. We’ll talk about how you can identify activities that will make a big impact for your organization, your team, and yourself, and how to feel good about deprioritizing those that don’t! Read more...
There’s one skill that every wildly successful product manager, UX designer, businessperson, and leader has in common. It helps them unite teams and ship products that customers love time and time again. What could possibly unite all these technologists? It’s conscious and deliberate empathy. Read more...
Product Hunt did a phenomenal job building up a following. The founder, Ryan Hoover, started with a simple email list that grew into a strong community of evangelists eager to use the product every day. In today’s episode of FemgineerTV, we’ll cover how he did it. Any new startup—even if it’s not social or community based—can use these strategies to drive word-of-mouth recommendations for their product. Read more...
Some choices in life are easy. Coffee or tea? Tea, please. But the choices you face as a software developer are a little harder. Jocelyn Goldfein, former Director of Engineering at Facebook, joined us on the second episode of FemgineerTV to talk about how to make smart tradeoffs in the name of happier customers and smoother product development. Read more...
As technologists, we want to build software that is friendly, fast, beautiful, reliable, secure, and scalable. And we expect ourselves to deliver it on time and under budget, because our ultimate goal is to have lots of happy customers who can do what they want (cue Daft Punk’s “Technologic”). But time and energy are finite, and we simply cannot deliver it all at once. We need to choose our priorities, and this choice is one we should make consciously. Read more...
While most companies think of remote working as a cost-cutting option, Ben Congleton, the CEO and Founder of Olark, sees it differently. He and his 30+ person team, which spans San Francisco to Europe, see remote working as a positive investment. And not just the traditional benefits that most people think about, like reduced commute time and increased hours of productivity. No, Ben sees it as a golden opportunity to recruit the best talent from anywhere. Read more...
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