Jumoke Dada is a dynamic, visionary and technology leader whose sweet spot lies at the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship, security, and education. With over 15 years of experience in corporate IT, and as the owner of Signature Red, she provides technology consulting services and has created platforms for women in tech.
Two of her creations include the Tech Women Network, an online community and career development platform for diverse technical women, and the HUE Tech Summit for Women of Color Technologists. Additionally, she's an international speaker and former tech contributor to Forbes. Jumoke holds a Master's in Cybersecurity from Georgia Tech.
In this episode, we discuss:
Authenticity and overcoming cultural norms
The importance and joy of building community
Pivotal moments that pushed her out of her comfort zone
Her decision to pursue a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity
Setting boundaries and self-care
Becoming an international public speaker
Where to find Jumoke Dada:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jumokedada/
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Po Linn (Fo) Chia is a Principal Software Engineer at Mindbody/Classpass, working primarily in the intersection of backend and DevOps. She graduated university with a degree in Japanese history, but pivoted to doing a coding bootcamp and the rest is history.
In this episode we discuss:
Fo’s journey from Humanities major to Staff Engineer
The importance of mentorship and having a good manager
Handling stress and mental health in the workplace
The best way to build new skills
Advice she’d give her younger self
Where to find Po Linn (Fo) Chia:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiapl/
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Josie Daw is a British full-stack developer and app developer actively contributing to South Korea's tech scene. She leverages technology to build impactful projects and especially loves to work on projects, whether as a developer or organizer, to create social impact.
In this episode we discuss:
Josie’s unconventional path to becoming a full-stack developer
How she gives back to the community through coding workshops and hackathons
Her passion for encouraging more people to feel comfortable with coding
Her current open-source project and how you can get involved
Advice she’d give her younger self
Resources mentioned:
Josie’s open-source project on GitHub:https://github.com/JosDaw
Where to find Josie Daw:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiedaw/
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Remy Schor is the talent recruiter at Voxel51. With two decades of talent acquisition experience, both in agencies and as an internal recruiter, Remy brings extensive knowledge of what recruiters are looking for and what job seekers should expect from a good recruiter.
In this episode we discuss:
Practical advice on how to stand out among thousands of other applicants
Remy’s journey to her current role
How to optimize your resume
How to handle salary negotiations
Remy’s take on interviewing “for practice” when you’re not looking for a new job
Resources mentioned:
Remy’s 2022 talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjHP-6gtCw
Where to find Remy Schor:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/remyschor/
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Tina Wright is an Area Tech Lead at Grammarly, and has worked as a software engineer at Coursera, TRI, and Google.
In this episode we discuss:
What is an area tech lead?
Technical leadership as a generalist, rather than a specialist
How to get the best from your team through a service leadership style
The advice she would give her younger self
Resources mentioned:
Staff Engineer: Leadership Beyond the Management Track by Will Larson https://staffeng.com/book
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work by Shawn Achor https://www.shawnachor.com/books/happiness-advantage/
In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Idleness-Routledge-Classics-46/dp/0415325064
The QCon 2024 "The Path to Staff+ and Beyond" track Tina mentioned. The event has passed, but you can purchase a Video Pass on the conference website to view the recordings. https://qconsf.com/track/nov2024/path-staff-and-beyond
Where to find Tina Wright:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinaewright/
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Diana Stepner is a Product and Leadership Coach. With over 15 years of international product leadership experience, Diana has led numerous teams at companies such as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Kayak, Pearson, and more.
In this episode we discuss:
How she went from aspiring fish-store owner with a Marine Biology degree to Product Manager in tech
How the industry has evolved over the past two decades
How ensuring all stakeholders feel heard can make a project run a bit smoother
The advice she gives to clients who are facing burnout
The role of AI in product management
Resources mentioned:
Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value by Teresa Torres https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Discovery-Habits-Discover-Products/dp/1736633309
Where to find Diana Stepner:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianas/
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Shama Keskar is a CTO, Founder, and mentor with experience leading engineering teams at Amazon, Google, and LinkedIn. Her background in nuclear physics and education gives her a unique perspective and a keen interest in exploring the power and potential of big data and analytics.
In this episode we discuss:
Shama's principles of leadership
How to turn a "work/life balance" break into a benefit for your career
Lessons learned during her journey as a cofounder
Determining which side hustles are worth pursuing
Learning from a failed startup experience
Strategies for scaling
Additional Resources:
Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI - McKinsey & Company
Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs - John Doerr
The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change - Camille Fournier
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future - Peter Thiel
Where to find Shama Keskar:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shamakeskar
Brought to you by WEST: https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Taz Minadakis is a Director of Engineering at YouTube with more than 15 years of professional experience building quality products and 10+ years of experience building high-performing teams at Google, Uber, and Microsoft. She led a development team building a touch-first browsing experience for Windows 8 and Surface SDK at Microsoft when touch screens were still an emerging technology. Taz is passionate about community building and professional development initiatives for women in tech and spearheaded early women's ERGs at Yelp and Uber.
Please note this episode includes discussion of pregnancy loss.
In this episode we discuss:
Taz's career pivots and how she leveraged her connections to find new opportunities
Building zero-to-one products and growing teams from scratch
The importance of allowing yourself to be uncomfortable and curious
Good stress vs bad stress
Networking advice for introverts
Additional Resources: StrengthsFinder (Rebranded as CliftonStrengths): https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx
Where to find Taz Minadakis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tazneemiandevil
Brought to you by WEST https://www.joinwest.org
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26
Natasha Vinnik is a Senior Engineering Lead for Gmail Client Foundations at Google. With over 20 years in engineering, Natasha has also led engineering teams at Box and Yahoo! She holds three patents in cloud-based technology.
In this episode, we discuss:
Natasha’s journey from an immigrant who couldn’t afford university to an engineering leader with a master’s degree
Staying technical as a manager and keeping up with technology trends
How starting a family changed how she approaches work
Inheriting teams vs building teams from scratch
How she manages complex projects
The value of being curious, trying new things
Mentorship vs sponsorship
Additional Resources:
“Unlocking Us” Podcast from Brené Brown
“The Awesome Human Podcast” from Nataly Kogan
Where to find Natasha Vinnik:
Where to find Heidi Williams:
Where to find Karen Ko:
Pinar Ozlen is an Engineering Manager at Airbnb based in Paris, France. Before Airbnb, she served as an Engineering Manager at Whatsapp, and worked on Google Maps and Search as an engineer with Google.
In this episode, we discuss:
Where to find Pinar Ozlen:
Where to find Heidi Williams:
Where to find Karen Ko:
Smita Ojha is the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Mindtickle, a market leader in enterprise sales software. Over the last two decades, Smita has led engineering teams at some of the largest tech companies - Microsoft, Meta, and Google.
In this episode, we discuss:
Where to find Smita Ojha:
Where to find Heidi Williams:
Where to find Karen Ko:
Tamar Bercovici is the VP of Engineering at Box where she leads the Core Platform team in scaling the foundational platform for the Box Content Cloud. In her 13 years at Box, she scaled the cloud content management and file-sharing service to handle millions of queries per second searching hundreds of billions of records. Named one of Forbes Top 50 Women in Tech 2018, Tamar also ranked #1 on Okta and Business Insider's Tech Up and Comers list 2019. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Technion Israel Institute of Technology and a technology patent for updating data in cloud computing systems.
In this episode we discuss:
The scope and responsibilities expected from a manager to a vice president
The pros & cons of having a long history at one company
How to create space for new voices on a team and influence team culture
The parallels between managing and parenting
Leading ambiguous, complex projects and managing risk
How to be ready for opportunities when they arise
Additional Resources:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team By Patrick Lencioni
Where to find Tamar Bercovici:
Where to find Heidi Williams:
Where to find Karen Ko:
A. J. Oxendine is the Tech Lead and Staff Software Engineer for the Home Feed product at Pinterest. She enjoys the creative process of building new things, figuring out how they work, and how she can make them better. This passion has led her to study music composition, art, graphic design. and now, software engineering.
In this episode, we discuss:
Additional Resources:
Where to find A.J. Oxendine:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirahoxendine/
Where to find Karen Ko:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenko26/
Joy Ebertz is a Principal Software Engineer, prolific blogger, avid ultrarunner, and an advocate for increasing the number of women and minorities in Computer Science. At Split, Joy establishes technical direction for their backend team. Prior to Split, she worked at Box. At both Split and Box, Joy lead efforts around splitting monoliths into microservices, revamping authentication and authorization frameworks, creating REST API standards, audit logging and more. In addition to designing software and writing code, Joy shares her learnings through her blog (which has 2.7k followers on Medium), and is often invited to speak at conferences such as LeadDev and WWCode. In her free time, she does a lot of traveling, reading, and running ridiculously long distances (mostly on trails).
In this episode, we discuss:
Additional Resources:
Where to find Joy Ebertz:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyebertz/
Medium: https://jkebertz.medium.com/
Where to find Heidi Williams:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiwilliams1/
Website: https://www.joinwest.org/
Welcome to the trailer episode of Engineer Your Career, brought to you by WEST, a learning community that empowers women technologists through mentorship. Through this podcast, we’ll explore the different paths leaders have taken to grow their tech leadership, develop their influence, and gain insights from top women leaders in the field. Hosted by Karen Ko and Heidi Williams.
