Techniq

A sit down of the learning variety with Matt Hodges, VP of Software Engineering @ Curriculum Associates. High energy, high growth, highly contagious education.. all for your listening pleasure. Go back to school for a few minutes. You'll like it. We promise. Timestamp Listening -0:00:00 - Intro0:07:30 - Definition of Culture (It's the Energy/Aura)0:10:30 - Importance of staying calm and composed as a Manager / Leader 0:14:00 - Deliberate vs. Inverse Teachers - "The Teacher Among Us"0:17:30 - Humility, Vulnerability, and Transparency in Leadership0:34:20 - Sports & Business 0:45:22 - Live Work Balance vs. Work Life Balance0:50:15 - Coding Bootcamps1:00:30 - Q&AArticles from Matt -https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/flex-your-workplace-muscle-matt-hodges/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chicago-cubs-management-101-matt-hodges/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/even-better-steve-jobs-matt-hodges/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/theres-always-room-humility-matt-hodges/https://www.linkedin.com/pulse

Matthew Keemon is a Founding Team Member & Director of Engineering @ Jebbit (www.jebbit.com). We caught up with him just before his 5-year Sabbatical to discuss what it's like creating a company based on the development of people, not [just] product. This was a fun one, one with the coining of a new TechniQ catch phrase (yes we'll give that to you Brett)! We dive head first into a "latin-based" value system that has been the driving force behind this vibrant & growing startup. The humbleness of successful growth coupled with the reality of "keeping the startup-fire burning" through years of pivots, trials and tribulations always provides valuable lessons - and this conversation was stoked with lots of them. Also, you get to hear from a real-life Celtics Green-Teamer... When else are you going to get that perspective??! Give it listen. It'll fit the days lesson plan under the "giving a shit about life" section :).. we promise!The "conversation" qui

In this episode we sit down with Ben Patterson - Director of Engineering @ Threat Stack - and discuss a multitude of topics including #Enabling & #Empowering engineers by providing the #safety to ask questions, #HighAvailabilityLeadership, #Inclusion, Changing roles and Growth, and Drinking as part of #Culture... Even explaining how #Culture is like a tomato plant. We touch it all in this one! Tune in. Turn it up. Learn. Grow.0:00:00 - Introduction0:08:00 - Definition of Culture0:10:06 - Changing roles and growth0:13:05 - How to build a great tomato plant (Culture)0:30:30 - How to enable teams to perform at a high level0:35:50 - Inclusion0:42:55 - Drinking as part of Culture0:56:24 - Reducing the context switching and churn that engineers encounter1:01:00 - Q&A

“Culture is Curiosity” .. We could honestly just stop this intro right there and let you grow on that statement. Maybe throw in an emoji of Wonder Woman and call it a day - BUT we won’t! Sharon Kan is a must listen. Tenacity, Drive, Perseverance, Thankfulness - Ice Cream Cake Entrepreneurship, Star Wars and Style - it’s all here. To gauge quality through defining the diversity of personality, to build highly successful teams and companies (bought by the likes of Oracle, Microsoft and Barnes and Noble) AND spin up a disruptive & ultra-successful Accelerator Lab - you have to come at things with an adventurous and unconventional mindset. This is a complete and epic brain adventure into a consistently inconsistent career created by fearlessness and defined by trust, hard work and ultimately, success.. You’ll never be bored if you don’t want to be. Press play. We promise you won’t be disappointed in the progress you make with this one. The mom-economy is coming - Pepperlane is here.

Sometimes in life you meet folks who just make you want to be better - Eric Wyler is one of those people. He is currently the shiny new CEO & Founder of @timesilk.com - and with stints at some of the premier technology companies around (@cargurus, @catalant, @amazon, @vistaprint, @ bentleysystems..) we dive head first into performance optimization as seen through the eyes of an experienced goal-setter who has figured out a way to cut out the "BS" in life to achieve some awesome successes by way of continuous learning. We define "fundamental usefulness" as it relates to growth & commitment, motivation based on belief in oneself (and one's employees), navigating difficult conversations in leadership, self reflection, the ideal of meritocracy, values vs. morals, and a whole lot more.. (think 100mile ultra-marathons, insane endurance races, toilet paper OR topo map? ... ya that's there too). Turn up the volume. Scratch the learning itch. Listen. #Grow

In this episode we talk with Mike Stone, Co-Founder of The Gnar Company (www.thegnar.com)- a Boston-based software development consultancy. 0:00:00 - Intro / How Mike got into technology0:06:21 - How The Gnar Company came to be0:11:50 - Mike's Definition of Culture 0:16:40 - How a Consultancy Company builds a team oriented Culture0:34:20 - Bringing lessons from playing pro lacrosse to The Gnar0:41:30 - "Oh Sh*t" moments when starting a company0:44:33 - Checking ego at the door0:54:00 - Debunking the stigma around consultancy companies1:11:50 - Rapid fire Q&A

Techniq.io takes on the end of summer w/ Celia Courtright who is currently an Engineering Manager @ Chewy right here in Boston. Celia graciously gave us a few hours of her time to discuss everything from from "hardcore" VAX Gaming to the Enigma [of Culture] & retention in tech teams. This is a great one to learn how to create a trust-based, environment conducive to success and positive growth @ scale. We discuss collaboration, mindset, curiosity, a willingness to learn (and willingness to fail) all the while iterating on ideas that come from a place of passion for problem solving. This is what it takes to find success when you're trying to build better algorithms than Amazon (..yes we just said that). Ready. Steady. Learn.

No fluff. No Bullsh*t. No excuses. In this episode we sit down with Jason Raede, CTO @ the startup Fincura to explore what it takes to build a culture from scratch. Importance of measuring everything (and improving on it). Having mutual accountability between engineering & business. Having skin in the game. Proactive communication. Screwing up. Learning from mistakes. Importance of having a clear mission. Be good. Be Happy. Keep learning.

@Techniq we drink shakes to start out the day. We also drink coffee. Lots of it. If we mixed the best shake we’ve ever had, along with the best cup of coffee in the world… VOILA! You get this conversation with Ken Pickering, VP of Engineering @ Hopper. Stewarding ego, empathy & culture. Organizational shape and design. Transitioning as a leader. Guiding and enabling. Influence > control. Peer reviewing. Positivity and optimism. Instinct realization. Mutual respect. Collaboration. Inclusion. Diversity. Staff value [from a higher perspective]. Mindfulness for the “who” and the “what”.. RESPECT.. (and take a breath). This is like a free winning lottery ticket for your brain. Give it a listen. Get it done. LEARN something.

Kick your feet up and turn it up to 11!!! In this episode we sit down with Dave Murgatroyd, Machine Learning Chapter Lead @ Spotify, and we touch it all. Listen up to hear his explanation of what Culture is a 'How' means, autonomy, diversity, servant leadership, ownership, and of course - Music. Whether you're part of a tribe, squad, chapter, or guild - all are welcome on this one and bring your friends! Keep listening. Keep Learning.

Pure learning. We could stop there for the intro to this one. Vinayak Ranade is the CEO & Founder @ Drafted.us – he’s also a Bartender and a Recruiter who LOVES building high-performing teams AND [who] is now building a high-impact product [& company] to help others do the same. We explore the emergent properties of identity & culture AND how he uses TRUST to engineer impactful mission & product. If you’ve ever wondered about how companies build an environment where their people don’t just need to be there, but they choose to be there – this one’s for you. Turn up the volume. Turn up the intentionality. Be responsible. Tune in. Enjoy!

Let us just say, this was the best outdoor podcast we've ever done.. (also might be our first, but shh.. nobody knows!) Where else, but in Ryan L'Italien's backyard can you find birds tweeting, [light] airplane traffic, the sweet sound of sprinklers in the afternoon, and a whole bunch of real-life examples of how to build and sustain a high-performance engineering culture via the remote work medium. We hit everything - Star Wars quotes for personality conveyance, the power of emojis (who knew!), bedroom standups (not kidding), and life lessons taken from tattoos. We arrived, we listened, we learned. You should probably do the same.

From farming in Iowa, to being a Director of Engineering @ Lola in Boston (and everything in between) Cleo Schneider joins us in this chat to just plain throw down some good old unadulterated knowledge. We cover an anthropological approach to culture in the workplace, the curiosity vs. criticism paradigm, the good & bad sides of drinking THE Kool-Aid, the dangers of working too much.. and much, much more. There's something for everyone - especially her revolutionary approach to benefit structures [industry take note!] AND an animal that poops in cubes!

James Rogers is the Co-Founder of http://www.torii.properties/... He's also an OG Strawberry-shark from Bangor Maine, a Tufts Alum and one heck of a gritty human-being. A conversation as diverse as James' life experience(s) has something for everyone. The meaningful impact of making a meaningful impact, the defining drive behind wanting to show up. A growth-equation that's all about people helping people, and avoiding (or not) regression to the mean @ scale for culture. Be accountable for your learning. Love what you do. Listen up!

Like most we generally use coffee to kickstart our day, but we've discovered that a podcast can be just as effective to get the brain juices flowing! This was an early morning session where we sat down with Heather Wellenius - Director of Engineering @ Buoy Health. We set out to discuss the variable manifestation of culture and its perception-based definition - and ended up talking optimizing team performance and empowerment through ownership and empathetic enablement. Throw in a little Fiddle vs. Violin discussion and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and you've got a recipe for a whole lot of diverse learning and a great day. Give it a listen. Give it a rating. Enjoy!

TechniQ Origins. This is the spark that lit our fire and catalyzed our mission. From small town software beginnings and calculator programming - to big city JavaScript development, Vermont startups [at scale], words on a wall and under-utilization of resources - we touch on a bit of everything in our conversation with Nick Husher from Faraday Inc. We’ve known Nick for a while and he’s quickly become someone we respect for his candid, no BS conversation surrounding people, culture, and [software] life. We walk through the diverse growth phases that make up Nick’s career and discuss unfinished business, [an] empowerment agenda driven by authentic identity and what it means to truly feed personal passion & enable employee ideation to drive company innovation. Live from the WeWork basement @ 1Beacon. Give it a listen. Learn. Enjoy.

From Fintech consulting to selling couches, our guest in today's episode covers it all. Sam Adelman, Senior Manager @ Wayfair, joins us to shed light on how creating psychological safety in an environment of experimentation breeds cultural excellence. From mentoring kids at the YMCA to leading a super high performing team in an e-commerce juggernaut, Sam shares the secret to keeping his troops motivated by answering the WHY behind the what.. We touch it all. Collaboration. Autonomy. Sewing. Elon Musk. Couches. What more could you ask for?

It's not every day we get to sit down with the CoFounder of a successful company - never mind one that was acquired by Google - but why stop there? Dan Belcher - CoFounder of Stackdriver [Google] and now MABL discusses building identity by defining product, trait amplification + unique values in identity ingredient gathering. Creating insights, Developing Team [goals] and even The Grateful Dead. Throw in a little Redemption Song and mix it in the blender with Automated Testing Driven by Machine Learning and you get a rocket ship of a lesson on growth and team building. Give it a listen. We promise you won't be disappointed.

Controversial conversations? That's what TechniQ is all about! In this episode we sat down with Shannon Lu, a Software Engineer early on in her career, to discuss/debunk popular Millennial stereotypes. Timing is everything and we luckily caught up w/ Shannon just after starting a new position with Mabl. Open your ear-holes as she tells her epic job-seeking journey - appropriate for all ages (and levels of experience). Non PC. Non Filtered. Enjoy.

Intentional, honest, culture-driven conversations that leads to growth is what we're all about - and sitting down with Benjamin Ross @ IndigoAG was no exception. From big company buyouts, computer vision and out-of-control robots, to data analytics and saving the planet - Ben's done it all. This was a fun one AND our first @ IndigoAG. We looked into what it's like to meld a grocery redistribution giant with a startup, how the east coast, west coast team structures can work [and not] AND finally landed on what it's like making the decision to be a major part of building a brand-new identity (and culture) with one of Boston's premier technology teams. Listen, laugh, learn. Take [more] notes. It's a good one if we do say so ourselves.