Upskilling: practices to improve hiring, storytelling & structuring personal/leadership problems with engineering principles #208

The Engineering Leadership Podcast

ABOUT COLLEEN TARTOW

Colleen Tartow, Ph.D. is Field CTO and Head of Strategy at VAST Data and has 20+ years of experience in data, analytics, engineering, and consulting. Adept at assisting organizations in deriving value from a data-driven culture, she has successfully led diverse data, engineering, and analytics teams through the development of complex global data management solutions and architecting enterprise data systems. Her demonstrated excellence in data, engineering, analytics, and diversity leadership makes her a trusted senior advisor among executives. An experienced speaker, author, valued mentor and startup advisor, Colleen holds degrees in astrophysics and lives in Massachusetts.

ABOUT JIM LIU

Jim Liu is an accomplished engineering leader with a track record of driving business outcomes at companies like StockX and Nordstrom. He is also an active community builder with Engineering Leader Community and Angel Investor communities. Jim and his family reside in Seattle, WA.

ABOUT DIVYA ALAVARTHI

Divya Alavarthi is an experienced engineering and business leader with 14+ years of expertise in architecture, engineering, product delivery, pre-sales, professional services, and organizational leadership. She developed Salesforce Platform architecture standards, best practices, and minimal viable architectures. She supported a talent pool of 5000+ architects and developers resulting in improved strategic agility, speed to market, and business value in large-scale multi-cloud implementations.

This episode is brought to you by Clipboard Health

Clipboard Health is looking for the next generation of exceptional software engineering leaders, not just managers. They’re a profitable unicorn, backed by top-tier investors, and they take the craft of engineering management seriously.

Clipboard Health matches highly qualified healthcare workers with nearby facilities to fulfill millions of shifts a year - revolutionizing healthcare staffing with a fast, flexible, and user-friendly platform.

Learn more & browse their open roles at clipboardhealth.com/engineering

SHOW NOTES:

• The importance of leadership in hiring (1:29)
• The Tartow Method Explained: Key aspects of a successful hiring practice (3:57)
• How to build out the interview process & ask the right questions (6:14)
• Behavioral Interviews and good responses: Tips for gaining clarity from interviewees on abstract skills (7:52)
• Where eng leaders can start building their hiring skill set (9:16)
• Colleen’s experience co-leading ELC Boston & advice for 1st time event attendees (10:36)
• Understanding how to model problems as engineering challenges (14:41)
• How to use an engineering mindset to tackle personal problems (16:35)
• Jim’s process for deconstructing problems & solving them like an engineer (18:38)
• Tips for building / applying your skill set around abstracting problems (21:27)
• Jim’s perspective on getting involved with a local ELC community (24:36)
• Ways to help make the most out of your first ELC local experience (27:05)
• Divya shares about the power of storytelling in engineering leadership (30:07)
• Build the narrative about your product’s business impact (32:24)
• An example of bringing different demos & storytelling together (34:09)
• Frameworks for effective storytelling: build a narrative around a product / demo (36:16)
• How to start improving your storytelling today (37:35)
• Divya’s favorite moments with the ELC Seattle chapter & how to get involved (39:42)

LINKS AND RESOURCES

• Check out all of our local chapters & get involved here: elc.community/home/clubs

This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/