Just when you thought you had a handle on your job... it’s time to lead a team! Time to be responsible for others. Their career growth, emotional well-being at work, and job satisfaction.
You’re excited by the new opportunity and want to grow into this role, but it feels like you are starting from scratch. You felt highly competent in your last role. Now it feels like there is a steep learning curve ahead of you, and you may or may not have mentors or role models to help.
If you’re already in a leadership role, maybe you chose it or were promoted into it based on previous performance. But you may or may not have a lot of experience leading a team through a number of contexts such as tight deadlines, conflict situations, peacetime, and re-orgs!
As a result, in the first few months of your transition, you might have struggled to feel like you’re making progress. Overrun by meetings and constant context switching has left you feeling unaccomplished at the end of your workday. You wonder if you're using your time wisely.
You might be left asking yourself, “Am I doing this right?” And, “Should I go back to being an individual contributor?”
I’m here to tell you that all these doubts are normal.
It might not seem normal because no one took the time to map out what a day in the life of a leader would look like. Or maybe they did but only shared the glamorous parts ;)
Well, it’s normal to have doubts, and it does get better!
In this month’s Build episode, we’re going to tackle the topic of being a first-time leader, and to help us out I’ve invited Lara Hogan, who is a coach and trainer for managers and leaders in tech. She is currently the Co-Founder of Wherewithall a consulting and advising company dedicated to helping tech startups and non-profits grow and execute with ease. She was previously, a VP of Engineering at Kickstarter and a Director of Engineering at Etsy.
Lara has a new book coming out called Resilient Management, and in the Build episode, she’ll be sharing insights from it.
Here are the highlights with approximate timestamps:
Want a copy of Lara’s new book Resilient Management? Leave a review for Build on iTunes, then hit reply to this email to let me know you left a review, and I’ll share an e-book copy of Lara’s book with you! (Limited to the first 5 people who respond.)
Here are some additional resources Lara mentions in the episode for you to check out:
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
We’re living in an era where there is more than one path to gaining freedom and flexibility, though often it takes some trial and error to achieve it. Gregg Goldner is an example of someone who was tired of missing out on important life events and wanted more freedom and flexibility in his career. In the last episode of Build, Gregg shared his journey going from being a school teacher to a software developer. He chose to be a freelance software developer because he valued honing his craft. This choice meant he’d had to find work and clients who valued his talents. If you’ve haven’t had a chance to check out the episode yet, you can watch it here or listen to it here.
Another approach to gaining more freedom and flexibility is to be your own boss and start your own company. In the beginning, you may choose to do most of the work yourself, but there will come a point in time when you will need to hire someone because you’ve hit the limits of your expertise, or how much work you can realistically do.
While hiring help may seem like a panacea it comes with its own set of challenges. Add in limited time and budget to find a quality hire, and the challenges grow.
I’ll admit that it’s taken me more than a decade to find people I enjoy working with, can rely on, and learn from. I won’t claim that I know how to hire the perfect people every time—frankly, they don’t exist. What I've learned over the years is how to come up with the key criteria needed to source talented individuals, suss them out, and help them grow over time. I've tested and tweaked the strategies when hiring people in startups and growth stage companies.
In today's Build, I'll be sharing these strategies with you. The episode is taken from a live online group coaching call I hosted last year with first-time founders who were hiring technical talent, but the strategies also apply to hiring managers who are looking to fill non-technical roles. Even if you aren’t the person making a hiring decision, it’s a valuable episode to learn how you may be evaluated in the future!
As you watch the episode today, you’ll learn the following:
The pre-work you need to do before you start recruiting
How to source candidates through your network as well as online and offline channels
How to evaluate a candidate's work history, projects, and references
How to vet people who are reliable, can communicate clearly, and will produce high- quality work
The difference between vetting a freelancer and a firm—as well as how to avoid the ‘gotcha’ moments!
Want more help recruiting, onboarding, and retaining talent?
Check out our previous episodes on what to expect from new software engineering hires, how to onboard new software engineers quickly, and how to keep newly hired software engineers motivated. If you're looking to hire product managers, you'll find the following episodes on hiring product managers, interviewing them, and training and retaining them helpful. Finally, if you’re looking for UX designers, tune in to our episode on sourcing, vetting, hiring and working with UX designers.
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
When I was in my early 20s and someone told me to prioritize freedom and flexibility, I’d cringe and think, “Yes but how?”
Over the past fifteen years, I’ve asked this question to people I’ve met. Through trial and error, I’ve learned to incorporate or tweak parts of their how to fit my needs. As a result, I’ve learned there is more than one how, and to be wary of those who claim there is only one!
One approach we explored earlier this year was building a Company of One. Paul Jarvis and I explored how he went from being a freelancer and providing a service to scaling his business to create products. In the Build episode, we shared some of the common themes. If you missed the episode, you can check it out here.
This month, I want to rewind and explore the first part, becoming a freelancer.
Becoming a freelancer is one approach to gaining more freedom and flexibility. And while it’s easy to glamorize being your own boss, it can take time (many years) to get a business off the ground.
You have to figure out how to market yourself, manage clients, price your service, and still have enough hours left in the day to do the work!
All of these tasks can leave you feeling overwhelmed. To help you think about the transition, gain some perspective, and most importantly, work through the overwhelm, I’ve invited Gregg Goldner, who is a freelance developer and President of Two Sun Traders, LLC to share his experience.
Whether you are a freelancer, want to be one, or are just curious, I’d highly recommend tuning into this week’s episode to learn the following from Gregg:
I loved this quote from Gregg because it showcases how you need to focus as a freelancer:
“Putting on every single hat and then realizing I don’t like half those hats. Wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t have to do those things? What are my strengths and weaknesses, and how can I find people who have different strengths and weaknesses?” — Gregg Goldner, President of Two Sun Traders, LLC
In the episode, Gregg mentions a number of resources, here are links to them:
If you’ve been following Build for a while, you may recall I did an episode with Jessica Hische who is a letter, illustrator, and type designer a few years ago on a similar topic: How To Prepare To Strike Out On Your Own And Pursue Your Creative Calling. Listen to the episode here. I always find it helpful to revisit a topic and compare notes, plus some people’s voice resonates more than others, so I’d highly recommend you check out that episode too!
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Build is produced by Femgineer.
I am the self-appointed family travel agent. Though if you ask my partner and the rest of my family members they’d agree that I am the best person for the job.
Why?
Because over the years I have become adept at making sure I don’t overlook the details when planning a vacation—you know where the devil hides! And who wants the devil to turn up on their vacation?!
Unless of course, it’s a blue devil ;) #marchmadness #goduke
I take the time to read through ALL the descriptions and fine print, talk to customer support agents to find out if there are any additional fees, and make sure that family members who have accessibility needs like my 10-month-old baby and 82-year-old grandma will be taken care of.
Once I’ve done all this planning, I know I have truly earned my vacation ;)
Despite all my effort, there have been times when things didn’t turn out as planned. Like the time I booked a home in India only to find out that the address was incorrect. The host mixed the street name with the city name. We would have had to drive 3 hours after 24+ hours of travel, but I called customer support and they resolved the issue for us quickly.
It was a positive customer support experience: responsive, seamless, and efficient. As a result, I continued using that service to book my travel, knowing that if something screwy happened I could count on them next time.
But there are other companies whose customer support agents place me on hold—for more than a few minutes. When the agent returns, they tell me that I’ve reached the wrong department. Then they transfer me to the “correct” department. Once the transfer is complete, I have to repeat what I told the first support person to the second support person, all the while hoping that they can help me resolve the issue. They can’t. When I look at how much time I’ve spent, and the exorbitant fee or unreconcilable charge, I am frustrated and vow to never do business with them again!
I know I’m not alone.
No one likes being at the receiving end of a bad customer support experience. It’s easy to place blame on customer support, but it’s not their fault because the problem originated somewhere else—when the product or service’s feature was being created.
Someone designed the experience in a way that wasn’t particularly customer friendly, and then it became a challenge to change the experience because of the silos that formed in the company between teams: sales, marketing, product, engineering, and customer support.
At the start of a company, teams are usually flat and highly collaborative, but over time, silos start to form, slowing things down, making it hard to innovate, and distancing teams from their customers.
Is it even possible to slow or stop them from forming? And to enable everyone across teams a chance to interact with customers?
Well in today’s episode of Build we’re going to answer these questions and more, We’ll show how silos form of overtime, some best practices for keeping silos at bay, and what to do once they have formed to break them down.
To help us out I’ve invited Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré who is a B2B SaaS Consultant with 20+ years of experience in online marketing, and a champion for customer success.
As you tune into today’s episode you’ll learn the following from Nichole Elizabeth:
“When everyone on the team is aware of the voice of the customer, everyone is super excited about what is going on (with the product).
If you really want to stand out right now it isn’t pricing, it’s team alignment and customer experience.” — Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré
In the episode, Nichole Elizabeth mentions a number of resources, here are links to them:
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
We began this month exploring the theme of career transitions. In the first Build episode for this month, we talked about why even if we want to transition in our careers, we don’t and get stuck in a role. If you missed the last episode of Build you can check it out here.
If you were wondering how to get unstuck, then today’s episode is for you! We’re continuing our conversation with Amy Sun who is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm. Amy began her career as a product manager, transitioned to a product manager and most recently became a venture capitalist. Having gone through a number of transitions herself, she’s learned to navigate them in a number of contexts.
Even if you aren’t going through a transition yourself, it’s a valuable episode to tune into, because as a teammate, hiring manager, or leader you may find yourself working with someone who is going through it, and you’ll be equipped to help them out!
As you tune into today’s episode you’ll learn:
How to avoid being typecast into a role and be your own advocate
How to figure out what companies are looking for within a role
How long it can really take to go through a transition and how to keep your motivation up
Why short trial periods can be helpful, and how to set expectations and criteria for grading performance
How to get feedback and build awareness to improve
How to transition between companies versus across roles within a company
How to fill in skills gaps, build trust with peers, and present to leaders
“The opportunity won’t just present itself one today. Believe that you want it. And then tell people you want it. Sometimes you’ll get push back. Even if you do, you have to continue to fight for it, if you believe that’s the path that you want to go down.” — Amy Sun, Partner at Sequoia Capital
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
Career transitions are tough for all of us. Leveling-up or transitioning into a new role or field is challenging because we have to prove that we can do the job, especially when our resume doesn’t reflect relevant or exact experience recruiters or hiring managers are looking for.
The countless rejections may cause us to want to stay in our current role and hope that someone will acknowledge our skills, talents, and efforts.
However, we cannot build a career on hope alone!
In today’s episode of Build, we’re going to share what holds people back from advocating for themselves successfully, and in the next episode, we’ll dig into ways you can make the transition happen.
To help us out, I’ve invited Amy Sun who is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm. In case you’re curious, Amy’s firm Sequoia Capital has been investing in companies since 1972. They have invested in 250+ companies, and some notable ones are Apple, Google, Oracle, PayPal, Stripe, YouTube, Instagram, Yahoo! and WhatsApp.
Last year at Grace Hopper, Sequoia Capital was the sponsor for a workshop I was co-teaching with Karen Catlin, which gave me the opportunity to meet Amy. After the workshop, Amy and I had the chance to chat, and I learned about her exciting background and thought it would be wonderful to share it with you.
What surprised me was that Amy didn’t start her career with the intention of becoming a venture capitalist; her first real job was as a snowboarding instructor!
After graduating from college, she began her career in tech as a product marketer, then eventually became a growth marketer and product manager.
As you tune into today’s episode, here’s what you’ll learn from Amy:
“If you think about your career as the sum of all the knowledge you have—it’s not like you’re throwing away all the experience you’ve had in the past to start from scratch. Having a diverse set makes you more uniquely qualified for certain roles. So rather than holding yourself back by thinking: ‘Oh I don’t want to start from the ground (zero), and all my experience before is useless,’ think about it as compounding upon each other.” — Amy Sun, Partner at Sequoia Capital
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
In the last episode of Build, Sarah Doody, who is a UX designer and entrepreneur, and I debunked many myths and misconceptions around UX (user experience) design, as well as the benefits to having a UX designer on your product team.
In today’s episode, we’re going to switch gears and talk about what UX designers can do to stand out, and then share how companies can go about sourcing, vetting, and hiring a UX designer. Finally, we'll talk about how they can work with software engineers and product managers.
I always learn a ton from Sarah, and I found this episode to be really insightful because aside from being a UX design herself, Sarah has reviewed the portfolios of 700+ UX designers! So whether you are a UX designer yourself, or looking to work with one, I’d consider this a must watch Build episode.
Here’s what you’ll learn from Sarah:
Here are links to the resources Sarah mentioned in the show and some additional resources to check out:
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
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Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit: https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/
Happy February!
It’s a brand new month, which means new Build episodes.
If you’re new to Build or maybe missed episodes here and there, know that I’ve previously covered a number of topics related to design like design sprints, product debt, product redesign, accessibility, being a freelance designer, creative confidence, the rise of the design executive office, designing with empathy, and the art vs science of ux design.
It turns out all those episodes weren’t enough, and there’s still a lot to cover!
So this month we’re going back to the theme of design, and start by covering why it’s important to work with a user experience (UX) designer. Given the significant shift to designing user-friendly interfaces, it might feel like I am preaching to the choir. However, some companies still struggle to justify the work of a UX designer. Plus, given how young the field is, it’s continually evolving, and people are always writing in and requesting I cover design :)
People still aren’t sure how a UX designer adds value, how to go about hiring and vetting them, and how they can work with software engineers and product managers effectively.
Just like how software engineering has become more specialized over the years, design has faced a similar change. However, people still grapple to understand the nuances between a graphic, visual, and UX designer.
In today’s episode, we’ll dive into the different types of designers out there. Then talk about some of the myths around user experience design. In next week’s episode, we’ll talk about what UX designers can do to stand out, how companies can go about hiring and vetting them, and how they can work effectively with software engineers and product managers.
To help us out, I’ve invited Sarah Doody who is a UX designer and entrepreneur (formerly based in NYC).
You’ll learn the following from Sarah:
Here are links to the resources Sarah mentioned in the show and some additional resources to check out:
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Build is produced by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
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Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit: https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/
Do you ever feel like you’re caught between making personal concessions and compromises in order to advance professionally?
I felt this way less than six months ago.
I was getting ready to transition from maternity leave back to work. Part of my transition plan was to initially work part-time so that I’d have time to rest and take care of my little one. Running my own business would give me the freedom and flexibility I needed to do this.
However, during my maternity leave, I became overly concerned with providing for my little one. As I transitioned back to work, I decided I need to think about taking on more clients.
A dear friend of mine had advised me to create a document with non-negotiables so that I wouldn’t be tempted to make concessions and compromises for things I needed from a client.
But I was concerned about how clients would perceive my non-negotiables.
In today’s episode of Build, I’m going to share how I went through this transition last year.
Once you’ve listened the episode, I’d like to know what was the last career transition that was spurred by a life event for you? How did you manage to pull through without compromising on what you needed? Feel free to tweet your response to @poornima.
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Build is brought to you by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
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Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit:
https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/
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Enjoyed this episode and want to support the show?
To become a patron of the show visit:
https://www.patreon.com/build
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## Easy to Set Non-Negotiables But Hard To Stick To Them Transcript
Career transitions are tough. Especially when they are spurred by life events.
They can feel endless, overwhelming, and cause us to shortchange ourselves by making concessions and compromises on what we need.
In today’s Build episode I’m going to share a recent transition I went through and how I managed to get through.
So stay tuned!
Welcome to Build. The show that debunks a number of myths and misconceptions related to building products, companies and your career in tech.
I’m your host Poornima Vijayashanker.
I had previously mentioned that I’d be experimenting with the format of Build, so today’s show is a solo show with just me.
I’m curious to hear your take on it. As always, feel free to leave a comment below. I don’t always have time to respond but I’m always listening, reading, and learning from audience members like you ;)
Last year, in the midst of my maternity leave I started to worry, more so than I usually do, and specifically about money.
I had previously written some blog posts about how I had gone through a round of interviews at companies, and ultimately decided that running my own business was going to provide me the most flexibility and freedom.
Somehow all the logic had seeped out of my postpartum brain and been replaced with a need to provide for my newly born child.
Despite being a good saver, and being a part of a dual income household, staring at my medical bill for the delivery made me worry about all the unexpected expenses that would start creeping up.
I’m a strong believer that I tight budget isn’t enough. You also have to make money.
So I thought about all the things I could do. I could answer all the emails that were piling up from recruiters or I could start working on the course I wanted to offer in the fall.
But this was 6 weeks into my maternity leave, I was having a really hard time summoning the energy to do something new.
Not to mention having the time to do it.
I’d need time and energy to either prepare for interviews or market a new course. Plus I’d have to persuade others that I was credible.
I re-read my own advice, and realized I needed to find a way to cash in on credibility that I had already built up without compromising on my non-negotiables.
That meant instead of proving myself to someone new, I needed to go back to working with people who knew I was credible.
I called up a client that I had worked for back in 2014 and 2015 to see if they needed help. They did and they didn’t need it until I was done with my maternity leave. So the timing was on my side.
There were just two catches: I need to commute up to SF and they had reduced their contractor rates.
Both of these directly conflicted with 2 of my non-negotiables, which were working commuting only two days a week and my rate.
I decided I wasn’t going to budge on how I priced myself, and told my client to check if there was more budget.
I reminded my client that I was reliable, and they remembered the quality of work that I had done.
I was also fortunate to have others vouch for me.
I put the ball in my client’s court and waited patiently for their response.
My client came back and asked me if I would accept working 2 days at the rate that fit into their budget.
I happily agree to the terms because it was exactly what I needed as I transitioned back to work.
What I re-learned is that you can go back to a client or company, especially if you have built up credibility there, and it helps to have more than one person vouch for you.
Finally, I re-learned the importance of having set non-negotiables.
As I was negotiating on the phone call, I made sure to pull them up and have them stare right at me!
Now, if you’re willing to share, I’d like to know what was the last career transition that was spurred by a life event for you? How did you manage to pull through without compromising on what you needed? Please let me know in the comments below!
That’s it for this episode of Build. Feel free to share it with your teammates, your friends, and whomever you think might be going through a tough transition.
And subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive more episodes.
Ciao for now!
In the last episode of Build, Paul Jarvis who is the author of Company of One and I, challenged the commonly held myth that that you need to you need to keep growing and scaling your company, otherwise you’re not innovating and you’ll soon start to stagnate.
We also debunked myths related to it such as falling prey to a big competitor and needing to be a leader who cannot fail.
The big takeaway was to question growth for growth’s sake.
The episode might also have brought up a number of questions for you like, “What about me? I work in a BIG company! Does that mean I’m not innovative? Do I need to run a one-person business? Do I have to be ant-growth?”
Absolutely not!
The Company of One doesn’t mean to be prescriptive or claim that there is only one way of doing business. Rather it’s building awareness for what is changing, and how those changes could help you. For example, if you are looking for more flexibility and freedom, you could work remotely or you could build a lifestyle business.
And if you’re still wondering, “How Poornima and Paul? How do I do these things?” Well, tune into today’s episode. In it, we share some of Paul’s proven best practices.
As you tune in to this episode you’ll learn the following from Paul:
“A company of one isn’t just a one-person business. It’s not anti-growth or anti-revenue. It’s just a business that questions whether growth is right for founders, employees, and customers, and for the long term success of the business.”
— Paul Jarvis
Want to receive a copy of Paul’s upcoming book Company of One?
If you become a patron of Build on Patreon at the Silver or Gold tiers, I’ll make sure you receive an e-book copy of Paul’s book as well books from other authors I feature on the show. And if you’re one of those who loves a signed copy of a hardcover, then consider being a Platinum Patron. To become a patron visit Build’s Patreon page here.
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Build is brought to you by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
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Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit:
https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/
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Enjoyed this episode and want to support the show?
To become a patron of the show visit:
https://www.patreon.com/build
Happy new year! I hope your 2019 is off to a great start :)
If you’re curious what I’ve been up to and what I have in store for 2019, I’ll tell you right off the bat, I do not set goals or resolutions at the start of the year. Instead, I review my progress every quarter to see what I want to keep doing, what experiments I want to run, and what I am going to cut or put on the back burner!
Taking a broad approach has served me well in running my business, balancing it with the ever-growing demands on my time as a new mom, and most importantly, managing overwhelm. So I won’t be sharing my goals for 2019 or if I’ve resolved to exercise more or less. And I certainly won’t be telling you to do more ;)
But I get that there may be other people in your life who are going to be bombarding you with messages around setting resolutions and goals as it relates to your career and personal life.
Don’t get me wrong, resolutions and goals serve as great guardrails, but there’s no need to artificially set them at the start of the year.
So is it OK to not always be growing personally and in business?
Well, if you’ve been tuning into Build for a while, you know I love to bust myths and misconceptions on it, as they relate to building products, companies, and your career in tech. To kick things off for the show’s fifth year, I thought we’d start with one of the biggest myths around building a company: you need to keep growing and scaling, otherwise you’re not innovating and you’ll soon start to stagnate.
This is a BIG myth that permeates company culture in tech, but, as it turns out, you don’t always need to grow, and continual growth isn’t always desirable.
In today’s Build episode, we’re going to be debunking this myth, and to help us out, I’ve invited Paul Jarvis, writer, entrepreneur, podcaster, designer and online course teacher. Paul is the author of the new book Company of One: Why Staying Small Is The Next Big Thing For Business.
As you tune into today’s episode you’ll learn the following from Paul:
In next week’s episode, Paul will share some best practices around building a company of one.
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Build is brought to you by Femgineer (http://femgineer.com/).
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Femgineer's Confident Communicator Course 2019 is coming up! To learn more visit:
https://femgineer.com/confident-communicator-course/
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Enjoyed this episode and want to support the show?
To become a patron of the show visit:
https://www.patreon.com/build