The Unfiltered Engineer

Vishakha Motwani
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Everything out there feels AI-generated — the advice, the posts, the career tips, half the internet. This show is the opposite. The Unfiltered Engineer is honest conversations with experienced software engineers, for engineers trying to navigate this industry right now. Real people with real mileage — decades at big companies, leaps into startups, pivots into AI, climbs into leadership — talking about how this career actually works. Every episode asks what engineers are actually wondering: How did you get there? What did it cost? What's changed? What would you tell someone in the middle of it right now? No scripts. No rehearsed answers. No LinkedIn polish. Hosted by Vishakha — a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it herself. She started this show because the conversations she needed weren't happening anywhere public. So she's having them here.

  1. 1h ago

    Ep 14: How to Be a Proactive Engineer feat. Shehab Abdel-Salam

    Shehab Abdel-Salam says too many engineers are snacking at work. He doesn’t mean the kitchen. His first job was at Dell during the pandemic, when nobody was coaching anyone. So he started asking questions. That habit became a Substack called The Proactive Engineer, and a clear way to think about being proactive. Shehab is a Senior Software Engineer at Proofpoint, working on scaling email security products from the Tessian acquisition. Before that he spent three years at Faculty, a London AI company, building a product from the ground up, and nearly two years at Dell Technologies. In this one: Bias for action, initiative, and relationships, and what “high developer agency” means for someone new on a teamThe Magic Loop, a five-step way to get meaningful work from your managerProductive versus busy, and the impact and effort graph that helps you chooseThe Python-to-Rust migration he jumped into without any Rust experienceHow initiatives change from junior to senior to staffWhen to ask forgiveness instead of permission, and when to waitWhat to do when you’re handed work that adds no valueWhy AI should be your thinking partner, not the leadHow to speak up if you’re afraid toLinks from the episode: Don’t Snack Too Much at Work: https://www.proactiveengineer.com/p/11-dont-snack-too-much-at-workThe Magic Loop (Ethan Evans, Lenny’s Newsletter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-magic-loopEasier to ask for forgiveness than permission (EAFP): https://realpython.com/ref/glossary/eafp/Shehab’s space: https://www.proactiveengineer.comShehab on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shehab-abdel-salam/Shehab’s recommendations: Hidden Potential by Adam Grant. For podcasts, The Unfiltered Engineer with Vishakha Motwani , Life Engineered with Steve Huynh, and Gergely Orosz’s podcast. He switches off with walks, running clubs, and books. He’ll be back for a second conversation on building relationships. If you’ve ever waited for someone to hand you the next task, this one’s for you. I’m Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren’t happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Meet Shehab and the idea of proactive engineering 04:03 Bias for action, initiative, and developer agency 06:14 How to make progress when tasks are ambiguous 09:30 Find problems to solve and use the Magic Loop 13:45 Do work that delivers customer and business value 19:03 The impact-effort graph and avoiding work snacking 22:46 A Python-to-Rust migration as high-impact growth 26:04 What initiative looks like from senior to staff 31:43 Handle low-value assignments and mistimed ideas 39:27 Show the measurable delta behind your initiative 42:32 Use AI as a thinking partner, not the driver 49:56 Speak up through transparency and small steps 54:15 Shehab’s takeaway, recommendations, and ways to disconnect #softwareengineer #techcareers #proactiveengineer #careergrowth #engineeringcareers

  2. Nov 5

    Ep 13: Nothing’s on Fire feat. Michael Lee

    Michael Lee’s wife looked at him one day and said, “something looks off about you today.” He didn’t know what it was. It was burnout. Michael is an engineering leader with 15+ years in software. He started as a developer, moved through design and a stint as a CTO, and grew into leading distributed teams. Most recently he led three teams at a Fortune 500 company in the beauty space and grew the org from 20 to more than 30 engineers. He says working with people is his superpower. We talk about the human side of leading engineers right now: Why AI can make burnout arrive faster, even when the work looks easierWhat he’ll miss about reading his own old code in a git logWhat leaders at a roundtable told him, and the overnight tech debt nobody asked forHow to keep a remote team feeling like a team, including a Slack message that says nothing’s on fireHow to bring a workload problem to your manager in a neutral way, with optionsHow to help a junior engineer who’s working hard but off trackHow his youngest described his jobMichael’s recommendations: Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity and Deep Work, plus Cal’s newsletter and podcast at calnewport.com. He switches off with his kids and Lego sets, because a build has a clear start and finish. If your team is moving fast and you’re feeling it, this one’s for you. I’m Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren’t happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Michael Lee’s path from developer to engineering leader 03:09 Why AI’s speed can increase mental load 07:54 Leaders need to model the boundaries they expect 14:17 Building rapport makes collaboration more human 19:05 How to question an invite from someone senior 23:25 Ask for time back after working late 29:18 The hidden cost of over-escalating a button-copy issue 31:15 Set expectations so every request doesn't feel urgent 32:19 Managers protect engineers' focus and translate across levels 35:00 Managing up and creating space for questions 36:36 Why AI agents can bring burnout closer 38:25 Family boundaries and the human side of work 41:38 Guardrails, urgency, and permission to slow down 44:18 Prioritize incidents with severity levels and response times 46:15 Mentor junior engineers with retrospectives and office hours 49:41 Understand what's slowing an engineer down 54:23 Michael's advice: be human, kind, and inquisitive 55:08 Cal Newport's books and working at a natural pace 56:10 Switching off with family and LEGO builds 58:13 Test meeting boundaries with small experiments #softwareengineer #techcareers #engineeringleadership #burnout #remotework #theunfilteredengineer

  3. Oct 29

    Ep 12: Interviewing in 2026 (Senior and Staff) feat. Amruta Akut

    Amruta Akut started preparing for interviews in late May. By mid-July she had multiple offers. She says she practiced fewer than five system designs. One company quizzed her on 12th grade probability. Amruta is a software engineer with 15+ years of experience across Dassault Systèmes, Oracle, Roku, and Walmart, and she recently joined Zoox. I worked with her at Dassault. She went through this market in 2024 and again in 2026, and she tells me how different the two were. In this one: What has changed in interviews between 2024 and nowHow she prepared her behavioral stories, and why the most recent project isn’t always the right oneWhat interviewers ask once you say “I’d add a message queue”The rounds she didn’t see comingHow she used AI to prepareCold applications versus networking, and what she says mattered mostHow to answer the “how do you use AI?” questionAmruta’s recommendation: the Ryan Peterman show. If you have an interview coming up, this one’s for you. I’m Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren’t happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Meet Amruta Akut and her path to Zoox 02:26 Why she started searching and how quickly offers arrived 04:27 What AI changed in engineering interviews 06:31 Behavioral interviews and telling stronger project stories 10:47 Building a realistic preparation plan for frontend roles 17:04 How to handle coding problems under interview pressure 22:34 Why senior and staff interviews reward technical depth 28:04 Using AI for system design practice and interview prep 32:30 Unexpected interview rounds and level-specific expectations 37:34 AI-enabled interviews are still a mix 39:02 How to talk about your practical use of AI 43:21 Cold applications, networking, resume quality, and timing 48:03 Amruta’s final advice and recommended listening #softwareengineer #techcareers #interviewprep #jobsearch #engineeringcareers

  4. Oct 22

    Ep 11: Cloud Native Observability at Hyperscale feat. Monalisha Singh

    For ten minutes, Mona’s team couldn’t see what was happening in a whole region. The component that sends out the health data had gone down itself, because it couldn’t handle the scale. They called it blackout mode. Monalisha Singh is a Lead Engineer at NetApp with more than 11 years of experience building observability for hyperscale products in cloud native environments. She has a master’s in computer engineering from UMass Lowell and mentors the next generation of women in tech. In this one: Why observability gets treated as a checkbox, and what that costsThe price of data you didn’t need to collectWhat changes when your output stops being your own codeWhere AI goes wrong when it doesn’t have the contextIf you build or run anything in the cloud, this one’s for you. I’m Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren’t happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Mona Singh and episode overview 01:38 What is observability and why is it crucial from day one 03:19 Telemetry in POC versus full-scale production 04:26 Mona's role in observability and engineering 06:00 Key metrics in cloud native back end systems 07:41 Challenges of scaling in cloud native environments 10:05 Proactive monitoring and failure anticipation 11:30 Systems thinking and designing for failure modes 14:12 Feedback loops and continuous improvement in observability 23:33 Nightmares of hyperscale observability and lessons learned 33:40 AI's role in system monitoring and its limitations 36:38 Key takeaways: observability as a foundational practice #softwareengineer #techcareers #observability #cloudnative #devops #theunfilteredengineer

  5. Oct 19 ·  Bonus

    Bonus: Is a Conference Worth It? (LDX3 and WeAreDevelopers)

    Bonus: Is a Conference Worth It? (LDX3 and WeAreDevelopers) A stranger at a bus stop asked me if three days at a conference would be worth taking time off work. I was on my way to one. So here’s a short bonus episode on the two conferences I attended, LDX3 in New York and WeAreDevelopers in San Jose, so you can decide for yourself. In this one: How I got in: I hosted sessions at LDX3 (my own talk wasn’t accepted), and I volunteered at WeAreDevelopers after Kate, from episode 2, told me about itThe logistics: tickets, travel, where to stay, and how to save moneyWhich conference’s app made it easy to set up meetings, and which one made it hardWhat each day felt like: two stages versus eight to ten, lines for food, and workshops that only run two hoursWhy I’d pick one good conversation over a talk I can watch laterWhen the expo hall is worth your timeWhat I noticed sitting through the talks: I’m more caught up than I feltThe books I picked up from authors signing at LDX3: The Software Engineer’s Guidebook by Gergely Orosz and The Manager’s Path by Camille FournierGot a question about either conference? Leave it in the comments or send me a DM. I’m Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren’t happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and purpose of the episode 02:04 How Vishakha found and chose her conferences 04:06 Using conference apps for scheduling and meetings 06:07 Food arrangements and logistics at conferences 07:08 Volunteering and its impact on conference experience 08:01 Challenges of multiple stages and sessions 09:12 Balancing talks, networking, and energy levels 10:06 Accessing recorded talks and content after the conference 11:19 Industry insights and personal takeaways 12:34 Final thoughts and encouragement to attend conferences #softwareengineer #techcareers #LDX3 #WeAreDevelopers #techconferences

  6. Oct 15

    Ep 10: Permission to Be New (Reflection)

    I said I’d trust myself more. A weak promise, honestly. Then I went to a conference talk on loop engineering and inference engineering. I understood the terms. I walked out feeling more behind than when I walked in. This is my second solo reflection. Every fifth episode I listen back, and this time I start by checking what I promised after episode 5. I did most of it. One I’m still working on, and I say which. Then Sumit, Kshitij, Joy, and Raj: what I’m changing because of each, and where I’d push back. In this one: The job search metric I dropped because it was stressing me outThe thing I measure on this podcast now. Why I stopped dumping my thoughts into AI to write my postsThe system design mistake I keep making: I assumed every requirement was fixed, and it was a wish listWhy “think about how it breaks” is a system design skill tooWhy I stopped trying to keep up with everythingWhat I’m reading, what I’m watching, and how I switch offI’m Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren’t happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to personal reflections and episode goals 01:51 Trusting myself more through interview experiences 03:58 Shifting impact measurement to podcast views 06:03 Writing thoughts without AI to build confidence 07:50 Questions to ask in system design interviews 10:01 The value of visual sketch noting in interviews 12:08 Understanding system failure and design for robustness 13:52 Building trust and understanding customer needs 16:01 Managing learning and staying current without overwhelm 17:47 The importance of being a beginner and enjoying the process 19:52 Personal growth, reading Bhagavad Gita, and relaxation tips #softwareengineer #techcareers #reflection #engineeringcareers #careergrowth #theunfilteredengineer

  7. Oct 8

    Ep 9: Think How It Breaks feat. Rajakumaran Gowthaman

    A developer asks how to make it work. QA asks how it breaks. Rajakumaran Gowthaman has spent his career on the second question, from QA and test automation at Cisco and Avaya to Principal Engineer in Cloud Security at Palo Alto Networks. In episode nine, I sit down with Rajakumaran Gowthaman, a Principal Engineer in Cloud Security at Palo Alto Networks. He spent nearly five years there moving from Senior QA Engineer to Principal, after building his foundation in QA and test automation at Cisco and Avaya. Raj and I did an internship together out of Northeastern, and this was his first podcast. We talk about what QA taught him that a straight developer path wouldn't have, and how that thinking shows up in cloud security today: A developer asks how to make it work. QA asks how it breaks. Why that split mattersWhy he widened his scope past test cases, to architecture, deployment, and what a release does to the customerWhat it's like to test a SaaS product in a setup where a failure could be anywhere, across microservices, distributed systems, and Kubernetes podsWhat a Principal Engineer in cloud security worries about day to day: is the infrastructure ready for what we're about to roll outHow AI changed his work, from builds that took weeks now taking days to predictive failure analysis, and the trap of assuming the AI must be rightWhy he thinks jobs are evolving, not disappearingHis one ask of developers: bring QA in at the design phase, not after development is doneHis advice for anyone second-guessing themselves: don't self doubtRaj's recommendations: he follows AI creators on Instagram to stay current, including @the.datascience.gal (https://www.instagram.com/the.datascience.gal) and @vaibhavsisinty (https://www.instagram.com/vaibhavsisinty), plus @vee_daily19 for job search content (https://www.instagram.com/vee_daily19). To learn and experiment with different models, he suggests Hugging Face's LLM course: https://huggingface.co/learn/llm-course/en/chapter1/1 He also listens to audiobooks and podcasts on tech, spirituality, and mental strength. If you've ever shipped something and found out later how it broke, this one's for you. I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Raj and his career journey 01:40 Transition from QA to principal engineer in cloud security 04:14 Systems thinking in testing and security 06:38 Testing in complex cloud environments 09:22 Impact of AI and automation on QA 12:11 Failure analysis and predictive tools 15:50 Understanding testing harnesses 19:24 QA as a vital career path 25:19 Day-to-day security concerns in cloud infrastructure 29:56 Measuring success in deployment 34:33 Iterative testing and automation in stages 37:26 Evolution of QA from manual to AI-driven 40:23 Collaboration between development and QA 41:19 Key takeaways from the discussion #softwareengineer #techcareers #qa #cloudsecurity #engineeringcareers

  8. Oct 1

    Ep 8: Sketch Before You Code feat. Joy (Johanna Mesa Ramos)

    In episode eight, I sit down with Joy, a senior software engineer, tech lead, digital artist, lifter, and professional anime binger. She finds joy in figuring out how complex things work, whether that's software, anatomy, or building a physique. We talk about visual thinking as a skill, not as art, as a technical tool. Why drawing a problem out, even a messy scribble, surfaces gaps that talking through it never doesThe rubber duck technique, but visual, and why a drawing gives people something to literally point at instead of relying on memoryThe real test for whether you actually understand your own solution, can you explain it to someone non-technicalWhy there's no one correct way to think or problem solve, and what happens when you try to force your process onto someone wired differentlyHow to build visual thinking as a skill, even if it's never come naturally to youJoy's recommendations: Huberman Lab, Modern Wisdom, and Diary of a CEO, plus a serious anime habit, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. If you've ever wished you could explain a technical decision more clearly, to your team or to yourself, this one's for you. I'm Vish, a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it myself. I started this show because the conversations I needed weren't happening anywhere public. #softwareengineer #techcareers #visualthinking #engineeringcareers #communication Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Joy and Visual Thinking 03:51 Using Sketching to Clarify Technical Problems 04:47 Vishakha shares how visual cues opened her mind 05:56 The Rubber Duck Technique for Fresh Perspectives 07:52 Drawing as a Problem-Solving Tool 08:20 The concept of supplements versus complete information 10:02 Communicating Visually in Remote Work 12:00 Tools and Simplicity in Visual Thinking 12:09 Using doodling and visual tools to enhance conversations 14:01 Training Yourself in Visual Thinking Skills 15:46 Relaxing the atmosphere in meetings to improve communication 15:58 Explaining Technical Concepts to Non-Technical People 18:06 Abstracting Technical Details for Different Audiences 20:05 The Importance of Clear Communication 20:33 Joy discusses visualization techniques in bodybuilding 22:06 Techniques to Confirm Understanding 23:48 Using Visuals to Organize and Clarify Ideas 25:34 The mind-to-muscle connection and internal visualization 26:01 Integrating Visual Thinking into Daily Problem Solving 28:00 Different Thinking Styles Among Engineers 29:58 Embracing Flexibility in Problem-Solving Approaches 30:05 Verbal cues for effective exercise and muscle engagement 32:01 Getting Started with Visual Thinking as a Beginner 34:01 The Role of Informal Sketching in Daily Life 35:00 The role of mental cues and visualization in injury prevention 35:58 The Power of Visuals as a Supplement, Not a Substitute 39:53 Joy's favorite educational podcasts and YouTube channels 45:31 The impact of visualization on learning complex movements 49:58 Joy's personal routines for decompression and relaxation

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Everything out there feels AI-generated — the advice, the posts, the career tips, half the internet. This show is the opposite. The Unfiltered Engineer is honest conversations with experienced software engineers, for engineers trying to navigate this industry right now. Real people with real mileage — decades at big companies, leaps into startups, pivots into AI, climbs into leadership — talking about how this career actually works. Every episode asks what engineers are actually wondering: How did you get there? What did it cost? What's changed? What would you tell someone in the middle of it right now? No scripts. No rehearsed answers. No LinkedIn polish. Hosted by Vishakha — a frontend engineer with 10+ years in the industry, currently navigating it herself. She started this show because the conversations she needed weren't happening anywhere public. So she's having them here.

Information

  • Creator
    Vishakha Motwani
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    16
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Vishakha Motwani
  • Show Website
    The Unfiltered Engineer