The Peterman Pod

Ryan Peterman

Sharing software engineering career stories to help you accelerate your career. Hosted by ex-Staff engineer at Instagram

  1. Instagram Principal Eng (IC8) On Building IG Stories, 1 Promo Per Half, Small Teams

    3D AGO

    Instagram Principal Eng (IC8) On Building IG Stories, 1 Promo Per Half, Small Teams

    Ryan Olson grew from mid-level engineer (IC4) to a principal engineer (IC8) at Instagram through a series of famous projects. The most notable was when he was the lead iOS developer that built Instagram Stories. We discuss his career journey and learnings. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-principal-eng-ic8-on-building โ€ข Spotify: Episode link from Spotify after scheduling โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/gpVETZnY9Y0 โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Zuckerberg emails I mentioned: Twitter link: https://x.com/TechEmails/status/1944451283236303184 Threads link: https://www.threads.com/@techemails/post/DMDi5IWpPyC ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:31 - Failing his FB interview 00:03:27 - Interning /w future billionaires 00:14:08 - Interview nerves tip 00:16:37 - Early Instagram experiences 00:34:08 - Building Instagram Stories 00:45:03 - 1 promo per half to Staff (IC6) 00:49:51 - Senior staff promo project (IC7) 00:57:37 - IG labs & his principal promo (IC8) 01:08:19 - Starting Retro and leaving big tech 01:21:33 - Small teams hypothetical 01:25:17 - Examples of talented individuals 01:31:16 - Advice to his younger self 01:34:45 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Retro (his company): https://retro.app/ โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanolsonk/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanolsonk โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanolsonk/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanolsonk ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    1h 35m
  2. Honest Big Tech Layoff Story After 25 Year Career

    6D AGO

    Honest Big Tech Layoff Story After 25 Year Career

    In this episode, I talked to "Asian Dad Energy" an anonymous big techie who was laid off after 25 years in the industry. We discussed his layoffs experience, his early career in engineering consulting, and the realities of big tech compensation. ๐Ÿ”ธ My keyboard project link: https://read.compose.llc/p/our-keyboard-design-reveal ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/8bs6KmJX4_g โ€ข Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4ApCuf04MXv0nBRqKNLyiQ?si=bko-M46xQM2FHhTG6Vcy6Q โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/laid-off-from-big-tech-after-25-years ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:41 - His layoff story 00:07:02 - Why he expects more layoffs 00:09:42 - Tech consulting before big tech 00:19:25 - Consultants shipping bad code? 00:26:57 - Why do people dislike consultants? 00:30:55 - Big tech compensation 00:40:27 - When age impacted his flexibility 00:42:04 - Why YouTube 00:46:46 - Speaking advice for engineers 00:49:09 - Advice for younger self 00:49:35 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—บ: โ€ข https://www.youtube.com/@AsianDadEnergy ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    50 min
  3. Ex-Citadel Quant and AI Researcher On Breaking In, Tech vs Finance Careers

    JAN 26

    Ex-Citadel Quant and AI Researcher On Breaking In, Tech vs Finance Careers

    In this episode, I talked to Nimit Sohoni, a Stanford PhD and AI Researcher at Cartesia who previously worked as a quant at Citadel. We discussed the differences between AI research and quant careers, including work-life balance and the value of a PhD in these fields. Nimit also shared what he's currently working on and offered advice for those looking to transition into AI research. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/_jECS37M3dQ โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/stanford-phd-ai-researcher-and-quant ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:45 - Do you need a PhD? 00:06:25 - Research taste and finding problems 00:09:04 - Why become a quant 00:12:01 - What quants do 00:14:53 - How quants and SWEs collaborate 00:16:29 - Quant vs tech culture 00:26:39 - Quant firm tier list 00:27:56 - Quant insider trading and perf culture 00:30:53 - Going back to AI research 00:35:08 - Who the top competitors are in voice AI 00:39:22 - AI startups vs big labs 00:42:08 - State space models vs transformers 00:49:33 - AI labs: research or product? 00:52:38 - Advice for SWEs who want to try AI research 00:56:48 - Advice for younger self 00:57:49 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ก๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜: โ€ข Twitter/X: https://x.com/nimit_sohoni โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimit-sohoni-68998854/ โ€ข Cartesia: https://cartesia.ai/sonic ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    58 min
  4. Meta Senior Staff (IC7) Eng's Honest Demotion Story

    JAN 23

    Meta Senior Staff (IC7) Eng's Honest Demotion Story

    In this episode, I talked to Igor, a senior staff engineer who has worked at Meta, Google, and Cruise. We discussed his experience of wanting a demotion at Meta and the challenges he faced in that process. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/i1iBweuOQI4 โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-senior-staff-ic7-engs-honest ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Igor's post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7401415295409700864/ ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:37 - Why he wanted a demotion 00:07:32 - Why Senior Staff at Meta was different 00:16:01 - Meta vs Google culture 00:19:09 - Downleveling at Google 00:23:17 - Why he's willing to be transparent 00:25:11 - Best quality of life eng level 00:30:42 - Senior Staff promo at Google 00:42:27 - Mentorship stories 00:43:11 - Biggest career regret 00:46:46 - Advice for younger self 00:49:06 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—œ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฟ: โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorts/ โ€ข ML basics youtube videos he made: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVcptlT8D7DgN5FtLMFUdHb5pJXW1g0YL ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    50 min
  5. Airbnb Staff Eng on How To Not Get Stuck at Senior and Untold Rules of Calibrations

    JAN 19

    Airbnb Staff Eng on How To Not Get Stuck at Senior and Untold Rules of Calibrations

    Laurent Charignon was a Staff engineer at Stripe, Airbnb, and Instagram with some experience in management as well. We discussed the unspoken rules you learn as a manager, how he transitioned, what good mentorship looks like, and advice for senior engineers who are stuck looking to grow to Staff. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/airbnb-staff-eng-on-how-to-not-get โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/cgQY_1Uz2b8 โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:44 - Joining Airbnb and transitioning to EM 00:18:29 - Untold rules of calibrations 00:23:50 - How to dispute bureaucracy 00:29:54 - Airbnb culture 00:31:36 - Leaving Airbnb for Meta 00:35:56 - Uber TL at Stripe 00:42:52 - How to scale yourself 00:45:22 - What people get wrong in coaching 00:52:58 - Why people get stuck at Senior eng 00:57:24 - Most career impacting book 00:58:39 - Advice for younger self 01:00:27 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜: โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurentcharignon/ โ€ข Personal Website: https://blog.laurentcharignon.com/ โ€ข Twitter/X: https://x.com/lc2817 ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    1h 1m
  6. New Grad to Principal Engineer (IC8) at Meta (Career Story)

    JAN 12

    New Grad to Principal Engineer (IC8) at Meta (Career Story)

    Adrien Friggeri went from a new grad to a principal engineer (IC8) at Meta. He is the original TL who started Bento if youโ€™re familiar with that infra at the company. He got to where he was through a series of promotions across different teams and projects. I interviewed him about everything he learned along the way ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/new-grad-to-principal-engineer-ic8 โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/2Sjzd9pt6Ts โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00 - Intro 00:43 - First team at FB 07:24 - Senior promo /w IG 16:30 - Story behind Bento (Senior staff promo) 25:33 - Taking on perf risk to start the project 29:03 - Learnings from leaving big tech 32:46 - Joining Clubhouse 35:08 - Return to Meta (again) 40:51 - Principal promo (IC8) and tips 51:37 - Maximizing your luck /w people 54:26 - Advice for younger self 55:42 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—”๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป: โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/friggeri/ โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrien/ โ€ข Personal Website: https://friggeri.net/ ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    56 min
  7. Anthropic Eng Leader And Ex-Senior Director at Meta On Microsoft vs Facebook, Career Learnings

    JAN 4

    Anthropic Eng Leader And Ex-Senior Director at Meta On Microsoft vs Facebook, Career Learnings

    Fiona Fung currently supports the Claude Code team at Anthropic and was previously a Senior Director at Meta. She grew quickly through the ranks at Microsoft and Meta before joining Anthropic. I interviewed her about what she learned along the way. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/anthropic-eng-leader-and-ex-senior โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/b5-d8u-c99s โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00 - Intro 00:38 - Impact vs team health 03:04 - Managing managers for the first time 05:31 - Advice on mentoring others 06:55 - What you should use 1 on 1s for 07:56 - Leaving Microsoft for Facebook 10:59 - Microsoft vs Facebook culture 12:01 - Why dogfooding is important 21:25 - Joining Anthropic 27:23 - Feedback that changed her career 28:43 - Advice for younger self 29:14 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ: โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionafung/ ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman โ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman โ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

    30 min

  8. 12/29/2025

    Best Software Engineering Career Advice of 2025

    Hi all, it's been such a fun project for me this year launching this podcast and trying my best to make the content as helpful as possibleAppreciate everyone who has taken the time to watch my videos and give feedback on how to make it betterIt wouldn't be the same without your support! Next year I plan to work hard to keep improving the content, see you in 2026 ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00 - Intro 00:50 - Meta Distinguished Eng (Philip Su) 05:23 - Amazon Principal Eng (Steve Huynh) 06:23 - Google Staff Eng by 28 (Ricky Lee) 07:30 - Meta Staff Eng by 25 (Evan King) 08:51 - Shopify Distinguished Eng (Ilya Grigorik) 10:49 - Amazon VP (Ethan Evans) 12:24 - Meta Senior Staff Eng (Dwayne Reeves) 13:14 - CloudKitchens CTO, Ex Uber Senior Staff (Brian Attwell) 13:55 - Instagram Principal Eng (Jake Bolam) 14:42 - Uber Distinguished Eng (Joakim Recht) 15:03 - Creator of Claude Code, Ex Meta Principal (Boris Cherny) 15:45 - Outro

    16 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
32 Ratings

About

Sharing software engineering career stories to help you accelerate your career. Hosted by ex-Staff engineer at Instagram

Information

  • Creator
    Ryan Peterman
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    35
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    ยฉ Ryan Peterman
  • Show Website
    The Peterman Pod

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