The Peterman Pod

Ryan Peterman
  • 4.9 (37)
  • TECHNOLOGY

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

  1. Distinguished Eng On Stack Ranking, Competing with Bezos, Regrets | Bryan Cantrill

    3D AGO

    Distinguished Eng On Stack Ranking, Competing with Bezos, Regrets | Bryan Cantrill

    Bryan Cantrill was a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems and has now founded his own company called Oxide Computer Company. We discussed his career experiences through boom/busts, what competing with Bezos was like, and career regrets. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/qhSL-5GtmQM โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-eng-on-stack-ranking ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Link to the part in the talk on Oracle/Sun we discussed - https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRhc?si=eExjIMZROGjJcDsw&t=1977 ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:42 - Working at Sun Microsystems 00:10:17 - His growth to distinguished eng 00:19:14 - Why goaling on promotion is bad 00:29:34 - Stack ranking and layoffs 00:36:00 - Why he hated the Oracle acquisition 00:44:19 - Why Bezos is the apex predator of capitalism 00:48:04 - Differences between CTO and VP 00:49:58 - Starting his own company 01:02:37 - Grilling him on his past 01:11:57 - AI boom and bust advice 01:14:41 - When he was happiest in his career 01:17:22 - Top career regret 01:19:21 - Advice for younger self 01:20:57 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป: โ€ข LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-cantrill-b6a1/ โ€ข Twitter/X - https://x.com/bcantrill โ€ข Personal Website - https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/ โ€ข His company - https://oxide.computer/ 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 22m
  2. Turing Award Winner On Thinking Clearly, Paxos vs Raft, Working With Dijkstra | Leslie Lamport

    FEB 23

    Turing Award Winner On Thinking Clearly, Paxos vs Raft, Working With Dijkstra | Leslie Lamport

    I interviewed Leslie Lamport, a Turing Award winner known for his contributions to distributed systems and the inventor of the Paxos algorithm. We walked through the major contributions of his career for the stories behind them and what he learned along the way. ๐Ÿ”ธ My keyboard project: 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/U719vQz-WFs โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/turing-award-winner-on-working-with ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Bakery Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/bakery.pdf โ€ข Time Clocks Paper (most cited): https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf โ€ข The Byzantine Generals Problem Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/byz.pdf โ€ข The Paxos Algorithm Paper: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/lamport-paxos.pdf ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:25 - The Bakery Algorithm 00:08:28 - Experiences with Dijkstra 00:14:44 - His most cited paper 00:23:26 - The "Byzantine Generals" problem 00:38:05 - The Paxos Algorithm 00:46:57 - Paxos vs Raft Algorithm 00:51:26 - Building LaTeX 00:54:45 - Why writing improves your thinking 01:00:21 - Why he wasn't an academic 01:02:08 - Grand theory of concurrency 01:07:25 - Why he doesn't think he's smart 01:09:07 - Advice for his younger self 01:09:44 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ: โ€ข His works: https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/pubs.html 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 10m
  3. Retired Netflix Engineering Director On Regrets, Video Engineering, Hiring Stories

    FEB 16

    Retired Netflix Engineering Director On Regrets, Video Engineering, Hiring Stories

    David Ronca joined Netflix in 2007 and grew to an engineering director there. Later he joined Meta as a Director and transitioned to a Principal engineer working on video technologies. Now he's retired and was graciously willing to share his career story with us. I asked him for everything he learned in his 36 year career. ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/retired-netflix-engineering-director โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/ApG9vjbHDCk โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 ๐—˜๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€: โ€ข Netflix culture memo (2009) - https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/culture-1798664/1798664 ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:40 - How Netflix was different 00:08:01 - The legendary Netflix culture memo 00:18:54 - How to hire engineers well 00:30:52 - The strongest engineer he's ever met 00:33:02 - Joining Meta 00:50:52 - Near death experience 00:59:04 - Where he learned the most 01:04:09 - Book that impacted his career most 01:11:33 - Advice for his younger self 01:18:32 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ: โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidronca/ โ€ข Personal Website: https://www.roncatech.com/ 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 19m
  4. Meta Distinguished Eng (IC9) On Influencing Engs, Failures, and Learnings

    FEB 9

    Meta Distinguished Eng (IC9) On Influencing Engs, Failures, and Learnings

    This is Adam Ernst, a Distinguished Engineer at Meta (IC9) whoโ€™s built iOS infrastructure that has impacted the entire company. We talked about how his career grew, a major failed project of his, and everything he learned growing to that level. 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/YA_OYJF3Mmw โ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/meta-distinguished-eng-ic9-on-influencing ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:47 - His middle school company 00:03:50 - His first project and promo at Meta 00:10:03 - Why code review is undervalued 00:12:42 - Senior Staff (IC7) promo story and project 00:19:26 - His major failed project 00:26:35 - How to handle a failed project 00:29:04 - Thoughts on management 00:31:35 - Technical depth vs breadth 00:33:32 - IC9 expectations 00:34:46 - Senior engineers he admires 00:37:39 - Advice for his younger self 00:39:52 - Outro ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—”๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐—บ: โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjernst/ 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

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

    FEB 2

    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
  6. Honest Big Tech Layoff Story After 25 Year Career

    JAN 30

    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
  7. 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
  8. 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
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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
37 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
    39
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    ยฉ Ryan Peterman
  • Show Website
    The Peterman Pod

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