The Peterman Pod

4d ago

Boris Cherny is the Creator of Claude Code but few people know his full career story. I interviewed him about everything he learned growing at Meta and for insights from his time building Claude Code at Anthropic. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/boris-cherny-creator-of-claude-code • YouTube: https://youtu.be/AmdLVWMdjOk • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:59 - Starting at FB 00:09:43 - Early side projects and book rec 00:17:05 - Being under leveled 00:18:55 - Staff (IC6) promo story 00:25:19 - Proximity to leadership learnings 00:29:36 - Scoping out work for 100s of engs 00:35:31 - Senior Staff (IC7) promo story 00:44:39 - How to find side projects 00:50:45 - Principal (IC8) promo story 00:54:20 - Building credibility in a new org 01:04:23 - Joining Anthropic 01:10:05 - Why Claude Code succeeded 01:15:56 - Claude Code use outside of code 01:17:22 - What he thinks of competition 01:22:57 - Advice for his younger self 01:23:57 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcherny/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/bcherny • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@boris_cherny 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Dec 8

Marius Schulz grew to a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Instagram by redefining expectations three times (once for each promotion). We talked through each promotion and how he did it. There were also interesting learnings from when his promotion got blocked once even though he greatly exceeded expectations. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-senior-staff-eng-ic7-on • YouTube: https://youtu.be/OXJHfb_lZII • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00 - Intro 00:55 - Choosing his specialty 02:29 - Greatly exceeding expectations with no promo 08:04 - Senior promo 15:30 - Staff promo 24:43 - Leverage and IC4/5/6 way of solving problems 29:51 - Senior staff promo 44:29 - Career planning past IC7 47:32 - Did IC7+ expectations scare him 49:49 - Advice for his younger self 52:29 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘂𝘀: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariusschulz/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/mariusschulz/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@marius.schulz • Personal Website: https://mariusschulz.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Nov 30

Jayendra Jog left Robinhood and raised $35m to start his own crypto startup (Sei Labs). Before he left, he got jaded about software engineering career ladders yet was coasting through promotions at Robinhood. I asked him about how he did that along with a bunch of questions about when to leave your job, how to raise money, and what to expect as a founder. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/quitting-robinhood-and-raising-35m?open=false • YouTube: https://youtu.be/f4eeoetb8t4 • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:54 - Big tech internships 00:04:51 - Joining Robinhood 00:07:58 - Big tech vs startups discussion 00:10:16 - Getting jaded about Robinhood career growth 00:16:04 - Coasting and getting promoted 00:18:54 - Gamestop stories from the inside 00:22:34 - Leaving Robinhood 00:30:25 - Learnings from raising $35m 00:34:07 - What value does crypto provide? 00:37:47 - Learnings and when to leave 00:40:41 - Advice for his younger self 00:41:58 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝘆: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayendrajog • X/Twitter: https://x.com/jayendra_jog • His Company: https://x.com/Sei_Labs 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Nov 21

Brian Attwell grew to Senior Staff at Uber by age 25. After that he left Uber to join CloudKitchens (Travis Kalanick’s current startup) and quickly became the CTO after his team doubled in size every 6 months. I asked him about how he did it. He also had a bunch of interesting takes about big tech and stories about Travis Kalanick and Steve Jobs. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/cloudkitchens-cto-on-intelligence • YouTube: https://youtu.be/egNtHu4q-vI • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:26 - Growth to Senior Staff at Uber 00:10:05 - Was it luck? 00:11:45 - Interviewing for IQ 00:18:02 - Intelligence and prioritization 00:22:19 - How his team doubled every 6 months 00:28:30 - Manager promos tied to scope 00:39:13 - Amazon and Google brutal honesty 00:43:39 - CloudKitchens behind the scenes 00:50:24 - Biggest career regret 00:54:17 - Travis Kalanick experiences 00:56:01 - Most impactful advice received 00:56:56 - Most impactful book for career 00:57:53 - Advice for his younger self 00:58:48 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-attwell/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/attwellbrian • CloudKitchens: https://cloudkitchens.com/careers/ • CloudKitchens tech blog: https://techblog.cloudkitchens.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Nov 11

Joakim Recht grew to a Distinguished Engineer at Uber and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the project that got him promoted, what makes a great software engineer, and learnings from promo committees. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/uber-distinguished-eng-on-unfair • YouTube: https://youtu.be/feNh_ubBAMI • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:56 - Distinguished promo project 00:19:07 - How to grow your influence 00:22:38 - Unfair promo story 00:33:09 - On delegation 00:39:05 - Why engs don’t trust management 00:47:58 - Politics as he grew 00:57:00 - How to pick mentees 01:03:22 - Why he left Uber 01:15:16 - Biggest Uber eng mistake 01:20:15 - Uber scandals 01:24:35 - Advice for younger self 01:26:14 - Outro 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗺: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recht/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Oct 24

Ilya Grigorik grew to a Distinguished Engineer (VP-level role) at Shopify and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the behind the scenes of his startup getting acquired by Google, his growth to Director at Google, and what it means to operate like a Distinguished engineer. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-engineer-at-shopify • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:45 - Thoughts on Waterloo 00:04:36 - Starting his own company 00:08:40 - Google acquisition story 00:14:04 - Joining Google 00:20:28 - Switching back to IC 00:26:42 - Principal+ Engineering at Shopify 00:40:09 - Career regrets 00:44:53 - Top career-impacting book 00:46:59 - Advice for younger self 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗹𝘆𝗮: • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@igrigorik • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igrigorik/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/igrigorik • Personal Website: https://ilya.grigorik.com/ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Oct 10

Bobby Holley went from an intern to the CTO of Mozilla Firefox. I asked him about everything he learned in that process. We cover his full career including some interesting stories on living through the browser wars and advice on career growth. 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/mozilla-firefox-cto-on-browser-war • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • NYT article link: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/q2EjgGX6d5Ouwec479WSqM/For-Mozilla-Google-group-hugs-get-tricky.html • Mozilla VP twitter thread: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1722183/former-mozilla-exec-alleges-google-torpedoed-firefox-with-oops-excuses.html • Internal memo on writing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1518xKjijjEWHQb6wZjAWJrUN8liZGGI9v5pRFr9eFHo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.1gfr5hva69qx 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:57 - Starting at Mozilla 00:04:57 - Browser wars history 00:10:55 - Google relationship changing 00:16:11 - Why work for free 00:19:02 - Projects that drove his career 00:33:12 - No performance reviews 00:34:42 - Rust adoption 00:43:33 - Career progression 00:47:54 - Should you focus on promos 00:57:14 - Distinguished promo rejection 01:00:56 - Examples of distinguished engs 01:10:54 - Advice for aspiring distinguished engs 01:14:40 - AI browser wars 01:26:32 - Biggest technical regret 01:29:11 - Book that impacted his career most 01:32:09 - Advice for his younger self 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyholley • X/Twitter: https://x.com/bhology 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Sep 5

David Fowler went from an intern to a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft. That’s 11 different promotions all at the same company. I asked him about everything he learned by going through that process. 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀: • Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/intern-to-microsoft-distinguished • YouTube: https://youtu.be/d8tRM8RJ52M • Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀: (00:00) Intro (00:53) Microsofts leveling system (03:17) Joining Microsoft (10:18) First successful project (16:22) Bootstrapping his own project (25:44) His principal promotion (37:10) His distinguished promotion (49:51) Engineers he looks up to (53:40) Expanding on his top tweets (1:05:20) Big company tip on reorgs (1:08:25) What keeps him at Microsoft (1:17:22) Microsoft culture after Satya (1:23:04) Career regrets and work life balance (1:29:51) Advice for his younger self 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfowl/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidfowl 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻: • Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/ • X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/ • Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman