The document outlines 23 lessons learned from interviewing top developers, focusing on scaling tech, following passion, and the importance of roles over job titles. Key insights include the challenges of managing remote teams, the significance of testing strategies, and the value of diverse industry experience and coding skills. The document encourages self-investment and the ability to say no to unfeasible requests.

1. LESSONS LEARNED
@tompeham I @usersnap
FROM INTERVIEWING
THE WORLD TOP DEVELOPERS

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6. You can find all lessons learned here:
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7. 23 LESSONS
LEARNED.

8. 23 LESSONS
LEARNED.
FROM INTERVIEWING
SOME OF THE BEST
DEVELOPERS.

9. Morten Primdahl, CTO and Co-Founder at
Zendesk

10. 1. Scaling your tech is a challenge.
“We went from a scrappy start-up of 3 guys with everything in their
heads to a big organization that can take on scalability, operations,
databases and product development. If you really get passionate
about business in your life, that’s where you need to go.
When you grow from a couple of dozen guys in 2009 to the size
we have today, the company changes a lot all the time, and you
need to adapt to that. The challenges are both technical and
organizational. Scaling your business means growing fast and
hiring engineers. And that’s a big global challenge. To put it that
way: It’s just hard.”

11. 2. Follow your passion.
“Do what you like. Do what you’re passionate
about. Don’t do whatever anyone else thinks.
Figure out how to be yourself, and beat your
own path. It’s going to be all right.”

12. Sunil Sadavasian, CTO at Buffer

13. 4. Roles are more important than job titles
“In an unnatural hierarchy my role is considered to
be the CTO. But in a natural hierarchy, someone
can take on some of the roles that I have that if
they feel fulfilled in that way.
Therefore at Buffer, job titles have started to feel
quite odd – since most of us take on quite a few
different roles.”

14. 5. Invest in yourself.
“Mark Cuban says “The best investment you can
make is in yourself,” and it’s compounding really.
Even though it didn’t work out with my previous
startup, it was probably the best thing that I had
ever done because it was an investment.
I invested that time to focus on myself.”

15. 6. 100% test coverage isn’t that important.
“We’re not too concerned with 100% test
coverage.
It’s more about using your best judgment on
what’s really critical and what will break, and
then add testing to it on that way.”

16. PJ Hagerty, Team Lead at Engine Yard

17. 7. Challenge yourself in boot camp and free
online courses
“So I’ve always been an advocate of going to
do the weekend rails bridge course just to
challenge yourself and see if its something
you’re interested in.
It’s much better than spending forty grand and
finding out that you didn’t really like it.”

18. 8. Test first, release often.
One of the things that we are very espoused to
is the idea of testing first. There is very little
that goes into our products that go public
without a high standard of testing.
I don’t think there is any way to make
everything a hundred percent bug proof.

19. Rani Angel, Head of Web Development at
Infragistics

20. 9. Managing remote workers is a challenge.
“The biggest challenge is definitely working on a globally
dispersed team. It is a huge challenge. One of the
biggest struggles is when the overlap between the times
the two teams are both working is only a few hours.
The challenge is how to make sure that as a manager
you are going to keep on top of everything. Plus, you
want to make sure that your team is shielded from the
the pain of not being in the same location.”

21. 10. Explore various industries
“I would have loved to have different opportunities while I
was growing up, like being able to do an internship, do
some marketing, do a little bit of sales to be able to
understand the areas a little better instead of having to
wait so long.
Having experience at a younger age would have changed
my perspective a lot more and would have made me
more comfortable as I moved into the workforce.”

22. Thomas Schranz, CEO at Blossom

23. 11. Learn how to code no matter how old you
are.
“I thought: “Yeah, I can’t program, and learning to
program is really complicated.” I already knew back
then that there are children being younger than me but
already started with programming, and I thought: “Yeah,
I’m already late.” And then, just by accident, I learnt it.
I would recommend to anyone, literally anyone, in any
age group to at least just start programming.”

24. 12. Learn how to say No.
“Sometimes saying “no” is harder than actually doing this thing.
I think one recurring challenge is saying “no” to requirements. If it’s
from a customer, if it’s from your own team, if it’s from yourself.
Saying “no” to an idea doesn’t mean that the idea has to be bad.
Saying “no” is the more taxing thing. We would have to explain it to
everyone involved, convince them and then basically leave the
meeting with low motivation for everyone. And just building the
thing, even knowing it isn’t the right thing, is the easier thing to do.”

25. Access all lessons learned?
Yes,
please!

26. THAT WAS A LOT…

27. THAT WAS A LOT…
Hey, wait. There’s more.

28. THAT WAS A LOT…
Hey, wait. There’s more.
Further Lessons Learned!

29. THAT WAS A LOT…
Hey, wait. There’s more.
Further Lessons Learned!
Check them out!

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