The speaker reflects on their career and how it did not prepare them for parenting. They discuss their strict upbringing, their mixed-race parents' experiences, and their own experiences with racism. The chapter also covers their father's influence on their career in computer science and transitions to discussing their family life.
Ben Wiliams is a product and engineering executive and was most recently the VP Product at Snyk; an $8B developer tools company. He is currently a Product and Growth advisor and owner of PLGeek.com as well as The Product Led Geek Newsletter. Ben is a husband and father of two kids and my first international interview (he hails from the UK).
In this episode we discuss:
The importance of therapy in a successful career and marriage and how it's stigmatized in the UK
His early exposures to racism and his upbringing in a mixed race family in the UK
Meeting your wife on a dating app
The challenges and joys of being a Dad
Growing up in a strict household
How a career never prepares you for the rollercoaster of fatherhood
Sacrifices you make to be more present
How life is different for parents in the UK than the States