The Peterman Pod Uber Distinguished Eng On Unfair Promos, Influence, Engineering Regrets (Career Story)
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Nov 11, 2025 Joakim Recht, a Distinguished Engineer at Uber, shares insights from his engineering journey. He discusses the project that propelled his promotion and reveals the often unfair realities of promo committees. Joakim also emphasizes the importance of influence and mentorship, recommending an informal approach to mentoring others. He addresses the challenges of scaling technology and the politics that come with broader responsibilities. Finally, he reflects on lessons learned from his time at Uber and why he ultimately transitioned to a startup environment.
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From Manual MySQL To Company-Wide Platform
- Joakim built SchemaList on sharded MySQL and automated operations to avoid manual puppet work.
- That effort evolved into Odin, managing ~120k servers and ~500k databases with a ~20-person team.
Grow By Expanding Scope And Influence
- Promotions track the scope and the number of engineers impacted by your work.
- Work on projects that naturally expand in scope and influence others to grow your level.
Automate Your Own Repetitive Work First
- Remove repetitive pain by automating or abstracting processes you do often.
- Start with your own waste and then broaden to fix others' wastes to scale impact.