CoRecursive: Coding Stories

Story: Leaving LinkedIn - Choosing Engineering Excellence Over Expediency

Mar 4, 2024

A software engineer, Chris, shares his story of choosing engineering excellence over expediency while working at LinkedIn. The podcast delves into his challenges with remote work, company culture, and a critical incident. It explores the clash between innovation and project health, leading Chris to decide between compromising his beliefs or pursuing work aligned with his principles.

47:35

Creator website

Episode guests

Chris Krycho

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Highlights

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Balancing innovation with project health is crucial in advocating for principled engineering.

Managing technical changes in a large organization requires addressing scalability issues and balancing tech debt with business priorities.

Deep dives

Challenges at LinkedIn: Balancing Values and Job Demands

Chris Cricho, a senior staff engineer at LinkedIn, faced a dilemma where his core values clashed with the demands of his senior technical role. After leading critical projects like modernizing JavaScript in the LinkedIn desktop app, Chris ultimately quit out of frustration. The podcast delves into the challenges of managing big initiatives with many teams and balancing sustainable development practices with business needs for speed. The conflict between personal values and job demands led Chris to make the difficult decision to walk away from his role at LinkedIn.

Focusing on Meaningful Work and Avoiding Burnout

00:47

Systems should work for all levels of expertise

00:46

Embracing an Expansive Product Portfolio

00:49

Strategic Approach to Code Migration Challenges

00:44

Introduction

2min

Navigating Challenges and Transitioning at LinkedIn

14min

Navigating the Transition to TypeScript at LinkedIn

4min

Clash of Perspectives in Engineering Approaches

7min

Navigating Technical Challenges and Operational Pressures at LinkedIn

2min

Memory Leaks, Misconfigurations, and Cascading Failures at LinkedIn

3min

Building Resiliency in Software Engineering

14min

Choosing Engineering Excellence and Personal Values

2min

What if your dedication to doing things right clashed with your company’s fast pace? Chris Krycho faced this very question at LinkedIn.

His journey was marked by challenges: from the nuances of remote work to the struggle of influencing company culture, and a critical incident that put his principles to the test against the company’s push for speed.

Chris’s story highlights the tension between the need for innovation and the importance of project health. This all led Chris to a pivotal decision: to stay and compromise his beliefs or to leave in pursuit of work that aligned with his principles.

He chose the latter. Join us as we dive into Chris’s compelling story, exploring the challenges of advocating for principled engineering in a world that often prioritizes quick wins over long-term value.

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CoRecursive: Coding Stories

Story: Leaving LinkedIn - Choosing Engineering Excellence Over Expediency

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Challenges at LinkedIn: Balancing Values and Job Demands

Technical Scale at LinkedIn: Managing a Massive Codebase

Engineering Leadership at LinkedIn: Handling Technical Initiatives

Solving Technical Challenges at LinkedIn: Incident Response and Continuous Improvement

Focusing on Meaningful Work and Avoiding Burnout

Systems should work for all levels of expertise

Embracing an Expansive Product Portfolio

Strategic Approach to Code Migration Challenges

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts