Becoming a site lead, bootstrapping new teams & re-thinking vacation in a pandemic w/ Sarah Clatterbuck #46

Sarah Clatterbuck, Sr. Director of Engineering, YouTube & Google Zurich Site Lead @ Google, shares the story of her transition as a site lead during the covid-19 pandemic. We cover her past experiences that helped prepare her for the role, what it was like bootstrapping a new team during a pandemic, re-introducing teams to in-person work, AND the story behind her 18-day staycation & its impact on team burnout.

"You can't worry about pleasing everyone because there are many thousands of people that I'm trying to represent. But you can try to think about what kind of decisions optimize for the most good."
 

ABOUT SARAH CLATTERBUCK

Sarah joined Google in 2018. She is leading engineering teams working on the Creator Economy at YouTube. Prior to joining Google, she was a Sr. Director of Engineering at Linkedin focused on Application Infrastructure. Prior to joining Google, she was a Sr. Director of Engineering at Linkedin focused on Application Infrastructure.

She previously held roles at Yahoo! and Apple while progressing in leadership ranks. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of San Francisco and her graduate degree from San Jose State University. She is passionate about getting girls interested in technology and from 2013 until 2018, she served on the board of Girl Scouts of Northern California, leading the board STEM task group.

SHOWNOTES

• What is a site lead and the reporting structure? (2:28)
• Why Sarah became a site lead for Google Zurich and what the transition was like (6:57)
• How is the tech industry, community & culture in Zurich different from Silicon Valley? (10:52)
• Sarah’s past experiences that helped prepare her to be a site lead (13:16)
• Possible career paths & surprise lessons after becoming a site lead (19:00)
• Bootstrapping a new team during the COVID-19 pandemic (22:15)
• Integrating remote hires to in-person office culture (25:19)
• How to help your team feel included (27:07)
• About Sarah’s YouTube Channel (29:41)
• Sarah's 18-day staycation & combating burnout in your team (31:34)
• Rapid Fire Questions (35:20)
• Takeaways (41:32)

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