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Refactoring Podcast

Facebook, Dropbox & Modern Engineering Teams 📈 — with Aditya Agarwal

May 24, 2024
Former Facebook employee #10 and Dropbox CTO, Aditya Agarwal, discusses early stage Facebook, differences with Dropbox, challenges of hyper growth, future of engineering management, and the value of being a generalist. Talks about finding company culture, technical CTO role, and the innovative environment at South Park Commons.
50:52

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Emphasizing first principles thinking at Facebook and precision at Dropbox highlights the importance of adaptability in engineering cultures.
  • Staying technically engaged in leadership roles helps navigate evolving technologies and challenges in hypergrowth environments.

Deep dives

Aditya Agarwal's Journey at Facebook and Dropbox

Aditya Agarwal, former employee number 10 at Facebook and later CTO at Dropbox, shared insights on his experience at both companies. He discussed the early stages of Facebook, emphasizing the culture of first principles thinking and the focus on speed and iteration over strict testing. At Dropbox, he highlighted the shift towards a more precise and rigorous engineering culture due to the nature of the product.

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