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In this episode
What does it take to do well at a hyper-growth company? In this episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I sit down with Charles-Axel Dein, one of the first engineers at Uber, who later hired me there. Since then, he’s gone on to work at CloudKitchens. He’s also been maintaining the popular Professional programming reading list GitHub repo for 15 years (48K+ stars!), where he collects articles that made him a better programmer.
In our conversation, we dig into what it’s really like to work inside companies that grow rapidly in scale and headcount. Charles shares what he’s learned about personal productivity, project management, incidents, interviewing, plus how to build flexible skills that hold up in fast-moving environments.
Jump to interesting parts:
10:41 – the reality of working inside a hyperscale company
41:10 – the traits of high-performing engineers
1:03:31 – Charles’ advice for getting hired in today’s job market
We also discuss:
How to spot the signs of hypergrowth (and when it’s slowing down)
What sets high-performing engineers apart beyond shipping
Charles’s personal productivity tips, favorite reads, and how he uses reading to uplevel his skills
Strategic tips for building your resume and interviewing
How imposter syndrome is normal, and how leaning into it helps you grow
And much more!
If you’re at a fast-growing company, considering joining one, or looking to land your next role, you won’t want to miss this practical advice on hiring, interviewing, productivity, leadership, and career growth.
The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode
Software engineers leading projects
The Platform and Program split at Uber
Inside Uber’s move to the Cloud
How Uber built its observability platform
From Software Engineer to AI Engineer – with Janvi Kalra
Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(04:04) Early days at Uber as engineer #20
(08:12) CloudKitchens’ similarities with Uber
(10:41) The reality of working at a hyperscale company
(19:05) Tenancies and how Uber deployed new features
(22:14) How CloudKitchens handles incidents
(26:57) Hiring during fast-growth
(34:09) Avoiding burnout
(38:55) The popular Professional programming reading list repo
(41:10) The traits of high-performing engineers
(53:22) Project management tactics
(1:03:31) How to get hired as a software engineer
(1:12:26) How AI is changing hiring
(1:19:26) Unexpected ways to thrive in fast-paced environments
(1:20:45) Dealing with imposter syndrome
(1:22:48) Book recommendations
(1:27:26) The problem with survival bias
(1:32:44) AI’s impact on software development
(1:42:28) Rapid fire round
References
Where to find Charles-Axel Dein:
• X: https://x.com/d3in
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesaxeldein/
• GitHub repository: https://github.com/charlax/professional-programming
Mentions during the episode:
Thuan Pham on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thuanqpham/
Travis Kalanick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Kalanick
CloudKitchens: https://cloudkitchens.com/
Ironies of automation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0005109883900468
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563/
Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/
Expert Generalists: https://martinfowler.com/articles/expert-generalist.html
Valve Software handbook: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployeeHandbook.pdf
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science: https://www.amazon.com/Complications-Surgeons-Notes-Imperfect-Science/dp/0312421702
From Software Engineer to AI Engineer – with Janvi Kalra: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/from-software-engineer-to-ai-engineer
Getting Things Done: https://gettingthingsdone.com/what-is-gtd/
Things: https://culturedcode.com/things/#
Dan Heller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellerdaniel/
The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook: https://www.amazon.com/Linux-Programming-Interface-System-Handbook/dp/1593272200
The Philosophy of Software Design – with John Ousterhout: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-philosophy-of-software-design
Malleable Software: https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/malleable-software/
Integrating AI in your ghost kitchen operations: boost efficiency & profits: https://cloudkitchens.com/blog/integrating-ai-in-ghost-kitchen-operations/
Good Code Reviews, Better Code Reviews: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/good-code-reviews-better-code-reviews/
Learnings from two years of using AI tools for software engineering: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/two-years-of-using-ai
Python: https://www.python.org/
Clojure: https://clojure.org/
Rust: https://www.rust-lang.org/
How to Lead a Project - as a Software Engineer: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/how-to-lead-a-project-in-software-development/
Software Engineers Leading Projects: Part Two: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/engineers-leading-projects-part-2
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