We hosted our first event of 2021 last week and it was awesome! It was also the first event of a new series called "Path" - where we are interviewing executives to learn about their career progression and to share lots of useful advice for you to follow.
This event was titled: Path to VP of Engineering and it featured a one-on-one interview with Melissa Leffler, VP of Engineering at Drift.
The conversation lasts about an hour and we covered a lot of ground. We discuss:
* Melissa's experience at Lotus, which provided a solid foundation for her career and her experience leading engineering at multiple startups.
* Why she passed on an opportunity in management to stay technical and why that was an important decision in her career, plus advice for engineers on how long you should remain technical before moving into management positions.
* The key questions that everyone should ask themselves to help decide what career path they should pursue.
* Why she joined Drift and how its engineering team is structured.
* The difference between leadership and management and why progressing in your career doesn't always equate to management.
* How her time is allocated as a VP of Engineering.
* Advice on what we should be doing to develop more female leaders.
* And more!!!
Keith Cline is the Founder of VentureFizz. Follow him on Twitter: @kcline6.