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In this podcast episode, Matt interviews Edward Kruger. Edward shares his career evolution, starting as a young programmer and tech lead, eventually co-founding a startup after his consultancy downsized, and gaining recognition as one of South Africa’s top CTOs. Edward contrasts the tech ecosystems of South Africa and Canada, noting differences in funding access, organizational structures, and engineering priorities.

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In the episode, Matt interviews Mohamed Gamal who elaborates on the team’s role in shaping architectural vision and providing engineering tools. He highlights the importance of collaboration and collective decision-making within the team to ensure stability and alignment across projects. Mohamed also advocates for a balance between timely product delivery and architectural integrity, warning against short-term fixes and stressing the need for alignment between architecture and business needs.

In this episode, Matt interviews José Ignacio Díaz, a seasoned Chief Technology Officer (CTO), who shares his extensive experience navigating the intersection of technology and business, from Spain to Amsterdam and Zurich. José reflects on the mental resilience required for a CTO and the importance of clear communication between tech leaders and non-tech personnel, especially in startups. He emphasizes that rapid, low-quality solutions can harm an organization, advocating for calmness and open communication within distributed teams.

In this episode, Matt interviews Kelly Vaughn about her unique journey from studying psychology, social work, and public health to becoming a prominent engineer and technology leader. Kelly’s path to becoming the Director of Engineering was unconventional, beginning with freelance work during grad school that led to significant projects with Shopify. The discussion covers various topics including burnout from managing multiple ventures, the importance of problem-solving skills over coding abilities in hiring senior engineers, and Kelly’s efforts to rebrand herself from a Shopify entrepreneur to an engineering leader.