Today's guest is Irina Stanescu!
Irina is an engineering coach, writes the extremely successful The Caring Techie newsletter, and is a former manager at Uber and Google.
🎙️ Episode
You can watch the full episode on Youtube:
Or listen to it on Spotify, Apple, Overcast, or your podcast app of choice.
🥇 Interview Summary
If you are a 🔒 paid subscriber 🔒 you will find my own summary of the interview below.
It’s the 10-minute, handcrafted takeaways of what we talked about, with timestamps to the relevant video moments, for those who don’t have time to sit through the 1-hour chat.
Here is the agenda:
🚀 From Romania to Silicon Valley (01:51)
👥 Good mgmt made Irina believe in herself (06:31)
🔍 Balancing IC and management duties (09:47)
💪 Impact through influence (21:44)
👨💼 The evolution of engineering mgmt (37:23)
Let’s dive in! 👇
1) 🚀 From Romania to Silicon Valley (01:51)
Irina's tech journey began earlier than most, starting in high school in Romania where she learned to program in the ninth grade.
She had various creative inclinations, and chose computer science at university because it seemed fun. This 100% resonates with me — I was already programming in high school myself, and I chose CS because it I loved computers.
After graduating from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in 2010, Irina landed a job at Google through a friend's referral. This move took her from Romania to California, marking the beginning of her Silicon Valley career.
The transition wasn't without its challenges: Irina had never been to the US before the interview and was not even 100% fluent in English. The cultural shift was huge, but today she is grateful to have had such an opportunity and the courage to pursue it.
2) 👥 Good mgmt made Irina believe in herself (06:31)
Irina's experience at Google showcases the profound impact of good leadership on career growth and personal development.
Like many newcomers to big tech, Irina initially struggled with imposter syndrome.
She describes feeling like Google had made a mistake in hiring her, a common sentiment among high-achievers in new environments. However, under the guidance of a supportive manager, she flourished.
Her manager's approach included:
🌱 Sponsorship — trusting Irina with meaningful responsibilities.
📚 Mentorship — providing guidance and support whenever needed.
📣 Coaching — helping introspection and encouraging her to stay out of her comfort zone.
Her manager recognized potential that Irina didn't see in herself, which is one of the hallmarks of a great manager.
I wrote more about dealing with impostor syndrome below 👇
The impact of this positive experience was so profound that it influenced Irina's future career decisions:
She followed her manager to Uber, demonstrating the strong professional bond they had formed.
The leadership skills she developed became foundational to her own management style.
This experience highlights the long-lasting impact that a good manager can have, not just on an individual's career, but on their entire approach to work.
3) 🔍 Balancing IC and mgmt duties (09:47)
Irina's career path included roles as both an individual contributor (IC) and a manager, particularly in tech lead and tech lead manager (TLM) positions at Google and Uber.
Will Larson famously wrote that the TLM role can be a trap for fresh managers, for various reasons:
