Mike Chen, CTO at Motivo, joins Nick Taylor to discuss their path from individual contributor (IC), to engineering manager, to CTO.

Additional topics covered

• They explore challenges in setting up local development environments that mirror production, particularly for large-scale microservice systems.
• Mike shares insights from working with Google’s monorepo and emphasizes the importance of comprehensive code documentation.
• They discuss how AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are impacting software development, including the potential for specialized AI agents.
• The conversation covers the transition from individual contributor to engineering manager, highlighting the different skills needed for each role.
• They discuss the importance of mentorship while emphasizing that individuals must actively work to improve their skills.

Links:

• Mike’s Website, https://mikechen.io
• Mike on Bluesky, https://bsky.app/profile/chenmike.com
• Mike on Twitch, https://twitch.tv/genericmikechen
• Motivo website, https://motivohealth.com/