Set Milestone Goals and Put People First with Eric Weinstein

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Eric Weinstein. He is an engineering leader focused on building performant, scalable and easy-to-use distributed applications.  He has a background in web development, SVOD, ad tech and machine learning as well as experience with mobile development and blockchain applications. He is currently Director of Engineering at ZipRecruiter where he’s helping to build the world’s first artificially intelligent job marketplace. In this episode, Phil and Eric discuss how to incrementally achieve your long-term career goals while staying current and relevant. They talk about avoiding burnout and how working in small efficient teams is effective. Eric discusses numerous ways AI and machine learning will be used in the future and the challenges this throws up. They discuss how to avoid communication failures.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (2.07) TOP CAREER TIP Set your career goals for 5 years time. Then work your way backwards to figure out where you need to be in 3 years, 2 years and 6 months to be able to attain that ultimate 5-year career goal. At those points, set yourself milestones along that path. This will ensure that you achieve your long-term career objectives. In the podcast, Eric explains how to adjust this approach to take account of the fact things change fast in the IT industry.   (4.19) WORST CAREER MOMENT At one stage in his career Eric found himself working crazy long hours. Late evening, weekends and occasionally 24-hour shifts. They got the product out on time. But, everyone being sleep deprived and stressed did a lot of damage to staff goodwill and morale. It was a bad time for Eric. Now he will happily crunch when needed, but will not let it become a regular occurrence.   (5.57) CAREER HIGHLIGHT The launch of AUX. Taking things from a product vision to launch was a very gratifying experience. It was great being responsible for every part of a product. Eric is especially proud of the fact they managed to do that while still respecting everyone’s work-life balance.   (7.44) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Eric is excited about the role that machine learning and AI are playing in shaping IT and the world we live in. People are using these technologies to tap into their own intuition and experience. This tech is augmenting their skills, making them more effective, rather than replacing them. The way natural language processing and AR are developing is also very exciting. They are going to make people’s lives so much richer. Eric shares several interesting examples of this and does so in some depth.   (11.44) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Eric’s publishing career lead to one in IT. In the podcast, he explains how he took this unusual path into the industry. What’s the best career advice you received? – It does not cost anything to be nice. What’s the worst career advice you received? – If you keep your head down and do good work, people will automatically notice. That approach rarely works. What would you do if you started your career now? – Eric’s undergraduate work was in philosophy, he would make sure it was computer science, instead. What are your current career objectives? – Continuing to get better at communication and help his team to translate the high-level vision into action. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Communication, Eric has worked on becoming effective in all communication delivery formats. How do you keep your own career energized? – Eric enjoys attending conferences. It is a great way to find out about emerging trends and make new connections. What do you do away from technology? – Eric is enjoying being a dad and likes to work out regularly. He is also hoping to get back into Taekwondo.   (22.59) FINAL CAREER TIP Our industry is nominally about technology, but mostly it is about people and putting them first. Focus on your human relationships not just the work that you are doing.   BEST MOMENTS (2.24) – Eric - “Set your 5-year career goal then set milestone goals to get you there.” (5.15) – Eric - “Constantly overtaxing yourself and working crazy hours leads to poor work.” (13.55) – Eric - “It does not cost anything to be nice. Things go smoother when you are.” (20.14) – Eric - “Please spend time on communication, it is critical.” (23.57) – Eric - “If you want to go far, pick a solid team to go with you.”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at phil@itcareerenergizer.com and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – Eric Weinstein Eric Weinstein is an engineering leader focused on building performant, scalable and easy-to-use distributed applications.  He has a background in web development, SVOD, ad tech and machine learning as well as experience with mobile development and blockchain applications. He is currently Director of Engineering at ZipRecruiter where he’s helping to build the world’s first artificially intelligent job marketplace.   CONTACT THE GUEST – Eric Weinstein Eric Weinstein can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericqweinstein LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericqweinstein/ Website: http://ericweinste.in/