Biggest Challenges Faced By A Product Engineer At Graphistry
Alex's biggest challenge as a Product Engineer is balancing the pursuit of perfection with the realities of business deadlines, specifically while learning advanced architectural concepts like "distributed systems design" and "functional programming" on the job. This involves overcoming a personal tendency towards perfectionism and effectively managing time to meet goals while simultaneously upskilling in a crucial area of their role.
Overcoming Challenges, Architecture, Distributed Systems, Functional Programming, Work-Life Balance
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Alex Warren
Product Engineer
Graphistry
University of Arizona 2015
None
Computer Science
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Balancing competing priorities (business goals vs. perfectionism): Alex highlights the difficulty of producing high-quality work while adhering to deadlines and business objectives, a common challenge in professional settings.
2. Continuous learning and adaptation: Alex emphasizes the importance of ongoing learning and skill development, particularly in areas like distributed systems design and functional programming, reflecting the need for continuous professional growth in a dynamic field.
3. Overcoming perfectionism: Alex openly discusses their personal journey in overcoming perfectionism, which is a valuable lesson for students who may struggle with similar tendencies, showcasing the importance of self-awareness and adaptation in a professional environment.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your current role?
It's actually been, uh, there's a people part to it, which has been allowing things to be good enough. This is another thing where it's kind of been my personal journey of what's hard for me.
I have since ceased to be a perfectionist about what I'm doing. And that actually connects to the technical challenge. I'm working on architecture things, and I didn't really study it.
I studied it some in university, but architectural things often become more apparent later in your career path. It's like graduating into that. If you're just doing prototypes or trying to start your own company, then you actually have to think about architecture.
But for my career path, it's only been more recently that I've been studying distributed systems design and functional programming principles. I've been watching talks and learning that while also implementing it.
However, I haven't had the time to get it really perfect because of business goals. So the hard thing for me is trying to balance doing my best while staying focused. It's really about organizing myself, and to me, that's a challenge.