Career Path of a Chief Product Officer at EdStanza

I started out studying computer science in undergrad. It became clear early on that I wasn't interested in hardware, so I focused on software. I did an internship with HP in Oregon during my sophomore year, working in medical devices, though I didn't realize that at the time.

Later, I had another internship with HP on the business side. My final internship was with Sybase, focusing on software infrastructure. After finishing my degree, I was unsure about my career path and what type of role to pursue with my computer science and programming skills.

So, I went to graduate school at the University of Southern California for computer science. This gave me a chance to delve deeper into areas like backend versus frontend software, and I found myself more curious about the frontend, as I had limited experience with it in undergrad.

After grad school, I worked at Sybase on infrastructure software. Databases were significant then, and I learned a great deal about being a good software engineer. The organization had clear values for developing strong software engineering skills, going beyond what I learned in school.

This included understanding the business of software, what it takes to create software products, and how a team develops them. It was about the broader aspects beyond just programming and computer science theory. I also took on some leadership roles and worked at early-stage startups.

One startup was located in a building basement near Berkeley's campus, which was an interesting experience. It allowed me to see the difference between early-stage and later-stage companies. Sybase had recently gone through an IPO, so I experienced a more mature company compared to the startups.

Later, I returned to larger, public companies and worked in e-learning, which was a growing field at the time. This involved tracking professional training. My work was still primarily enterprise software, serving businesses.

I also worked in consumer internet software at Yahoo, which was fascinating for understanding scale. Providing software at that massive scale is unique, and only a few companies reach it. I learned a lot about running software at that level at Yahoo.

Then I moved back into enterprise work. My career has involved a lot of bouncing around: from large to small companies, public to startups, and from consumer to enterprise software. I also worked on Amazon Alexa, which was very consumer-oriented but involved hardware and software.

Working with devices and voice interfaces was particularly challenging and interesting. Thinking about how users interact is different when you have to anticipate how someone will speak about a product, compared to our current reliance on keyboards and phones.

I then moved into the healthcare sector, exploring how technology can improve healthcare. I had a stint at Collective Health, focusing on insurance. It was an eye-opening experience to learn about the insurance industry, and my takeaway was that it's amazing it functions at all.

This sector is ripe for technological advancement but is slow to change due to the prevalence of large, established companies. I then joined a medical device company that developed handheld ultrasound, blending software and hardware. I've experienced a range of technologies, including health tech.

What's interesting across all these experiences is the value of a computer science degree. This is a question often asked, especially by young people transitioning into software development. Computer science fundamentals have consistently helped me adapt to different software environments because the underlying problems are often the same.

It's about how you approach and frame those problems for various solutions, whether it's an embedded system or internet-based software. You always return to core computer science principles. This distinction is significant when comparing a computer science degree to a bootcamp, as you can often see the difference in how people approach problems and their depth of understanding.

Another significant transition in my career was moving from about eight years of hands-on software engineering to leadership roles. This shift from leading teams to taking on management responsibilities was an interesting one.

For the past ten years, I've focused on becoming an effective people manager and organizational leader, exploring the differences between leadership and management. I've learned this through various roles and teams I've led. I now mentor others making this transition and those aspiring to be strong leaders.

My previous role was Chief Technical Officer, focused on technology. Currently, I'm a Chief Product Officer, which is more product-centric and closer to the business side, though I still partner with the technical teams.

I'm working at EdStanza, an early-stage startup focused on software for developers. It's a highly technical product, and my background in leading teams and seeing diverse technologies helps me understand the users and their problems, guiding our product development. This journey has led me to my current role as Chief Product Officer.