In this episode, Patrick discusses what it means to build an empowered career & explore creative career portfolios with Jean Hsu (Fractional VPE @ Circuit & Chisel) and Cate Huston (author of The Engineering Leader and fractional CTO @ Twill). Both share their unique engineering leadership journeys & how they built creative career paths through exploration & finding room for optionality. We dissect the identity crisis that eng leaders face – whether they are ICs or managers – and how to navigate the tension between individual & team productivity, especially taking into consideration AI. Lastly, Jean and Cate share insights on letting go of societal norms, unique ways to expand your work, taking on bets, and incorporating your values into your career. 

ABOUT JEAN HSU

Jean is a builder, writer, coach, and fractional VPE at Circuit & Chisel. She was previously in leadership roles at Pulse, Medium, and Range, and also built out a leadership development company focused on engineers. She lives in Berkeley with her partner and three kids.

ABOUT CATE HUSTON

Cate is the author of The Engineering Leader, fractional CTO at Twill, and engineering leadership coach. She was previously in leadership roles at DuckDuckGo and Automattic, and an advisor at Glowforge. She has been all over the world, but now lives in Ireland.

Check out DRI Your Career today and use promo code “ELCPODCAST” for 15% off any of Cate and Jean’s three courses!

SHOW NOTES:

• What it means for creative career paths to become the norm (1:42)
• Navigating the tension between individual vs. team productivity (3:34)
• What an empowered career looked like in Jean’s leadership journey (5:00)
• Cate’s decision to craft her own career narrative (10:46)
• Redefining work-life balance (12:54)
• How to cultivate time to explore future projects & create room for optionality (15:59)
• Why it can be challenging to find the space / time to experiment (19:17)
• Let go of “societal shoulds” (23:37)
• Frameworks for building out your career portfolio (28:43)
• Unique ways to expand the type of work you can perform (30:23)
• Using AI tools to help orient your career & incorporate your values (34:35)
• Thinking about your career portfolio as bets (40:14)
• Final thoughts on what it means to build an empowered career (44:47)
• Rapid fire questions (46:13)

This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/