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Software Developer's Journey

#77 Dave Smith swings the pendulum

Dave first told us where the idea for the Soft Skills Engineering Podcast first came from. Then he took us back to when he started programming, with the Basic language on a Texas Instruments calculator. We then followed his studies, and the start of his career... just after the DotCom burst. We then talked about his first steps toward management, and how he swung from individual contributor, to manager, and back. And after he changed company, how he continued swinging, becoming "Director of Engineering" in the process. We continued talking about his move back to more individual contribution at Amazon, and closed in on mentorship inside Amazon.

Dave has 15 years of experience as a software developer. He led hundreds of engineers as a director, tech lead, and mentor. He's grown teams from 3 engineers to 50, 50 engineers to 100, and even had a front-row seat for Alexa's hyper growth from a few hundred to a few thousand. And Dave is finally the co-host of the Soft-Skills Engineering podcast!

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Software Developer‘s Journey is hosted and produced by Timothée (Tim) Bourguignon, a crazy frenchman living in Germany who dedicated his life to helping others learn & grow. More about him at timbourguignon.fr.

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