Martin Pliego

💡 [TIP] How do you handle unexpected news as an Engineering Manager? In day-to-day work, you and your teams sometimes receive unexpected news that can shake the team's motivation. As Engineering Manager, how are you handling this? Here is how I’m approaching these situations in case it helps you reinforce your own mindset: 1️⃣ Understand this reality: companies evolve. One day, your best teammate might leave. Another day, you might decide to move on. And on another day, the company might make changes. That’s just how it works. 2️⃣ So, I ask myself this question: What opportunities can my teams and I find in this situation? 3️⃣ If you're following step number 3️⃣ , I can ensure you that you'll find at least 1 opportunity to grow. 4️⃣ Communicate this to your teams and remain open to deeply listening to their thoughts and proposals. 5️⃣ Create your own plan to seize the opportunity. The ideal world doesn’t exist. And perhaps it doesn’t because “ideal” means something different to everyone. 🙂 This may sound obvious, but when we receive unexpected news, we tend to ask ourselves why and try to understand it, investing energy in something that probably isn’t up to us. This leads to frustration and exhaustion when it’s unnecessary. I choose to keep fighting to protect my #energy and #motivation. What about you? More content related to engineering management at https://lnkd.in/dNePvQJV #team #growth #engineeringmanager #manager #productivity

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💡 Lead your remote/distributed teams with empathy (my own experience): Working with remote or distributed teams can be a challenge for Engineering Managers. Keeping your teammates aligned across different time zones, countries, or cultures requires excellent organization, best practices, and a lot of emotional intelligence. One thing I’ve learned is that beyond technology and processes, the human factor is probably the most important to manage. You’ll need to resolve conflicts, build trust, and boost productivity, but you won’t be able to do it without empathy—I can assure you of that. A few quick practices that have helped me are: ▶ Clear goals: Ensure everyone is following the same direction. Keep the goals visible to the team (e.g., JIRA board, Slack, etc.), and provide friendly reminders if you have stand-ups with them. ▶ Good communication and cadence: Schedule regular check-ins. Make sure the team feels heard. ▶ Flexibility and cultural differences: Be flexible with schedules and learn how to communicate with different cultures, as not everyone works in the same way. Practice deep listening with your teammates and set clear expectations. Learn what is "normal" for them and find a balance to create a good fit within your team. ▶ Foster a safe environment: Create open discussion spaces for the whole team, plus 1:1 meetings. A meeting I’ve been using a lot, which often gets overlooked, is the retrospective. But for your team to participate and share their true feelings, they need to feel comfortable. What has been your experience leading distributed teams? I’d love to hear other points of view, thoughts, and reflections! Remember, I’m creating more content related to engineering management at https://daniheredia.com/ So sharing it is always more than welcome 🙇‍♂️ #leadership #engineeringManager #remoteTeams #empathy #distributedTeams #distributedTeams #emotionalIntelligence #diversity #cultures #newsletter #team #teamWork

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💡 Continuous Feedback is key to Building Stronger Teams: As an Engineering Manager, I’ve learned that one of the most powerful tools we have it’s feedback. I think feedback fosters team growth and engagement. I'm not speaking only about annual reviews. It’s about making feedback a part of your day-to-day management style. What have I discovered over the years? 🔄 Real-time feedback builds trust: sharing it openly and regularly, it creates a culture of transparency opening the door for honest conversations. 🌱 Not only focussed in performance: empower growth in your teams, if they're growing, the performance and results will do it consequently. 📈 Small corrections prevent big issues or problems, giving us time to adjust our team's direction. 💬 Two-way street: be open to receiving feedback, not only from your manager but also from your team. I regularly ask my team, "What can I do better?". You can also create a quarterly feedback form to gather their input So, you'll create a team culture in which engagement, better problem-solving, and a stronger sense of ownership will make the difference 🚀 What has been your experience on this? I’d love to hear other points of view, thoughts, and reflections! Remember, I’m creating more content related to engineering management at https://lnkd.in/drVtNeji ♻ So sharing it is always more than welcome 🙇‍♂️ #leadership #engineeringManager #teamGrowth #feedbackCulture #empathy #feedback #emotionalIntelligence #diversity #cultures #newsletter #team #teamWork

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In my career, I’ve never seen any evidence suggesting a connection between formal degrees and being a good programmer. By “programmer,” I mean developer, engineer, or whatever term you use for people who create software. Whenever I see folks pushing this narrative—which is a thing in Spain—I am genuinely puzzled. I used to think that, as the discipline matured, a formal degree might eventually become recommendable in the distant future. But with the self-teaching possibilities introduced by LLMs, I’m incredibly skeptical. There will always be a market for exceptional courses and teachers, but I doubt universities, as we know them, will be the answer in the future.

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🚀 New Article Alert! 🚀 It’s been a while since my last post, but I'm excited to share my new article!, "Taking the Helm as Engineering Manager: Leading an Established Engineering Team". I dive into key strategies for stepping into established teams. You'll reach out REAL situations that I lived, thoughts and tips. Whether you're already an Engineering Manager or looking to step up, these insights might help guide your path toward effective leadership. Check it out in ♦️ Personal Website: https://lnkd.in/ddiTvbq8 ♦️ Medium Link: https://lnkd.in/dWN3zGTq Subscribe to my Newsletter 👉 👉 👉 https://lnkd.in/dNePvQJV ♻️Reshare if you think it can contribute and a reaction/feedback is always a gift 🎁 #leadership #productivity #trust #management #learning #growth #team #help #engineeringleadership #people #goal #stakeholders #strengths

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Red flag: Teams who throw headcount at problems ☠ More is not necessarily better. And sometimes, more is actively counter-productive. Like the technical founders who hire "bee-dee" for the first time without clearly identifying the objectives, the process, and what success looks like. Just some vague notion of growth or expansion. Walk into that situation and you're almost guaranteed to fail, no matter how good you are. Then they'll fire you, blame you for the lack of results and go looking for a new person again. Cycle repeats. Or the leaders who paper over engineering inefficiencies by hiring more and more engineers and brute forcing their way through the roadmap (if there even is a roadmap), at the expense of an effective workflow, product feedback loops and quality code. Green flag: every job in the organization is either building, improving or operating a system ✔ Any well-run business is simply a set of interconnected systems which are operated by people. In a startup, those systems may be very immature, or prone to constant change. But they should still exist. The role of leadership is to create and prove those systems, and then delegate them. Ideally, that means every function is founder-led in the early stages. But if you do need someone to build, say, your marketing engine completely from scratch, it needs to be explicit that the job is to create and systematize the marketing process for the organization. That's not a job for a mid-level marketer. It's playing with fire to bring in someone like that and expect them to "figure it out". Occasionally they will. But mostly they won't. If you're going to delegate the leadership function, you need to hire a leader. If you won't do that, build the system first and then delegate it. But never mix the two. You'll thank me later. #recruiting #hiring #crypto #web3

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Looking to become a better leader? Check out these 10 tips to build trust and propel your team to success! - Authenticity is key: Share your strengths and areas of growth. - Empathy matters: Seek to understand your team's perspectives. - Walk the talk: Align your actions with your words. - Invite honest feedback: Create an open door for communication. - Follow through: Promises made, promises kept. - Respect confidentiality: Build a safe space to share. - Own your mistakes: Sincere apologies foster accountability. - Know your limits: Collaborate and learn together. - Respect boundaries: Promote work-life balance. - Kindness is power: Strengthen relationships, enhance trust. Click to find out more in my latest blog post! 👇 https://lnkd.in/gzm6QYBq

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Why should you join Eventbrite? Reason #4 : 🌟 Striking the Balance: Prioritizing Work-Life Harmony 🌟 At Eventbrite, we understand the importance of achieving a healthy work-life balance. That's why we're committed to creating an environment where our employees can thrive both personally and professionally. Here's what work-life balance means to us: 1. Respect for Personal Time: We respect our employees' personal time and encourage them to disconnect and recharge outside of work hours. We understand that true productivity and creativity come from taking breaks, pursuing hobbies, and spending time with loved ones. 2. Wellness Initiatives: We prioritize employee well-being through wellness initiatives, such as mindfulness workshops, fitness challenges, and mental health resources. We believe that a healthy mind and body are essential for peak performance and overall happiness. 3. Lead by Example: Our leadership team leads by example, demonstrating the importance of work-life balance in their own lives. They encourage boundaries, prioritize self-care, and emphasize the value of unplugging and recharging. At Eventbrite, we believe that a healthy work-life balance is essential for long-term success and fulfilment. Join us and experience the difference of working in an environment where your well-being is valued and supported. Do check this for open positions : https://lnkd.in/d2k84-cV #eventbrite #comejoinus #youareinvited #hiring #linkedinjobs #hiringalert #jobs

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2025 is the year you'll start hearing more and more about the Super IC PM (I call it the Fullstack Product Manager). companies will only want to hire Fullstack Product Managers. managers will accelerate promoting Fullstack Product Managers. squads will only want Fullstack Product Managers in their teams. Claire Vo described it as a Super IC, capable of a broad range of skills. I couldn't agree more. if I was a CEO/Director/In Charge of a Product Line, I can guarantee I would only be hiring PMs who can: → run customer interviewing → do sales and GTM → prototype and design poc's → negotiate deals → write great marketing content → use ai to 10x their team → implement a/b tests without engineers → understand economics & business → do pricing strategy → query data, write sql or build viz → properly design okrs or sets goals for teams → does actually useful project management → can run with no-code with independence → cleans up agile & processes → communicates well, with great storytelling → understands technicals of AI → implements proper growth roadmaps → knows vision & strategy → does community management → great market researching → nails social, viral, content & acquisition → knows psychology → knows ux, both in web2 and AI-first does it seem overwhelming? yes. do you have to nail it to win? yes. competition is tougher than ever, time to rebuild ourselves. ———- I’m offering one yearly membership at One Month PM - The Fullstack PM Academy (€500) every week to the best comment on all posts. If you’re a member, you get full refund. Learn more at onemonthpm.com

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Interesting to see NTQR in action. #AI #Python #NTQR

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Hi lovely network! I'd love your help finding the next step in my career! 🙏🏻 I am looking for a Director++ role (VP of Eng, CTO, or very meaty Head Of remit) in a product company that is solving the world’s biggest problems and using cutting-edge technology to do it. I’ve spent the last several years running a large engineering team of 175 delivering software projects worth a billion dollars annually. I enjoy running all aspects of a global engineering team including product delivery, building and executing technical strategy, transforming organizational design, refining ways of working, building culture, and hiring. My leadership style is coaching-forward, inclusive, and empowering and I partner with People teams to debias all aspects of the organization including hiring, evolving performance frameworks, and reducing the pay gap. In addition, I have deep and wide experience in product engineering as an EM/tech lead for some of the world’s best known brands, have digitally transformed organizations across several industries, and am able to communicate and influence at the executive-level. What I’m seeking 🌱 Start up, scale up, or established business with a team size around 30 to 150+ or more — and ambitions to grow rapidly. ♻️ Focus on sustainability or another mission that makes the world a better place. 🏛 Strong cultural foundation that centers growth, creativity, fun, autonomy, and getting shit done. 💖 Organization that values and invests in their people with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 🤖 Using AI in responsible and ethical ways. 📣 How you can help 📣 If you have leads for business and roles that fit the bill, please do let me know! Connect me with people you think I should know! If you have leads for interim or fractional leadership roles send ‘em my way! If you or someone you know is interested in coaching, I’m taking on executive coaching clients! If you need something sketchnoted, like a meeting, conference, or workshop, I’m taking on ad hoc requests!

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This is not just any "hey, we are looking for a dev" post. This might be one of the most exciting engineering roles we have ever hired for. Let me explain why: I have the great privilege of being the product lead for the exceptionally brilliant Rendering Engine Team at Miro. Several months ago, we took a bold step to revamp our foundational rendering technology from the ground up, setting an ambitious vision far beyond what Miro is capable of today. Building a highly performant rendering engine for a product like Miro is not trivial though. You are dealing with an infinite 2D canvas with potentially thousands of multimedia objects, all while multiple people collaborate in real-time. We want professionals & creatives to spend the majority of their working days in Miro. Unfortunately, every lag when panning a large planning board, every jiggle effect due to low FPS when zooming out from a large planning session, and every slight delay when selecting hundreds of multimedia objects not only results in lost time but also slight frustration. It's that small, annoying feeling that something felt slightly slow, slightly not instant, slightly irritating. A products performance is not just about the time you lose; it is about the feeling this product gives you. On the other hand, we all know the feeling of delight when you do something complex in a product, and it happens instantaneously. That feeling that no matter what you do, no matter what workload you throw at an application, it will be responsive, fast, and instantaneous. This is what we envision: A rendering engine that continuously surprises you with its snappiness, making work feel light and delightful. We are looking for someone who is as equally annoyed by these issues as we are and wants to take the lead in solving them. We aim to build a rendering engine that raises the bar for what people consider possible on a web-based canvas. A computer graphics professional who wants to take on the challenge of working on a renderer that powers the day-to-day work of millions of users and some of the most creative and innovative companies in the world. If you work in the field of computer graphics and want to contribute to the heart of a product that aims to amplify collaboration and creative work, give it shot. Feel free to DM me for more information or directly apply below:

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This Saturday, I found myself reading Benedict Evans' new "Tech Trends to Come" report. Every year, he produces a presentation exploring macro and strategic trends in the tech industry. For 2025, he sets the theme "AI eats the world". You can find the presentation here: https://lnkd.in/dGTYPZ8n. Key questions he highlights about AI: ▪️How far will it Scale? The problem of the training expense ▪️How is this useful? Looking at the valuations we see today, how will AI achieve a return on the investment? ▪️How do we deploy this? How do we find the use cases? How do we interact with LLMs? Are they a platform, API, or part of the infrastructure? The presentation reveals how businesses have transformed. For example, with NVIDIA's growth in revenue source, Accenture building up its AI consultancy or the rise of self-driving cars by Waymo. But it's not all about AI. The trends in other sectors, like Amazon and InstaCart running immense Ad businesses, how our behaviour towards e-commerce has transformed the real-estate market and will continue to do so. How the Data-Driven companies like Netflix, Spotify, and The Walt Disney Company tap into the media houses' revenue. Yet, this triggered my thinking about how many new features I see in my daily life are already assisted by "AI". I often find myself asking to be challenged by ChatGPT, whether it's an idea or me trying to learn. ChatGPT is now my Spanish teacher, available any time. A fellow VC to challenge my investment philosophy. And lately, Shakespeare with whom we have evening battles about poetry (I do love poetry). I use NotebookLM to get all my sources for information in one place.  Furthermore, I see that the autocorrect on my phone or Mac has adapted to be powered by LLM (which is great!). My product or design ideas can easily be created with Firefly or Replit. The interaction with Customer Support is now a chatbot or something more sophisticated. I find the world to be in a transformative phase. I remain optimistic about the changes to come. Especially excited about fast advancements in medicine and education! #ai #techtrends

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Some good tips on how we can be more empathetic in our day to day interactions…

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Mauricio Jorajuría, one of our Senior Software Engineers, shared an anecdote that really resonated with me: "A professor once told me, if you don't know how to design something, start with the idea of someone you admire and who is recognized." I would choose Dieter Rams and highly recommend his book: "Ten Principles for Good Design." When it comes to mobile 📲 , simplicity is key. Over 50% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices (Statista). Aim for a clean, uncluttered interface that allows users to accomplish their goals with minimal taps or swipes. Remember, 85% of adults think that a company's mobile website should be as good or better than its desktop website (Think with Google). Building a community around your product can greatly enhance the user experience. Create forums or social media groups where users can share tips, feedback, and success stories. This not only provides valuable insights for continuous improvement but also encourages user engagement through creative collaboration. Ensure the community is moderated to maintain a positive and constructive environment. Why put so much effort into the UX/UI of a digital solution? Engaged customers can generate 23% 📈 more revenue than average (Harvard Business Review). https://rb.gy/rd47l1 - https://rb.gy/05wqmy - https://rb.gy/8s2pdg #UXDesign #UIDesign #MobileDesign #CommunityBuilding #ProductDevelopment #DieterRams

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FullStack development is not easy. It's pretty hard. This is the truth. You have to deal with deadlines. You have to master fundamentals. You have to build projects to learn. You have to learn advanced concepts. You have to develop complex features. So, remember this... Behind struggling, you have a brilliant future waiting for you. Trust in yourself.

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'It doesn't matter how good your engineering team is if they aren’t given something worthwhile to build.' (Marty Cagan) Let’s be real—every talented engineer, designer, product manager and "smart ass" out there wants to work on something that really matters - a product that brings real value and shows clear outcomes. No one wants to pour their time into a project that lacks impact or direction. Here’s the reality that can set up your team for meaningful impact: 1. BEFORE a line of code is written you need to understand who you’re building for. What are their pain points, needs, and aspirations? Clarity on the customer is the foundation of any valuable product. 2. Even an outstanding team can't compensate for a product that doesn’t align with market needs. Validate early and often to make sure the concept is hitting the mark. 3. The product can’t succeed if no one knows about it. Plan the launch, communicate effectively, and ensure there’s a path to adoption. 4. Early, fast failures can lead to stronger products. Embrace feedback loops, pivot when necessary, and keep the focus on continuous improvement. To cut a long story short - empowering engineers and teams to work on products with purpose isn’t just a feel-good idea—it’s critical to business success. 😉 #ProductManagement #GoToMarket

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Llama 3.3 70B - Everything you need to know 🔷 WHAT IS NEW? 🟢 Llama 3.3 (70B parameters) delivers the same performance as Llama 3.1 (405B parameters) 🌱 🟢 Sets New Standards for Text-based Use Cases: Multilingual Dialogue (English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Hindi, Spanish, Thai), Math, Knowledge. 🟢 Output Modalities: Multilingual Text and Code 🔷 HOW? 🟢 Uses Grouped Query Attention Mechanism, innovations in online reinforcement learning and post-training optimization 🔷 SO WHAT? 🟢 Llama 3.3 delivers top-tier performance at a fraction of the cost compared to Llama 3.2 (405B) 💸 🔷 INTERESTING FACT 🟢 Training the model resulted in 11,390 tons of CO2eq emissions (~2.77 million car rides ❗) 🔷 HOW TO GET IT 🟢 Available for use on Meta’s website and Hugging Face (Links below) #AI #GenAI #Llama3 #MachineLearning #Efficiency #Sustainability #Innovation #TechLeadership #Meta #HuggingFace #EnterpriseAI

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Software Engineers, this one is for you! After a record year of growth and profitability at Prima, we are expanding our teams and I’m looking for software engineers who want to take their careers to the next level. Here are the key bits of information: 👉We are a remote first company offering employment in the UK, Italy, Spain, and Germany 👉We have a strong commitment to flexible working. I know that being a mum of two how important that is! 🤗 👉The connection between people is our cultural cornerstone. The company offers fully funded team off-sites and you will have the opportunity to explore places with your team. As an example, we have been to Milan, Lake Como, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Bologna to name a few. 👉By the way, we were using AI before it became a modern tech obsession. So, if AI/Machine Learning is an area you want to grow in, now is your chance. You would be a great fit, if you’re someone who: 🤩 Cares about the systems they build. It’s not just another job. It is your passion 🤩 Is aware of emerging technological and architectural trends 🤩 Wants to learn and grow 🤩 Is a strong communicator with focus on providing a fantastic service to our customers We have a varied technology stack including Rust, Python, Elixir, React, AWS (and many more) But we look for people who are willing to learn and adapt. So, you could be from any background. Just so you know, my background is C++, C#, Angular, React, Azure. So, if you’re willing to learn different technologies, we will support you 🚀 PLUS: you’ll get to work with me, and I’m awesome 🤣🤣 Jokes aside, if you want to give yourself a new role in the new year, drop me a message here and I’ll respond. Tag and share with your connections too if you feel like they might be a good fit. *Here’s a cute cat photo to add to the post Christmas silliness 😻

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