Author: Ivan Rodriguez

‘Can you hear me ok?’ The benefits of remote work

When I started studying computer science in 2003, working for a Big Tech company was a dream almost impossible to reach for me. I was born and raised in Spain, and that’s also where I went to college. Studying over 5000 miles away from the tech scene of Silicon Valley had an interesting effect on me, I’d watch Apple’s tech events and Microsoft’s product announcements as if they were Hollywood movies. I could never imagine myself being part of them. 

The main reason why Big Tech companies felt unreachable was because none of them had software development centers in Spain. The only way of working for companies like Microsoft or Google as a Software Engineer was to move to another country, which made the dream feel more unattainable on top of the already challenging interview process. A lot of talent was left untapped in Spain, and a lot of engineers who dreamed of an opportunity in Silicon Valley never got it.

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Time travel through 2010s technology: Part 2

In the first part of the series “Time travel through 2010s technology” we looked at how operating systems, phones, tablets, smartwatches and smartglasses changed through the last decade. The 2010s changed how we interact with technology, but more importantly, how we think about the impact it has in our lives.

So what happened in the last ten years? How did we get here?

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Time travel through 2010s technology: Part 1

We are now close to the end of an important decade for technology, a decade that started without many of the innovations that today we consider part of the norm. Artificial intelligence at home, self-driving cars, wearable devices, supercomputers in our pockets… the 2010s not only changed the technology we use, but also how we communicate and think. Privacy has never been so critical as a selling point, and information bubbles have never been so polarizing. Today, we are at a turning point in the tech industry; it’s not clear what’s going to be the next revolutionary tech segment, or how companies are going to keep convincing customers to upgrade their various devices.

So what happened in the last ten years? How did we get here? The following areas have experienced substantial changes since 2010, making our lives considerably better in some cases, while taking a few surprising turns in some others. This is the first of a series of two posts that take a look back at a decade of tech evolution.

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Why the Microsoft Surface Duo is a big deal

In early October 2019, Microsoft borrowed a page from Apple’s keynote playbook and gave us a “one more thing” that nobody expected: a dual-screen Android-powered smartphone. Microsoft announced its return to the smartphone market with the Surface Duo (although they officially said “it’s not a smartphone, it’s a Surface”).

The reveal was surprising given that this is the first Android device ever produced by the software giant. It is not supposed to go on sale until late 2020, but the few minutes of footage that were shown mean a big deal for Microsoft. Here’s why.

A user receiving a phone call on the Surface Duo
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How Disney+ and Prime Video will dominate the streaming wars

It’s the year 2030, and your family is getting ready to watch a movie on a Saturday night. You turn on the TV and pause to think which service you should use: Disney+, Prime Video or Netflix. You don’t have any more streaming services. You end up settling for “Avengers 7” on Disney+, a family favorite. Popcorn is ready.

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Do you have a terrible software development manager or a great one?

At Amazon and other tech companies, interview candidates get a lunch break in between their on-site interviews, and a lunch buddy gets assigned to accompany them. This way they can ask any questions they have about the team, the position they are applying to, or anything else that might help them relax. I love acting as lunch buddy because I feel energized interacting with candidates in such an informal setting. This past week, one candidate asked me a very interesting question during our lunch: what do you think makes a good engineering manager?

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