Engineering Manager
Jun 2021 – Present. Remote.
- Helping seed-round and pre-seed tech startups. Keywords: hiring, managing, mentoring, coaching
Ryan Walsh
Engineering Manager for High-Tech Startups
Princeton graduate with more than 18 years of leadership roles in software engineering and management.
I’d hire Ryan again in a heartbeat and wish I could hire 100 more of him.
Intro
You’re looking for an engineering manager to lead and coach your teams and take your
organization to the next level.
Hire me if:
Quick skimmable article of my thoughts: Top 10 Mistakes of Engineering Managers
Hire me if:
- You want your team to gel, feel inspired, and do their best work ever.
- Take orders blindly. (I am goal-oriented instead of task-oriented and habitually step back and consider the best path.)
- Burn out the team for short-term wins. (I develop for long-term sustainable excellence.)
-
Principles-based leadership
I helped teach Ray Dalio’s management principles at Bridgewater (#1 hedge fund in the world).
- Mentoring & coaching with Radical Candor (“Challenge directly” + “Care personally”)
- Continual improvement of the “machine” of the organization
- Lots of startup experience (including running my own for 5 years)
Education
Princeton University
Bachelor of Arts
Technical Expertise
- Management: of up to 7 engineers from junior to senior skill level using Radical Candor & Principles
- Front-end: TypeScript, React, Vue, JavaScript, ES6, Next.js, RedwoodJS, jQuery, Webpack, AJAX, HTML5, CSS, SCSS, Jest, Jasmine, Mocha, Recoil, Stripe, Google Tag Manager, mobile-first responsive design, Photoshop, learning: Apollo, Redux, AngularJS
- Back-end: Node.js, NEAR Protocol (blockchain), PHP (Laravel, Eloquent, Zend, etc), Java (Spring), MySQL, PostgreSQL, Horizon / Redis, Nginx, Apache, Git, Slack, Docker, unit testing, functional testing, learning: Rust, GraphQL, Prisma, Python, Solidity
- Etc: Amazon Web Services (AWS) S3, SES, SNS, SQS, Elastic Load Balancer, EC2. GCP. Serverless.
Habits, Lifestyle, Personality
- Habits, lifestyle, etc (bullet points that reveal a lot about me)
- Personality assessment results (I am a big fan of efficiently learning “what someone is like” ):
- Myers-Briggs:
- Ray Dalio’s Principles You Archetypes:
- Best Match: Investigator
- Good Matches: Quiet Leader, Thinker
- Weakest Matches: Helper, Promoter
Favorite Books
- Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
- The Future Is Faster Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
- Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
- The Divided Mind by John E. Sarno, M.D.
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Praise & Endorsements
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“Ryan is one of the bright young leaders of this generation. Extremely skilled, and sees the big picture as well. Thinks about not only the tech but the entire product as a single unit. Highly recommend Ryan...”
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“Ryan’s entrepreneurial spirit and professional curiosity coupled with his distinctive analytic approach to operational efficiency serve him well both as a leader and collaborator.”
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“In addition to his deep knowledge of software development, he takes a broad view of his projects within the context of the team’s and company’s goals. Ryan is thoughtful in everything he does and brings constructive suggestions. He’s collaborative and friendly. I’d gladly rehire him.”
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“Ryan is an outstanding individual, engineer, and product owner. Working with Ryan means deep conversations about the intent behind the product experience and commitment to delivering on that promise. Would love to work with Ryan again!”
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“Very much enjoyed working with Ryan. He's an intelligent, questioning, capable engineer. He pushes people whilst also being open to feedback. He's flexible enough to handle multiple domains, but logical enough to push to solutions. Would definitely work with again.”
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“I’d hire Ryan again in a heartbeat and wish I could hire 100 more of him.”
Professional Experience
Bold Abundant Future
Co-manager and Senior Software Engineer
Jan 2022 – present. Remote.
- Developing software in support of educational programs that build awareness and increase the number of successful developers launching their apps on our sharded, proof-of-stake public blockchain. Keywords: crypto, cryptocurrency, web3, trustless
Team Lead - Senior Software Engineer
Nov 2020 – May 2021. Remote.
- Creating an easy-to-use front-end for a cutting-edge platform that enables US energy utility companies to modernize their electric grids to better support electric vehicles, solar and wind resources, and other green technologies.
Rose Technology / Better.com
Team Lead - Senior Software Engineer
June 2020 – Aug 2020. Remote.
- Building systems to enable the CEO of a $3-billion company (#1-ranked startup on LinkedIn) to identify top employees and efficiently recruit thousands more with those characteristics.
Co-Founder
Oct 2015 – July 2020. Remote.
- Architected, designed, and developed the payment systems, automations, email services, databases (ensuring uncompromising security and confidentiality of all materials), course portals, internal dashboards, analytics, risk controls, and Facebook ads for a successful online course business.
Senior Software Engineer & Product Manager
May 2012 – Feb 2015. Remote / San Diego.
- Served as a lead full-stack engineer for the 156th-fastest-growing company in the US, which got acquired by an $11B company (Rakuten).
Software Engineer & UX Engineer
January 2011 – May 2012. Remote / San Diego.
- Builing a white-labeled enterprise dashboard that enabled Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Vodafone, and other cell phone carriers to offer new smartphones with industry-changing “à la carte” billing technology popular internationally (and required the utmost precision since it controlled users’ charges).
Founder
November 2010 – December 2011. Remote.
- Architected, designed, and developed powerful alumni networking site featuring discussion forums, local alumni personality matcher, and more.
Founder
July 2010 – December 2011. Remote.
- Architected, designed, and developed location-aware website that was the largest web-based listing of free items offered for local reuse.
(#1 hedge fund in the world)
Project Manager and other roles
May 2010 – June 2010
- Managed a team of technologists in construction of large database & reporting system for company-wide metrics.
Princeton University’s official student homepage
Developer and Webmaster
2005 – 2006
- Engineered and led Princeton University’s official student homepage and primary source of information for undergraduates for two years (Point.Princeton.edu). Also invented Point’s predecessor and helped acquire founding support for it.
Interests
- new technology (blockchain / cryptocurrencies, AI, deep learning, eVTOL, drones, VR/AR, biotech, life extension, nanotech, 3D printing, space exploration, etc)
- entrepreneurship
- positive psychology
- mindbody interaction
- user experience
- cryptography
- basketball
- surfing
- soccer