The 1.01 Podcast
#8 David Xiang
Engineering Manager at Datadog and creator David Xiang, discusses being one of the first tech youtubers (earning over 4 million views), his book Software Developer Life and reflections on staying technically relevant throughout his over 13 year career.
Follow Wilson on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/WilsonLimSet
Follow David on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dxiang/
Sub to David on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/@DaveXiang
Show Notes
00:45 Influence from parents and getting into engineering at CMU
02:30 Competitive breakdancing,
04:00 Inspiration for first few tech videos (technical explanations)
06:30 Pivoting from Qualcomm (C/C++ roles) into startups
09:13 Cold emailing rap genius and building a web project in a month
11:10 The transition into a manager position with a deeply technical background
14:45 Mentorship coaching moments for SWEs
17:30 Vulnerability and transparency - amazon rejection video
20:10 Compiling his thoughts into the book Software Developer Life
23:05 Staying relevant in tech, even as a manager
27:20 Key habits developed
30:55 What's the nicest thing someone's done for you?
Engineering Manager at Datadog and creator David Xiang, discusses being one of the first tech youtubers (earning over 4 million views), his book Software Developer Life and reflections on staying technically relevant throughout his over 13 year career.
Follow Wilson on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/WilsonLimSet
Follow David on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dxiang/
Sub to David on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/@DaveXiang
Show Notes
00:45 Influence from parents and getting into engineering at CMU
02:30 Competitive breakdancing,
04:00 Inspiration for first few tech videos (technical explanations)
06:30 Pivoting from Qualcomm (C/C++ roles) into startups
09:13 Cold emailing rap genius and building a web project in a month
11:10 The transition into a manager position with a deeply technical background
14:45 Mentorship coaching moments for SWEs
17:30 Vulnerability and transparency - amazon rejection video
20:10 Compiling his thoughts into the book Software Developer Life
23:05 Staying relevant in tech, even as a manager
27:20 Key habits developed
30:55 What's the nicest thing someone's done for you?