On Path

Kirupa is a Senior Director of Product Management at Salesforce. Previously he was at Microsoft for over a decade as a technical PM, where he worked on the Developer Division and Windows teams. He has a Computer Science degree from MIT. On the side, Kirupa is a prolific creator. He's built one of the Internet's top free resources on web development (kirupa.com), published 8 technical books, runs a Youtube videos with well over a million views, and presented at many conferences.

Show Notes

Here are some relevant links from the conversation:
Show notes:
  • 2:12 IDDQD cheat code
  • 3:03 An explanation of Product Management
  • 4:27 Skills Kirupa looks for when hiring PMs
  • 5:12 Solutions sometimes provided by a technical customer base
  • 6:40 Why MIT?
  • 7:51 Online personality = Offline personality
  • 8:54 Working at large tech companies
  • 10:54 Working on Silverlight tools
  • 12:05 A love for pixel art
  • 13:37 Gray areas of fields like design and development
  • 15:54 Staring kirupa.com
  • 19:31 Juggling a full-time career with side projects
  • 20:39 Youtube videos
  • 21:30 Kirupa's cat: a regular attendee at work meetings
  • 22:25 Deciding what to invest time in
  • 23:36 How working from home has changed things
  • 24:58 Walking meetings
  • 25:17 Influential people in Kirupa's life
  • 26:37 The role of luck
  • 28:36 Would any of this have been a surprise?
  • 31:02 An 80th birthday toast
  • 32:25 Ask for help early, ask for help often

What is On Path ?

With the On Path podcast you'll hear the behind-the-scenes of what got professionals in the technology sector to where they are today. These are the career and life stories that aren't captured on a LinkedIn or web profile. The twists and turns. The inspirations and influences. Hosted by Vijay Viswanathan.