The Shape of Work

#112: Kevin Hasley on dealing with change as a CEO, nurturing engineering talent, and the future of workplaces

September 13, 2021 Springworks Season 1 Episode 112
The Shape of Work
#112: Kevin Hasley on dealing with change as a CEO, nurturing engineering talent, and the future of workplaces
Show Notes Chapter Markers

“Don’t walk away from management, quite yet. Embrace it. See if it works. Talk to people. Don’t treat management as management. Always treat it as if you’re a mentor, or you’re talking to a friend. And you’ll see that It’s going to bring a lot more value to your personal growth vs just bringing the value to someone else.”

Kevin Hasley shares a new way to think about hiring, managing and retaining engineering teams in his conversation on this episode of The shape of Work podcast. As the CEO of RootMetrics and one of the top experts in the mobile and telecommunications industry, Kevin combines deep, in-the-trenches insight with examples from his vast array of experiences (developing a benchmarking program at Texas Instruments to being the CEO of RootMetrics) for a conversation every people leader should hear: 

  • How did he react to ‘The Great Resignation’ as an employer
  • Team structure at RootMetrics: From contract-based hires to full-time employees
  • Why hiring the right engineering talent has become a challenge with the ballooning salaries
  • How does RootMetrics manage the personal and professional aspirations of its employees
  • Tech leaders on the biggest challenges managing teams: why managing teams doesn’t come easy to everyone

1.     Thoughts on ‘The Great Resignation’ wave as an employer.

Kevin says that ‘The Great Resignation’ phase is challenging as an employer. After a year filled with lockdowns, there are so many opportunities and challenges coming out of the pandemic world. Although organizations that had held back on hiring have finally opened their gates. It’s far from perfect. Kevin feels that there are both pros and cons to this intense phase of transformation. The biggest pro is that it allows you to attract amazing new talent, and the main con is that you lose stellar talent to your competitors. However, he believes in being courteous and respectful to an employees' choice of resignation.

2.     How does RootMetrics manage the personal and professional aspirations of its employees?

RootMetrics provides two paths to growth for its employees: a management tech ladder and a technical tech ladder. The organization encourages its engineering talent to embrace management opportunities when they hire contractors for projects. Kevin says that managing contractors helps engineers to hone their management skills. Moreover, sharing their own work-life and technological experiences with contractors is a good growth opportunity. For example, how they code, how they develop code, organizations, and more. 

3.     Tech leaders on the challenges managing teams: why managing teams doesn’t come easy to everyone.

Kevin believes that the choice largely depends from person to person. Typically, most engineers perceive the change from an individual contributor to a team manager as a drastic change of career track. He says that if you consider your job as a long-term endeavor, then you must embrace the managerial side of the engineering profession. Leading a team as a manager provides you with the opportunity to manage your team’s coding as well as learn from their skills, and elevate your career. Overall, developing managerial skills is important to build a holistic engineering career. Lastly, seeing your team grow in their role is a very fulfilling experience as a manager.

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Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Podcast host: Abhash Kumar

Kevin's career journey from developing a benchmarking program at Texas Instruments to being the CEO of RootMetrics
How did he react to ‘The Great Resignation’ as an employer
Team structure at RootMetrics: From contract-based hires to full-time employees
Changing paradigms of technical skills for engineers
How does RootMetrics manage the personal and professional aspirations of its employees
Tech leaders on the biggest challenges managing teams
How do leaders ensure to not lose sight of the human element
What does the workplace of the future look like: is Zoom the dark ages?
His motivation behind the work he does.