{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Fcba9639b-fb93-4332-b9c7-31e4f3e0314c","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"EP 01 | Rija Javed - Silicon Valley CTO","description":"Silicon Valley CTO shares top 3 secrets for building high-performance engineering teams\n\nGrowing elite engineering teams is a tough challenge in today\u2019s ultra-competitive IT recruitment landscape.\n\nExperienced tech leader Rija Javed, who has built and run engineering teams for high-profile FinTech organisations such as WealthFront and MarketFinance, shares her top tips in our recent podcast. \n\n1.\tDon\u2019t hire for skills, hire for people.\nFirst and foremost, in terms of actually having that truly growing and thriving culture, you need a culture that actually values people. \nSkills can be learned but the quality people will always be hungry to learn and develop themselves to acquire the right skills. I think as human beings, no matter what we\u2019re doing personally and professionally, we should always want to be learning and growing in life. \nAt least for myself, I always want to be the dumbest person in the room!\n\n2. The best engineering cultures see technology as the driving force of the business.\nBut I think one of the key differences is that in the Silicon Valley, you have technologists at the VC and founder level, who are trying to disrupt the traditional industry. \nVersus in London, as well as other scenes that I\u2019ve seen in Europe, particularly, say Berlin and Amsterdam, so many other places. \nYou tend to have people from traditional industry and London is quite a few people from traditional finance, that are trying to disrupt that industry. \nAnd they\u2019re coming from places where, there\u2019s not much of a concept of tech. They just think of them as this IT lackey for them. Their mental models are often totally different. The cultural values that in a lot of cases, that they\u2019re coming from are totally different. The world that I always grew up in, the Bay area was more that, it\u2019s the people that make the difference, but it\u2019s not an NGO, it\u2019s not a volunteer service, or whatever. \nSo, you\u2019ve got to ultimately value that people. \nAnd engineering is, in tech, is more than just writing code. \nFor me, the reason why I have been attracted to start-ups is, that it allows me the ability to ultimately become a business leader. \nAnd I\u2019m not just, there\u2019s somebody behind the scenes and thinking of it as tech. \nI\u2019m thinking about it, overall, for the whole business as it may be. That\u2019s just such a big difference based on the companies I\u2019ve chatted to the founders. \nAs well as, even the VCs where they\u2019re coming from and what they\u2019re actually, how they\u2019re vouching. We\u2019re looking at some of these companies. \nSo, for me, that\u2019s the big difference. I think there\u2019s still quite a few years for London, and the rest of the European tech scene to catch up in terms of that development.\n\n3. It\u2019s the job of a manager to make those around you successful\nFor me, a management relationship or the job of the manager, no matter what title or role you\u2019re at, it is your job is to make these people successful. \nSo, figure them out, figure their personalities out. What are their strengths, where there is improvement? \nAnd what exactly are they motivations? \nFor some folks it might be that, I want to work on the most technically, challenging things? Or are there things that\u2019s just that, I really care about the people that I work with, and I want to make sure that, that\u2019s a, enjoyable environment. \n\nFor other people, it may be that I just want to work on whatever the client\u2019s facing, the biggest PR thing is going to be for the company. So, try to figure that out.\n\nRija Javed is CTO of business finance specialist Market Finance.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/2e353e83-7955-487b-9b97-9a7afeec4206/artworks-lczxa24rvialhrny-rwhexw-t3000x3000.jpg"}