Staying Current and Leveling Up on the Go
At Upside Business Travel, we know how lucky we are to work with an inspiring, cutting edge CTO in Emily Dresner. Emily is passionate about cutting edge technology, passionate about staying current and most of all, passionate about her team.
Earlier this week, Women Who Code DC hosted a “Level Up Tech” event featuring panelists Jess Szmadja, CTO, Axios; Souj Narasimhacharya, Head of Data Engineering, On Deck Capital; Victoria Au, Director of Engineering, On Deck Capital; and our own, Emily Dresner, CTO Upside Business Travel. Emily and her fellow panelists spent the evening providing their tips and tricks for “leveling up,” staying current and maximizing the (too few) hours in each day.
Emily inspired us by sharing her beliefs that people build technology and teams are what take a product from good to great and Jess’ tips for what to do for when you feel “stuck” and what makes a great new hire left us in awe.
Still buzzing from a motivating event, we decided to ask Emily to share some of the ways she carves out time to stay current and keep on top of industry trends when her days are busier than busy.
- First, I purposefully carve out time on Fridays. I have very little time during the week to absorb information, so I dedicate a part of my schedule to keeping up.
- Second, I read a ton of newsletters. I can read them on any device. They’re timely. They give me information in digestible bits. Everything I follow:
- Exponential View
- Benedict Evans
- Andreessen Horowitz
- Rob at Tech Beacon
- Import AI
- DevOps Weekly
- Inside Dev/AI/Cloud
- The Download from MIT
- Will Larson’s Irrational Exuberance
3. Third, I read all the normal RSS Feeds one would expect: Ars Technica, Engadget, Fast Company, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, and Wired.
4. Fourth, since I have a long commute, I load up on podcasts. I prefer podcasts that talk about tech and society or startups. Some I like are: Recode/Decode, Artificial Intelligence with Lex Fridman, Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman, Future State, Reply All, and How I Built This with Guy Rav
That is how I, who has little time, keeps current on the evermoving currents of the tech industry!
Looks like we’ve got some reading to do — but before we start scouring these awesome newsletters; what are some of your best time saving tips? How do you stay at the cutting edge of your industry?
Do you want to work with an inspiring CTO like Emily? Check out our careers page!
