Oh crypto.
It's been a tough year for those of us who want to see a decentralized Web 3 future for finance that rewards creators. The market has dumped, Luna collapsed, and this new FTX misappropriation of funds scandal has deeply rocked the cryptocurrency industry. My heart goes out to those affected by this most recent disaster - and it's a clear sign to me that investors in the space should make sure they're evaluating their risk management strategies. It's a volatile space - don't make the same mistake I did with Luna.
Non FTX crypto news
But there's also a ton of exciting building going on in Web 3! And I've been continuing to interview founders to discuss the innovation happening in crypto.
In fact, our very next Twitter Space is lined up for today at 10:30am PT, 1:30pm ET. Set a reminder and join Shigeo808 and I live as we interview $FLUX's co-founder Daniel Keller.
If you're not able to make Monday's space, don't worry - I'll definitely share a link to the recording in the next edition of TestLab. For now, you can catch up on the most recent space below 👇
On Tuesday, November 8th, Robert Alcorn, CEO and co-founder of Clearpool, joined Shigeo and I on Twitter Spaces. You can tune in to the recording here or read the AMA recap.
Podcasting in person again
The startup I work at, LinearB, has been a hive of activity all year - and I've made two big jumps at work as I'm now co-hosting half of our Dev Interrupted podcast episodes and was promoted to Director over the summer.
We're in an incredibly blessed position having runway and growth combining to let us continue to scale going into 2023 while many tech companies are laying off employees. I feel insanely lucky to be working at such an interesting - and exciting - company in what's a challenging time for many. In recognition of that luck, I'm also building some personal principles around my own capital and how I'm not just investing - but giving back (more on that in Test Lab to start 2023).
For now, here are some of my favorite pieces of engineering leadership content that I've published over the last few months:
Leaders from CircleCI, Blockchain.com & Oliver Wyman, joined me at our 3rd Interact event to discuss how to guide an engineering org through uncertain times.
Mark Cruth, a Modern Work Evangelist, shared Atlassian’s State of Teams Report with me and explained what the findings mean for dev teams everywhere.
Nobody knows what dev teams need to grow and heal than Kelly Vaughn. She joined me for a stellar episode of Dev Interrupted - and this article is one of those that has helped me get more than 125,000 page views on DZone in the last year.
You can also expect to see Dev Interrupted and me on the road in person next year. We've built an in-person experience that we kicked off at September's DevOps Enterprise Summit(DOES) in Las Vegas and which we'll be bringing to major events in 2023. Look out for the Dev Interrupted Dome at your next engineering event - and shoot me a reply if you have an event you think we should be at.
Oh.. ps we eloped
Katherine and I figured the only way we could top going viral in March was to cap our whirlwind year by getting married! We eloped in a private ceremony in August and couldn't be happier.
How to grow your podcast
One final piece of content before I close out this 6th edition of Test Lab - I joined Brad Hammond on The Empathetic Marketer podcast to share my perspective on how to integrate a podcast into your content and demand strategy and discuss how we've grown Dev Interrupted at LinearB. If you're interested in the marketing and science behind podcasts, I definitely recommend checking this one out.
How do you overcome growth barriers with effective marketing strategies? Listen as I uncover effective marketing strategies that have helped LinearB's podcast grow - and share some of the ingredients to our success.
Off to SE Asia
After a crazy quarter of work travel, I'm off to Vietnam and Thailand for two weeks of rest and relaxation with friends. We'll be visiting Hanoi, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City. I'm incredibly excited to sample the cuisine, experience the culture, and explore. Plus, I'm planning to take the time to do some writing and finish up some 2023 goals that I'll be sharing in the 7th (or maybe 8th) edition of this newsletter.
If you've been to either country - I'd love recommendations! Drop me a reply to this email or DM me on Twitter; I'd love to hear from you.
Hope you've been well, and thanks again for staying with me for another edition of TestLab -
Conor
PS - If you find the content in this newsletter interesting - consider forwarding it to a friend who would find it valuable too.