Kelsey Hightower - On retiring as Distinguished Engineer from Google at 42 - Part 2 - #22

Kelsey Hightower recently announced his retirement from Google as a Distinguished Engineer. Prior to his retirement, he was a Distinguished Engineer at Google, where he worked on Google Cloud Platform. He has worn every hat possible throughout his career in tech and enjoys leadership roles focused on making things happen and shipping software. He is a strong open source advocate with a focus on building great software as well as great communities around them. He is also an accomplished author and keynote speaker with a knack for demystifying complex topics, doing live demos and enabling others to succeed. When he is not writing code, you can catch him giving technical workshops covering everything from programming to system administration.

In this second part of the conversation, we focus on Kelsey’s retirement - the financial planning that enabled him to retire at 42, how he got started advising startups and his perspectives on compensation, turning down a substantial offer from Microsoft and meeting Satya Nadella in person. And, of course, plans for the future.

Segments:
[0:00:00] Why retire?

[0:05:43] How do you spend your time if you’re not giving it to the employer?

[0:16:03] Changing the game

[0:21:15] Meaning and Purpose

[0:27:14] How to preserve your identity when there’s no urgency?

[0:36:59] Last conversation with the manager

[0:46:34] Startup advising and how to get started?

[0:54:11] How much to charge for advising?

[1:02:44] Meeting Satya, CEO of Microsoft

[1:14:21] Who do you look up to?

Show Notes:
Kelsey’s retirement announcement on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kelseyhightower/s...

Kelsey on GitHub: https://github.com/kelseyhightower

Music Credits: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...