About John DiFini

John DiFini is a technology leader and mentor with over 24 years of experience. Most of his experience has been leading and growing software engineers, but he has also managed infrastructure departments. Recent roles include CTO, VP of Software Engineering, and Software Engineering Manager. In his current role as VP of Engineering, he oversees 3 software engineering teams including 30 employees and contractors across 7 countries.

Regardless of the role, John’s leadership goals are to:

  • Make an impact

  • Recruit & retain top talent

  • Inspire delightful UI/UX

  • Empower autonomous teams

  • Influence corporate culture

  • Get things done

John earned his first technical stripes with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, specializing in “Computer Science for Medicine” (Bioinformatics). He earned his professional chops at the Chicago Board of Trade and Goldman Sachs, developing C/C++ apps on Linux/Unix systems. Both engagements required building systems that were fault-tolerant and high-throughput.

Roughly speaking, John’s career has progressed from a Software Engineer to a Team Lead to a Software Engineering Manager to a CTO. Not only have his leadership and management skills grown with on-the-job experience, but they have also grown with “off-duty” learning. John is a lifelong learner, and he uses podcasts to quench his curiosity and to keep up with industry trends. Much of the content on this blog is from podcasts that John found interesting.

John‘s favorite topics to blog about are the culture and principles that served as the foundations of ultra-successful tech companies. His favorite tenants from those companies include:

  • Hire smart, ambitious, and creative talent – Google and PayPal

  • Create products that are simple and elegant, eye-catching, and have a wow-factor – Apple and Google

  • Build a culture that favors autonomy, thinking big, and moving fast – Tesla and Google

Check out my most recent posts.

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