About Carl Myers

I am a technologist, a humanist, a parent, and an empath. I fell in love with computers before I could ride a bike or write a sentence. I had no way to know at the time that computers would so thoroughly love me back in the form of a life changing opportunity where I have the constant honor of trying to make the world a better place one piece of software at a time. And I get paid to play with computers all day.

I started my career at Amazon.com (circa 2006) , where it really felt like the wider company mission of bringing services like AWS to consumers was changing the way everyone built software for the better. I also was extremely proud of my immediate team’s mission, to provide world-class development tools to the many thousands of engineers working at Amazon.

I next worked at Palantir (circa 2009) , where the mission seemed even more direct and critical. It is important to explain that in 2009, Palantir was completely focused on one thing: Using technology to enable humans and computers to work together optimally to solve problems which neither could solve on their own. Doing so delivered billions of dollars of value, saved millions of lives, and made a positive difference in the world. Today the mission is much the same, though directionally some changes are deeply concerning.

I went on to work for a few different companies with important missions, like Cloudera. Then I settled at Indeed.com , where I both directly and indirectly supported one of the most important missions in the world - helping people get jobs. A job means different things to everyone, some see it as a lifeline, a purpose, a means of freedom or independence, or the ability to flourish. Whatever a job means to you, it is clear that opportunity is not distributed equally. Helping all people get jobs, especially those for whom opportunities must be hard-won, is a calling I am perhaps most proud of. As a member of an Engineering Platform team, I didn’t just help people get jobs, “I helped people to help people get jobs”, supporting all the fantastic builders at Indeed.

Today I work for a company I don’t name publicly, doing the same sorts of things I’ve done throughout my career, building platforms and tools that empower engineers to deliver value quickly and safely while learning and growing. This company also has an important mission, to bring people together and enable people to build a business and make a living.

Whether I am writing code and designing software, helping architect large systems, or architecting the most complex and valuable systems of all - engineering teams themselves, as a manager - I am most happy when I am making a big impact and serving a mission that matters.

It is also important to me to live and work by a coherent and effective set of rules. I believe that truth matters, diversity is a superpower, and most people are inherently good most of the time. This can mean assuming good intent and listening when a customer complains about a product feature, working to surface a variety of diverse views, or even just putting people first. This is how you create and retain the most productive teams and empower people to do their best work.