How to hire normal engineers and help them do great work with Charity Majors from Honeycomb

In this episode of Engineering Unblocked, Rebecca talks with Charity Majors, CTO of Honeycomb, to explore the myths of engineering productivity and the importance of building systems that enable “normal” engineers to succeed.

Charity Majors tears down the myths of engineering exceptionalism — challenging the tech industry's worship of “10x developers” and advocating for systems that empower everyday engineers. She reveals how true organizational effectiveness emerges from resilient teams and a genuine connection between technical work and business strategy.

Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/charity-majors-honeycomb/

Timestamps

(0:00) Introductions
(1:26) Hiring normal engineers over the '10x developer'
(4:40) The fundamental attribution error: looking at individuals over the system
(6:24) What non-engineering leadership need to know about engineering
(7:28) The ingredients of a normal-engineer optimized system
(8:40) Why diverse teams are resilient teams
(9:26) What creates 10x leverage?
(11:42) Developer productivity metrics and what actually matters
(14:20) Charity's take on the 'sh*t umbrella' school of management
(16:30) How Honeycomb creates space for productivity to happen
(19:28) The IC to manager journey
(21:44) Why becoming a manager out of reaction can harm your team
(23:19) Is the engineering manager level being eliminated?
(25:23) Going back to being an IC isn't career limiting
(30:45) Why Charity chooses to speak up and out
(32:00) Charity's current hot-not-hot-take on the software industry

Follow Charity on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charity-majors/

Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/