A Phoenix's Path to Principal

From implementing minesweeper on a TI calculator to becoming a prolific open source maintainer, Evan Phoenix has had quite the journey. In this week's episode, Matt & Angelica sit down with Evan to discuss his journey, from his early days writing basic on his TI calculator, to writing an alternative implementation of Ruby, being GitHub user #7, becoming a Principal Engineer at Hashicorp, starting his own company (with his wife!), and so much more. This episode is packed with life lessons and advice helpful for everyone, from the most junior of engineers to the most seasoned VPs.

A few of the chapters of this week's episode are supporter only content, including long conversations about Evan's involvement with Ruby and a deep discussion of his interesting habit of being an early adopter. Get access by signing up at https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe.

Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

Notes:

• Miren
• Rubinius

Table of Contents:

• Prologue (01:11)
• Chapter 1: The Beginning (02:34)
• Chapter 2: Building In Open Source [Supporter Exclusive] (28:26)
• Chapter 3: The Path To Principal (29:27)
• Chapter 4: Post Hashicorp (54:21)
• Chapter 5: Miren (01:00:31)
• Chapter 6: Being Early [Supporter Exclusive] (01:05:37)
• Chapter 7: East vs West [Supporter Exclusive] (01:05:37)
• Chapter 8: Remote vs In Office [Supporter Exclusive] (01:05:37)
• Chapter 9: Life With Work (01:07:09)
• Chapter 10: The Open Source Funding Problem (01:25:36)
• Epilogue (01:34:16)

Hosts

• Matthew Sanabria - Host
• Angelica Hill - Producer
• Kris Brandow - Producer
• Evan Phoenix - Guest

Socials:

• Website
• Bluesky
• Threads
• X/Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

• (01:11) - Prologue
• (02:34) - Chapter 1: The Beginning
• (28:26) - Chapter 2: Building In Open Source [Supporter Exclusive]
• (29:27) - Chapter 3: The Path To Principal
• (54:21) - Chapter 4: Post Hashicorp
• (01:00:31) - Chapter 5: Miren
• (01:05:37) - Chapter 6: Being Early [Supporter Exclusive]
• (01:05:37) - Chapter 7: East vs West [Supporter Exclusive]
• (01:05:37) - Chapter 8: Remote vs In Office [Supporter Exclusive]
• (01:07:09) - Chapter 9: Life With Work
• (01:25:36) - Chapter 10: The Open Source Funding Problem
• (01:34:16) - Epilogue