OpenAI & Meta Distinguished Eng (IC9): The Psychology Behind Tech Career Peaks | Philip Su

Philip Su grew quickly to a Distinguished Engineer at Facebook and OpenAI. We talked about the psychology behind peaking in a tech career and the pressure at the highest levels.• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/• The Kickstarter page for it: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanlpeterman/compose-simple-ergonomics-beautifully-donePodcast links:• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMo04pSSiao• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/openai-and-meta-distinguished-engThank you to this episode's sponsors for supporting my work:• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/• Jira by Atlassian: Get more work done with your favorite agents and models all in one place, check them out at https://jira.dev/Timestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:37) Growth past IC9(05:39) Motivation changes over his career(11:36) Asking to not be promoted(17:33) What made it hard to sustain IC9 performance(22:22) What motivated him outside of promos(26:21) Is career advice useless(29:34) Motivation after you've hit FIRE(36:08) Meaning and fulfillment(38:17) Top book recommendation(40:14) What he would change(43:24) OutroWhere to find Philip:• Substack newsletter: https://molochinations.substack.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suphilip/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/philipsuWhere to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpetermanReferenced in this episode:• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374715243/fourthousandweeks/