# The Journey to Code Mastery w/ Marqeta's CTO, Randy Kern | Dev Interrupted Powered by LinearB

> Randy Kern, CTO at Marqeta, reminds us why we fell in love with coding in the first place with his recipe for curiosity and fun.

[Podcast](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcasts)

/

The Journey to Code Mastery w/ Marqeta's CTO, Randy Kern

# The Journey to Code Mastery w/ Marqeta's CTO, Randy Kern

By Randy Kern

|

January 17, 2023

![Randy_Kern_Podcast_Card_01f0136030](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1720000000/Randy_Kern_Podcast_Card_01f0136030.png)

Randy Kern, CTO at Marqeta, thinks that every engineer should "go deep" - all the way to understanding the transistors if you have to. He implores us never to be satisfied with black boxes, believing that it's not only risky not to understand what your code is really doing, but it's not fun either.

We love this episode because Randy's joy is infectious. He reminds us why we got into software engineering in the first place. If you've been looking for a reminder yourself, this is the episode for you.

### Episode Highlights:

* (2:37) Randy's start in tech
* (8:20) New to a team? Spend a month fixing bugs
* (15:38) Learning as you go
* (23:59) What every engineer should know
* (30:37) It takes bifocals to build software
* (34:02) Tips for managers
* (40:46) Building enterprise teams

###### **Want to cut code-review time by up to 40%? Add estimated review time to pull requests automatically!**

gitStream is the free dev tool from LinearB that eliminates the No. 1 bottleneck in your team’s workflow: pull requests and code reviews. After reviewing the work of 2,000 dev teams, LinearB’s engineers and data scientists found that pickup times and code review were lasting 4 to 5 days longer than they should be. 

The good news is that they found these delays could be eliminated largely by adding estimated review time to pull requests!

Learn more about how gitStream is making coding better [HERE](https://linearb.io/dev/gitstream/?utm%5Fsource=Dev%20Interrupted&utm%5Fmedium=referral[…]gitStream%20-%20Referral%20-%20Dev%20Interrupted%20Show%20Notes).

[![Setup gitStream on your GitHub repo today](https://assets.linearb.io/uploads/gitstream-beta-cta-centered-2-1024x538.png)](https://linearb.io/dev/gitstream/?utm%5Fsource=Dev%20Interrupted&utm%5Fmedium=referral[…]gitStream%20-%20Referral%20-%20Dev%20Interrupted%20Show%20Notes)

## Real conversations with top engineering leaders

Find us on

[](https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/dev-interrupted/)
[](https://devinterrupted.substack.com/)

## Your next listen

[![Cover image for How to see in the dark factory | LaunchDarkly's Cameron Etezadi](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1784046149/Blog_Comprehensive_DORA_Guide_2400x1256_66_6f6a37357d.png)](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcast/launchdarkly-cameron-etezadi-dark-factory-agent-runtime-frameworks)

Dev Interrupted

[How to see in the dark factory | LaunchDarkly's Cameron Etezadi](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcast/launchdarkly-cameron-etezadi-dark-factory-agent-runtime-frameworks)

LaunchDarkly CTO Cameron Etezadi joins the show to discuss why the traditional "two-pizza" engineering team is dead. Discover how runtime agent frameworks and...

[![Cover image for How to cultivate expertise with local models, delegating to subagents, and we all really stopped reading, huh?](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1783713488/local_ai_expertise_subagents_delegation_strategies_616640e057.png)](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcast/open-source-glm-models-local-ai-coding-protecting-first-brain)

Dev Interrupted

[How to cultivate expertise with local models, delegating to subagents, and we all really stopped reading, huh?](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcast/open-source-glm-models-local-ai-coding-protecting-first-brain)

This week on the Friday Deploy, Ben and Andrew break down the rise of highly capable open-source models like GLM 5.2 and the reality of running local AI for...

[![Cover image for Agents moved where the work happens (and using MCP to find it again) | Slack’s Jaime DeLanghe](https://assets.linearb.io/image/upload/v1783439082/Blog_Comprehensive_DORA_Guide_2400x1256_64_6cce610131.png)](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcast/slack-jaime-delanghe-agentic-workflows-model-context-protocol)

Dev Interrupted

[Agents moved where the work happens (and using MCP to find it again) | Slack’s Jaime DeLanghe](https://linearb.io/dev-interrupted/podcast/slack-jaime-delanghe-agentic-workflows-model-context-protocol)

Slack’s CPO Jaime DeLanghe joins the show to discuss why enterprise AI value depends on embedding custom bots directly into team communication loops. Discover...