---
aliases: ["Podcast recording — 2025-05-22"]
Is A: Event
Date: "2025-05-22"
Belongs to: "[[2025-05]]"
Related to: ["[[person-james-murphy]]"]
Tags: ["Work", "Podcast"]
---
# Podcast recording — 2025-05-22
Recorded episode with James Murphy. Great conversation.

## Notes
- Episode theme: third session with James — focused on engineering career ladders and how to design progression frameworks that work for individual contributors and managers without creating artificial hierarchies
- James shared the IC career ladder overhaul his organization completed, moving from a traditional level-based system to a competency matrix that allows engineers to grow in multiple dimensions without requiring management responsibility
- His candid discussion of the mistakes they made in the first two iterations of the ladder — including levels that existed on paper but had no real difference in scope or expectations — made the conversation practically useful for anyone building or revising their own career framework
- Strong session that rounds out James's recurring guest arc nicely; the combination of remote work, team rituals, and now career design gives listeners a comprehensive view of his organizational philosophy
- Standout quote: "If your staff engineer title is just a reward for tenure rather than a description of impact, you have created a participation trophy system that devalues the role for everyone"
- Clean audio; James continues to have a reliable home office setup

## Follow-up
- [ ] Send thank-you email to James
- [ ] Draft show notes with a sample competency matrix framework
- [ ] Schedule editing with [[person-paco-furiani]]
