Chief Investment Officer, Ambac Financial
Search every verified Eric Johnson interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2021 AMA, Eric Johnson, then serving as Chief Technology Officer at GitLab, discussed the company's engineering priorities and his personal background. He stated that the manage team was "working almost exclusively on tightening up security," resulting in limited velocity in other planning features. Johnson expressed interest in GitLab using more of its own planning tools internally, including portfolio management and a long-term Gantt chart. He also noted that back-end engineers were focused on availability work, while front-end staff, UX, and product managers were addressing UI components, UX debt, and competitive analysis. Johnson, who holds a philosophy degree, remarked that liberal arts backgrounds are over-represented in Silicon Valley engineering management and that tech companies remain entrepreneurial, allowing people to get jobs based on ability rather than credentials. He discussed GitLab's engineering mentorship program aimed at bringing tech jobs to sub-Saharan Africa. On a personal note, Johnson said he was a "really anxious kid" who burned out trying to be perfect, and that learning to step back and recognize that "things aren't a disaster" was a learned behavior. He also mentioned that having young children had paused his hobbyist programming, but he hoped to refresh his technical skills, potentially learning Rust, as his children grow older.
“For the manage team in particular I know they're working almost exclusively on tightening up security at the moment, so there isn't a lot of velocity coming there, but plan is broader than that. I'd like to see us use more of our plan stuff internally, including portfolio management and eventually a long-term Gantt cha...”
“We've had a lot of talk about engineering allocations and how that impacts different teams. Back-end engineers are working almost exclusively on availability work in the short term, while front-end folks, UX, and PMs have plenty of work like converting UI components, addressing UX debt, forward-looking research, and co...”
“As a global company, we must be mindful that while in the US many people are vaccinated, many team members in other countries have zero access to vaccines. This affects global decisions, especially about travel, and is why we didn't hold an employee conference this year.”
“We're confident in the vaccine technology; my wife and I have been vaccinated since late April, and our children are participating in clinical trials. Despite this, we remain very conservative with social interactions, especially with our youngest children, maintaining distance and limiting contact.”
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