Personality Over Skillset: How Adam Wachtel Builds Engineering Teams

Personality Over Skillset: How Adam Wachtel Builds Engineering Teams

Author: InfoQ September 4, 2026 Duration: 19:53
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Adam Wachtel, CTO at Click Boarding, about hiring for personality and problem-solving over pure skillset, turning around a platform and team in crisis, and how AI is reshaping team size and composition without ending SAAS. Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4qDkrDU Newsletter: Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work: https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter InfoQ Online Certification Programs: 5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more: https://certification.qconferences.com/ Upcoming Events: QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026) https://qconsf.com/ QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027) https://qconlondon.com/ The InfoQ Podcasts: Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts: The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/ Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/ Follow InfoQ: Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq X: https://x.com/InfoQ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

For anyone who's ever wondered how the best tech teams actually work, Engineering Culture by InfoQ offers a rare look behind the curtain. This isn't about abstract theories; it's a weekly conversation grounded in the real-world challenges of building and sustaining effective engineering environments. Each episode features candid discussions with the people shaping these cultures-CTOs from Netflix, engineering directors from Uber, and other seasoned leaders from across the industry. They share their hard-won insights on what truly fosters high performance, collaboration, and innovation beyond just code. The focus is on the human systems, the processes that succeed or fail, and the leadership philosophies that turn a group of talented individuals into a cohesive, impactful unit. With over half a million listens, this podcast has become a trusted resource for engineers, architects, and team leads seeking practical inspiration. You'll hear specific stories about navigating technical debt, scaling teams without losing quality, and creating spaces where great work can happen. Tune in to move beyond the technical tutorial and into the nuanced art of building something that lasts.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Engineering Culture by InfoQ
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