Coffee Chat With Andrew Chan, Director of Engineering

Translating two billion cloud and Internet telemetry measurements into actionable insights for businesses and organizations worldwide is no small feat. It takes a team of engineers with unparalleled expertise to make sense of the data in real time and troubleshoot issues as they arise. It also requires a knowledge base that can gain recognition from top industry events, like SREcon–a recent accomplishment by our colleague Ricard Bejarano. 

ThousandEyes is committed to maintaining its engineering success and excellence, and as such, we are thrilled to introduce Andrew Chan as our newest Director of Engineering. In this edition of our Coffee Chat series, I had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew and delve into his journey to the team, his ideas for its future direction, and his philosophy on team culture and leadership. 

Andrew: In my new role as Engineering Director, I will lead the team and drive the Cloud and Enterprise Agent portfolio charter, reporting directly to Nelson Rodrigues. And as I improve my understanding of the teams, I will help manage and align our planning and prioritization so we can be more predictable in delivering our product updates.

I will also be helping the teams bring new functionality to Cloud and Enterprise Agents while focusing on maintaining a high level of engineering excellence, which is necessary for any organization serious about meeting and exceeding customer expectations. 

Andrew: The technology, the momentum in the market, and ThousandEyes' culture attracted me. ThousandEyes' technology is elevating how companies use network and application insights to be more efficient, make customer experiences more seamless, and improve workers' productivity. Marketwise, the large-scale shift toward aaS (as a service) is a huge business opportunity that will provide flexibility and resilience to our collective systems.

And from a cultural perspective: The ownership and pride that ThousandEyes engineers take in their work was visible from the start—a key point of attraction for me! The size of our engineering team also feels just right for offering individual engineers opportunities for meaningful impact while ensuring that everyone has access to mentors who can help them grow professionally (and personally).

Andrew: When you are growing as fast as we are, you must constantly think about how your product will scale. As a SaaS (Software as a Service) provider, our customers continually look to us for continuous innovation to sustain their businesses.

This year alone, ThousandEyes has onboarded hundreds of new customers. That kind of expansion creates an enormous demand for our engineering resources. More people using the product means more requirements for the product. More requirements mean more features. And more of both means more inputs on ways our product can be used and evolve.

Andrew: As a new member of the ThousandEyes engineering team, I am interested in helping build up and support a team culture that is transparent and safe. Teams should feel secure in not having all the answers and coming together to solve the problem at hand. 

While having a foundational understanding is crucial in engineering, I also value characteristics such as empathy, teamwork, and a strong drive for impact, which can often lead to more meaningful results.

One of the most critical components of the team culture I intend to foster is a shared alignment of our overall vision. Establishing clear expectations can do wonders for promoting unity, minimizing confusion, and simplifying the decision-making process.