WWCode Podcast #17 Erica Lockheimer, VP Engineering at LinkedIn Talent Solutions

Jear Jujaroen, lead at Women Who Code and Senior Software Engineer at BACH, interviews Erica Lockheimer, VP of Engineering at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, LinkedIn Learning, and Glint. They discuss the journey from individual contributor to manager, what Erica is currently working on at LinkedIn, her passions, and her day-to-day life. 

 

Tell me how you got started in tech?

 

My path was a bit crooked in many ways. It was my math teacher who suggested taking an AP class in Basic and Pascal programming. I remember building a simple tic-tac-toe game in black and white. I was able to control it and create outcomes. That was really a catalyst that sparked my interest. I'll be honest, I got out of it after that. 

 

I went to junior college and decided I needed to do my undergrad. I'm good at math, so I considered accounting. Thank goodness I didn't go into that, I don't think I'd be really great at it. I remember walking the halls of San Jose State and they had this brand new, shiny building. I walked in and saw a showcase, the Society of Women Engineers. It was that moment, that's really how I chose my major. It was a sense of belonging. 

 

You started as an individual contributor and you've held many different titles in engineering management. What was your journey like going from being an individual contributor to a manager?

 

I remember going to interview after interview and basically failing. During the dot-com days, if you could put a website up, you were a genius. I majored in computer engineering. The internet was brand new at that time, so I taught myself front-end programming. In an interview, I showed them that, "Hey, I built this," and I felt like I fooled them because I was hired. I really enjoyed it, but it was really hard for me. I'm not great at front-end development, back-end was where I thrived.

 

I loved being an engineer. I started to say yes to every opportunity that was given to me. I started becoming more intentional about my career. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do a project all by myself. I asked my boss to do a project. It was getting server detailed stats that he could present to the board of how the service was working on how we're delivering email and calendar data. I worked on it really hard, but made a rookie mistake and deleted all my code. I remember going to my boss and telling him what I'd done and telling him I could get it done in two days. It's amazing as an engineer, code stays in your memory. I was able to recover when I had failed. He went to a startup company and he asked me to join. He believed in me, he invested in me, and I was at Good Technology for nine years. 

 

When I got to a senior engineer, I started paying attention to what our customers needed and what the business needed. We take for granted getting email and calendar data on our iPhones and our Androids. Back then it was my job to take encrypted email and calendar data from a Microsoft Exchange server over the cloud onto these devices. When the server that I built would go down or break, work stopped. I really enjoyed understanding what the true problems were and figuring out the solution. 

 

I took some time off work when I had my child. My boss called me. I was afraid of getting laid off, but he said, "Hey, you know what? You are already managing the team, you're already doing it organically. We're going to do a reorg and we'd love for you to lead the team." I stumbled into management in that way. I stayed on that path of management and grew. I wanted to stay close to the business, close to the strategy, but also build at the same time and not let go of that.

 

I'd love to hear a little bit more about your current role, your passion, and LinkedIn. 

 

I've been at LinkedIn for 11 years. I've done many different things. I started off leading the growth team from the ground up. I moved over to LinkedIn Learning and have taken on Talent Solutions and Glint. These three lines of business at LinkedIn represent more than half of our revenue. I stay at LinkedIn because I'm passionate about the work.

 

There are some exciting things that we've done and that I've been part of. One thing that we just launched you can learn about on LinkedIn and opportunity.linkedin.com. We want to look at hiring in a different way. We want your skills to be your currency. It doesn't matter what school you went to, or if you went to a boot camp or some academy. With Skills Path, we partner with companies and assess job seekers on their skills. We'll fast-track them to an interview because they showcased skills the company is seeking. 

 

How are you creating or helping people build leadership in tech?

 

I make sure that when I create a team, I'm creating a team where every individual feels invested. I understand what skills they want to work on. I also look at the make-up of my team to make sure that it's diverse. I have over 50% women on my leadership bench. I am very intentional. The talent side is really important for me. Not only diversity when it comes to race or gender, I also want diversity of thought. I don't need a bunch of extroverts or a bunch of introverts, I need a balance. You also have to look at your own biases that may creep in. It's really easy to just be comfortable with people that are like you and hire the same. 

 

I have a Leadership in Tech course. I was leading LinkedIn Learning where we have instructors and learners. We have an amazing production team. It's like Hollywood where they have sets and they're recording all this content. A content manager reached out to me and she said, "Hey, I think it would be great if you created a course. Talk about your leadership." I said yes. I decided to interview all the leaders within LinkedIn and a few outside of LinkedIn that influenced me in my career and we created a course.

 

How do you juggle work-life balance, raising two children, being a full-time mother, and also having a full-time job?

 

I also have two dogs, two lizards, and five chickens. I do a lot. You're asking the million-dollar question that everybody is trying to figure out. It's a constant change of iteration. I almost quit after I had a baby because it was just a lot. I didn't know how to balance. I really wanted to work. I was stuck between two passions. My mom said that it's about quality of time, not the quantity of time and she convinced me to continue on my path. It's also important to find the right partner if you decide to have children.

 

I had a lot of help. I outsourced everything besides love. What my children needed from me when they were babies was very different from what they need from me today. I make sure, unless it's required and absolutely necessary, that I don't take meetings before 10:00. I get my run in the mornings. I also need to take care of myself. I take the kids to school. I have my time to focus on work and then when I come back from work, it's all about the kids. I don't work on the weekends unless something crazy happens. Boundaries are so, so important.

What advice or pro-tip do you have for women to be successful in tech?

 

Ask for feedback. It is how you grow. Ask several people you trust. It's data, it's information, so it doesn't mean that person's opinion is the right opinion. It's a perspective and feedback's a gift. You could take it or leave it, but definitely ask for it. 

 

Join communities, like Women Who Code. Start talking to people. Get advice. I don’t have one mentor, I have a board of mentors. When you see someone doing something well, ask for 15 minutes of their time. Asking someone to be your mentor is a commitment, but a 15-minute chat or 30-minute coffee, that's not going to be a big ask.

 

Be intentional about the skills you wanna learn. Talk to your manager, talk to your peers and plant those seeds so that when opportunities come up they know to give it to you.