WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760 My name is Kyle. I've been here almost three years. I was originally hired to work on the screwdriver. 00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:07.960 I am now the engineering manager of Crater Warehouse. 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:12.880 And, you know, I lead a growing design team of engineers. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:19.600 And we keep filling positions to kind of make Linus' crazy ideas realities. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:25.120 My favorite part about working here is we basically get full autonomy 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:28.760 on how to implement Linus' crazy ideas, 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:32.640 which is actually already refreshing from a design point of view. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:37.400 So the way it works in Crater Warehouse is Linus is kind of the creative director. 00:00:37.400 --> 00:00:41.320 He's like the be-all and end-all of kind of what we create. 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:48.280 But he gives us a lot of freedom on how that creation comes to be, if that makes sense. 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:53.880 So while he will say these are the specs it needs to kind of meet 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:59.600 in order for him to be happy with it, we get to figure out how that happens and then present a term. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:03.800 And he's like, yeah, this is good, or it's not. And we have to go back to the drawing board. 00:01:03.800 --> 00:01:08.680 But having that freedom and not being told, like, minute by minute, 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:11.720 this is what you're doing is kind of really great. 00:01:11.720 --> 00:01:16.480 I mean, I do live far away, so I do have to travel, like, a decent amount of time in. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:20.240 But, like, I listen to audiobooks, so it's not really that bad. 00:01:21.080 --> 00:01:28.320 We're growing pretty fast right now, and that presents a bunch of challenges 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:33.080 in terms of, like, getting systems in place. I don't really think that's a negative thing. 00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:40.000 That's just something we have to push through. Sometimes Linus comes up with really crazy ideas, like, really dumb ones. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.280 And sometimes we have to end up doing them. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:46.600 That's not bad. It's just, like, weird. 00:01:46.600 --> 00:01:53.160 No, I can't really think of anything, like, really bad. 00:01:53.160 --> 00:01:56.160 Parking sucks. 00:01:56.160 --> 00:02:00.520 It used to suck before we moved half the people out. 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:09.000 Yeah, I can take it back from the first day I met Linus in my interview. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:15.320 We just ended up, like, having, like, arguments against each other on product design 00:02:15.320 --> 00:02:20.000 was really interesting. It was one of the weirdest interviews I've ever been in in my entire life. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.160 I think that's kind of par for the course. If you watch the previous video on this, you will find a lot of interesting stories 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:29.760 about first interviews or first meeting Linus. 00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:34.600 My first day working here, I was in a 45-minute meeting with him, 00:02:34.600 --> 00:02:39.600 and he unloaded all his project ideas that he wanted me to work on. 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:44.000 Later which I found out, most of them were passed down and, like, rejected by every 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.880 single other designer before me, and then it's like, I just got the leftovers. 00:02:47.880 --> 00:02:54.280 I leaked one of them in my Floatplane exclusive, The Lider. 00:02:54.280 --> 00:03:00.240 I don't know if you've ever seen The Lider. If you haven't, go to Floatplane and check it out. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:03.880 It was one of his, it was one of the moments where I was like, 00:03:03.880 --> 00:03:08.280 what did I do quitting my previous job and coming to design stuff for Linus? 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:11.960 It was one of those ones where it's like, this project is legitimately stupid. 00:03:12.920 --> 00:03:22.720 But no, then we did screwdriver and it was cool. But working with Linus is really interesting. 00:03:22.720 --> 00:03:27.680 When I'm training new designers on my team to work with Linus, 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:30.840 the first thing I say is, don't tell him no, right? 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:34.080 Like, he's going to come with you with an idea and he's going to be super passionate about it. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:39.520 And your job is not to say no, but it's to give him every single reason why not to do it, 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:46.200 or if it's not a dumb idea, what challenges present him in going the path that he chooses, right? 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:54.160 It's kind of like diverting his attention into a channel rather than him doing a shotgun of like, 00:03:54.160 --> 00:04:01.360 this is what it should be. So working with Linus is like trying to guide a river sometimes. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:07.360 It's like, you can't stop it, but you might be able to get it to move in a particular direction. 00:04:07.400 --> 00:04:17.520 There's a lot of energy behind it as well. So to put it in perspective, when I was hired, I was the 26th employee of Linus Media Group, Umbrella, right? 00:04:17.520 --> 00:04:23.000 So there was only 26, like 25 other people other than me. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:30.280 Creator Warehouse was myself, Nick, Sarah, Lloyd, and a brand new customer support person called Nolan. 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:34.160 Both of us, both of me and him started at the same time. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:39.600 That was 26 people three years ago, right? LMG as the Umbrella is way over 100 people right now. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:48.440 Creator Warehouse as a team is now almost the size of the company when I started, right? 00:04:48.440 --> 00:04:55.960 So to say it's a night and day difference between when I started is probably a bit of an understatement. 00:04:55.960 --> 00:05:00.160 And if you probably talk to people who've been here longer, they'll have more of a story. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:04.800 But it kind of went from a small to like a big company. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:09.080 It's technically still counts as a medium, but it feels like a lot bigger company. 00:05:09.080 --> 00:05:18.040 Like I knew everyone's face like two years ago, there are still times I have to do double takes when I walk past people, right? 00:05:18.040 --> 00:05:27.000 And it's like, huh, that's interesting. And then as you grow that rapidly, you have to start dealing with like real company stuff. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:32.200 Like, hey, we need a system for this because it's almost like unmanageable by a single person. 00:05:32.200 --> 00:05:37.680 Or, you know, we have 26 people. Where the heck are we going to park? 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:44.120 Oh, we need a bigger building. Oh, now there's like, you know, double the amount of people using the shop. 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:51.560 So that means there's triple the amount of mess. So just stuff like that. 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:57.040 I wasn't here for that long in the used to be stage, right? 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:00.800 By the time I was at the end of my first year, we were already over 50, right? 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:06.200 50, 60, right? So like, I didn't get a lot of that. 00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:12.600 And I think that close knit company is now just close knit teams, right? 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:20.560 Because the teams are now the size of the company used to be. So like Creator Warehouse will be more integrated with themselves as they will with the rest of LMG. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.800 So like LMG used to be one big thing and we all used to interact. 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:29.800 Now LMG has their own spot. Creator Warehouse has their own spot. 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:36.840 Flowplan has their own spots. So while teams are connected in the same way that they used to be in the old days, 00:06:36.840 --> 00:06:43.360 I think as a company, there's still a little bit of a, hey, that person's in you. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:46.440 Never seen them before. Talk to them like once, right? 00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:51.160 So I don't think missing is the right word. 00:06:51.160 --> 00:06:55.160 It's like, this is the natural course of a company doing very well. 00:06:55.160 --> 00:07:00.240 And you can change as inevitable and you kind of just have to roll with it. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:05.240 There's no real use dwelling on the past. You just kind of have to send it forward. 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:12.520 Nothing pisses me off day to day though. Like, I don't know, maybe I just have a, maybe I have a unique mindset. 00:07:12.520 --> 00:07:19.480 Like, I just, or maybe I come from a company that was just way worse. 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:29.800 It was like, yeah, I came from a manufacturing environment, which is a little bit more deadline focused than even here. 00:07:29.880 --> 00:07:39.760 Right. So like, I'm used to deadlines that are yesterday, not like what we have now. 00:07:39.760 --> 00:07:43.360 So like, maybe I just have a different viewpoint. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:48.720 Like, I mean, really, the only thing that pisses me off day to day is the street leading up to here is like, 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:53.880 you can't like see when you come out, but that's just, that's like out of our control. 00:07:53.880 --> 00:08:00.720 But day to day stuff, I mean, maybe I'm just viewing it through the guise of like, create a warehouse, right? 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:09.040 And, and my team specifically, and, you know, as, like, as my team is growing, it's like, we're trying, 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:14.760 we're putting our own systems in place, right? And being able to create your own systems is like challenging, but great. 00:08:14.760 --> 00:08:21.040 So like, anything that pisses you off day to day, well, you have control over to fix that, at least in my case. 00:08:21.080 --> 00:08:24.160 So it's really hard to say if there's anything I change there. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:30.880 I get rid of Trello, actually. Honestly, I actually, yeah, like, I do not like Trello. 00:08:30.880 --> 00:08:40.640 Okay. Mainly because it's very useful for film, filming, like, because your projects are like very limited in scope, 00:08:40.640 --> 00:08:44.560 like they're like within a week, right? So like Trello works for that. 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:48.920 Or, you know, if you are doing software, Trello is great for that because, you know, 00:08:48.920 --> 00:08:58.560 every software is a story and you move it. But if you have a design project like the screwdriver that takes multiple, like, years to get through, right? 00:08:58.560 --> 00:09:03.360 And there's multiple different facets and stuff like that. Trello is flipping useless. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:11.840 Like, you cannot do proper project management on at least a like a physical hardware scale with Trello, right? 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.840 To a point, and then like, when I, because we use Trello company-wide, 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:20.280 there is a very hard like paradigm to like move away from it, right? 00:09:20.280 --> 00:09:27.640 You kind of got to like work within those tools and we don't want like rogue people using other forms of stuff. 00:09:27.640 --> 00:09:32.040 So I had to find an add-on that integrates into Trello that adds what I need, 00:09:32.040 --> 00:09:37.840 which is mainly like Gantt charts and like a longer term project tracking that has dependencies on it. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:43.720 So like, if I'm designing that, I have to finish designing before I can go into toolmaking, for example, right? 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:54.720 So the toolmaking is dependent on the design. So programming those dependencies and being able to extrapolate out a timeline of like a project delivery over multiple months with dependencies 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:03.360 so that we know if we're delayed here, what knock-on effect does it have is something that needed to be like shoehorned into Trello 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:08.680 rather than choosing a software platform that was designed to do it in the first place, right? 00:10:08.680 --> 00:10:16.680 So that's something I change is like, at least for my team, I need to Trello out the window and use something properly. 00:10:19.680 --> 00:10:32.400 But that's all kind of system level stuff. And that's really only been like, yeah, it's that that's a thing that really only became a problem as as the, you know, 00:10:32.400 --> 00:10:37.200 the engineering design team and Crater Warehouse started growing beyond just me, right? 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:43.360 Like, I can manage my own projects, but when I have like seven people and I need to know what stages projects are, 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:55.920 so I can tell Linus when he's getting his fought lighter, you know, like, that's when, like, do you not watch the Floatplane video? 00:10:55.920 --> 00:11:01.720 Do you watch my Floatplane thing? Oh, my goodness, seriously? No, no. 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:04.920 Again, watch the Floatplane, go subscribe to the Floatplane, watch it. 00:11:04.920 --> 00:11:10.800 Linus asked me to make a lighter that like has a puff of air to blow stuff out. 00:11:10.800 --> 00:11:18.480 Yeah, and he wanted the I think he called the snuff or something else, just the most stupidest thing ever. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:23.320 Sounds like something Linus would ask me to make, right? After like quitting my, you know, 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:27.640 It took me four months to convince him to buy a $400 skeleton and he's like, I'll pay you to make it. 00:11:27.640 --> 00:11:30.800 Oh, what? Seriously? I never have to convince him to spend money. 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:35.440 I know, man, it's weird. Like, I, he just, maybe I just, I've spent so much of his money. 00:11:39.040 --> 00:11:42.840 You don't need a skeleton. You got it though, right? I don't need it. 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:46.120 Yeah. Did you get what though? After four months. 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:49.640 Yeah? What did you call him, Johnny? I called him, I actually did. 00:11:49.640 --> 00:11:52.120 No, I'll call him, I'll call a skeleton, Johnny. 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:58.440 It's a lot more corporate than it looks on camera. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:01.920 Like, it's, 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:10.720 there are fun times, there are challenging times. It is a job, we work, we get stuff done, you know, it's, 00:12:12.160 --> 00:12:13.520 I'd say it's a great place to work. 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:23.320 You might not see Linus a lot, if that's what you're coming to work here for, depending on your role. 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:27.440 I mean, I've been involved a lot in the hiring process in the last couple of years. 00:12:27.520 --> 00:12:31.920 I did a lot of the early hiring for the Labs until Gary came on. 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:38.120 I've hired a bunch of people for my team. I'm probably going to be hiring a whole bunch more before the year's out. 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:43.480 Generally, what I look at is like people who like to make stuff, 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:48.240 at least for my team, obviously every other team is different. They're looking for different things. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.160 The lab is probably looking for more head knowledge as we try and like, 00:12:52.640 --> 00:12:55.080 you know, get some laboratory grade testing. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:01.120 My team is more focused on creation and we put a hard focus on, 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.120 like, building the things you design. 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:08.840 So, like, you know, depending on where you look, 00:13:09.920 --> 00:13:12.920 like what role you're looking at will require different things. 00:13:12.920 --> 00:13:19.720 So speaking specifically to my team, it's like, hands-on skill in whatever you do. 00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:23.040 So if it's mechanical, like we're looking for skill with, you know, 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:30.320 CNC, laser cutting, 3D printing, as well as, you know, the CAD skills and solid works. 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:35.760 And then if it's like electronics, we'll be looking for Altium in terms of, 00:13:35.760 --> 00:13:38.880 like, you know, the CAD design stuff, but then we're looking for people 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:42.320 that can actually, like, solder the stuff they design because right now we do 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:46.480 all our prototyping in-house until we outsource to contract manufacturers. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:52.160 So my team is mainly built off a bunch of people who love to create stuff. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:56.320 And then we make sure that you have the tools that you need in order to create those things. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:00.240 So we've added, like, a bunch of really expensive 3D printers, laser cutters, 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:08.080 CNC machines, routers, and lots of zeros at the end of the bills, all said and done. 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:13.680 But I think, yeah, like, whatever you do, be passionate about it. 00:14:15.520 --> 00:14:23.520 You know, be driven, self-driven. At least, again, speaking out of the guys of my team, we don't really micromanage. 00:14:23.520 --> 00:14:27.600 We kind of, like I said, you have really full autonomy in how it gets implemented, 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.320 so be self-motivated, you know. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:35.280 Yeah, I can waffle on for a long time, but why did I start? 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:42.640 Number one, I hated my previous job. Just wasn't a great fit for me personally. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:48.880 And, you know, I'd been there eight years. And, you know, it's good experience manufacturing. 00:14:48.880 --> 00:14:54.240 I love making things. But, you know, I had a fundamental disagreement with how management 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:58.240 was moving, where they were moving the company towards. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:07.440 And I found the best that I part ways with them. And I am very picky about where I work. 00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:13.200 I was a fan of the channel since, like, they created their first how to build a PC video, 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.800 like, way back when. That's how, that's the video I used to build my first PC. 00:15:16.800 --> 00:15:20.800 So I knew about them. They had never wanted to hire engineers in the past. 00:15:20.800 --> 00:15:26.800 So I didn't really have any skills I could offer them until I saw, you know, 00:15:26.800 --> 00:15:30.160 an engineering position. And I was like, why are they hiring an engineer? 00:15:30.160 --> 00:15:35.360 So I threw my, I tossed my hand in the ring. So it's like, let's see where this goes. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.680 And, you know, when I talked to Nick, they were talking about the screwdriver. 00:15:39.680 --> 00:15:42.080 And I was like, huh, okay, I can make a screwdriver. 00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:49.760 And then we talked more. And they got me in the door just because it's like, I knew the company. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:59.440 I liked the idea of the screwdriver. The interview process, though extremely arbitrary and 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:04.960 random and unlike any interview I've been a part of my entire life, felt real, right? 00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:10.560 Like I was really meeting these people. And the impression I got from them was like, 00:16:11.680 --> 00:16:16.560 how it like, like I say, it's like, this is what you want to make, but we need you to 00:16:16.560 --> 00:16:20.960 figure out how to do it. And I love that kind of freedom. And I thrive in environments that give 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:26.240 that kind of freedom. So that's what got me in the door. I could say after like, three months of 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:32.960 working here, I was like, yep, this is probably the best fit for me. Just based on all the freedom 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:35.440 I got to build stuff. Bye.