My first taste of entrepreneurship came in my late teens when I ran my own business during the summers to pay for tuition and board expenses at college. I had just arrived in the United States with little money. Working hard and avoiding instant gratification allowed me to earn my computer science degree with honors and without college debt.

Over the next 20 years I would be fortunate enough to work at technology startups and well-established technology companies, learning and growing as a software developer and an engineering leader.

I joined early stage startups like RightMedia (acquired by Yahoo!) and AppNexus (acquired by AT&T) as one of their first engineering hires. This allowed me not only to lay the foundation for many product and infrastructure capabilities but also to grow amazing engineering teams around these capabilities. AppNexus went through incredible organizational and technical growth during my 10-year tenure. My teams and I had to reinvent ourselves and our technology stack many times to meet the demands of our customers. Things did not always work out the way I wanted, but I learned from these mistakes and I will not repeat them.

My experiences at Dropbox taught me how to scale an engineering organization while remaining nimble, and versatile with a great sense of ownership instilled in your people. I appreciated the opportunity to work with the incredible engineering leaders at Dropbox.

As a leader I motivate my teams to bring their best self to work by communicating to them what is possible and within their reach. I believe our choice of words matters. I also believe our actions speak louder and I strive to set an example by taking action.

As a manager I focus on delivering value to the business by ensuring that the technical skills and creativity of a team of talented engineers are unlocked to solve business problems. Seeing the impact of my team excites me because I know that delivering results is the first ingredient to building a happy and successful team.

I’m passionate about working with engineering teams and helping companies build strong engineering organizations.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can provide help to your team and organization.

Ersin Yilmaz
Engineering Management and Operations Consultant