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Meet Linda Pei, Engineering Manager at Clockwise

Meet Linda Pei, Engineering Manager at Clockwise

Cathy Reisenwitz
Content, Clockwise
January 26, 2022
Updated on:

Meet Linda Pei, Engineering Manager at Clockwise
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Linda Pei is our newest Engineering Manager, having transitioned from Backend Engineer. We sat down with Linda to talk about her life before Clockwise, what drew her to us, and what she does when she’s not on the clock. 

The journey to Clockwise

Linda came to Clockwise after four years at Airbnb, where she worked on launching Airbnb Experiences, re-architecting  from monolith to microservices, and growing the Airbnb Transportation business. But her interest in our mission started much earlier. 

“I want to make sure that I have a good balance between work and life,” Linda said. “That's something that I'm personally very mindful of, especially because of my background.” Linda’s family immigrated to the US from China when she was about six years old. 

“Growing up, my family wasn't super well off,” Linda said. “We were just making ends meet. Both my parents had to work really hard, long hours. They often struggled with things like mental health, sleep issues, and depression.”

She grew up learning the value of working hard and doing your best. “But especially as my parents have grown older, they've also realized that it's not just about working hard. You also have to make sure that you're taking good care of yourself, both mentally and physically. So I think that's a big part of my personal focus on making sure I have a good work-life balance and also making sure others can properly set their boundaries.” 

Why Clockwise

“At Clockwise we have a group of folks that are really passionate about the mission,” Linda said.

“We have a group of people that are very creative and are able to think about the product, from a very user-centric mindset. It's just a really fun group of people to work with.”

Linda enjoys being at a startup where we’ve found product-market fit and are rapidly growing the team. They team is setting the foundations for what the team will look like moving forward. And they’re building more sustainable, flexible, and extensible systems and products. 

“We’re in this growth stage where projects are rapidly changing and teams are also subject to change,” Linda said. “We have to make the best decision we can based on limited information. In a couple of months, or maybe half a year, teams might look different again. That's a really interesting challenge.”

“It's a really exciting time to join,” Linda said. “We have a clear enough idea of where things are going to know what to build, and you'll be able to build things that are really important for the company's future.”

In her new role, she’s enjoying seeing others grow. She’s working on providing clarity in terms of roadmap and aligning people’s projects with their career aspirations. 

Linda off the Clock(wise)

Linda appreciates that managers at Clockwise insist that workers take time off. “Often times the unlimited PTO policy can kind of swing the other way,” Linda said. At Clockwise, managers encourage workers to live their lives. She points to Shane Smith, who lives out of a camper van roaming across the US. 

“It's really cool that we're able to support him, that he's able to do that in a way that balances his productivity with his own interests and passions,” Linda said.

For Linda, her passion lies on the slopes. “I definitely put a lot of time and energy into skiing. I often actually fly somewhere to ski, like Colorado or Utah. I'm going to Jackson hole between Christmas and New Years. 

I really enjoy traveling with people. It's fun to travel together, cook meals together, go up to the mountains together. I feel like here at Clockwise, It's been fairly easy to do that. Oftentimes I work at the resort on days I'm not skiing. It's been really nice to be able to continue that hobby, even though it is pretty time-intensive.”


Interested in working with Linda on our Engineering team? We’re currently looking for our next Front End Engineer, Back End Engineer, Senior Back End Engineer, and Senior Front End Engineer. If that’s not you, check out our other open positions

About the author

Cathy Reisenwitz

Cathy Reisenwitz is the former Head of Content at Clockwise. She has covered business software for six years and has been published in Newsweek, Forbes, the Daily Beast, VICE Motherboard, Reason magazine, Talking Points Memo and other publications.

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