65: Software Engineering in Production With Cameron Etezadi

What happens when coding becomes nearly free - but everything else in the software delivery process doesn't? Cameron Etezadi, CTO at LaunchDarkly, joins Erika, Brittany, and Bethany to talk about the gap between code that compiles and code that actually works in production. They cover vibe coding pitfalls, the release-observe-iterate loop, how AI is shifting engineers toward frontline manager behaviors, and why speed without control is a liability - not an asset. Cameron also shares how LaunchDarkly changed their intern interview process to reflect the AI era, what EU regulations mean for human accountability in AI-generated code, and why the classic two-pizza team is giving way to something much smaller.

Cameron Etezadi is the CTO at LaunchDarkly and brings experience scaling engineering organizations at Google, HashiCorp, and SAP. He's also a licensed flight instructor with ratings in fixed-wing, seaplane, helicopter, and gyroplane - and has logged over 400 skydives.

Show notes:

• Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameronetezadi

• LaunchDarkly: https://launchdarkly.com

• LaunchDarkly leadership page: https://launchdarkly.com/leadership/
• Rainier Flight Service bio: https://www.rainierflightservice.com/rainier-flight-staff/cameron-etezadi