Maria Ntalla
Maria is a Senior Engineering Manager at Shopify. Previously at Pivotal and VMware, she’s worked in product, open-source and platform teams over the years. She loves to explore the intersection of tech, product and people coming together to solve impactful problems.
Over the years, she’s managed and coached individual contributors, people managers, and technical leads in effectively leading their teams, finding a way through challenging times, getting from idea to solution and building their individual style of leadership.
Outside work, she’s usually found baking (and promptly consuming!) cakes, or taking a dance class of some kind.
How do I progress without a clear career ladder?
Help! As a new Director, it’s unclear what’s expected of me.
Waiting in vain for a promotion
If you've been waiting forever and a year for a promotion then our advice columnist, Maria Ntalla, may just have the approach for you.
I feel stuck in my career. How can I level up in my job?
If you're feeling stuck in your career, you're not alone. Here are some ways to center your personal development.
Ask Maria: Why doesn't my team go the extra mile?
Building a culture of accountability.
Ask Maria: How to stop team burnout after a subject expert quits
What happens when the one person everyone went to for answers leaves? Our community columnist Maria Ntalla tells us more on the matter.
Ask Maria: How to build an outreach strategy that suits my business
Learn about the most impactful outreach strategies and how you can pursue the right method for your business.
Ask Maria: How do I get my tech lead to communicate effectively?
Tech leads can be technically brilliant, but this doesn't mean there can't be room for improvement in other areas.
Ask Maria: How do I balance all my work without hiring?
During a time when headcounts are being reduced and workload is being increased, how can you effectively manage everything without hiring?
Ask Maria: Why aren’t our productivity metrics helping?
Find ways to see eye-to-eye with C-suite members and create metrics reporting dashboards that are easily actioned.
Ask Maria: How do I turn around a strained relationship with a peer?
My colleague and I just can’t seem to see eye to eye and I’m not sure how to improve our relationship. Can you help?
The 4 steps to leading through a downturn
A downturn can ramp up the pressure on managers to balance the needs of their team and the business. Here are four steps to take back control when external factors get in your way.
How to hold more effective 1:1 meetings
1:1s are a powerful way to support your team, offer feedback and context, and build a healthy environment full of thriving people.
The art of giving and receiving feedback as a leader
Providing feedback is a skill. Like all skills, it is one that you can build upon and grow as part of your leadership toolkit.
Using Open Source safely and effectively
How can you make sure your engineering teams are up to date with best practices on open source?
