🎙️ Señors @ Scale
Deep conversations with senior developers about scaling applications, teams, and careers
🎧 Latest Episodes
Design System at Scale with Stefano Magni, Tech Lead at Preply
🎙 About the Podcast:Join host Neciu Dan as he sits down with Stefano Magni, a senior front-end engineer and tech lead at Preply, to explore the intricacies of building a robust design system and the journey of working in public. Stefano shares his insights on the importance of skills, reputation, and networking in shaping a successful career. Discover how his experiences from building Flash mini-games to architecting React-based systems have influenced his approach to engineering excellence.In this episode, they discuss:The pivotal moment that led Stefano to work in publicHow Preply's design system impacts user experienceThe balance between perfectionism and pragmatism in engineeringThe role of data-driven decisions in Preply's cultureBest practices for managing large codebases without testsStefano also shares his journey from a Flash developer to a leader in the design system space, emphasizing the value of sharing knowledge and building a strong professional network.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Stefano Magni and Preply05:12 The Importance of Public Work12:45 Building a Design System at Preply18:30 Balancing Perfectionism and Pragmatism25:00 Data-Driven Culture at Preply32:15 Managing Large Codebases Without Tests40:00 The Journey from Flash to React47:30 Networking and Reputation in Tech55:00 Closing Thoughts and Future Plans📚Links & Resources:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senorsatscale/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neciudev🎙 Podcast URL: https://neciudan.dev/senors-at-scale📬 Newsletter: https://neciudan.dev/subscribe💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neciudan💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/se%C3%B1ors-scale/#designsystem #frontend #engineeringexcellence #preply #networking #publicwork #softwaredevelopment #señorsatscaleDon’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more engineering stories from the front lines. How is your team approaching design systems and public work? Share below 👇
Reliability at Scale – With Bruno Paulino (N26)
🎙 About the Podcast:Señors @ Scale is a no-fluff engineering podcast hosted by Neciu Dan — diving into the real-world chaos of scaling systems, teams, and yourself. From production bugs to platform bets, we sit down with senior engineers to discuss the scars, strategies, and lessons that truly matter.In this episode, host Neciu Dan sits down with Bruno Paulino, Tech Lead at N26, to unpack how reliability, experimentation, and platform culture shape one of Europe’s most trusted digital banks.Bruno’s path is anything but ordinary — from serving as a police officer in Brazil to leading FinTech engineering teams at scale. He shares how N26 builds server-driven UIs, runs AI-powered customer support, and balances speed vs reliability when every deploy touches millions of users.They break down:How server-driven UI lets N26 ship features in minutesWhy CI/CD pipelines are the backbone of reliabilityWhat it means to trade speed for resilience in FinTechHow Statsig changed experimentation culture company-wideLessons from production outages and post-mortemsWhy strong developer experience drives safer systemsIt’s a deep dive into the real architecture, trade-offs, and human decisions behind reliable banking systems at scale.🎧 Whether you’re scaling a FinTech product, managing CI/CD pipelines, or just trying to keep production sane, this one’s for you.Follow & Subscribe:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senorsatscale/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neciudev🎙 Podcast URL: https://neciudan.dev/senors-at-scale📬 Newsletter: https://neciudan.dev/subscribe💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neciudan💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/se%C3%B1ors-scale/
MicroFrontend at Scale with Igor (Director of Engineering at Cloudflare, co-creator of Angular) and Natalia (Principal Product Manager at Microsoft)
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, Dan chats with Natalia Venditto, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, and Igor Minar, Senior Director of Engineering at Cloudflare and co-creator of Angular, about WebFragments — a radical new approach to micro-frontends that rethinks how we build for the web.Natalia and Igor share how WebFragments was born from years of pain with module federation and brittle micro-frontend systems. They explain why shared dependencies and team coupling still plague large-scale applications, and how WebFragments breaks that pattern by isolating each fragment’s JavaScript and DOM context while still delivering a seamless user experience.We dive deep into the architecture:how iframes are being reinvented for performance and isolation,how Shadow DOM and a technique called Reframing encapsulate code like Docker does for containers,and how Fragment Piercing enables server-rendered fragments to appear instantly — even before the client shell has loaded.The conversation also covers the challenges of building vendor-agnostic, framework-independent systems, the middleware patterns that eliminate CORS issues, and Cloudflare’s real-world migration of its production dashboard to WebFragments.Plus, Natalia and Igor share what’s next — from nested fragments and out-of-order streaming to growing an open-source community around this new model of frontend architecture.Whether you’re building micro-frontends, leading platform teams, or just curious about what’s next for web architecture, this episode is a masterclass in isolation, performance, and pragmatic innovation at scale.Chapters00:00 Introduction to WebFragments and Guests06:48 Differentiating WebFragments from Module Federation13:46 The Promise of Independence in Micro-Frontends16:49 Reframing: A New Approach to Isolation19:54 The Concept of Piercing in WebFragments33:26 Fragment Communication and State Management36:09 Middleware and Request Routing39:22 WebFragments in Action at Cloudflare44:02 Getting Started and Migration Path50:13 Future Developments and Features54:37 Community and Contributions01:02:02 OutroFollow & Subscribe📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senorsatscale/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neciudev🎙 Podcast: https://neciudan.dev/senors-at-scale📬 Newsletter: https://neciudan.dev/subscribe💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neciudan💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/se%C3%B1ors-scale/Additional Resourceshttps://github.com/webfragmentshttps://blog.cloudflare.com/https://learn.microsoft.com/#microfrontends #webfragments #javascript #angular #cloudflare #microsoft #frontend #softwarearchitecture #performance #webdevelopment #softwareengineering #señorsatscaleDon’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more engineering stories from the front lines.How is your team approaching micro-frontends and architectural independence? Share below 👇
Observability at Scale with Erik Grijzen, Principal Software Engineer at New Relic
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, Erik Grijzen, Principal Software Engineer at New Relic, joins Dan to share his journey from web designer to principal architect and what it really takes to scale UI development across dozens of teams. Erik walks us through how New Relic built one of the first large-scale micro-frontend architectures before the term even existed, designing tooling that lets teams ship independently—from CLI bootstrapping to runtime composition. He explains how to manage hundreds of deploys a day without breaking the platform, and how observability keeps complex systems reliable when they inevitably fail.We dive deep into observability at scale—how metrics, logs, traces, and business data blend to show what’s happening inside distributed systems, and why visibility isn’t just for developers anymore but a business priority tied to uptime, revenue, and customer trust.Erik also shares what technical leadership looks like at New Relic: influencing without authority, scaling architecture through culture, and using processes like RFCs and change documents to make better decisions. He emphasizes writing before building, POCs before roadmaps, and the mindset shift from coding features to guiding direction.The episode closes with a thoughtful discussion on burnout, balance, and habits for longevity in engineering—from sports and shutdown rituals to books like A Philosophy of Software Design and 4,000 Weeks.Whether you’re an architect, staff engineer, or team lead scaling a complex frontend platform, this episode is packed with real lessons on architecture, observability, and leadership at scale.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Erik Grijzen and His Journey08:48 Building a Unified Platform at New Relic13:34 Challenges and Solutions in Micro-Frontend Development18:47 How Observability Works Behind the Scenes32:02 Organizing Teams Around Domains36:38 Testing in Micro Frontends43:38 Technical Leadership and Management49:38 Effective Processes for Teams54:05 Decompressing and Work-Life Balance---Follow & Subscribe:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senorsatscale/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neciudev🎙 Podcast URL: https://neciudan.dev/senors-at-scale📬 Newsletter: https://neciudan.dev/subscribe💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neciudan💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/se%C3%B1ors-scale/---Additional Resources[https://newrelic.com/blog](https://newrelic.com/blog)[https://micro-frontends.org/](https://micro-frontends.org/)[https://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/book.php](https://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/book.php)[https://oliverburkeman.com/books/4000-weeks/](https://oliverburkeman.com/books/4000-weeks/)#microfrontends #observability #softwarearchitecture #newrelic #frontend #softwareengineering #leadership #teammanagement #engineeringculture #señorsatscaleDon’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more engineering stories from the front lines. How is your team scaling architecture and observability? Share below 👇
Hosted by Neciu Dan
Tech Lead, Co-Founder, Speaker
What is Señors @ Scale?
Señors @ Scale features in-depth conversations with senior developers, tech leads, and software architects who share real-world experiences of scaling applications, teams, and their careers. Each episode unpacks the hard-earned lessons from industry veterans who have been in the trenches.
From scaling applications to millions of users, to growing teams from 5 to 500+ engineers, to navigating complex distributed systems - this podcast delivers practical wisdom you can apply immediately in your work.
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What You'll Learn
📈 Scaling Applications
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Microservices vs monolith trade-offs - Database scaling strategies
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- Building effective engineering culture
- Mentoring and career development
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🎵 Latest Episode
Episode Description:
🎙 About the Podcast:Join host Neciu Dan as he sits down with Stefano Magni, a senior front-end engineer and tech lead at Preply, to explore the intricacies of building a robust design system and the journey of working in public. Stefano shares his insights on the importance of skills, reputation, and networking in shaping a successful career. Discover how his experiences from building Flash mini-games to architecting React-based systems have influenced his approach to engineering excellence.In this episode, they discuss:The pivotal moment that led Stefano to work in publicHow Preply's design system impacts user experienceThe balance between perfectionism and pragmatism in engineeringThe role of data-driven decisions in Preply's cultureBest practices for managing large codebases without testsStefano also shares his journey from a Flash developer to a leader in the design system space, emphasizing the value of sharing knowledge and building a strong professional network.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Stefano Magni and Preply05:12 The Importance of Public Work12:45 Building a Design System at Preply18:30 Balancing Perfectionism and Pragmatism25:00 Data-Driven Culture at Preply32:15 Managing Large Codebases Without Tests40:00 The Journey from Flash to React47:30 Networking and Reputation in Tech55:00 Closing Thoughts and Future Plans📚Links & Resources:📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senorsatscale/📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neciudev🎙 Podcast URL: https://neciudan.dev/senors-at-scale📬 Newsletter: https://neciudan.dev/subscribe💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neciudan💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/se%C3%B1ors-scale/#designsystem #frontend #engineeringexcellence #preply #networking #publicwork #softwaredevelopment #señorsatscaleDon’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more engineering stories from the front lines. How is your team approaching design systems and public work? Share below 👇
"Deep conversations with senior developers about scaling applications, teams, and careers — real insights from industry veterans."
💡 Takeaways from Previous Episodes
Señors @ Scale host Neciu Dan sits down with Stefano Magni, Senior Front-End Engineer and Tech Lead at Preply, to unpack what it takes to build and measure a design system for a global learning platform. From managing technical debt and accessibility to driving a culture of public work and data-driven engineering, Stefano shares lessons from 15+ years in frontend development.
Señors @ Scale host Neciu Dan sits down with Bruno Paulino, Tech Lead at N26, to explore what reliability really means in FinTech. From server-driven UIs and CI/CD pipelines to AI-assisted customer support and strict compliance, Bruno shares how N26 balances speed, safety, and developer experience to keep millions of users online.
Señors @ Scale host Neciu Dan talks with Microsoft’s Natalia Venditto and Cloudflare’s Igor Minar about WebFragments — a new micro-frontend model that isolates JavaScript and DOM at the browser boundary, enables instant SSR through fragment piercing, and lets large teams ship independently without dependency lockstep.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan chats with Erik Grijzen — Principal Software Engineer at New Relic — about building one of the first large-scale micro-frontend architectures, the rise of observability, and what technical leadership looks like across dozens of teams.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan chats with Kateryna Porchienova — Senior Engineering Manager at Buffer — about her programming journey, the craft of animation, and why accessibility should be treated as a foundation of good engineering, not an afterthought.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan chats with Adrian Marin — founder of AVO and host of FriendlyRB — about Rails productivity, the magic of Ruby, and how the community continues to evolve through creativity and connection.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Andreas Panopoulos — Staff Software Engineer at Hack the Box and co-organizer of Vue.js Athens — to talk about scaling Vue in production, migrating to Nuxt 3, and the human side of engineering.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Faris Aziz — Staff Front-End Engineer at Small PDF and co-founder of ZurichJS — to talk about scaling frontend systems, the power of BFF architecture, and the human side of engineering culture.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Aris — founder and lead organizer of CityJS — to talk about building developer communities, organizing meetups, and scaling conferences into global events.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Erik Rasmussen — creator of Redux Form and React Final Form, and now Principal Product Engineer at Attio — to talk about building open source at scale, developer experience, and the hidden lessons behind shipping tools other developers rely on.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Eduardo Aparicio Cardenes — Front-End Engineer and ADPList Top 100 Mentor — to unpack 15+ years of engineering lessons, the reality of promotions, and what it truly means to mentor and scale as a leader.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Matheus Albuquerque — Staff Frontend Engineer at Medallia, Google Developer Expert, and international speaker — to dive deep into React internals, performance optimization, and the scaling lessons learned from applications used by millions worldwide.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Jose Calderon — Lead Software Engineer at JP Morgan Chase, conference speaker, and Java/Spring community leader — to dive deep into refactoring vs rewriting at scale, how to track and justify architecture decisions, and the testing strategies that keep enterprise systems reliable.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Tudor Barbu — Principal Engineer at Logify, former Tech Lead at Personio and engineer at Skyscanner and DaVinta — to unpack 20+ years of engineering decisions, debugging scars, and career evolution.
In this episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Angel Paredes — Engineering Manager at Datadog, formerly Staff at Glovo and Tech Lead at PayPal — to explore test infra, AI's impact on interviewing, and how to lead without losing your technical edge.
In this kickoff episode of Señors @ Scale, host Neciu Dan sits down with Danilo Velasquez — Staff Engineer at Adevinta and longtime frontend performance obsessive.
Discover actionable insights and hard-earned lessons from senior engineers who've been in the trenches.
Why Señors @ Scale?
- Real-world scaling stories from senior engineers and architects
- Deep technical discussions about architecture patterns and trade-offs
- Career insights for developers transitioning to senior roles
- War stories from scaling applications to millions of users
- Leadership and team building strategies for tech leads
- Latest trends in software architecture and system design
- Practical advice you can apply immediately in your work
🎤 Meet Your Host
Neciu Dan
Tech Lead, Co-Founder, Speaker with experience scaling applications to millions of users. Dan has worked with teams ranging from startups to enterprise, and is passionate about sharing the hard-earned lessons from the trenches.
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