GoogleX Chief Scientist On Imposter Syndrome, Career Growth, Project Taste
GoogleX Chief Scientist On Imposter Syndrome, Career Growth, Project Taste  
Podcast: The Peterman Pod
Published On: Fri Jul 18 2025
Description: Carey Nachenberg was a Chief Scientist at a GoogleX moonshot, a Fellow (senior most eng at Symantec) and a professor at UCLA. I interviewed him about his career story and we discussed:• Story behind his growth to IC10 (VP equivalent)• How high-level IC recruiting works• How imposter syndrome held him back• How to develop “project taste”• How AI is affecting his studentsTimestamps:(00:00) Intro(00:54) Growth to Fellow at Symantec (13:13) The most complex malware(16:13) Why C was faster than assembly(17:17) Imposter syndrome(21:28) What matters more than intelligence(28:03) Experience at GoogleX(34:24) Leaving GoogleX(37:43) Experience at Lyft(43:40) Getting credit on collaborative projects(46:53) Becoming a professor at UCLA(49:13) How to speak well(53:23) How AI affected his students(1:03:53) Career regrets(1:07:16) Finding work you enjoy(1:09:03) Advice for younger self(1:11:04) OutroWhere to find Carey:•  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carey-nachenberg-14bbb03/Where to find Ryan:• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman