Inside Jobs: How Medium’s Product Scientist Brings Data To Life

The tech press can make it seem like the most important people in the industry are those with “founder” or “chief” in their job titles. The stories of companies such as Facebook and Twitter are almost exclusively told by focusing on the Mark Zuckerbergs and Dick Costolos of the world.

But the truth is, the people who really make the tech industry tick aren’t the CEOs. They’re the backend engineers, data scientists, product managers, UX designers, marketers, and others. Companies scramble to hire top-tier people in these roles, and will do just about anything to retain them once they’re there. Insiders know that these people are the real VIPs. They just don’t often show up in TechCrunch headlines.

That is, until now.

TechCrunch TV is thrilled to launch a new series called Inside Jobs dedicated to giving in-depth looks at the key people beyond the C-suite, to find out who they are, what they do, and how they got there.

We had such a positive response to our Inside Jobs pilot that aired back in November, which profiled Pinterest’s then-director of engineering Jon Jenkins, that we’re bringing it back for a special 12 week run. For the next dozen Mondays starting today, Inside Jobs will profile the men and women who do some of tech’s most critical jobs.

In today’s episode, we headed to the headquarters of next-generation publishing platform Medium to meet with Pete Davies, who serves as the startup’s lead product scientist.

If you ask anyone at Medium who the company’s key employees are, Pete Davies’ name will likely crop up near the top of the list. But “product scientist” is one of those classic tech company job titles that usually elicits a blank stare and polite nod when it’s the answer to the “What do you do?” question at a party. So it was fascinating to meet Pete Davies in person and find out what exactly it is that he does, and why he’s so good at doing it.


All shooting, editing, sound, and lighting for Inside Jobs is done by John Murillo. Production coordination and creative direction is done by Felicia Williams. Original logo design by Bryce Durbin. Motion graphics and graphic design by Eden Soto.