Green: How do you think working a minimum-wage job and then becoming an engineer has affected how you see work culture?

Chen: I was a bagger at a grocery store and we pushed carts around. This was the 1990s and you still put pride in the job. At least I did. I worked with people everyday and their value system was very much focused around who you were outside of work. Who you are in the Midwest largely depends not on your job, but on your family, friends, and hobbies.

There are really good opportunities in Ohio, but I think the opportunities in Silicon Valley—that dream of getting there and trying to make it—consumes some people a little bit more. Especially in tech, people are always chasing that next big thing. It can, in many cases, become “This is my purpose in life or my singular purpose.” There are lots of people that are very grounded in the San Francisco Bay Area, but there's always that looking over your shoulder, keeping up with the Joneses kind of feeling: You see those stories or the status symbols or the people. I think in Ohio, that may be looked upon as less of an ideal than it is here.

Green: You talked about the fast pace of your current job a lot. Do you ever feel stressed because of that?

Chen: I have friends who work at startups in Ohio, who experience that same sort of stress and fast pace. At Lockheed Martin, there was a strong focus on doing things the right way. When you're in a startup, you're basically looking to survive to the next month or the next quarter. When you look at all the internet companies, it's very easy to see how many have come and gone. Google, or any company, could very well be that next has-been. I think the pace is born out of innovation.

We're trying to bring that same sort of development and discipline to software engineering that industries like manufacturing and architecture have achieved. Our job is to focus on how we improve software engineering and make it better, faster, easier for engineers to actually deliver amazing experiences to our users.

We could look at it in terms of the competitive nature of Company A versus Company B. I think that's there, too, but for me it's more about, how can we make it so that the next coder in any part of the world can come along and say, “Wow, I have really, really amazing tools to help me create things that never existed before”?

Green: What motivates you as an engineer?

Chen: For me it's about making a difference. My foundational focus is around the people on my team. Am I doing a good job for them? Am I putting them in the best position to succeed? I went into management primarily because, from a people perspective, if I can help somebody grow and advance to the next thing, or open up more doors and opportunities, that's exciting for me. Secondly, Google Play is a really enormous platform for impacting people. It encompasses both apps on Android phones as well as digital content. If we can do a great job, and focus on the user, then I think we can do great things and that's where I find that motivation.