The Peterman Pod

Mozilla Firefox CTO on Browser War Stories and the Path to Distinguished Engineer

10 Oct 2025

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Bobby Holley went from an intern to the CTO of Mozilla Firefox. I asked him about everything he learned in that process. We cover his full career including some interesting stories on living through the browser wars and advice on career growth.𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/mozilla-firefox-cto-on-browser-war• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:• NYT article link: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/q2EjgGX6d5Ouwec479WSqM/For-Mozilla-Google-group-hugs-get-tricky.html• Mozilla VP twitter thread: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1722183/former-mozilla-exec-alleges-google-torpedoed-firefox-with-oops-excuses.html• Internal memo on writing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1518xKjijjEWHQb6wZjAWJrUN8liZGGI9v5pRFr9eFHo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.1gfr5hva69qx𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:00:00:00 - Intro00:00:57 - Starting at Mozilla00:04:57 - Browser wars history00:10:55 - Google relationship changing00:16:11 - Why work for free00:19:02 - Projects that drove his career00:33:12 - No performance reviews00:34:42 - Rust adoption00:43:33 - Career progression00:47:54 - Should you focus on promos00:57:14 - Distinguished promo rejection01:00:56 - Examples of distinguished engs01:10:54 - Advice for aspiring distinguished engs01:14:40 - AI browser wars01:26:32 - Biggest technical regret01:29:11 - Book that impacted his career most01:32:09 - Advice for his younger self𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyholley• X/Twitter: https://x.com/bhology𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 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• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

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Mozilla Firefox CTO on Browser War Stories and the Path to Distinguished Engineer

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

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