Kate Tsoukalas is a Senior Software Development Manager at Amazon at Amazon. She possess expertise in c#, javascript, test automation, python, xml and 20 more skills. Colleagues describe her as "There are good managers, and there are great managers. Kate is a truly great manager. I worked under her on Windows Phone, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. She excels at all aspects of software engineering, including strategic planning, partner interaction, coding, bug triage, and people management. She effectively manages risk, identifying the critical aspects of a project and addressing those first. One of her strengths is her ability to communicate clearly and efficiently with partner teams. She made our team’s requirements clear, determined partner team needs, struck a balance between compromise and rigidity, and consistently ensured that both teams were satisfied with the resolutions. In addition, Kate has rock-solid technical skills, and possesses a deep understanding of the technical aspects of software engineering. She is able to go deep, triaging and investigating specific, narrowly scoped bugs, yet is also adept at looking holistically at the project, determining where each bug fits in the context of the larger schedule. When I worked on Windows Phone with Kate, she thoroughly understood the requirements and limitations of our test automation frameworks, and contributed concise, stable code where necessary, as along with insightful reviews of other people’s test code. I thoroughly enjoyed having a manager with whom I could discuss minute technical details, then immediately change tracks and talk about our long term test strategy. Her ability to see both the big and small picture was quite impressive. Kate also has a very high quality bar for bugs, not just a simple “all bugs must be fixed” mentality, but knowing exactly how bugs fit into the overall project. She knows which bugs need to be fixed and which can be postponed, and is able to look at bugs in the context of broader business goals and the specific user experiences her team is trying to create. Kate’s strongest quality is her ability to manage employees. She has flawless people management skills. She manages a balance between hands-on and hands-off, never micro-managing, but never neglecting. She effectively motivates engineers, keeping both morale and productivity high. Kate also does a great job of being completely candid with her employees about their performance and growth while still being friendly and courteous, something many managers struggle with. I experienced the most growth in my career working under Kate, largely because of her honesty and willingness to discuss performance freely. She does an amazing job of guiding and nurturing her employees’ careers, explaining what is needed for growth and advancement, and educating about the responsibilities associated with their position. The time I spent working under Kate was the most enjoyable of my career, and I would do so again without reservation. To put it simply: if you want a team to run well, if you want a team to deliver high quality software with great employee morale, have Kate manage it." and "Kate managed two projects I was on last year. One was a wide scope change in the Windows Phone platform with multiple dependencies (both technical and organizational) and risks. And the other one was a critical to business last-minute requirement we had to fulfill on a tight schedule with limited resources and knowledge. It was a pleasure to work with Kate as a lead on both of them. On the one hand, she was perfectly immersed in the subject and was instrumental in making decisions in ambiguous situations. One the other hand, people on the project had an equal input in decision making process, freedom to do the work the way they saw fit and stress level had never been an issue. It's a small world and I would be glad to work with Kate again if we are on the same project one day."