Softskills
Past Presentations
Attitude Determines Altitude- Engineering Yourself
What makes a 10x engineer, or designer, or leader? It turns out that it is a surprisingly small part aptitude -- our skill at a particular task, and a surprisingly large part attitude -- how we go about it. It is far less the contributions of genetics, or education, or circumstance, than it is...
Engineering Inclusion
There has been much discussion about improving diversity in the tech industry. While admirable, focusing on diversity without accounting for inclusion can result in temporary gains. In this talk, we will examine the need for inclusive measures as part of building a strong engineering culture and...
The Effective Remote Developer
Being on a distributed team, working from your home or coffee shop isn't easy, but it can be incredibly rewarding. Making it work requires constant attention, as well as support from your team and organization. It's more than just setting up Slack and buying a webcam. We'll learn what you can do...
Am I a Brilliant Jerk?
Netflix’s culture memo famously says, “On a dream team, there are no brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is just too high.” Well, what is a brilliant jerk? If the cost to teamwork is high, what are some examples of the cost? This presentation will focus on the jerk part of “brilliant...
Grokking Leadership Via Mentoring
Management and leadership are not about doing great work ourselves, but empowering others to do the same. The best leaders understand what makes their charges tick, not just as engineers, but as people. But how do we know we're ready to take that next step, and be successful in leading and...
Speaking Up Without Freaking Out
Audiences crave authentic, bold communication, however, many presenters are uneasy speaking in public. Learn proven concepts to help reduce your anxiety and improve your connection with your audience. You will leave this session with several techniques for developing and delivering clear,...
Interviews
Vision & Strategy - Epiphanies of a Netflix Leader
What’s the motivation for this talk?
After doing engineering management for a several years I started to wonder why some of my peers were being promoted but I was not. When I asked I was told that I was "not strategic enough". While I appreciated the feedback I wasn't able to put it into context. What did it mean to be more or less strategic? Formal definitions didn't...
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