Abstract
While technical competency remains foundational, senior engineering leaders recognize that sustainable competitive advantage stems from organizational capabilities that transcend code quality. In today's globally distributed engineering landscape, the differentiating factor between mediocre and exceptional teams lies in the cultivation of interpersonal skills across the organization.
This presentation addresses five critical soft skills—communication, adaptability, conflict resolution, mindfulness, and kindness—that directly impact engineering team performance, retention, and scalability. These competencies are essential at every level, from senior individual contributors to engineering managers, and become increasingly vital as organizations scale across geographic and cultural boundaries.
For senior leadership, investing in these skills yields measurable returns: reduced inter-team friction, accelerated decision-making cycles, improved cross-functional collaboration, and enhanced ability to attract and retain top technical talent. The session provides frameworks for systematically developing these capabilities within your engineering organization and demonstrates how to leverage soft skills as a strategic multiplier for technical excellence and business outcomes.
Speaker
Arun Gupta
25+ Years Experience Across Companies Like @Intel, @Apple, @Amazon, and @Red Hat, Chaired the CNCF and OpenSSF Governing Boards, Organizer at the UN’s Tech Over Hackathon
Arun Gupta is a globally recognized expert in developer relations, open source strategy, and go-to-market innovation. With over 25 years of experience at Intel, Apple, Amazon, and Red Hat, he’s built developer communities that drive adoption and aligned DevRel with product, marketing, and sales to create lasting champions. Arun advocates mindfulness, kindness, and developer empathy as the foundation of modern DevRel.
He chaired the CNCF and OpenSSF governing boards, leading ecosystem growth and open source security initiatives. Arun also helped Fortune 100 companies embrace open collaboration through founding multiple open source program offices. A global speaker and author, Arun has keynoted in 50+ countries, is a Docker Captain and Java Champion, and founded Devoxx4Kids USA. He actively supports initiatives like TEDAI and the UN’s Tech Over Hackathon.
Date
Tuesday Nov 18 / 03:55PM PST ( 50 minutes )
Location
Seacliff ABC
