Over recent years, the IC career path has become a nearly ubiquitous option in tech, but it is still extremely challenging to understand what the path entails and how to get there. This track explores the journey to becoming a Principal Engineer and beyond, touching on the technical and leadership skills required to excel in this strategic role. It also explores how to navigate the career progression and the vast amounts of ambiguity that often arise.
From this track
5 Steps to Building a Personal Brand for Elevating Your Influence
Wednesday Nov 20 / 10:35AM PST
In our connected world, you have a personal brand, whether you like it or not. And you have the power and responsibility to shape what it is. In this talk, you’ll learn how you can grow your personal brand to land better opportunities and have a greater impact.
Pablo Fredrikson
Principal SRE @Harness & YouTuber
Engineering Influence and Forgetting the Soft Skills
Wednesday Nov 20 / 11:45AM PST
Soft skills are overrated and dangerously oversold!
Charlotte de Jong Schouwenburg
Co-founder of @Bravely, Business Psychologist, Executive Coach, Trainer, Speaker, 12+ Years Experience Enabling High Performing Teams and Leaders
Ambiguous Roles and Ambiguous Problems: Navigating Life as a Principal Engineer
Wednesday Nov 20 / 01:35PM PST
The path to Principal Engineer at most companies often feels poorly defined, and that’s because it is. This is a problem. It’s also an opportunity.
Will Larson
CTO @Carta, Author of "An Elegant Puzzle", "Staff Engineer", and "The Engineering Executive's Primer", Previously at @Calm, @Stripe, and @Uber
Dan Fike
Deputy to the CTO @Carta, Previously @Google and @YaHoo, 5+ Years Implementing Strategies and Solutions in the Tech Industry
What Keeps Me Up at Night – Existential Questions for IC Leaders
Wednesday Nov 20 / 02:45PM PST
In this talk, we explore the boogeymen of IC leaders. While critical incidents and uncharted technologies may be scary at the moment, they can also be exactly the challenge that motivates you.
Tina Wright
Area Tech Lead @Grammarly, Interested in System Design and People-First Leadership; Previously @Coursera @TRI and @Google
From Junior to Staff and Beyond: Lessons Learned
Wednesday Nov 20 / 03:55PM PST
Getting to Principal can be a long and winding road – knowing how to navigate it efficiently can expedite career growth.
Bruno Rey
Staff Engineer @Eventbrite
