Speaker: Nicky Wrightson

In this panel we will bring experienced Staff-Plus Engineers to discuss key topics to help you in your career path:

• What skills you need to develop if you want to be a successful Staff-Plus Engineer
• What can you expect when you reach Staff-Plus status 
• How companies can support and incentivise professionals that want to stay in the technical career
• How the future of the industry can be shaped by providing a clear technical career path

Historically, as engineers/developers became more senior, they hit a decision point — do I become a manager or an architect? Architecture tended to be the standard route for folks that wanted to stay focused on tech.

As engineering culture evolved, the adoption of dev ops and the cloud has led us to autonomous cross-functional teams where architecture is something team members do, rather than a separate role. This has left two problems: firstly, what path is available for engineers who want to remain focussed on the tech, and secondly, who is responsible for the holistic wide-angle view of the technical direction, particularly where that crosses multiple teams. 

In this talk, I will share my expertise from having several different senior IC roles to give insight into the possible routes of staff plus role, including my path and what you need to make yourself a great candidate for getting that staff plus role. I will also explore what a staff engineer role is, and some of the problems in the wider industry. At the end of this talk, you should be able to identify if this path is definitely for you, have some examples of routes to get there, and understand the pitfalls if you follow the individual contributor route. 

How can you make a success of microservices? How do you know whether it is the right approach for you?

Microservices trade development complexity for operational complexity, but when is that the right trade off to make? And what are the most important things to keep in mind if you want to be successful?

Join our panellists Holly Cummins, Stefania Chaplin and Nicky Wrightson as they share what they’ve learned about building, operating and securing microservices.