Latest
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Where staff+ engineers can move the needle
As you become more senior in your role, the pressure to expand your impact grows. Here are some ways to get the ball rolling.
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Your go-to professional growth model
When you’re an engineering leader, finding the time to upskill is almost impossible. Following the S-curve model might keep you on track.
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Tech CEOs reckon with the impact of AI on junior developers
CEOs are concerned that the rise of AI tools like Copilot and GPT is causing junior developers to lose touch with core coding skills.
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Leader or engineer? Navigating our technical identity crisis
Am I still technical enough? What does my team think?
Drawing from the hard-won lessons of a leadership initiative for 250 engineers, this talk uncovers unexpected truths in the conflict between technical depth and leadership.
Editor’s picks
Engineering leadership is not just about code
If you’re looking to move into an engineering leadership position, you’ll have to do more than brush up on code!
How to find and become a great engineering mentor
Mentoring is a great way to boost your career. Here’s everything you need to know about getting a mentor, and becoming one yourself.
How to navigate unexpected role changes
At one point or another, you may have to face an unexpected role change. It might not be what you want, but there are ways to make it work.
Berlin • Nov 3 & 4, 2025
Charity Majors, Sam Newman, and Humera Noor confirmed for LeadDev Berlin! 🙌
Essential reading
Learning to enjoy the career progression journey
Reaching a management position in the tech industry is hard work. It’s important to remember to enjoy the journey and celebrate victories big and small along the way.
On our Career development playlist
There and back again – A cautionary tale about entering middle management
Explore the realities of middle management through a journey of promotion, stress, and self-reflection, offering guidance on finding the right leadership path.
Unconventional paths in tech: Leveraging your strengths to find your place
n this talk, Mitra Raman will take a look at the many paths that engineers can take on their leadership journey.
Career vectors for technical leaders
Mix and match skills to become the best technical leader that you can be.
The path from Director to CTO: How to follow it, or how to mentor it
This talk is aimed at both aspiring Chief Technology Officers and those who are in a position to mentor future CTOs. Explore the journey from a Director of Engineering role to a CTO, focusing on the skills and experiences needed for this transition and how experienced leaders can guide others on this path.
Essential soft skills you need to succeed as an engineer
There is a big focus on technical expertise in software engineering – but soft skills are equally as important. Which ones are crucial to master and how can you do this?
The conference for engineering leaders shaping the future of software
Berlin • November 3 & 4, 2025
Featuring
More about Career development
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Making executive onboarding a smooth journey
Some tips on how to onboard senior leaders and executives with relative ease, based on recent experience.
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Engineering leadership is not just about code
If you’re looking to move into an engineering leadership position, you’ll have to do more than brush up on code!
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Waiting in vain for a promotion
If you’ve been waiting forever and a year for a promotion then our advice columnist, Maria Ntalla, may just have the approach for you.
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Influencing influencers: Powerful strategies to scale your impact at work
If you looking to widen the breadth of your impact, you’ll want to brush up on some of these areas to see the best results.
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Finding a path through uncertainty
If you find yourself at a crossroads and unsure of which route to take, read through this list before you make a decision. Every leader can find themselves unsure of what to do. When I coach CTOs and VPs of engineering, I often hear phrases like, “I don’t…
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4 ways to think like a boss and boost staff+ impact
If you’re a staff+ engineer you might have thought about your “impact” on the wider org. Thinking like a boss might be the key.
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Your 30-60-90-day plan as a new manager
Landed a new manager position? Congratulations! Here’s how to plan for your first days in the role.
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Reasons to step into a leadership role (and the reasons not to)
Thinking of becoming an engineering leader? Let Pat Kua help you with the first step of the journey.
Top Career development videos
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Space aliens are among us, your product roadmap is realistic, and other lies you believe
In this talk, I’ll help you establish focus, cut through metrics that don’t matter, and sharpen your team’s execution so that you can meet your business goals.
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The Many Shapes of a VP of Engineering
Emily will talk about different archetypes that are common for the VP of Engineering role, how to assess what type your organization needs, and how the role can evolve over time.
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Leaders building leaders: Mentoring staff+ engineers into powerhouses
Emily Thomas talks about how unraveling expectations, common challenges, setting clear career progression and de-mystifying communication between an engineering manager and Staff+ engineers is one of the most impactful ways to create a highly efficient team. Let’s talk about how to do just that.
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Putting power into practice as a Staff+ engineer
Matthew Hawthorne discusses how, as a Staff+ engineer, you may not have as much power as you’d like within your organization. But you probably have more power than you realize.
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How to better understand business context as a StaffPlus engineer
Learn to be aware of the overall needs of your organization to contextualize and prioritize your workload
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How to be right when it counts: 7 tools for making better decisions: Sho Soboyejo in conversation
Identify when being right is important, and when it’s not
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How not to lose friends and alienate yourself: Learnings from a journey to Staff Engineer
Waheed El Miladi reflects on his journey to Staff Engineer and discusses some of the personal pitfalls and unexpected challenges he encountered while moving through roles and the personal skills and strategies I’ve developed to address them.
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How to navigate uncertainty as a senior individual contributor
What is the process for determining where your expertise and efforts would be most valuable?