Kate Wardin

Foundations of Tech Leadership Deep Dive

9:00 AM MDT

According to a CareerBuilder study, only 40% of new tech leaders receive formal training when they become a boss for the first time. The rest are forced to get scrappy to quickly equip themselves with new skills, techniques, and mindsets to effectively transition into their new roles.

This workshop was designed to fill this gap; providing tactical techniques and resources for both new and seasoned technical leaders!

In this full day workshop, you will learn how successfully navigate the complexities of Engineering Management. Topics include:

Purposeful leadership, emotional intelligence, self awareness, time management, prioritizing the right things, social styles, giving feedback, career conversations, 1:1s, psychological safety, recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, measuring team metrics, motivation, engagement, team building, and building sustainable relationships.

Interactive group exercises will help you practice these new ideas and techniques in a safe and engaging environment.

You will leave with new perspectives on Engineering Management, as well as handouts and plenty of resources to grow and further develop skills in your daily work.

Please download (and print if possible) the handout before joining this workshop! (located with session slides).

8 ways to build a sustainable engineering culture

11:00 AM MDT

Contrary to popular belief, software engineering culture is not about the free food, open office spaces, and ping pong tables.

You can sense a great team culture when you observe it, and unfortunately you've probably experienced (or are currently experiencing) elements of a bad team culture. Not to worry - it's never too late to grab the reins and make small changes to steer your team in the right direction!

In this talk, Kate will highlight 8 tactical tips that attendees can implement on their teams immediately to help shape their team's culture!

Time is on my side!

1:00 PM MDT

Attending meetings, researching a new feature, writing support documentation, troubleshooting an annoying bug, responding to on call duties, and the growing email inbox; when do I find time to actually write code?

This one hour session will involve hands on activities for participants to assess their priorities and learn essential skills for maximizing their busy schedules and spending time on the things that actually matter!

Please view and download the handout before joining this session. (located with session slides)

The Dao of a Career in Software

3:00 PM MDT

Do you feel inspired by conference talks but overwhelmed by all of the take aways to remember when you get back to work? This session will provide an opportunity to identify and practice key leadership skills immediately!

We will work to understand what your motivational style means to you and how you can use it as a compass for decision making and improving your enjoyment at work.