Unconference: Staff+ Engineering

What is an unconference?

An unconference is a participant-driven meeting. Attendees come together, bringing their challenges and relying on the experience and know-how of their peers for solutions. A professional facilitator is also there to help keep the discussion moving forward, but where it goes is up to the participants.

It's a facilitated peer group that avoids the hierarchical aspects of a conventional conference, such as a top-down organization. Only the broad themes are predetermined. Everything else is just space for attendees to sound off ideas together, relate to shared challenges and rewards, and identify new ideas and goals. 

Our unconference sessions have been based on the Open Space Technology and Lean Coffee format since 2006.

Why are we doing unconference sessions?

We have designed QCon for senior software practitioners. That role comes with demanding challenges and complex problems. 

Connecting with your peers in a structured environment allows you to:

  • Broaden your perspective with the benefit of the experience of others.
  • Challenge how you've been doing things by breaking out of your bubble.
  • Learn from peers who have already overcome the challenges you're facing now.
  • Benchmark your solutions against other teams and organizations.
  • Get real-world perspectives on challenges that might be too novel or specific to find solutions in books or presentations.
  • Validate your technical roadmap with real-world research.
  • Connect with others like you and build relationships that go beyond the event.

Date

Monday Oct 2 / 05:05PM PDT ( 50 minutes )

Location

Seacliff D

Video

Video is not available

Slides

Slides are not available

Share

From the same track

Session Staff Plus Engineering

An Incident Story: Tips for How Staff+ Engineers Can Impact Incidents

Monday Oct 2 / 10:35AM PDT

In this talk, Erin Doyle, will walk through her experience with a critical 3-day-long incident.

Speaker image - Erin Doyle

Erin Doyle

Sr. Staff Software Engineer @Lob, with 20+ Years Previously as a Full Stack Engineer and Instructor @Egghead

Session Staff Plus Engineering

Things Every Staff+ Engineer Should Know

Monday Oct 2 / 11:45AM PDT

As staff+ engineers, we're often thrown into the deep end and expected to navigate huge amounts of ambiguity including ambiguity about what our jobs even are. It's common to feel like there's a huge amount of trial and error or even luck.

Speaker image - Joy Ebertz

Joy Ebertz

Principal Engineer @Harness, Blogger, and Speaker, Previously @Box

Session Staff Plus Engineering

Managing Staff+ Engineers: Opportunities and Challenges

Monday Oct 2 / 01:35PM PDT

Staff+ engineers can be a powerful force in your organization…if you let them. Effectively managingStaff+ engineers requires different strategies than many managers are used to employing.

Speaker image - Adam Schirmacher

Adam Schirmacher

Staff Engineer & Manager of Staff Engineers @Gusto

Session Staff Plus Engineering

Risk and Failure on the Path to Staff Engineer

Monday Oct 2 / 03:55PM PDT

Even as inaction can be a risk, deciding which actions to take in one's career involves choosing between different bets. I've developed a rubric for judging specific risks that I've taken.

Speaker image -  Caleb Hyde

Caleb Hyde

Site Reliability Engineer @Expel

Session

Panel: Staff+ Engineering Skills

Monday Oct 2 / 02:45PM PDT

Staff+ engineering is a critical role in any high-performing engineering organization. But what does it take to get promoted or get hired into a staff role? What does it take to keep it? Join us for a panel discussion with experienced Staff+ engineers who will share their insights.

Speaker image - Erin Doyle

Erin Doyle

Sr. Staff Software Engineer @Lob, with 20+ Years Previously as a Full Stack Engineer and Instructor @Egghead

Speaker image - Adam Schirmacher

Adam Schirmacher

Staff Engineer & Manager of Staff Engineers @Gusto

Speaker image - Joy Ebertz

Joy Ebertz

Principal Engineer @Harness, Blogger, and Speaker, Previously @Box

Speaker image -  Caleb Hyde

Caleb Hyde

Site Reliability Engineer @Expel