You're a senior software engineer - so whats next?

Our next tekMeetup - "You're a senior engineer, so what's next?"

Join us for our last in-person meetup of the year! We've had a fantastic run of events, so thank you to everyone who attended. Let's see the year out in style, with a strong turnout for "You're a senior dev; what's next?"

There comes a point in a senior developer's career where they hit some fairly crucial crossroads. How do you earn more money? What do you need to do to get promoted? Do you become a contractor? How do you make it to tech lead or dev manager? Do you have to become a hands-off manager to earn more money?

Finishing your role as a senior developer and then starting a new job as a tech lead is a massive cultural shift! One minute, you're coding for 90% of your working time, and then suddenly, you’re tasked with managing four people. That means a whole potential can of worms is opened up, from managing one to ones, dealing with conflict, quality control and more.

We have a panel of brilliant engineering directors and leads who have all transitioned from senior and climbed the ranks. But how did they do it? What did they struggle with? What mistakes did they make that you could learn from?

Mouna Neelakantas talk is titled "Becoming a 1st time Tech Lead".

In the last 6 months, 9 engineers have stepped up as Tech Leads or Principal Engineers in Mounas team. Being in these roles for the first time and navigating challenges has triggered interesting questions and discussions with them. Mouna will be sharing 5 of these questions and will navigate these in a specific context and explore various tools and techniques.

Dions talk is titled "Balancing the 3 facets of an engineering leadership role; Engineering Excellence, Delivery Speed and Team happiness.

For each of the 3 areas, Dion will share 2-3 points that make individuals stand out as high performers, as well as how to read the room/peers/stakeholders to decipher if you are performing (incase feedback from manager is sparse).

Those 3 areas are key to technical leadership roles as well as people leadership roles. Most people looking to step up from a senior engineer role are never quite sure on if they want to go into people leadership or technical leadership, or both. But focusing on these 3 aspects, it keeps their doors open to jump between the 2 until they have found their sweet spot.

Lastly, Paulwyn will be discussing; "Technical leadership at start ups Vs Corporates"

The differences between working as a senior / lead engineer in startups/scaleups vs established companies, from both a technical perspective as well as a personal/career growth perspective, the same role title could mean very different expectations at a startup vs an established company. Extending this further, Paulwyn will explore how the choice of company can impact long term career trajectory.

As always, tekFinder has put together a meetup about one thing only – adding value to our community.

Join us for this free event (pizza/drinks included), where you can listen to our panel learn, ask questions and have fun.

Register here, and I’ll reveal our speakers next week!