From Support to Engineering and Beyond: What to Take with You, and What to Leave Behind
summary
A concrete path from self-taught learner to Director of Engineering with steps that actually work: starts in customer support (handling seven apps at once—Slack, Salesforce, knowledge bases), asks for a six-month support-to-engineer bridge, then moves into full-stack work and fixes user-driven bugs. Organizes Django Girls Atlanta (100% company-funded, 100% attendance, zero no-shows), practices egoless programming (ask for help, delete a line to ship), and writes a job description to become a liaison role.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (51)
- 0:00Introduction
- 0:34Welcome to Ohio
- 1:05Thank you PI Ohio
- 1:21My name is Adrienne
- 2:22Youll soon hear
- 2:44Stories
- 3:29Show of Hands
- 4:55Your Path
- 7:00Take Risks
- 7:14A Heartbreak
- 8:12Coating With Knives
- 8:40Learning Something New
- 9:07Blogging
- 9:28interfaith dialogue
- 10:24peace
- 10:47building community
- 11:31pro tip
- 13:52talk that night
- 14:49first presentation
- 22:59so many
- 23:23interviews panned out
- 25:00hardest job
- 26:43drunk
- 27:23empathy
- 29:09new title
- 31:04look for a file
- 31:57make a meaningful change
- 33:35I went to the bathroom
- 34:35I said Jackson Im to
- 35:19I Cant Read This
- 36:46Egoless Programming
- 38:29Resetting Expectations
- 38:51Owls Tweet
- 39:11I am your boss
- 39:48Chaos Monkey
- 40:21Be the developer
- 40:40Be kind
- 40:50Dream a new dream
- 41:05Writing a job description
- 41:43Being a liaison engineer
- 42:26Building for people
- 42:48Leaving the company
- 43:25Advice from Lynn Root
- 44:53What I say as Director of Engineering
- 45:26Im lucky
- 45:43You cant be
- 46:01Memories
- 46:26Jake
- 48:09Jason
- 48:32OneonOnes
- 48:51Openended Melee
related talks
24mFrom Developing Code To Developing People
42mHow to Hit the Ground Running as a Staff + Software Engineer at a New Company
46mTaking Control of your Tech Career
30mForging Your Path to Senior Developer
16mOops, I Became an Engineer
44mTechnical Career Development - From Hippie Musician to Hiring Manager
30mLeading Beyond Code: My Journey as a Staff Engineer
34mMentoring Junior Engineers @ Slack HQ
