Speaker

Kevin McCartney

Kevin McCartney

Architect Consultant @ Insight Enterprises

Kevin is a seasoned software engineer & consultant passionate about delivering amazing products, solving complex business problems, & improving daily work for everyone. Working with cross-functional, close knit product teams or at a higher level to uplift platforms & organizations both bring him joy. Life-long learning is a core value for him - whether it's learning a new technology or domain, becoming a more effective agilist, or finding new ways to coach & grow his teammates. He also strives to model & support a healthy, fun, inclusive work culture for everyone he works with.

Showing Up for Women as a Male Ally

Despite making up 50% of the population, women hold only 25% of technical roles across the industry. Women are leaving the tech industry at a rate 45% higher than their male counterparts, with 50% exiting before age 35.

The problem of the tech industry being inhospitable to women is not a new problem or one that is just coming to light. So the question is - what is to be done?

This session is specifically aimed at male attendees. You will learn how we got to where we are today when it comes to gender inequality in tech, the special advantages you hold as a man, as well as how you can use these advantages to uplift & support your women colleagues. You will leave with methods for being a better listener to expand your understanding of the experiences of women in the workplace, sponsoring your female colleagues, & shutting down sexism when you encounter it.

Come learn how to use your powers for good as a male ally for women in the workplace!

Refactoring Your Way to Better Software

It finally works! Then you take a step back from the software you cooked up & realized it’s a giant plate of spaghetti code.

Everyone has been here before, but how do you avoid shipping a tangled mess of software?

In this interactive session, you will learn how to take code that can use a little TLC & clean it up by refactoring. You will receive an understanding of how code accrues technical debt & why it’s important that this is avoided. You will also discover what anti-patterns to look out for, principles of clean code, & approaches for refactoring your code you can apply in your everyday work.

If you want to write software that’s easy to understand, painless to change, & pleasure to work with, come level up your refactoring skills!

Developing Your Team as a Technical Leader

You’ve heard of the 10x developer - what about the 10x team?

Are you ready to move past the “unicorn developer” mindset to unleash the greatest force multiplier in delivering software?

This is the session where you’ll learn how to grow your team as a technical servant leader - regardless of your title. This talk explores battle-tested techniques for uplifting your team’s collective tech chops & empowering the engineers you work alongside. It also explores common obstacles such as justifying the investment in team growth to the business, inspiring passion in the face of apathy, & how to learn the things you don’t know (yet). You will leave with actionable strategies & activities that will help you & your teammates grow together.

No matter how many years you have behind a keyboard, you have something to offer your team - & lots to learn from them! Come learn how to build a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, & co-ownership.

Designing for Engineers: What is Developer Experience?

Who is your user? Maybe it’s someone who wants to buy a shirt online. Perhaps it’s a store associate stocking shelves or a nurse taking care of patients. These are common types of users that’s easy to conceive of & care about their needs.

What if there’s another user in the software lifecycle process you’ve never considered before? You and the other engineers you work with are also “users” as authors of the codebase you maintain & extend, the systems you use to verify & deliver that code, as well as the methods you have of recording & sharing organizational knowledge.

In this session, you will learn how to consider the engineering experience of building software & how you can improve your daily work through tooling, processes, & communication infrastructure. You will walk away with lessons learned that you can apply with your teams and organizations to work happier, smarter & more sustainably.

Consulting as a Software Engineer

When a lot of people hear the word “consultant”, they think of someone who makes a lot of PowerPoint decks & wrangles spreadsheets - so what does it mean to be a consultant as a software engineer?

It’s not what you might think. Software engineers who are consultants not only drive high-level architectural decisions & provide training for their clients - they also build really awesome products. In this session, you will learn about the special role that software engineer consultants play in the companies they work with, what makes you successful as a consultant, & how you provide value at different levels of experience (consulting isn’t just for the most senior engineers). You’ll hear about some sample engagements, uncover what skills you might need to develop to get into the field, & much more.

If you think consulting might be for you, come find out in this session!

Kevin McCartney

Architect Consultant @ Insight Enterprises