Leveraging Support So Your Product Doesn't Suck

Support teams are incredible, robust, talented and, unfortunately, often under-utilized by product and engineering teams as they develop and iterate on their applications. There are tons of different product insights that can be gleaned from your support organizations because support knows your product better than you do, and knowing how and why they work they way they do can open up a world of possibilities for engineers.

In this session, we'll talk about the different types of tools used in support (and the ones we wish we had), what typical support processes look like, how and why we interpret metrics the way they do, as well as the types of roles that exist in support and how you can get honest, useful insights from them to help you build an application that doesn't absolutely suck.

Bacon, Eggs & React: Real-World Analogies for Engineering

Learning software engineering is a bit like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded - it's challenging but incredibly rewarding when you make progress. However, I've found that using relatable analogies can help beginners understand difficult concepts more easily, and even aid in honing the ability to distill complex information for different audiences . In this talk, I'll discuss strategies for creating and using analogies to make learning software engineering easier and more engaging. I'll also share some of my favorite analogies I've developed over time to aid in my learning journey: like how building a React app is kinda like cooking breakfast.

Forging a Path into Support Engineering

Are you interested in pursuing a career in engineering but don't want to abandon your love for all things support? Then, support engineering might be the perfect pathway for you. In this talk, I'll walk you through what different support engineering roles look like, identifying the knowledge and skills that will help you succeed, give advice on how to plan projects strategically to make the biggest impact and get buy-in from leadership, how to get started building support apps, and cover different resources that will help you build skills and experience.

Attendees will gain useful advice and strategies to help them understand how to pursue a rewarding career in support engineering and get started building useful tools for their support team.