Lead Dev Meetup - New York - February 2020
Welcome to the first Lead Dev Meetup of 2020 in New York! We're a meetup for leaders and managers of technical teams.
⏰ Schedule
- 6:00pm - Arrival, refreshments, networking
- 6:45pm - Welcome
- 7:00pm - Jared Silver
- 7:30pm - Break
- 7:45pm - Naomi Meyer & Caitlin Crews
- 8:15pm - Networking
- 9:00pm - Close
🌟 Speakers
Host: Rafe Colburn (VP Engineering, Etsy)
Speaker: Jared Silver (Engineering Lead, Data Camp)
Talk: What Capuchin Monkeys Know that Engineering Leaders Don't 🐒
In a study popularized by Frans de Waal's 2014 TED Talk, two monkeys were given a simple task: take a rock from a researcher, give it back, and then collect their reward. For the monkeys, it was a pretty good gig: in exchange for a few seconds of minimal effort, they would each receive a delicious snack. But there was a catch. One monkey received a cucumber, while the other received a much-preferred grape. Mere minutes into the exercise, the monkey receiving the cucumber began to protest this perceived inequity. Rather than accept the cucumber reward, the monkey responded by throwing it back at the researcher.
Just a few moments earlier, this monkey was perfectly content to receive a delicious cucumber in exchange for this minimal effort task. However, after seeing his companion receive an even better reward in exchange for the same effort, he resigned in protest. Why would this monkey give up a perfectly good reward -- at his own expense -- just because the other was receiving a slightly better one? And what can this anecdote teach us about building effective engineering teams?
This talk will cover the basics of equity theory, a theory of motivation which argues that both monkeys and software engineers match their level of effort with their perceived reward. We'll explore how to discover your team's grapes and cucumbers, what the best managers do to retain their top talent and ways you can make your team both happier and more productive.
Speakers: Naomi Meyer (Software Development Engineer, Adobe) & Caitlin Crews (Creative Outreach and Design Specialist, Adobe)
Talk: Promoting Non-Traditional STEAM Career Paths in Creative Tech
Maybe you want to hire a new engineer, PM, designer. Maybe you want to support that one person on your team who is from an underrepresented group in tech, maybe with a non-traditional STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) background. But you don’t know-how - and you think diversity and inclusion are good.
Adobe is a company that values diversity and inclusion and we’ve both been part of leading the charge to improve the current landscape. Particularly, because we both took non-traditional paths to get to our (creative and engineering) roles within Adobe. We’re passionate about advocating for the value of people from non-traditional backgrounds, in all areas of the technical culture - engineering, art, design, and more!
We’ve noticed some areas with room to grow - across the tech industry, so we’ll provide concrete steps towards improvement. Both, how to take note of the current gaps and how to improve - in creating and sustaining spaces for people from non-traditional backgrounds, in our shared tech culture.
Overall we will explore how creative change and human empathy impacts career growth - particularly for folks from underrepresented and non-traditional backgrounds in tech.
Tickets
Schedule
January 28th, 2020
Additional Information
🔺 Code of conduct
The Lead Developer Meetup is a safe and inclusive event. By attending, you agree to our code of conduct: conduct.theleaddev.com
🔸 Accessibility & inclusion
We make sure to use venues that are accessible for wheelchair users and the talks will be delivered with a microphone and sound system. If you have any specific accessibility requirements, please let us know. To help make our meetup more inclusive, we provide non-alcoholic drinks and vegan and gluten-free food options.
◼️ About our speakers
Jared Silver builds educational software with the goal of scaling access to effective, equitable learning experiences. Jared has worked for edtech companies such as DataCamp and Quill.org, and he studied organizational behavior and operations management at Babson College. Jared lives in NYC where you can catch him making cheese boards, sampling an unhealthy number of interesting dessert spots, and spending too much time on Twitter when he's not working. You can follow him @jaredsilver.
Naomi Meyer works as a Software Development Engineer at Adobe in New York City, where she is the product champion for internationalization (i18n) on her team. Before writing JavaScript full time, Naomi worked teaching English as a foreign language in local classrooms across Asia and West Africa. She is passionate about developing with diversity, inclusion, and internationalization (i18n) in mind, and enjoys hiking and riding bikes on the weekends.
Caitlin Crews is a Design and Outreach Specialist at Adobe, focusing on the advancement of creatives through design and art on the Adobe Stock Team. Caitlin is the co-lead of Black Employee Network New York (BEN NY) and serves on the Grant Panel Decision Committee for Adobe New York. Previously, she worked as a Curatorial Assistant at the Brooklyn Museum and as a Photographer and Retoucher for Nautica, Lord & Taylor and Victoria’s Secret. She received her M.P.S in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute and her B.A. in Photography from Kent State University.
🔹 About The Lead Developer
We host an international series of conferences and meetups for technical leaders in London, Berlin, Austin, New York and San Francisco. Find out more and check out 120+ talk videos on imposter syndrome, leading and scaling technical teams, and lots more at TheLeadDev.com.