Upcoming Speaking and Workshop Events
LDX3 Talk — Legacy as leverage: How brownfield work builds technical judgment
Legacy systems are often treated as work to endure before moving on to something more modern or “strategic.” But constrained systems teach engineers to reason carefully about incomplete context, fragile dependencies, production risk, release order, rollback, and second-order effects.
In this talk, I’ll share how brownfield work builds engineering judgment in ways greenfield environments often do not.
See the LDX3 page for more details.
Date & time: Sep 15-16, 2026, in New York City
Past Events
DeveloperWeek Management 2026 OPEN Session — Strategic 1:1s That Actually Grow People
Make your 1:1s true engines for growth with a coaching-informed lens. Whether you’re a manager or senior+ engineer, use reflection prompts, context mapping, and strength-based inquiry to foster clarity, purpose, and momentum.
See my Sessionize page for more details.
Date & time: May 27th, 2026, at 4:30 pm PT at South San Francisco Conference Center, CA
Women@Playstation Talk — Being Right Isn’t Enough: Influence That Scales
Being technically right isn’t enough to shape outcomes. In this talk, I share a practical framework for building influence through purpose, relationships, and advocacy—and show how to tailor your message across technical, organizational, and business contexts.
This talk was delivered to the Women@Playstation group for Women’s History Month programming. In the spirit of “Play Without Limits: Women Shaping the Game,” this session explores how women can expand their impact, increase visibility, and shape direction with clarity and confidence.
Date & time: Mar 13th, 2026, at 9:00 am PT over Microsoft Teams
Launched New Cohort-based Course — Master the Behavioral Interview as a Senior Engineer
Take the guesswork out. Select and deliver stories that convey Senior impact.
You walk out of a behavioral interview knowing you have strong experience, but unsure how it landed. Maybe you rambled, froze, or gave a surface-level answer. The ambiguity and unclear expectations leave you anxious about rejection or being down-leveled. This course removes that ambiguity.
See the Maven course page for more details.
Date & time: Feb 28th, 2026, at 10:00 am PT over Zoom
DeveloperWeek 2026 PRO Session — Being Right isn’t Enough: Influence that Scales
What are the key ingredients of influence? At the Staff+ level, influence isn’t just about being technically right—it’s about being trusted, credible, and aligned with your organization’s goals. But trust and credibility are often treated as vague traits, not skills you can build with intention.
See my Sessionize page for more details.
Date & time: Feb 19th, 2026, at 1:30 pm PT at the San Jose Convention Center, CA
Position Your Technical Work for Promotions and Job Offers
Many Senior+ Engineers undervalue their own contributions by failing to infer the comprehensive context of their work. Without context, their work appears easier, decisions low-stakes, and seniority junior.
Discover the language and framework to articulate the full value of your work. Powerfully advocate for your promotion and secure accurate leveling in behavioral interviews to break stagnation.
See the Maven event for more details.
Date & time: Feb 7th, 2026, at 10:00 am PT over Zoom
LeadDev SF Meetup Talk — Being Right isn’t Enough: Influence that Scales
This talk breaks down ‘trust’ and ‘credibility’ into a practical framework—centered on purpose, relationships, and advocacy—with tools for influencing across technical, organizational, and business contexts.
It was also a finalist for the Staff+ conference coming up in NYC in October 2025, so I’m thrilled to bring it to the Bay Area community.
See the Meetup event for more details.
Date & time: Aug 21st, 2025, at 6:00 pm PT at the New Relic HQ in San Francisco
The How of the Engineering Career Ladder: Five Essential Foundations for Advancement
This workshop introduces The Five Essential Foundations, a holistic framework that integrates both technical and non-technical dimensions of career growth: Purpose, Technical Excellence, Relationships, Leadership, and Self-Advocacy. These foundations help engineers not only grow their capabilities, but also make informed decisions about the direction, pace, and shape of their careers.
See the event page for audience takeaways. Purchase conference tickets here.
Date & time: May 22nd, 2025, at 3:20 pm PT
The How of Career Growth: Build Your Foundations and Advocate for Yourself
This is a career growth workshop I am leading for ~50 engineers across Atlassian’s Australia and US offices.
The two-part workshop introduces a comprehensive framework integrating the hard and soft skills essential for career growth. The participants will learn The Five Essential Foundations for Career Advancement™ and how to effectively advocate for themselves to gain confidence, influence, and others’ respect!
Date & time: February 24th, 2025, at 2:00 pm PT
Engineering Career Ladder Workshop
Engineering career ladders lay out the “what” of the software engineering career path—but many of them lack guidance on the “how to get there.” This lack of guidance also obfuscates the skills necessary for a successful job search.
I’m partnering with Leopard.FYI for a walk through of my 5 Foundations Framework to demystify the various paths.
Craft a roadmap for career and job search success! Join Leopard. fyi for free and RSVP now to save your spot: Event Page
Date & time: December 16th, 2024, at 4:00 pm PDT
The How of the Engineering Career Ladder: Five Essential Foundations for Advancement
This will be an encore of the talk I gave to Taro members in August 2024, with a focus on advancing women in tech. It will be open to the members of Akron Women in Tech only and it will not be recorded.
Date & time: October 2nd, 2024, at 3:30 pm PDT
UGIIT Career Growth with Shine Garg: 5 Essential Foundations for Advancement
“I found the session immensely useful! I like that the presentation was very clear and structured and her framework gives individuals concrete and bite-sized ways in determining what they want from and need to focus on in their career.”
Addressed the Underrepresented Genders and Identities in Tech ERG at Maven Clinic.
Underrepresented identities in the workplace often remain underrepresented due to two key challenges: the lack of role models in senior positions and social marginalization.
I'll address these challenges in a talk at Maven Clinic. I'll share actionable strategies to navigate the engineering career ladder, encouraging everyone to stay in the driver’s seat of their careers and pursue success and fulfillment despite these obstacles.
Want to bring this talk to your organization? Let’s connect!
Date & time: August 28th, 2024, at 12 noon PDT
The How of the Engineering Career Ladder: Five Essential Foundations for Advancement
“Really liked the presentation, it shows so much maturity, experience, and knowledge I found really valuable”
“Had a lot of great insights”
“Absolutely brilliant!”
Engineering career ladders lay out the “what” of the software engineering career path—what competencies and behaviors are needed at each milestone. However, they often lack guidance on the “how.”
I’m partnering with Taro to talk about the five essential foundations for advancing your career and achieving your goals. Sign up for a free Taro account and RSVP here!
Don’t miss out; the recording will be available to Taro Premium members only.
Use this referral link to get a 20% discount on Taro Premium!
Date & time: August 5th, 2024, at 5 pm PDT