Summary of Technical leadership and glue work - Tanya Reilly | #LeadDevNewYork

00:00:00 - 00:25:00

The video discusses the challenges of Technical Leadership, specifically when it comes to a newcomer who is trying to make an impact. The speaker describes how a new engineer, who was promoted to a senior position, managed to do important work but didn't improve her skills in coding. The manager is ultimately responsible for the breakdown in communication and the engineer is left feeling conflicted.

• 00:00:00 In this story, a software engineer starts a new job and quickly realizes that the code base is very hairy. She asks around for help and finds that her new team is working on a different problem than she is. She sets up a meeting with the other team to explain her concerns, but they are unhelpful and rude. Eventually, she wins a customer over with her hard work and the team starts to appreciate her. However, her success is short-lived as she is soon transferred to a new team.
• 00:05:00 The video discusses the challenges of Technical Leadership, specifically when it comes to a newcomer who is trying to make an impact. The speaker describes how a new engineer, who was promoted to a senior position, managed to do important work but didn't improve her skills in coding. The manager is ultimately responsible for the breakdown in communication and the engineer is left feeling conflicted.
• 00:10:00 The narrator, a senior or staff engineer, discusses the importance of technical work and the lack of promotion for significant promotable work. She introduces the idea of "glue work" and how it can be a significant contributor to a successful project. She discusses a study that found that when women are asked to do nonpromotable work, they volunteer more often than men. The narrator then discusses how a manager can encourage nonpromotable work by asking women to do it more often than men. She provides examples of skills that are beneficial to develop as a manager. The narrator concludes the article by encouraging readers to consider the roles they would like to have and the skills they need to pursue them.
• 00:15:00 The speaker addresses the issue of "glue work" in the tech industry, which is when a programmer is put in a role that they do not want or are not qualified for, in order to help the team succeed. The speaker suggests that an engineer should deliberately choose a role that they will feel successful, unhappy, and proud to say they do, in order to learn skills that they want to have. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of career advancement for engineers, and recommends having a career conversation with their manager. If the engineer wishes to move up in their career, they should ask direct questions about promotability and work requirements.
• 00:20:00 The speaker advises a glue person to increase their skills outside of their job title, in order to stay ahead of their competition and improve the overall effectiveness of their team. She also suggests that if a glue person is not progressing within their current role, they should take a temporary hiatus to improve their skills and reassess their position within the company.
• 00:25:00 In this video, Tanya Reilly shares advice on how to lead and develop technical skills in employees. She advises managers to help the non-glue employees on their team, and to focus on something they want to get good at. Reilly also notes that skills are not fixed, and that anyone can learn anything they put effort into.