What are the career opportunities after you've been a "senior engineer" for a while already?
Research from Culture Amp has shown having career opportunities in front of you is the single most important thing for someone's commitment to staying at a company... but after you've reached "senior" it's not always obvious what the next opportunity could even be.
In this talk we'll explore
- What various engineering job titles mean: staff engineer, principal engineer, team lead, tech lead, engineering manager and more.
- The kinds of skills that will make you more valuable to the business and justify a promotion.
- How it looks different at big companies and small companies or startups.
- How skills from parallel roles in design, product management, coaching and more can help.
- Whether you're interested in the "manager" or "individual contributor" path, or if you can have the best of both worlds.
Speaker
Jason O'Neil
Team Lead at Culture Amp
I'm a web developer / software engineer, and have been leading enablement teams like Design Systems and Delivery Engineering at Culture Amp for about 7 years.
At first, when we heard that DDD Perth was held in a stadium, we thought there was no way that could be true. Turns out it is. Well done, Perth! Once we learned the truth of the matter, we just had to come and check it out ourselves and share our zombie sock love. Yeah, we love zombies if the name didn't give it away. And we love our zombie sock merch. That, plus, our co-CEO Paul loves to hear himself talk and our other one, Demelza, loves a stage.
DDD Perth embodies everything we believe in at MakerX - making technology accessible, fostering diversity, and building high-performing teams. These aren't just ideals we talk about; they're the proven foundation of successful technology companies.The conference itself is a masterclass in bringing people together. With 1,600 passionate technologists gathering in one place, we're witnessing real-time ecosystem building - where today's attendees become tomorrow's co-founders, where nervous first-time speakers evolve into industry leaders, and where casual conversations spark the collaborations that define our tech future. At MakerX, we know that helping our partners succeed requires more than writing code. It's about weaving together culture, connections, and capabilities - transforming research breakthroughs and bold ideas into sustainable businesses that create real impact. That's exactly what DDD Perth facilitates at scale and we're proud to be onboard to support the event for another year.
The SKA Observatory is excited to be returning to DDD as a Gold Sponsor, supporting the Perth-based software and tech community.
The SKAO is building two of the most advanced radio telescopes on Earth - one here in outback Western Australia, on Wajarri Yamaji Country, and another in South Africa.
Together these telescopes will revolutionise our understanding of the Universe and the laws of fundamental physics.
Computing, software, and big data are critical to the success of this mega science project.
If you'd like to learn more about the work our computing and software teams are doing, or about the project more generally, please come and say hello to us in our booth!
At VGW, we believe the future of tech is built on diverse ideas and continuous collaboration. Our partnership with DDD Perth reflects our commitment to supporting a passionate community of developers and innovators who are driving technology forward in Western Australia and beyondâ - Patrick Di Loreto, VGW's Chief Technology Officer
The Perth technology community has been a key contributor to Qoria's growth as a company over the years, and we're excited to continue to give back to that same community by returning as sponsors in 2025.
You won't find a more vibrant, inclusive, and content-rich community tech conference in Australia, and we're so keen to see what is on offer this year.
Come see our booth on the day to find out how we're making the world safer for students worldwide, and chat about some of the awesome technology that makes that possible.
Octopus Deploy has always been about developers helping developers. This is why we're avid supporters of the DDD community across Australia. DDD Perth is a standout event that brings the developer community together to learn, share, and grow, and we're proud to be part of it. We care deeply about helping teams ship better software, faster, and with less risk. Swing by our booth to chat about joining our team or all things Continuous Delivery, regardless of whether you're deploying to Kubernetes, the cloud, or hybrid environments.
AWS is thrilled to support the amazing developer community event DDD Perth again this year. At AWS we believe in meeting developers were they are, and in the beautiful city of Perth, we know DDD is where ALL the developers are ! . The AWS team are so looking forward to some great conversations and fun times at another DDD Perth event in 2025
It's such a privilege to be able to run this conference and DDD Perth would love to acknowledge the
traditional custodians of the land in which DDD is created, presented, and shared, the
Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation and their connections to land, sea and community.
We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect
to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
