AI DevSummit 2025 + DeveloperWeek Leadership 2025

Alexander Arians, AXA, Chapter Lead

While we developers have learnt over the course of our careers how to tackle new technical challenges and frameworks, many of us struggle with our personal career development. Once we have reached senior status, there is a lack of clear requirements and expectations of us. Without the classic career ladder as in other professions, we are challenged to take our development into our own hands.

In this presentation, we will explore together the essential skills we need to advance our careers. The focus will be on practical approaches with concrete recommendations on how we can optimally position ourselves through a strategic approach, soft skills and our technical abilities.
We will also explore together how we can best utilise our leadership skills. I will share my experience as a developer and as a manager with you.

Let's find out together how we can advance our careers in a self-determined way!

learning objectives:
-Career development: strategies for professional development
-Advanced skills: Insights into communication, leadership and business acumen
-Networking: Building and utilising professional networks
-Mentoring: Benefits of mentoring and finding mentors
-Influence and impact: Scaling influence without authority and impact
-Continuous improvement: Lifelong learning for competitiveness

Ethan Ferdosi, AWS Startup, Solutions Architect Leader

Amazon’s approach to innovation has remained consistent since the company first launched—start with the customer and work backward. In this session, gain valuable insights into Amazon’s cultural mechanisms and our innovation journey. Walk away with lessons learned and best practices that you can apply to your own business. 

Shailvi Wakhlu, Shailvi Ventures, Data Leader

Learn how to foster a culture of ownership and transparency that drives both individual and team success. This session provides leaders with actionable strategies to empower employees, enhance communication, and create an environment where everyone contributes confidently and effectively. Strengthen team dynamics and align efforts with business goals for lasting impact. 

Gregory Lind, Buildly, CEO and Founder

Redefine team communication with radical transparency. Fostering a culture of openness, honesty, and positivity in your team, can create a work environment where everyone feels empowered to do their best work and grow both personally and professionally. This talk will give an overview to bringing radical transparency into your DevOps, software and product development processes.
 

Shrinath Thube, IBM, Software Developer
Vaibhav Tupe, Equinix,  Teechnology Lead

Every engineer knows how to debug code, but what about debugging your career? Many developers hit invisible bottlenecks—whether it’s stagnation, lack of recognition, or unclear next steps—without knowing how to fix them. In this talk, we’ll break down common career blockers and use a debugging framework to identify and resolve them effectively.

Key Topics Covered:
- Recognizing career bottlenecks and why they happen
- The growth trap: Why strong engineers don’t always get promoted
- How to get unstuck in mid-to-senior transitions
- A step-by-step debugging approach for career challenges

Takeaways for the Audience:
- A framework to diagnose and fix career slowdowns
- Insights into what managers look for when promoting engineers
- Actionable strategies to accelerate your career growth

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Welcome + Networking (Breakfast) 

9:30 AM - 10:20 AM - Panel 1: Be Where the Developers Are
Developers often rely on one another to help evaluate new technologies, dev tooling, and programming ideas. How can marketing teams engage in these conversations without being perceived as invading their space? Our panelists will discuss their tactics for finding where developers share their knowledge and their tactics for supporting and informing these conversations.

1. Michael Ortega, Head of Marketing @ Predibase
2. Yolande Poirier, Senior Manager, Developer Community @ Neo4j
3. Bo English-Wiczling, Senior Director @ Oracle
Moderator: Ziwei Chen, Senior Developer Marketing Strategist @ Catchy


10:20 AM - 10:30 AM - Break

10:30 AM - 11:20 AM - Panel 2: Building a Developer Community
We often speak of the “Developer community” as if it’s a homogenous group of technical experts. In reality, it’s a collection of various communities consisting of unique individuals with differing experiences and skillsets - some of whom never cross paths with one another. Dev marketing teams dream of tapping into these communities by building a subset of developers devoted to their products and services, but often struggle to break through. Our panelists will explore how they have encouraged community among their developer audiences, the benefits it has brought for their organization, and the support these communities provide to the technical practitioners who belong to and engage deeply with them.
1. Ojus Save, Developer Advocate @ Zoom
2, Pat Patterson, Chief Technical Evangelist @ BackBlaze
3. Stephen Chin, VP of Developer Relations @ Neo4j
4. Anthony Lusardi, Developer Relations Engineer @ LibLab
Moderator: Ziwei Chen, Senior Developer Marketing Strategist @ Catchy

11:20 AM - 12:00 PM Expo Tour + Networking

Ben Lloyd Pearson, LinearB, Director, DevEx Strategy

GenAI is revolutionizing software development, offering new ways to automate repetitive tasks and improve collaboration. But with these opportunities come challenges: how do you integrate AI into your workflow without disrupting creativity or team dynamics? How do you avoid over-reliance on automation while maintaining quality and efficiency? In this session, explore practical approaches to using AI for tasks like code reviews, testing, and daily development, while overcoming the productivity dips and adoption hurdles that GenAI brings in 2025. Whether you’re optimizing your own workflow or contributing to team success, you’ll leave with actionable strategies to thrive in the evolving developer landscape. 

More details coming soon!

Alexander Arians, AXA, Chapter Lead

While we developers have learnt over the course of our careers how to tackle new technical challenges and frameworks, many of us struggle with our personal career development. Once we have reached senior status, there is a lack of clear requirements and expectations of us. Without the classic career ladder as in other professions, we are challenged to take our development into our own hands.

In this presentation, we will explore together the essential skills we need to advance our careers. The focus will be on practical approaches with concrete recommendations on how we can optimally position ourselves through a strategic approach, soft skills and our technical abilities.
We will also explore together how we can best utilise our leadership skills. I will share my experience as a developer and as a manager with you.

Let's find out together how we can advance our careers in a self-determined way!

learning objectives:
-Career development: strategies for professional development
-Advanced skills: Insights into communication, leadership and business acumen
-Networking: Building and utilising professional networks
-Mentoring: Benefits of mentoring and finding mentors
-Influence and impact: Scaling influence without authority and impact
-Continuous improvement: Lifelong learning for competitiveness

Ethan Ferdosi, AWS Startup, Solutions Architect Leader

Amazon’s approach to innovation has remained consistent since the company first launched—start with the customer and work backward. In this session, gain valuable insights into Amazon’s cultural mechanisms and our innovation journey. Walk away with lessons learned and best practices that you can apply to your own business. 

Shailvi Wakhlu, Shailvi Ventures, Data Leader

Learn how to foster a culture of ownership and transparency that drives both individual and team success. This session provides leaders with actionable strategies to empower employees, enhance communication, and create an environment where everyone contributes confidently and effectively. Strengthen team dynamics and align efforts with business goals for lasting impact. 

Gregory Lind, Buildly, CEO and Founder

Redefine team communication with radical transparency. Fostering a culture of openness, honesty, and positivity in your team, can create a work environment where everyone feels empowered to do their best work and grow both personally and professionally. This talk will give an overview to bringing radical transparency into your DevOps, software and product development processes.
 

Shrinath Thube, IBM, Software Developer
Vaibhav Tupe, Equinix,  Teechnology Lead

Every engineer knows how to debug code, but what about debugging your career? Many developers hit invisible bottlenecks—whether it’s stagnation, lack of recognition, or unclear next steps—without knowing how to fix them. In this talk, we’ll break down common career blockers and use a debugging framework to identify and resolve them effectively.

Key Topics Covered:
- Recognizing career bottlenecks and why they happen
- The growth trap: Why strong engineers don’t always get promoted
- How to get unstuck in mid-to-senior transitions
- A step-by-step debugging approach for career challenges

Takeaways for the Audience:
- A framework to diagnose and fix career slowdowns
- Insights into what managers look for when promoting engineers
- Actionable strategies to accelerate your career growth

Ben Lloyd Pearson, LinearB, Director, DevEx Strategy

GenAI is revolutionizing software development, offering new ways to automate repetitive tasks and improve collaboration. But with these opportunities come challenges: how do you integrate AI into your workflow without disrupting creativity or team dynamics? How do you avoid over-reliance on automation while maintaining quality and efficiency? In this session, explore practical approaches to using AI for tasks like code reviews, testing, and daily development, while overcoming the productivity dips and adoption hurdles that GenAI brings in 2025. Whether you’re optimizing your own workflow or contributing to team success, you’ll leave with actionable strategies to thrive in the evolving developer landscape.