Axel Springer National Media & Tech GmbH & Co. KG

- Cross-functional leadership involving overview of 33 development teams across 7 sections, most of whom are working on products (websites, apps, video streaming, etc.) with millions of unique users per day.
- Personally co-leading a greenfield innovation project based around Artifical Intelligence / LLMs and personal finance articles for Germany's largest media brands in collaboration with the Axel Springer Academy, pairing 8 junior and senior engineers with a 6-month runtime.
- Co-leadership in the development of the Technical Expert Track (Career Matrix) for over 200 engineers
- Delivered over 20 presentations (both technical and career-based) at conferences, summits, meetups, and bootcamps; covering topics from DevOps centralisation and data-driven algorithmic news, through to coding interviews and personal branding.
- Regularly ran workshops and 1-on-1 coaching for engineers, product owners, and design staff on how to structure and deliver technical presentations.
- Founded multiple DEIB initiatives for technical staff: from interest groups for women+ and immigrant workers, to contract negotiation for Women in Tech Award sponsorship and collaboration in a year-long women+ training programme for junior backend engineers. Unofficially, I act as a "person of trust" for those who have concerns about topics which could impact historically excluded employees.
- As one of eight Directors, my role also includes discussion and oversight of large-scale engineering initiatives, multi-million Euro budgets, and career/personnel hiring/development/promotions/etc.
- I am also a mentor to three engineers, all at different stages of their career.

Director Product and Engineering (Projects and Organisation) 

(Note: Not all engagements listed here!)

- ContainerDays 2023, Speaker, "Balancing Centralisation and Team Autonomy in DevOps Organisation"
- TEDx TUBerlin 2023, Speaker, "Finding and Proving Your Value as a Career Changer"
- CodeNewbies Podcast, Guest Speaker, "From Opera to Code", 28 Dec 2022
- Data Natives 2022, Panellist, "Unconscious Bias in the Workplace and What AI Can Do About It", 31 August 2022 Berlin
- HoneyPot Careers YouTube Series, "How to Go From 0% to Employed Developer"
- WeAreDevs World Congress, Stage Moderator, 14-15 June 2022 Berlin
- WomenTech Meetup Berlin Edition, Moderator, 10 June 2022 Berlin
- Kotlin Dev Day, Moderator, 18-19 May 2022, Amsterdam
- German Testing Day, Speaker, "Being an Opera Singer Prepared Me for a Career in Tech“, 3-4 May 2022 Frankfurt
- Cypress Meetup Berlin, Speaker, "Watch Tests Go Brrrrr: Getting Started with Cypress in ReactJS", 9 March 2022
- IM Tech Meetup, Speaker, "My Journey into Tech", 22 February 2022
- CodeDays Conference, Speaker, "How to Support Junior Developers", February 2022
- OOP Konferenz, Panellist, "Der ultimative IT Stammtisch", February 2022
- WeAreDevelopers JavaScript Congress, Speaker: "Watch Tests Go Brrrr: Introduction to Cypress E2E Testing for React", November 2021
- Change Your Tune Podcast, Guest, "From Opera Singer to Software Engineer", August 2021
- Scrimba Live Q&A, Guest, May 2021
- TechFair LIVE 2021, Speaker: "How to Find a Tech Job Using LinkedIn", April 2021
- Cocktails and Code Meetup, Speaker: "From Opera to Tech: Learning About Impostor Syndrome, Social Media, and Initiative", April 2021
- Agathe's Diary (Honeypot Podcast), Guest, March 2021
- OOP Konferenz: Software and Business, Pecha Kucha Speaker: "Being an Opera Singer Prepared Me For a Programming Career", February 2021
- Hashnode Technical Writing Bootcamp, Speaker: "Getting Started in Blogging: Writing Principles and Topic Selection", November 2020

Public Speaker

Novatec Consulting GmbH

- Fullstack development (maintenance and upgrading to newer tech/tools) on a reporting platform in the FinTech industry. 
- Working primarily with Kotlin Spring Boot on the backend and React, TypeScript, Cypress, Jest, and JQuery on the frontend.
- Technical leadership, from budgeting and staffing to Scrum events and client contract updates.

Full Stack Software Engineer

- Squad Lead for a group of six developers
- Took over as Acting Technical Lead in the Novatec 'Talent Hub' for new employees and trainees: guiding the technical decisions, answering questions, and guiding over 30 developers across two projects. 
- Actively worked with Kotlin, Spring Boot, TypeScript, ReactJS, AngularTS, Azure DevOps, AWS, GitLab.
- Training received: iSAQB Software Architecture Foundational Course, Management 3.0, Scrum Master Training, Camunda Introduction

Junior Software Engineer and Interim Technical Lead

DCI Digital Career Institute gGmbH

- Assist teachers with code reviews on exercises and projects
- Mentor and tutor individual students with questions or points of confusion on the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, NodeJS)
- Explain complex programming concepts in simple language

Web Development Tutor

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

- Alto I with the Hessen State Theatre Chorus.
- Strong stagecraft skills led me to be selected for multiple small solo roles
- In addition to this work at Hessen State Theatre, I worked for a total of seven years as an opera singer, mostly freelance performing in various concerts and operas across three continents.

Opera Singer

TransatlanticTranslations Group

- The high quality of my freelance translation work led me to be selected for the role of Head Linguist for German to English translations for Transatlantic Translations Group from January 2017. 
- Translation specialisations included online marketing, web copy, newsletters, financial reports, and legal contracts.
- Main client was a market leader in online payments

Head Linguist Online Marketing - DE>EN

Opera Australia

- Developing, coordinating and executing digital marketing and social media strategies for Opera Australia, its associated productions and projects to over 150,000 customers.
- Used HTML and CSS for maintaining the Opera Australia blog via WordPress, as well as website alterations and email newsletters for marketing purposes (e.g. feature videos and image galleries).
- Selected as the Administration Representative for the Opera Australia Occupational Health and Safety Committee 2012 - 2013.

Digital Marketing Specialist

IQPC

- Won Most Profitable Conference Producer 2010, nominated for Employee of the Year 2010.
- Selected for the Fast Track Management Programme.
- Quickly rose to 2IC of the Mining IQ team, mentoring and training new conference producers and leading when the manager was sick or unavailable.
- Also ran staff training sessions on social media usage for business purposes.
- Role included working with cross-functional teams (sponsorship, sales, marketing, finance, research and operations) to achieve budgetary goals and secure the best possible outcome for our delegates, speakers, and sponsors. I saw these projects through from the original concept phase to the close of the final day.

Senior Conference Project Manager

Anna McDougall has made waves in the tech industry, breaking into software engineering following careers in project management, marketing, and as a professional opera singer (yes, really!). She is passionate about building practical tools with strong impact through people-driven engineering teams, and is a strong believer in "people over process". Additionally, as a technical speaker and a Google Women Techmakers Ambassador, Anna prides herself in taking technical topics and making them easy to understand for people from all walks of life: be it 1-on-1 in the boardroom or on stage speaking to thousands.

Her book "You Belong in Tech: How to Go From Zero Programming Experience to Hired" was published in June 2022, and quickly became a #1 Bestselling New Release Career Guide on Amazon. In 2023, she delivered her talk "Finding and Proving Your Value as a Career Changer" for TEDx TU Berlin.

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BIOGRAPHY:

Anna McDougall grew up in Sydney, Australia, and started coding as a kid: making websites as early as 1995 with HTML in Notepad. After working in communications and project management, she made her first career change, completing a Masters of Music and moving to Germany to pursue a career as an opera singer. At 32, she rediscovered her love for code and technology and made the switch to software engineering.

Anna quickly discovered her mix of technical, stage, and social skills made her perfect for technical leadership and advocacy. She now works as Director, Product and Engineering (Projects and Organisation) for the tech subsidiary of Europe's largest media publisher, Axel Springer National Media & Tech, based in Berlin, Germany. Her work still involves some coding, but focuses on oversight of NMT's projects, general engineering management, and strategic consulting to continuously push for progress in Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. In addition, she loves to speak at events regularly and to run workshops for engineers on how best to present their ideas and projects to the public.

𝟏𝟐 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏 - 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲
 
When my first child was born, I experienced one sensation more clearly than any other…
 
The weight of responsibility for someone else's life.

I had friends whose parents had been abusive, neglectful, or just hurtful. I read stories about the many ways parents had "messed up" their kids and led to lifelong emotional and psychological problems.
 
I don't want to be that parent.
 
I want a kid who feels empowered, trusted, loved, and who develops into a considerate person.
 
In leadership, we might not hold as much power over the formative years of our employees, but in a full-time role we spend 40 hours a week in contact with them… 😱
 
The last thing we want is for our employees to feel 'traumatised' by their time with us.
 
As a parent, I ask myself two big questions, which I feel are applicable also to #TechnicalLeadership and #EngineeringManagement.
 
"What kind of habits or skills do I want them to develop?"
AND
"What kind of feelings do I want them to have around me?"
 
It's easy to lose sight of how significant a single interaction can be.
 
My kid sometimes offers to "help" cook dinner, and my default used to be to say no. "I'm right in the middle of cooking, it'll be faster if I just do it".
 
But when you think about it, you see that letting them help is a key part of their development, of encouraging them to continue to offer assistance, and of showing them that you trust them with tasks. Now I let them help, even when it is stressful or slows things down.
 
How do you want your engineers to develop? 🧐
 
Coding at the same level, pumping out features, unable or unwilling to take ownership and explain their ideas/insights? 😭
 
OR…
 
Do you want them advancing their skills, getting a better business understanding, learning to communicate their ideas? 🤩
 
Offer them opportunities to take tasks from you, challenge their abilities, run a meeting you would normally run, or "lurk" in product meetings (a key thing that Stripe offers employees). Whichever aligns best with their development goals.
 
Showing trust and allowing engineers to expand their own interests and skillset, piece by piece, even when it inconveniences you in the short-term, is crucial for building good habits and skills.
 
On an emotional level, showing them that you value their input also builds positive vibes around you as a leader.
 
All of this is part of your responsibility to them.
 
--
 
As a manager, you hold power. You have power over how they engage in their work; how they feel about their lives and contributions; and how they will themselves go on to work or lead others in future.
 
Especially for younger team members, you might be their first experience of what leadership is. They are likely to carry that impression forward.
 
As a leader, you have this responsibility over their development, and you have to take that responsibility seriously.

Anna J McDougall

Disturbing stats which pull women down even more.
A 10% ⬆️ in weight results in 6% ⬇️ in pay for women 

This wage cut is on top of the existing 20% discount to men's pay.

The more you weigh, the less you make.

Weight bias is real.

It compounds.

The financial net worth is 40% lower for moderately to severely obese women ages 51 - 60 years old than of normal-weight peers (per National Institute of Health)!

Being thin doesn’t mean you’re smarter. 

Being overweight doesn’t mean you’re less competent. 

The story needs to change.

Stop arbitrarily penalizing women for being us.

📢 12 Lessons in Leadership Philosophy… via Parenting : New LinkedIn Series 📢 
 
I don't often talk about being a parent on here. The truth is, I mostly separate my parenting life from my work life. That changes for the next few weeks.
 
Many people write about transferable skills from parenting: multitasking, organising a schedule, negotiation, etc. All fine and correct.

However, I want to write about the #LeadershipPhilosophy that I have learned (or built upon) via parenting two small children.

One doesn't simply (insert LOTR meme 💍🗼👁️🗼) leave behind their personal life when they sit down at a desk.
 
Similarly, it would be absolutely daft of me to deny that being a parent is filled with parallels and life lessons which make me a better technical leader.
 
Over the coming weeks, I'm going to be publishing 12 LinkedIn posts (with corresponding blog posts) about how and why being a parent has helped me to become a better leader.

Ideas covered will include:

➡️ Actions
➡️ Emotional Regulation
➡️ Responsibility
➡️ Psychological Safety
➡️ Routines
➡️ Mentorship

...and of course more. But I don't want to spoil it!
 
Keep in mind: this is for me and my own personal experience... 

Not every parent learns these lessons and becomes a great manager. 😅 
Not every great manager needs to be a parent to learn and live these values. 💪
 
This is simply my story about the impact parenting has had on my #TechnicalLeadership journey thus far.
 
This post will act not only as an introduction to the series, but as a place to come back to find links to each post that follows: so ⚡️SAVE THIS POST⚡️ if you want to make sure you don't miss anything! 🔖

#parenting #careerskills #leadership #agileleadership #engineeringmanagement

12 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 2 - 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲
 
"How do I make sure my kid gets into Harvard?" asks a dad in the audience of Dr. John Medina's lecture.
 
"You want to get your kid into Harvard? You really want to know what the data say? I'll tell you what the data say! Go home and love your wife!"
 
In a later chapter of the book "Brain Rules for Baby" where the above story is told, developmental molecular biologist Dr Medina stresses that "feeling safe enables learning", and that the brain will always focus on whatever seems to be the biggest danger. 

For example, a victim of a knife attack will focus on (and remember) the knife, not on the assailant's face or clothing; even though the latter would help police far more.
 
Similarly, when you create an unsafe environment for children (be it from yelling, food insecurity, corporal punishment, etc.), they will focus on that threat: they will not be able to focus on learning, growing, and consolidating knowledge.
 
Just imagine you trying to do your work while someone screamed obscenities at you: almost impossible! 😫
 
In other words...

⚡️It is incredibly difficult to be productive if you are feeling threatened.⚡️
 
As a woman in #SoftwareEngineering, I am underrepresented. There are times - ESPECIALLY when I'm new to a team or an event or whatever the situation is - when I become more attuned to any potential "threats".
 
It could be an old-school sexist, someone who tries to make sexual advances, or the assumption that I'm an assistant there to take notes and get coffee.
 
Importantly, it doesn't matter what the threat is: as long as I feel "on edge" and "potentially unsafe", I am not going to be doing my best.
 
This has always been the emphasis of my DEI efforts: creating a warm and welcoming culture, so that anyone who is nervous feels able to learn and grow and focus on their tasks, rather than having to worry about their own safety (be it social, physical, sexual, or financial).
 
In terms of day-to-day #EngineeringManagement and #TechnicalLeadership, this means:
 
🎙️ Talking openly and honestly about conflicts
❤️ Actively showing your interest and support for team members who might feel out of place
🙈 Avoiding "mystery meetings" in which nobody knows what is coming
🌈 Being open about diverse hiring diverse and wanting to hear diverse perspectives (try the phrase "Can anyone outline a different potential option?")
💡 Complimenting team members often and publicly for their work and insights
 
In short, before your team is able to excel, they need to feel safe with you, safe with each other, and safe with the company.
 
𝐁𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭: 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬.

12 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 3 - 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬
 
What does #AgileLeadership have to do with baby sleep?
 
...

If there is one thing that you hear over and over again as a sleep-obsessed parent to small children, it's that a bedtime routine is one of the most crucial things to establish.
 
By creating a routine and sticking to that routine, it is easier to trigger an almost Pavlovian response: "Oh, I had a bath and my teeth are being brushed… now I feel sleepy".

It also gives them an anchor point: a feeling of familiarity and security upon which they can rely.

𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲
 
In the last post (linked in comments), I spoke about psychological safety allowing for better focus and learning.
 
Routines also allow children to feel safe: they know what to expect; they know what comes next; and they know the bounds within which they can operate.
 
When kids "push boundaries", they are searching for safety. They want to know what is and isn't allowed.
 
It is only by having routines and boundaries, that children are able to thrive because these act as safety nets.

𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 #TechnicalLeadership
 
Similarly, we need to create certain routines and boundaries if we want a team to be agile: to be able to deliver and fail quickly; to be flexible to adapt to change; or to know when they will have solid focus time.
 
Let's do a quick thought experiment…
 
What would be more effective?
 
1️⃣ A daily at a random time each day, whenever the most people seem to be online?
 
OR
  
2️⃣ A daily at a set time each day, timeboxed to 10mins? 
 
Hopefully, we can all agree the second is the better option.
 
But why? Wouldn't it make more sense to just have the meeting when most people are around, even if that's not the same time every day? Which leads us to...
 
👏 𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲: 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦. 👏
 
When you know what to expect and when to expect it, the rest of your time and work is your own to direct, precisely because of the predictability.
 
A solid routine, a solid structure we can rely upon, allows us to get creative with the rest.

𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐯𝐬 𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
 
In management, we have to decide what should be on a routine, predictable schedule. These should be the building blocks of the team, the essentials: for example certain sprint events, or 1-on-1s, or all-hands meetings.
 
Similarly, we have to learn what is "the rest" - the part we want to be flexible about, to have be easy to change, to do just as needed.
 
By being solid on the first category, you create the psychological safety and "time safety" needed to allow your developers to get into a flow while relying on structures in place to support them.

#teamleadership #engineeringmanagement #parenting #careerskills

Today in "ways not to do a web form", we have the OPTIONAL sex field auto-filled to male, and without a null/undefined option 🤔

#frontendengineering #softwareengineering

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