Leading Beyond Code - My Journey as a Staff Engineer

Hi, I’m Zineb. As a Moroccan developer who fell into open source, I’ve learned a lot about myself and my leadership skills. From coding in Java to becoming a Staff Engineer at a global leader in the open source community, it’s been a journey of ups and downs.

In this talk, I’ll share my story: how I found my way, what I learned along the way, and what I wish I had known when I started out on this journey.

Transcript

1. Leading beyond Code My journey as Staff Engineer Zineb Bendhiba - Blabla Conf 2025
2. Zineb Bendhiba Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat Apache Camel PMC International Speaker 17 years software development experience https://zinebbendhiba.com @ZinebBendhiba @zinebbendhiba.com
3. Events + _ Graduated High School in Morocco (2003) Loved attending 5 years at University Majoring in CS Got my first job finally in Java (2008) Had trouble getting 1st job as Java developer. One recruiter said Women aren’t smart enough for Java Started moving towards more management Questioning myself what next step and how to make it to open source Moved to Paris France (2011) Burnout (2019) Started a position as TPM Navigating between coding and project management Moved back to coding Interviewed for Red Hat Zineb’s Journey New chapter at Red Hat! (2020) Managed too many projects Public Speaker (2021) Principal Software Engineer (2024)
5. - It’s one of the levels of Staff Engineer What is Principal Software Engineer ? Junior Software Engineer Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer I Staff Engineer II Staff Engineer III Staff Engineer IV
6. - It’s one of the levels of Staff Engineer - At Red Hat it’s the first level of Staff Engineer What is Principal Software Engineer ? Junior Software Engineer Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer I Staff Engineer II Staff Engineer III Staff Engineer IV
7. Staff Engineer is the technical leadership evolution of Senior Software Engineer What is Staff Engineer ? Junior Software Engineer Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer I Staff Engineer II Staff Engineer III Staff Engineer IV Manager I Manager II Manager III Manager IV Impact
8. - Imposter syndrome - Thinking there’s one type for all - Lack of Self advocacy - Not acknowledging strengths - Cross teams and cross functional collaboration - Think I should be given the responsibility - Innovator : fear of failure and fear of shame - Bad at setting SMART goals - Hoping for recognition Moving to Staff Engineer wasn’t easy
9. - Choose courage over comfort - Mentorship & Sponsorship & Coaching - Create Connections - Collaborate - Self advocacy - Be clear about expectations and assertive - Create opportunities and be responsible for them - Discipline - Journal & Share How I became Staff Engineer
10. Start today building your leadership skills
11. - Développ(eur|euse) Senior avec 6 ans d’expérience, et après ? (Hugo Lassiege et Dimitri Baeli) - Staff Engineer guides Further Reading
12. Thank you Zineb Bendhiba - Red Hat @ZinebBendhiba @zinebbendhiba.com