ELC South Bay / Silicon Valley Meetup - Roundtable Discussions

Engineering leadership is a constant balancing act of technical tradeoffs, team dynamics, and high-stakes decision-making. Whether you are navigating a massive enterprise or a lean startup, you don't have to solve these challenges in a vacuum. Join us for a collaborative, peer-led roundtable designed for Engineering Leaders of all levels—from Engineering Managers and Directors to VPs and CTOs. This isn't a series of lectures; it’s a space to share real-world experiences, pressure-test ideas, and build your local professional network.

Potential Discussion Themes:

We crowd-source the final agenda on-site based on what’s actually keeping you up at night. To get the gears turning, here are some topics we might dive into:

1. The "Agentic" Shift: Managing the transition from human-led workflows to autonomous AI agents in production.
2. Vibe Coding vs. Engineering: How to maintain architectural rigor and security when AI is generating the bulk of the "first drafts."
3. The ROI of Tech Debt: Strategies for communicating the business cost of "moving fast" to non-technical stakeholders.
4. Leading Through Uncertainty: Managing team morale and retention during re-orgs, RTO shifts, or market volatility.
5. Scaling Quality: How to grow a team's headcount without diluting the engineering culture or slowing down deployment velocity.
6. The "Bilingual" Leader: Effectively translating complex engineering tradeoffs into product impact and business value.
7. Platform vs. Product: When to stop building features and start investing in the internal tools that make your engineers 2x more effective.

How It Works:

We keep the format simple and high-impact. At the start of the session, everyone will have the opportunity to share their most pressing "top of mind" challenges. We’ll then prioritize those topics for in-depth, small-group discussions.You bring the questions; your peers bring the insights. You’ll walk away with fresh perspectives and actionable tactics you can apply to your team the next morning.

Your Hosts:

1. Bill Lin — Manager, Software Engineering, DoorDash
2. James Tyack — Senior Engineering Manager, Coursera
3. Tony Leung — Senior Director of Engineering, Bill.com
4. Patrick Gallagher — Head of Experience, Engineering Leaders Community