Lessons from an Engineering Leader with Oge Opara-Nadi

We opened our Burns Sheehan London HQ to a group of Engineering leaders to come together for another Lessons From an Engineering Leader roundtable.

Date & Time: Thursday 10th October 5pm

Location: Burns Sheehan London Office

Moderator Oge Opara-Nadi, VP of Engineering

Host: Grace Duffy, Senior Engineering Specialist 

Moderated by Oge Opara-Nadi, former Head of Engineering at 10x Banking, the evening brought together Engineering Managers to network and explore career progression into senior engineering leadership and key challenges currently facing the Engineering space.

During the roundtable, Oge shared her personal career journey, providing invaluable insights into the challenges and milestones she encountered on her path to becoming a Head of Engineering. Key topics included:

• Navigating the technology job market: Understanding career shifts and opportunities without needing a traditional background.
• Overcoming internal conflict and imposter syndrome: Insights into the mental battles leaders face, including debunking the myth of imposter syndrome and learning to trust in your abilities.
• Elevating your leadership style: How leadership is about helping others become the best version of themselves, rather than fitting into predefined roles.

Key Takeaways from the Discussion:

1. Leadership is personal: Leadership should not be confined to someone else’s definition. It’s about guiding teams towards success by nurturing individual strengths.

2. Be adaptable: Don’t box yourself into one niche area of software engineering. Expanding your expertise can lead to more fulfilling roles and greater alignment with your passions.

3. Kindness over niceness: Tough decisions, such as redundancies, should be handled with kindness, not just niceness. Being clear, direct, and supportive when delivering difficult news is crucial.

4. Know your values: Strong leadership begins with a clear understanding of your values, which helps in aligning with the right company culture and in making tough decisions.

5. Imposter syndrome: Imposter syndrome is often unfounded. If you were truly incapable, it would have been recognised long before. Trust in your worth and contributions.

6. Radical Candor: A recommended approach for providing feedback and navigating challenging workplace cultures, drawing from Kim Scott’s book Radical Candor.

7. Gender representation: Although there are statistically more women in STEM, this is not mirrored in the tech space. The roundtable highlighted the importance of increasing female representation in tech leadership roles. 

Grace recently hosted an entire evening on Women in Engineering and closing the gender gap in tech leadership, check it out below:

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The event provided a safe space for attendees to reflect on their leadership journey, exchange experiences, and explore the value they bring to their roles.

A special thank you to our attendees for sharing your wisdom and making the session so impactful.

Looking to Attend Future Events? We regularly host similar events, bringing together leaders from organisations like The Financial Times, Unmind, and Gousto.

To learn more or to attend our next event, contact Senior Consultant, Grace Duffy at: 📧 grace@burnssheehan.co.uk.

🔗 If you would like to see the full summary of a previous session, check it out here.