Navigating a Season of Change

Have you ever tried to find your “forever work home”? That mythical company or team where your skills, ambitions, and favorite tech stack all grow in perfect harmony until retirement? How long did that fantasy last? If you’ve ever grieved a project, a team, or a leader's exit, you know this: organizational change isn’t just an operational shift, it can hit somewhere much deeper.

So let’s trade the idea of "forever" for something more honest: seasons. You may experience "pioneering" seasons full of ambiguity and creativity, "sustaining" seasons where we refine, scale, and mature, and "resident" seasons that reward focus and reliability. None of them are wrong. But not every season fits every person, and when the season shifts, it can feel less like strategy and more like survival.

In this talk, we'll explore a practical (and human) framework for navigating change without defaulting to panic, toxic positivity, or quietly looking for an exit. We’ll explore how to identify the seasons you thrive in, how to stay grounded (and even grow!) in one that isn’t your ideal, and how to distinguish “this isn’t for me” from “everything is on fire.” We’ll move beyond the familiar “disagree and commit” mindset and instead explore ways to be active participants (not bystanders) in these fast-moving tech organizations.

Hope may not be a strategy, but understanding your season (and being intentional about how you show up in it) is.