GLA Summit
25-26 March 2024, 12:00 UTC
Empathy is a Technical Skill
Empathy is a technical skill. Don’t worry. You read that correctly. While empathy is often cited as a critical “soft skill,” it doesn’t stop there. Empathy is also an incredibly technical topic that is more accessible to analytical engineers and more vital to building software than you might think.
In this engaging keynote, Andrea Goulet, a noted expert on communication in the software industry, will debunk several myths around empathy. Empathy is a feeling? Nope? Technicians can’t access empathy? Nope. Empathy is just a high-level, touchy-feely fad? Nope. Andrea will demonstrate how empathy is a crucial skill for developing software and will focus on giving you practical and immediately actionable advice for making empathy a central focus of your daily development practice.
You’ll walk away with a solid understanding of what empathy is, what it isn’t, how you can build your empathy skills, and a framework for using empathy while coding. If you’ve ever thought that you’re “good with machines” but have struggled to understand people, this is a talk you won’t want to miss.
Andrea Goulet
Andrea Goulet is on a mission to operationalize empathy in the software industry.
For over a decade, Andrea has led a consultancy, Corgibytes, that specializes in software modernization and technical debt management. She's seen first-hand how effective empathy can be for tackling some of the toughest technical challenges. In 2022, Andrea co-founded a second company, Heartware, which helps organizations embed empathy into their culture, communication practices, and codebases.
Through her online courses, Andrea has taught 50,000+ students how skills like empathy can help software teams work together better and ship higher-quality code faster. She is a host of the Legacy Code Rocks podcast, co-founder of the online community Empathy in Tech, has been featured in prominent industry media, such as The First Round Review, and has received numerous awards for her leadership.
Andrea is a sought after speaker and trainer for organizations and events around the world. She is currently writing her first book, Empathy-Driven Software Development. Published through Pearson, it is expected to be available in 2023.
