Reverse-Engineering Seniority, From Bootcamp Grad to Staff Engineer in Four Years

I started my career without a CS degree, without an internship, and without a clear path in. I came from a coding bootcamp straight after high school, previously worked as a CrossFit instructor, and entered the industry already behind on paper. Within a few years, I became a Tech Lead and then an Engineering Manager at 22, working across multiple regions, cultures, and team setups, remote and in-person. This talk is not a success story highlight reel. It’s a breakdown of the hurdles, wrong assumptions, and tradeoffs that came with moving fast. Overall, it's the key lessons I learned when I was hell-bent on climbing the ladder. I’ll cover what actually mattered for promotions, what didn’t, how ageism stayed as a shadow I struggled to shake, and often, how I navigated credibility when I was younger than almost everyone I managed. I’ll talk about learning strategies that worked in practice, how I leveraged a non-traditional background instead of hiding it, and the mistakes I made by chasing titles too early. We’ll also look at seniority through a more reflective lens, what it really means, how it changes over time, and why many people feel stuck even when they are doing “everything right.” This talk is for people early in their career, people frustrated by slow growth, and people who want to move fast but not blindly. I’ll share what I wish I knew then, what I would do differently now, and how my perspective on ambition, leadership, and progress has fundamentally changed.