2025-05-01 –, Inspiration A/B (track sponsored by Aikido Security)
In the evolving world of DevOps, the boundaries between technical execution and strategic vision are increasingly blurred. In this talk, I’ll share my journey of transitioning from a platform engineer, deeply immersed in technical challenges, to a platform product manager tasked with driving vision, prioritization, and stakeholder alignment. Over nearly three years as an engineer, I honed my expertise in infrastructure and automation. Transitioning into product management, however, required resetting my imposter syndrome, adopting a new mindset, and building entirely new skills.
This talk will explore the challenges of moving from solving problems to defining them, balancing technical depth with strategic foresight, and embracing the often-overlooked “glue work” that holds teams together. Attendees will gain insights into the mindset shifts required for such a transition, practical advice for others considering a similar path, and ways this experience can foster a more integrated and effective DevOps culture.
The presentation will include slides that walk the listeners through my journey, discussing why I did it, societal expectations, bumps in the road, and wins.
Noe Lorona is a signal officer currently serving as a platform engineer for the Army Software Factory where he plans, develops and deploys cloud architecture to support Agile application development. He later transitioned to to become a platform product manager where he leads his team through tactical platform product development. Noe holds a Doctor of Management from Colorado Technical University, and a Master of Science in management and a Bachelor of Science in information technology, both from National American University. He began giving back to the academic community by teaching online courses and publishing articles about software development and general technology topics in several professional magazines. Noe holds several IT, UX, and Project Management certifications.