2025-08-27 –, Potter Auditorium - Kenneth C Rowe Management Building
As Gen Z developers enter the workforce in greater numbers, retention is becoming less about salary or perks and more about culture. This talk shares a perspective from the next wave of engineers: what younger developers expect from modern DevOps teams, what happens when those expectations clash with reality, and why the gap can quietly drive new hires away.
Based on recent experience as a Computer Science student and FinTech intern, the session highlights cultural practices that foster engagement and productivity, such as transparency, psychological safety, and strong learning culture, and contrasts them with conditions that risk losing junior developers before realizing their full potential. Practical steps for senior engineers and teams will be outlined to build environments where new developers not only succeed, but also choose to stay.
By reframing culture as a core component of engineering success, the talk opens a conversation on bridging the student-to-professional gap in DevOps.
As Gen Z developers enter the workforce in greater numbers, retention is becoming less about salary or perks and more about culture. This talk shares a perspective from the next wave of engineers: what younger developers expect from modern DevOps teams, what happens when those expectations clash with reality, and why the gap can quietly drive new hires away.
Based on recent experience as a Computer Science student and FinTech intern, the session highlights cultural practices that foster engagement and productivity, such as transparency, psychological safety, and strong learning culture, and contrasts them with conditions that risk losing junior developers before realizing their full potential. Practical steps for senior engineers and teams will be outlined to build environments where new developers not only succeed, but also choose to stay.
By reframing culture as a core component of engineering success, the talk opens a conversation on bridging the student-to-professional gap in DevOps.
I'm a third-year Computer Science student who just wrapped up a FinTech internship at Morgan Stanley, where I got my first real exposure to how modern DevOps culture works at scale. As part of Gen Z, I want to share an inside look at what my generation values in DevOps teams, from trust and transparency to psychological safety and learning culture, and why gaps between these expectations and reality can quietly push new hires out the door. The talk covers what surprised me the most when stepping into production for the first time, what actually helped me stay engaged and productive, and practical ways senior engineers and teams can build a culture that keeps the next waves of developers thriving and sticking around.