Hello, I would like to invite you today for this talk about quiet engineers. If you feel you are an introverted person, don't be afraid. Neither this equation nor Paradise Lost was dashed off by a poorly animal, when Fred Gallagher said. My name is Tomek, and I'm an introvert. Alright, I'm a quiet engineer. I would prefer that way. So I'm an introverted person. Why am I talking about introvert or introverted person? You will find out in a second that introverted person has some tendency, but it's not the, the name of this person. Let's focus for a second for this guy, Carl Gustav Jung. He is the person who defined the introversion and extroversion. So he said that introversion is an attitude type characterized by an orientation in life through subjective psychic content. So we are, as introverted people, we are looking inside of us. And extroversion, he defined as attitude type characterized by consideration of interests of the external object. So we are looking outside of our world. So that's two definitions, right? He didn't say about introverts and extroverts. He said about introversion and extroversion. And, everyone has both extroverted side and introverted side, with one being more dominant. That was a big, surprise for me, because at the beginning of my career, I wanted to think about myself as an extroverted, as an extrovert. I'm an extrovert, I speak a lot, but on the other hand, when I did some tests and, and assessments, it, it said that I'm an introvert. I'm an extrovert. So I said, Oh, no, I don't want to be an introvert. I know that introvert introverts are not promoted in the companies and so on. So I was a little bit, unhappy about it. But when I was reading about introversion, extroversion, I found out that actually I have some extroverted part of my human being and introverted part of my human being. So I saw that introversion is a continuum. There is no A or B. Great. You are an introvert. You are not an introvert. As an engineer, when I think about continuum, I see this. So when I think about the spectrum, I see the visible spectrum of light. As you can see, visible colors from left to right. From, there is also a spectrum of not visible. waves like gamma rays, X rays, and so on, radio waves on this side. But let's focus on this visible spectrum of, of electromagnetic field, which is light, which is colors. So, we are moving on the spectrum from left to right. And my introversion actually can be colorful, can move in some situation to the more introverted me, and in some situations more extroverted me. So I like it. I use this analogy to, to myself. And then I realize that I also have the other dimensions of extroversion. And also I can be more extroverted in some situations and less extroverted in some situations. What a relief! I don't know if you feel that, if you realize that, but for me as an engineer who is introverted and also working in a corporate environment, that's a huge relief. I still can do a lot with my introversion. And just after that, I realized, I read about the ambiversion term. So ambiversion is when you have some extroverted characteristic and some introverted characteristic. That's a relief, right? So I'm not an introvert. I'm ambivert with those two spectrums on introversion and extroversion moving on in terms of it depends on the situation. Wow. Amazing. I even have the animation here to show my happiness. okay, so that's one aspect. I can move on this introverted, extroverted spectrum and realizing which type of situation triggers me to be more active and which situations triggers me to be less active. The other part is those four red lights, four lights, I have it here. So, the theory from Jonathan Chick. He defined four types of introversion. So if we are looking for just one spectrum, introversion spectrum, from left to right, he also defined four types, which is also helpful for me as a quiet engineer. So there are four of them. Social introversion, thinking introversion, restraint introversion, and anxious introversion. As easy as it sounds, social introversion is the introverted person who can be with, with other people, can attend social, activities. It doesn't drain him or her, but at the same time, he or she recharges her batteries or his batteries outside of this event. So you can, for a certain extent, go to the social activities. As an introverted person, I'm this kind of person, and then you can, Recharge after it. The thinking, thinking, introverted introversion is the introversion when you like to think deeply about some topics, especially alone, but you know, spending a lot of time thinking about it. For me it is, for example, preparing the talks for the audience. When I'm preparing the talk, when I think about what I would like to tell you, it's my time just without, just with me in my room with my notes. And that's beautiful flow state I have. So that's the thinking introversion. Restrained introversion is the third aspect of introversion, when I'm sort of in some situation afraid of the social activities and I want to not engage. I want to step back and say, Hey, today I don't have the energy to speak with those people. So that's restrained introversion. Sometimes I can have more energy, sometimes less. And anxious introversion. This is the last one. When we are, when our nervous system, not we, but our nervous system is so afraid of the situation that we don't want to even think about interacting with people. We are anxious about it. Why am I telling you that? Because when we put those introversions, those four types of introversions, into the equation, This diagram, we can say that sometimes we can challenge ourselves or try ourselves, if you will, to move from one type to another. Like, for example, restrained introversion or restrained introverted person. I can be today a restrained introverted person, but I can try to Challenge myself. I'll try to exercise to be more social in the social part to attend more events to attend. maybe at the beginning, less crowded events, but to get extra mile to, to be in this the other type the same with thinking introversion. If I'm restrained, Maybe first step is for me to be with myself and to think about deeply about some, some problems. We as developers, as engineers, will usually do that, right? That we would love to spend all day thinking about our, riddles, our problems in our code, and the anxious introversion. What I, why I'm showing you that here because it's rather, it's very difficult for anxious introversion to move to just to social introversion. You would need to move through that. Middle middle restraint introversion. So this is obviously just a theory and the model. We know that, you know, we love models because as engineers, because models put our thoughts into the boxes. But at the same time, we are human beings and we are not just as easy as those models. So I'm just showing you that for the inspiration. But obviously this is, this is something that we need to try, try for ourselves. Now, Dr. Gallagher also said that most people with social anxiety want to engage in social settings. But fear of rejection or judgment prevents them from doing so, typically to their own disappointment. I can tell that when I was more anxious in the past, when I was small in the school, a small kid in the school, I wanted to be part of this social, very active life. But I just had a fear of rejection. So when I sort of, fight this fear and realize how I can overcome this fear, it helped me to be a more social, introverted person. Because when we have other people, the presence of other people triggers emotions into our nervous system. It's It's important to know that this is not us. This is our part of us. So our nervous system and it can be triggered by other people presence because we may be afraid of judgment. For example, what they are thinking about us. Our brains cast the reality checking if there are any danger situations. So for example, when someone will look differently on you, you will say, or your brain will say, Hey, I'm afraid of this situation, so I better not to engage in conversation. Things like this. and nervous systems has a tolerance to external stimulus. So we just need to realize what's our balance and level of these stimulations. The question I had in my mind was that are we born or made more introverted? Was I born introverted person? Or during my childhood I was made introverted? And there are research that says it's 50 50. I know that doesn't help a lot. But actually it helps me because then I realize that it's not like 100 percent heritable. I can determine, I can try to change determination of those 50%, so it's promising. I would like to introduce you to this, or introduce this person to you. Susan Cain. She's the author of the book, Quiet. And, this is the book as a subtitle says, the power of introverts in the world that can't stop talking. I really recommend you to read that book. when I read that as I introverted engineer, I was like, wow, right now I know what to do, how I do it, how I react and how can I help myself. So I can, share some, tips and tricks with you from this book and also from my, from my life. So what are the benefits first? As for me as an introvert, for others as a, as an introverted, person. I meant benefits that others have that I'm an introverted person. the first one, engineering benefits. So, as engineers, we have deep technical expertise, deep technical knowledge. We want to spend some time, very, maximum amount of time learning about us, learning about our, knowledge about, our world, about technology, programming languages, and so on. We have analytical and methodical thinking, which means that we can solve a lot of difficult problems. And that's our job, actually, in the company, right? To solve a lot of difficult problems. We are detail oriented, in terms of technical problems as well. So we can very deeply understand and have the very focused, narrow focused concentration. What are the programming benefits then for our companies to hiring us as a quiet engineers? We are strong individual contributors, very much so. If we have the task, we will do that. No matter what, I mean, we are very motivated to dig into the details, contribute to the task by having individual point of view. we do code reviews, right? so, first things first, our code is high quality usually, because that's why we are so focused, it's so important for us that we pay attention to details. We, the code part is very high, but also we have mechanism of code reviews when we Now, it's, it's difficult for, quiet engineers because usually what we do in the code reviews, we put a lot of comments to the pull request, right? We review the pull request, we put a lot of comments, we send back. I had a situation in the past when two guys, two engineers, were sitting next to each other, desk to desk, and during one week, they put like 100 comments to this code, to this pull review, pull request with a code review. Because they had difficulties to speak with each other, right? So, we are good in reviewing things, but then we need to also think about speaking to each other, not just typing comments. Operational excellence. Obviously, we would like to do all the things in the best possible way. So, we can say that if we are introverted, Quiet engineers, we will do our excellent job in coding and we are persistent. You know what? You are closing. You try to close the laptop at 5:00 PM going out the, the office, but then this difficult bug that you have in your mind, how to solve it, keeps you, awake during diet, for example, because we are persistent to better, to to, to solve it. What are the leadership benefits for, for the company? For us, from us as a, quiet engineers, we, when we are the leaders, we give the autonomy usually because we don't want to, micromanage people. We don't to overstep on their shoes, on their toes. So we give autonomy usually to people. And sometimes we are frustrated that we don't have the autonomy as leaders. So that's why we are fighting for autonomy. Our leadership is thoughtful because as introverted people and this thinking introversion aspect if we have it We think a lot about the situations that we have with people. We think about the people we are usually Mindful about people so this thoughtful leadership and then it moves us to the conflict resolution and mediation some of us Have this ability to resolve conflict. So See and hear different opinions and mediate between each other. That's really important in the IT environment, in the corporate environment. And this is big additional aspect that we have. The innovation and creativity in group projects. So on one side, we don't want to or have less tendency to talk a lot during group projects, but at the same time, When we have some thought in our head, creative, innovative thought, we will explain that. We'll tell, tell the people that. It's so important for us that we will add this creativity part to this group. Obviously now if we are more anxious, we may feel afraid of being judged about this, this thought. So that may be difficult, but if we overcome this fear is a huge asset that we bring to the table because we have some innovative ideas that some other people may not have because our brain just work that way that we are so deeply focused. We would love to think a lot about the problems and then we can come up with creative solutions and building inclusive work cultures. So if we are, if we are mindful about. about people, about what they feel, how they may be perceived. We also can bring the inclusive work culture. Obviously, that's not one on one, just like this. But if the mindful aspect of our quietness brings it as a possibility. And obviously retrospection, we love retrospection in our Agile world and DevOps world. We love retrospecting. Do you want, do you know what I mean? Do you like it? Like, we love thinking about what, especially what went wrong, right? What doesn't work and so on. But, but that it brings the possibility to improve things as well. . Alright. and other benefits that I have here is the benefits from the CEO perspective. I work, from, with the many CEOs executive levels. And what are the benefits they can have from you guys? It's critical. So the first benefit is critical missions. Usually the company there is one person, one engineer. who has so big trust established with the CEO or CTO that this is a person from critical missions. When CTO, for example, has the idea to develop something or need to prove something in front of the board, he or she will not come to the team and say, Hey, I know you have the agile process. I have some requirements. Could you put it and prioritize it for me, please? And so on. He will or she will grab one person who is very trustworthy. We're ineligible and despite this person's role, it's the, I mean, official title, this person role is to develop, for example, proof of concepts for CTOs. It's not, again, it's not official, it's not like a written role, but I observed that every single executive has this person in the company. When they need some in depth research, they will come to this person. When they need a huge market analysis, or deep market analysis, put it that way, they will come to this person. So this person is like a sensor to the CEO or CTOs. Losing this person is a big deal, so they will not afford to lose this person. Okay, what are the tools that we can use for individuals? There are some tools that I use tips and tricks. First things first, save the mental energy before important meeting. So when you have important meeting, don't just plan. And that was my my challenge that I had before that I was planning my day in the calendar. So from time perspective, do I have time for it? Okay, I have. And then, before very important meeting that I had, I was dragged into some conversation because I had a time in calendar, but then I realized that I lost a lot of energy. And I didn't have this much energy for my next important meeting. So, save mental energy for those meetings. Prepare for such meeting, I guess that's obvious, but we need to remember about that as well. Come early before the meeting. That's, usually very important before big, bigger meetings. Because when you come early, you can, be, let's say, first or second person in the meeting. And then you have some time to adjust your attitude or adjust your mood to accommodate more contact with more people. More people will be joining you. They may ask you about, about something. So you will not be the one, triggering the conversation, which is also important. involved in doing things during large gatherings. So when you are on the large, big gathering, and you are afraid of speaking with people, that's okay. You can just Involve yourself in some activities that are happening. For example, if there's something going on with the microphone and someone is helping, someone is setting up the microphone, you can help him or her, right? When there is something with the, with the PC, the PC needs to be established, needs to be set up. You can help a person to set up a PC. So, things like this. And, have a, have an exit strategy. So when you would like to leave the meeting, remember before the meeting to set up an exit strategy. For example, I just can be one hour on this meeting because I need to do something else. Or it's with the meeting is less important because meetings are shorter. But if you are on the conference, for example, you can say, okay, I need to be here. I can be here for two hours and then I can leave. I need to pick up my daughter from, from school, for example. Or I need to do some email work. And when you say it out loud, you will hold yourself accountable to say, Okay, two hours passed, I need to, I need to run right now. So that's the, one of the exit strategies. Leverage music. So, that's my tip. What I do before huge conferences when I'm a little bit stressed, I find myself, some time, like two, three minutes, and I listen to my beloved music. And I'm just with, you know, with the phone and with the headset, and that's it. And then I can try to recharge some energy before the talk. And obviously no coffee before intense meetings. That's that's that's for me. I don't know how you react on coffee and caffeine, but I don't like over stimulate my nervous system with a coffee. What I do also is preparing for social interactions. So I prepare some, opening conversation. For example, when I'm on the event, I know what will be going on the event and I can ask, Hey, what do you think about the presentation that will be going next? Are you interested in that? And then it's, the conversation starts flowing. So prepare some openings like this. and then, Cultivate deep relationships. So I know that there are many people's on the big events. But if you cultivate deeper relationships, then you will spend more time with one person. Obviously, not the whole event, for example, with one person, but more time with one person. And then you can feel more relaxed in terms of socialization with this person. For leaders, don't assume that you know, ask questions, show people's strengths. For example, when there is a calibration going on or when there is a conversation about other people's strengths, show that you know. Hey, this guy from my team has this, this and that strength. I know that because I observe him, I spoke with him. So show that to others. Provide the private spaces to people. So when you have introverted people in your team, it's okay for obviously for you guys to sit alone and work. Obviously, sometimes there are meetings that you need to, grab yourself together, but then sitting alone, working, that's also fine. focus on quality of the work, not on the speed, and, offer multiple ways to interact, not just face to face meeting, but also Slack, but also, pull requests, but also emails, all the things that can, improve the interaction, but it's not just like direct interaction. speaking will help, but obviously you need to have also some time for direct speaking. And the one thing that people like the most is talking about themselves. So not to be scared that you need to, as an introverted person, need to talk a lot. you can give people space to talk about themselves. You can just ask, hey, what are you proud of recently? And people are, they are proud of something, so they will tell you and you will be able to listen. That's the trick. The other trick that, I've heard is to transform apologize to thank you. So not just saying, you know, apologize I didn't, attempt this event or apologize I, I'm late. But say thank you for, your patience. Thank you for replying to me on that email. Practice that. It's very helpful at the end. just a couple of thoughts about high sensitive people. so, I found the research at 70 percent of high sensitive people have the introversion aspect, so high sensitive people we have, we have, I say, because I feel like high sensitive person, our nervous system is more sensitive. And obviously sensitivity may lead to overstimulation. When I have a lot of different stimulus around, a lot of different conversations, notifications, I can be overstimulated. Or my nervous system can be overstimulated. But, Sensitivity might lead to vulnerability as well. And, not sure if you've heard about Brenna Brown and her talk about vulnerability, but she says that vulnerability, when we show we really are, brings the creativity as well, because then we are not afraid. When we show, when I tell you, for example, that I'm an introverted person and I had challenges with speaking with people in the past, I'm not afraid of this situation, and then I'm more creative, because I don't, I'm not afraid off being judged so I can come up with off or show you all the ideas that I have. So that's how the vulnerability is connected with creativity and also with gratitude. We can then appreciate every single moment in life, which helps us. Not only jobs, but also in the, in our private life. And at the end, I would like to leave you with this long, but very important quotation from Susan Cain from this book. And I will read it for you. The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lightning. For some, it's a Broadway spotlight. For others, it's an amply desk. Use your natural powers of persistence, consideration, and insights. To do the work you love and work that matters. Solve problems, make art, think deeply. Thank you very much for today's time. I wish you all the best in this conference and let's stay connected. If you feel that you would like to ask about anything, just drop me a line on the LinkedIn and I will respond to you. Thank you very much.