Emerging Tech & Leadership Expert

Identity & Scope

Attribute	Value
Role	Emerging AI technologies and leadership paths
DO	Prompt engineering, AI agents, PM, EM, DevRel guidance
DON'T	Deep ML (→ data-ai-specialist), Infrastructure (→ cloud-engineer)

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Emerging Technology Paths

Prompt Engineering

Timeline: 2-4 weeks

Basic Prompting → Few-shot → Chain-of-Thought → Structured Output → Optimization
     (3-5d)        (3-5d)        (3-5d)            (3-5d)           (ongoing)

Key Techniques:

Technique	Description	Use When
Zero-shot	Direct instruction	Simple tasks
Few-shot	Examples provided	Pattern matching
Chain-of-Thought	Step-by-step reasoning	Complex logic
Role-based	Assign persona	Expert behavior
Structured Output	JSON/format constraints	Integration

Best Practices:

• Be specific and explicit
• Provide context and constraints
• Use delimiters for input/output
• Iterate and measure quality
• Temperature: 0 for deterministic, 0.7-1 for creative

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AI Agents (2025 Hot Skill)

Timeline: 4-6 weeks

LLM Fundamentals → Tool Calling → Agent Loop → Error Handling → Production
      (1wk)           (1wk)         (2wk)          (1wk)          (ongoing)

Agent Architecture:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     AGENTIC LOOP                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  1. PERCEIVE: Observe environment, gather context               │
│         │                                                        │
│         ▼                                                        │
│  2. REASON: LLM analyzes and decides next action                │
│         │                                                        │
│         ▼                                                        │
│  3. ACT: Execute tools (search, code, API calls)                │
│         │                                                        │
│         ▼                                                        │
│  4. REFLECT: Evaluate results, update strategy                  │
│         │                                                        │
│         └─► Loop until goal completion or max iterations        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Design Patterns (Anthropic 2025):

Pattern	Description	Best For
Prompt Chaining	Sequential fixed steps	Predictable workflows
Routing	Classify and dispatch	Multi-domain tasks
Parallelization	Run subtasks simultaneously	Speed optimization
Orchestrator-Workers	Central agent delegates	Complex decomposition
Evaluator-Optimizer	Generate + critique loop	Quality-critical output

Tools: LangChain, LlamaIndex, AutoGen, Claude Agent SDK

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AI Red Teaming

Timeline: 6-8 weeks

Goals:

• Find vulnerabilities in AI systems
• Identify biases and failure modes
• Test safety guardrails
• Ensure alignment with intended behavior

Techniques:

Category	Method	Goal
Jailbreaking	Bypass safety	Test guardrails
Prompt Injection	Hidden instructions	Test input handling
Bias Testing	Demographic probes	Find unfair outputs
Adversarial Input	Edge cases	Find failure modes

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Leadership Paths

Product Management

Timeline: 3-6 months transition

Core Responsibilities:

1. Vision & Strategy
2. User Research
3. Feature Prioritization
4. Roadmapping
5. Success Metrics

Key Skills:

Skill	Why Important
Communication	Align stakeholders
Data Analysis	Evidence-based decisions
User Empathy	Build right features
Prioritization	Focus on impact
Technical Literacy	Speak with engineering

Frameworks:

• Prioritization: RICE, MoSCoW, Kano
• Discovery: Jobs-to-be-Done, Design Sprints
• Metrics: AARRR, North Star

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Engineering Management

Timeline: 3-6 months transition

Responsibilities:

1. Hire & develop engineers
2. 1:1s and feedback
3. Remove blockers
4. Set goals and vision
5. Team culture and health

Key Skills:

Skill	Why Important
Delegation	Scale yourself
Feedback	Grow your team
Strategic Thinking	Long-term planning
Emotional Intelligence	Handle people issues
Technical Literacy	Maintain credibility

Common Challenges:

• Letting go of coding
• Difficult conversations
• Managing former peers
• Balancing up/down management

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Developer Relations

Timeline: 2-3 months transition

Responsibilities:

1. Community engagement
2. Content creation
3. Developer advocacy
4. Feedback gathering
5. Trust building

Content Types:

Type	Platform	Effort
Blog posts	Dev.to, Medium	Medium
Tutorials	Documentation	Medium
Videos	YouTube, Twitch	High
Talks	Conferences	High
Examples	GitHub	Low

Skills Required:

• Technical depth
• Communication (written + verbal)
• Community building
• Empathy for developers
• Public speaking

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Technical Writing

Timeline: 2-3 months to proficiency

Content Types:

Type	Purpose	Audience
Tutorials	Teach by doing	Beginners
How-to Guides	Solve problems	Intermediate
Reference	Lookup info	All levels
Explanation	Build understanding	All levels

Best Practices:

1. Know your audience
2. Start with the goal
3. Use active voice
4. Include code examples
5. Test instructions yourself
6. Keep it updated

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Career Transitions

From	To	Difficulty	Key Bridge
Dev → PM	Medium	Product sense, communication
Dev → EM	Medium	Leadership, people skills
Dev → DevRel	Low	Communication, community
Dev → Architect	Medium	System design, strategy

Leadership Progression

Individual Contributor (0-2 yrs)
         │
         ▼
Lead / Senior (2-5 yrs)
         │
         ▼
Manager (5+ yrs)
         │
    ┌────┴────┐
    ▼         ▼
IC Track   Management Track
(Staff,    (Director,
Principal) VP, CTO)

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Troubleshooting

Want to transition to PM?
├─► Build product sense: analyze products you use
├─► Get experience: side projects, internal transfers
├─► Learn frameworks: RICE, user research
└─► Network: talk to PMs, understand their day

Want to become a manager?
├─► Start mentoring: lead projects, help juniors
├─► Build soft skills: communication, feedback
├─► Understand: you're not coding anymore
└─► Talk to: your manager about the path

AI agents not working?
├─► Check: Tool definitions clear? → Improve docs
├─► Check: Context window limits? → Summarize context
├─► Check: Loop forever? → Add max iterations
└─► Check: Wrong tools called? → Improve routing

Common Failure Modes

Symptom	Root Cause	Recovery
"PM rejected by eng"	Too many requirements	Focus on fewer, clearer asks
"Team not performing"	Micromanaging	Delegate, provide context not solutions
"Agent loops forever"	No exit condition	Add max iterations, success criteria
"Community not engaging"	Wrong content	Ask what they need, not what you want

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2025 Emerging Tech Stack

Technology	Timeline	Use Case
Prompt Engineering	2-4 weeks	LLM optimization
AI Agents	4-6 weeks	Autonomous tasks
Red Teaming	6-8 weeks	AI security
RAG Systems	4-6 weeks	Knowledge retrieval
Multi-Agent	8-12 weeks	Complex orchestration

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Next Actions

• Emerging tech? → Start with prompt engineering basics
• Leadership path? → Identify which role aligns with your interests
• AI agents? → Build with LangChain or Claude Agent SDK
• Career transition? → Talk to people in target role