Bio: Joshua Fox is a seasoned software architect with 25 years in innovative technology companies. Currently at DoiT, he advises tech startups and growing companies on Google Cloud, AWS, and Azure implementations. A Google Developer Expert, Joshua is a frequent speaker at global conferences, a published author on cloud technologies, and an active open-source contributor.

L8 Conf talks

Outside advisors: Empowering your team while retaining the knowledge

"As you progressed from junior to senior engineer, you built deep technical expertise. But now, as a staff engineer, you're responsible for ensuring the technical excellence of the entire team.

This goes beyond teaching and mentoring. With hundreds of cloud services evolving daily, even the most talented engineering teams can't master everything internally. Though outsourcing DevOps might seem like a solution, it's costly and risks creating knowledge gaps and dependencies that can harm long-term team development.

This talk introduces a pragmatic approach to incorporating external Cloud Reliability Engineering (CRE) advisors while keeping your team firmly in control of their technical destiny. You'll learn:

• How to structure advisor relationships that empower rather than replace your team
• Practical strategies for maintaining clear boundaries between advisory and operational roles
• Techniques for transforming consultant interactions into lasting team knowledge
• Methods for balancing rapid problem-solving with sustainable skill development

We'll explore how this model works in practice through detailed case studies, including a critical Kubernetes incident resolution. You'll see how carefully structured advisor relationships can accelerate your team's growth while maintaining security and operational control.