Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
cppcon.org
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Engineers Are Users Too: A Case Study in Design Thinking for Infrastructure - Grace Alwan - CppCon 2025
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Bringing together strong engineering skills with a foundation in UX Design can open unexpected doors—especially in fields like infrastructure, where there are few engineers trained in design. As a software engineer on an infrastructure team at a fintech company, I work on low-level systems that power how engineers manage compute at scale. But it’s my background in UX and human-computer interaction that’s made me an invaluable asset. By applying design thinking to infrastructure – through prototyping, user interviews, and iteration – I transformed a complex internal workflow and quickly became a subject matter expert.
This talk will walk you through that journey and give you the tools to be a design trailblazer in your own career. You'll leave with practical techniques for integrating empathy and user-centric thinking into deeply technical work—and insights on how expanding your skillset can accelerate your growth as a C++ or systems engineer.
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Slides: github.com/CppCon/CppCon2025/blob/main/Presentations/Engineers_are_Users_Too.pdf
Work at Hudson River Trading (HRT): tinyurl.com/safxfctf
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Grace Alwan
Grace Alwan graduated from Stanford University in 2023, where she got her BS and MS in Computer Science specializing in Human-Computer Interaction. She is now a software engineer in the Technology Infrastructure org at Bloomberg, where she works on cluster and host management.
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CppCon is the annual, week-long face-to-face gathering for the entire C++ community. The conference is organized by the C++ community for the community. You will enjoy inspirational talks and a friendly atmosphere designed to help attendees learn from each other, meet interesting people, and generally have a stimulating experience. Taking place this year in Aurora, Colorado, near the Denver airport, and including multiple diverse tracks, the conference will appeal to anyone from C++ novices to experts.
Annual CppCon Conference - cppcon.org
linkedin.com/company/cppcon
https://x.com/cppcon
facebook.com/CppConference
reddit.com/r/cppcon
https://mastodon.social/@CppCon
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Videos Filmed & Edited by Bash Films: BashFilms.com
YouTube Channel Managed by Digital Medium Ltd: events.digital-medium.co.uk
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#cpp #cplusplus #cppcon #cppprogramming #cplusplusprogramming #softwaredevelopment #softwareengineering #coding #code #computerscience #technology #technews #programming #programmer
cppcon.org
---
Engineers Are Users Too: A Case Study in Design Thinking for Infrastructure - Grace Alwan - CppCon 2025
---
Bringing together strong engineering skills with a foundation in UX Design can open unexpected doors—especially in fields like infrastructure, where there are few engineers trained in design. As a software engineer on an infrastructure team at a fintech company, I work on low-level systems that power how engineers manage compute at scale. But it’s my background in UX and human-computer interaction that’s made me an invaluable asset. By applying design thinking to infrastructure – through prototyping, user interviews, and iteration – I transformed a complex internal workflow and quickly became a subject matter expert.
This talk will walk you through that journey and give you the tools to be a design trailblazer in your own career. You'll leave with practical techniques for integrating empathy and user-centric thinking into deeply technical work—and insights on how expanding your skillset can accelerate your growth as a C++ or systems engineer.
---
Slides: github.com/CppCon/CppCon2025/blob/main/Presentations/Engineers_are_Users_Too.pdf
Work at Hudson River Trading (HRT): tinyurl.com/safxfctf
---
Grace Alwan
Grace Alwan graduated from Stanford University in 2023, where she got her BS and MS in Computer Science specializing in Human-Computer Interaction. She is now a software engineer in the Technology Infrastructure org at Bloomberg, where she works on cluster and host management.
---
CppCon is the annual, week-long face-to-face gathering for the entire C++ community. The conference is organized by the C++ community for the community. You will enjoy inspirational talks and a friendly atmosphere designed to help attendees learn from each other, meet interesting people, and generally have a stimulating experience. Taking place this year in Aurora, Colorado, near the Denver airport, and including multiple diverse tracks, the conference will appeal to anyone from C++ novices to experts.
Annual CppCon Conference - cppcon.org
linkedin.com/company/cppcon
https://x.com/cppcon
facebook.com/CppConference
reddit.com/r/cppcon
https://mastodon.social/@CppCon
---
Videos Filmed & Edited by Bash Films: BashFilms.com
YouTube Channel Managed by Digital Medium Ltd: events.digital-medium.co.uk
---
#cpp #cplusplus #cppcon #cppprogramming #cplusplusprogramming #softwaredevelopment #softwareengineering #coding #code #computerscience #technology #technews #programming #programmer
