Professional longevity: how to survive in a world that won’t slow down

[in-person event]
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Hello everyone,
AI keeps raising the bar on what’s possible and how fast it can happen. This edition of techBytes asks a different question. Not how fast can we go - but how do we keep going at all?
We’ll look at it from three angles. Konrad Wadas and Paweł Stobiecki open by proposing a product engineering mindset for deciding what’s actually worth building. Bartek Olejniczak follows with practical job crafting tools to reshape your work before burnout creeps in. And Piotr Szopa closes with a deeply personal story about what climbing a mountain at heart-rate pace taught him about professional (and everyday) longevity.

Key event details - Wrocław

• Date: Thursday, November 19th, starting at 18:00 (6:00 P.M.). Please arrive a bit earlier to grab your seat (around 5:50 P.M.)
• Location: Ocado office, Szewska 8, Wrocław Old Town. The entrance is next to Green Caffè Nero. Find us on Google Maps.
• Venue: Dedicated event space, 4th floor.

***Agenda***
18:00 - Grab a drink and take a seat
18:05 - Intro

18:10 - 18:40
Speaker: Paweł Stobiecki, Staff Software Engineer & Konrad Wadas, Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Ocado
Topic: Product Engineering: Building what matters in the AI era

Abstract:
Have you ever wondered why, despite all our technological advancements, delivering true value remains a challenge?
For decades, the biggest constraint in software development has shifted: from the sheer difficulty of writing code, to the bottlenecks of testing and deployment. Now, with high-level languages, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, and the accelerating power of AI, the constraint has moved again. It's no longer how fast we can build, but what we should build - and what we should NOT.

During the talk we'll introduce the role - or rather, a mindset - of a Product Engineer. A mindset that goes beyond just writing code, empowering you to deeply understand the problem, identify user needs, and ensure your technical solution delivers tangible value.
If you're ready to move beyond just writing code and start building things that truly deliver value, this talk is for you. It's time to solve problems, not just ship features.

18:40 - 18:45
BREAK

18:45 - 19:15
Speaker: Bartek Olejniczak, HR Expert & Consultant, Business Trainer
Topic: Before Your Energy Runs Out: What You Can Do to Avoid Burnout

Abstract:
The part of your work that used to give you the most satisfaction is increasingly being done for you by AI.
The pace keeps rising, while the sense that you’re creating something truly yours keeps shrinking. You end the day exhausted, yet it’s getting harder to say what you’re actually proud of.
This isn’t weakness. It may be how burnout begins: quietly, when for a long time we give more to our work than we get back, and our work no longer recharges us the way it once did.
You have more influence over this than you think.

In this talk, I’ll show you how to use job crafting to reshape your work in the age of AI, so you can reclaim what gives it satisfaction and meaning.
I’ll also share what research shows really protects us from burnout day to day. Expect practical tools, no miracle promises, and steps you can put into practice the very next morning.

19:15 - 19:20
BREAK

19:20 - 19:50
Speaker: Piotr Szopa, Senior Product Manager
Topic: Run on Your Heartbeat

Abstract:
You are not unique.
I'm sorry. Your struggles are probably not as unique as you think. We are Poles of a similar age, raised by people shaped by WWII survivors or by the hard years of transformation that followed. That history is not just in books. It lives in us: in how we love, how we work, how we raise our kids, even how we rest. Most of the time we don't notice it, and it rarely makes our lives easier.
I'm a man, a father, and a Mental Wellbeing Champion at Ocado. Over the last few years, those roles made me question patterns I had taken for granted. Then, one September in the Tatras, I tried something simple: I let my heart rate set the pace. I went painfully slowly, and I ended up overtaking everyone.

In this talk, I'll share what that climb taught me: three lessons about feeling more, overthinking less, and why less really is more. You'll leave with one small practice you can try tomorrow morning.
What does any of this have to do with professional longevity? More than you might think.

19:50 - 21:30
Networking over pizza and beer ;)