Keeping It Human: Swapping Code for Connections is a talk about the pivot from a decade of software development to a product role through the use of Design Thinking and an affinity for people. Too often we see the negative impact of the "move fast; break things" model in tech and how disconnected we, as developers, can often find ourselves from the human experience. In my talk, I'll highlight my nontraditional shift out of code and how I became passionate about business and people problems (internally and externally!) with the help of my cross-cutting skills. My goal for this talk to is to offer a new path for folks in tech and be the living example of how you can apply your skills in ways that might not seem viable in the traditional, linear tracks. Let's shake things up and connect the missing dots!