Cathal O’Neill - Taking Command of Your Career in Tech

Cathal O’Neill joined Rapid7 in 2023 as a Senior Engineering Manager, and he has since advanced to the role of Engineering Director. Reflecting on his career path, he says,“My journey into senior management has been a continual evolution, driven by both personal development and the desire to lead challenging technical projects.”

Cathal credits the experiences for paving a path of continuous growth and development. Beginning his career as an intern and moving through roles from engineer to team leader, he notes, “Through each role, I've gained deeper insights into the technical, managerial, and strategic aspects of technology leadership. As I navigated these roles, only then did I understand the scale at which software solutions need to operate and evolve.”

We asked what his key to success was, and he shared what he sees as three critical ingredients for taking command of your career in tech:

Below, Cathal delves into each principle and offers resources and practical tips that have helped him along the way.

Feedback

“I often hear that feedback is a gift. This is something I know to be true today, but it took me a while to realise what this really meant, and get comfortable with it. Early in my career, I would get constructive feedback and feel defensive or try to prove that it wasn’t true. Once I started to embrace feedback and use it as an opportunity to learn, I was able to navigate challenges much more efficiently, and become a better leader for my team. Looking back, every major milestone in my career was shaped by feedback from team mates, managers and mentors.”

“Feedback is most effective when built on mutual trust. Early on, a mentor recommended Radical Candor, a book by ..

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