What Would You Say You Do Here

What Even Is a Staff Engineer?

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Marco Rogers has described the senior level as the “anchor” level for a career ladder. As Rogers says, “The levels below are for people to grow their autonomy; the levels above increase impact and responsibility.”

In the dual-track job ladder, a senior engineer can choose to build the skills to get promoted to either a manager or a staff engineer role.

Why titles matter?

1. Helping people understand that they are progressing
2. Vesting authority in those people who might not automatically receive it
3. Communicating an expected competency level to the outside world.

Why Do We Need Engineers Who Can See the Big Picture?

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• Often decisions that seem to belong to one team have consequences that extend far beyond that team’s boundaries. The local maximum, the best decision for a single group, might not be anything like the best decision when you take a broader view.
• To avoid local maxima, teams need decision makers (or at least decision influencers) who can take an _outsider view who can consider the goals of multiple teams at once and choose a path that’s best for the whole organization or the whole business.

Why Do We Need Engineers Who Lead Projects That Cross Multiple Teams?

• Being owner of whole project rather than individual parts.
• Scoping Out the work and build a proposal.
• Co/Authoring of high-level system design and main point of contact.
• Maintaining high engineering standard.
• Informally mentoring and coaching other engineers.
• Unblocking projects blockers.
• Advocating and sponsorship of technical decisions

Why can’t technical program managers (TPMs) do this consensus-building and communication?

Ultimately, though, TPMs are responsible for delivery, not design, and not engineering quality. TPMs make sure the project gets done on time, but staff engineers make sure it’s done with high engineering standards.

Why Do We Need Engineers Who Are a Good Influence?

• Staff engineers are role models
• Managers are responsible for setting culture on their teams, enforcing good behavior, and ensuring standards are met. But engineering norms are set by the behavior of the most respected engineers on the project.

When senior people vocally celebrate other people’s work, treat each other with respect, and ask clarifying questions, it’s easier for everyone else to do that too. When early-career engineers respect someone as the kind of engineer they want to “grow up” to be, that’s a powerful motivator to act like they do.

Maybe you think that engineers should do this big-picture, big-project, good-influence stuff but engineers can’t do it on top of the coding workload of a senior engineer.

Staff+ job description

• Staff engineering is a leadership role.

  • Individuals are expected to be “the grown-up in the room”.
  • Other engineers will look to them as role models.
  • They’re not responsible for managing anyone’s performance or approving vacation or expenses
  • Quietly raising everyone’s game is leadership.
  • Setting technical direction is leadership.
  • having the reputation as a stellar technologist that can inspire other people to buy into your plans just

• You’re in a “Technical” Role

  • You need to have high standards for what excellent engineering looks like and model them when you build something.