Staff ++ Engineer: Handle your tech career as post-senior

Congratulations, you have reached the status of Senior or Specialist in your technical career! With this load comes the classic question: What to do after this? Do I have to go to management and stop being a technician? The answer is no; pursuing a technical career after senior is possible, and we have a term: Staff-Plus Engineer Path.

In this presentation, we will discuss what is expected from a Staff-Plus engineer, the leadership skills needed, the secrets to following this path, how companies can be ready to support Staff-Plus engineers, and why the future of our industry depends on it.

Transcript

1. Staff ++ Engineer Handle your career beyond a Senior Engineer Otávio Santana Software Engineer & Architect and Open Source Committer otavio@osarchitech.com @otaviojava
2. @otaviojava Otavio Santana Who am I? Software Engineer & Architect @otaviojava Java Champion, Oracle ACE JCP-EC-EG-EGL Apache and Eclipse Committer Jakarta EE and MicroProfile Duke Choice Award JCP Award Book and blog writer
3. @otaviojava Early-Career Mid-level Senior Manager Technical Person The first Tech Path
4. @otaviojava Technology as strategic resource “Every business is a software business” CMMI “Every Company is a Data Company” CIO Network “Every Company is a Software Company” Forbes Everything is around software!
5. @otaviojava The Complexity Paradox: The More Answers We Find, the More Questions We Have Developer experience is a market Trade-offs The hype effect
6. The right balance Opportunity + Technology = innovation Opportunity But how? Technology But what? Product & Business @otaviojava osarchitech.com
7. @otaviojava Staff ++ Engineer More alling with manager path A technical leader Senior is an end Beyond the management track
8. @otaviojava The Staff+ Path IC for Engineers Staff-plus Staff Principal Distinguished Head Director VP Engineering management
9. @otaviojava The Staff+ Path IC for Engineers https://www.getmanfred.com/blog/individual-contributor-guide-for-developers
10. @otaviojava Who is a Staff Engineer? Duties No Team Expert Mentor/Guide
11. Impact Strategy and Results @otaviojava osarchitech.com Overseeing Care Proactive Avoid Waste
12. @otaviojava Who is a Staff Engineer? Archetype Specialization Impact Non unique path
13. @otaviojava Tech Lead Guide a particular Team https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes
14. @otaviojava Solver Deep Coder https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes
15. @otaviojava Architect Direction on critical area https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes
16. @otaviojava Right Hand Executive’s attention https://staffeng.com/guides/staff-archetypes
17. @otaviojava Specializations Diversity makes the company stronger
18. @otaviojava T-shaped skills What we don't know is the key
19. @otaviojava Similarities Working as Staff Work on what matters Writing Strategy Handle Technical Qualify Aligned with authority Present to executives
20. @otaviojava Architecture as strategic Several approaches
21. @otaviojava Complexity Achieving Simplicity Complexity is anything related to the structure of a software system that makes it hard to understand and modify the system.
22. @otaviojava Scalability A single point of failure Culture Methodology Quality Handle a growing amount
23. @otaviojava C4-model Architecture’s map Scaling Software Architecture via Conversations: the Advice Process Tech-radar Technologies's view ADR Don’t repeat the error Communication A clear direction
24. @otaviojava Archiving beyond the seniority Upskills the fundamentals Be pragmatic Understand why Avoid over-engineering Simplicity
25. @otaviojava It depends is deprecated! Software Architecture Trade-off Questions Design Long term code Context the most important
26. @otaviojava Communication You won't leave o code, but English as the first step Storytelling Target
27. @otaviojava Problem Business Seeing beyond the code Customer
28. @otaviojava Challenge Management vs Technical Mature occupation Decisions Meetings Code Executive
29. @otaviojava Challenge Technical vs Technical Communications Lead Team Give Space Opportunities Less code more Guide
30. @otaviojava Next Steps Read the book Find yourself Mentor Company Switching Moving Beyond the Senior
31. Thank you! Otávio Santana Software Engineer & Architect otavio@osarchitech.com @otaviojava @otaviojava osarchitech.com