Going Staff

What's up with becoming a Staff Engineer? What does it mean? Is it just for people who want to keep coding? How do you become a Staff Engineer and what does the work entail? What if I told you, that being a Staff engineer actually required a lot of communication and collaboration skills?

In this talk, let's answer all those questions - as it's still quite fuzzy what a Staff engineer actually is.

Transcript

1. What does a Staff Engineer do?
3. Ambiguity
4. Relatively new
5. GOING STAFF A “new” path Tobi(as) Pfeiffer @PragTob pragtob.info Senior Staff Engineer @ Unemployed
6. + +
7. So, what does a Staff Engineer do?
8. TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP
9. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR
10. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR disservice
12. “If you want to stay coding...”
13. “If you want to stay coding...”
14. “If you want to stay technical...”
15. “This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll write a lot of code. At this level, your goal is to solve problems efficiently, and programming will often not be the best use of your time. (...) let others handle the programming. Staff engineers often take on ambiguous, messy, difficult problems and do just enough work on them to make them manageable by someone else.” Tanya Reilly – The Staff Engineer’s Path
16. “What matters is that the problems get solved, not how.” Tanya Reilly – The Staff Engineer’s Path
17. So, what does a Staff Engineer do?
18. IT DEPENDS
19. IT DEPENDS Your Company
20. IT DEPENDS Your Company Your Answer
21. Archetypes
22. Tech Lead
23. Architect
24. Solver
25. Right Hand
26. Senior 3
27. X All of the above
28. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP
29. Being Glue
30. Convince People
31. Challenging Comms
32. Make a map
33. Help avoid the local maximum
34. Context is King Context
35. 80/20 decisions
36. Lead & influence, but without direct power
37. Lead by example
38. Lead by example You ARE a leader
39. Lead by example You ARE a leader a role model
40. Introduction to a domain
41. Introduction to a domain Introduce Background Job System
42. Introduction to a domain Introduce Background Job System #flaky-tests
43. Introduction to a domain Introduce Background Job System #flaky-tests Elixir Training Camp
44. A seat at the table
45. GOING STAFF?
46. IT DEPENDS
47. Getting a Staff promotion is hard
48. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP
49. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP New Team
50. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP New Lead
51. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
52. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
53. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
54. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
55. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
56. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
57. DEVELOPERS TEAM LEAD ENGINEERING MANAGER VP Manager leaves
58. #managers = f(employees)
59. manager_promo_need = f(attrition + new hires)
60. #staffs = f(???)
61. staff_promo_need = f(???)
62. Getting a Staff promotion is hard Expected to already do the work
63. Getting a Staff promotion is hard Expected to already do the work “Staff” project
64. Getting a Staff promotion is hard Expected to already do the work “Staff” project Management “detour”
65. “We are happy to announce Rafael’s promotion to Principal”
69. CHALLENGES
70. Higher ups are very busy
71. Higher ups are very busy Hard to get people on projects
72. Higher ups are very busy Hard to get people on projects Prioritizaiton is hard
73. Higher ups are very busy Hard to get people on projects Prioritization is hard Alignment is harder
74. Executive Summaries
75. Executive Summaries Create dedicated spaces
76. Executive Summaries Create dedicated spaces Focus on shipping
78. GOING STAFF A “new” path Tobi(as) Pfeiffer @PragTob pragtob.info Senior Staff Engineer @ Unemployed
79. GOING STAFF A “new” path Tobi(as) Pfeiffer @PragTob pragtob.info Senior Staff Engineer @ Unemployed LOOKING FOR A JOB
80. @PragTob THANKS FOR LISTENING