What I wish I knew when I was a junior developer that I would tell as a Staff Software Engineer @ Droidcon Berlin 2023

During many many years we always thought of becoming an expert at a particular technology. First learning the technology and lately mastering that subject.
In our careers, from a junior to a seasoned engineer perspective, we learned many lessons, mainly from our mistakes of course.
When we trained for interviews, read books about software engineering or soft skills or even training for sports competitions. Under those circumstances we built courage, we became proud of what we made. Or at least we should be.

In this panel, we’ll share what we wish we knew when we started working as an amateur engineer. What would help us progress in our career in more ways than just management. What parallelisms between training for a sports competition could be applied to a developer’s preparation towards higher levels in a career ladder. The positive and negative signs that might indicate which path we might prefer to follow. Not all finish as a manager position if you like the engineering side of things. So why not follow your instincts?

Transcript

1. What I wish I knew when I was a junior developer that I would tell as a Staff Software Engineer Panel @
2. About our panellists Mada Aflak (panellist) @af_mada Sinan Kozak (panellist) @snnkzk androiddev.social/@snnkzk Raul Hernandez (your moderator and panellist) @raulhernandezl androiddev.social/@RaulHernandez
3. Intro to the TOPIC
4. motivation
5. What we do
6. What we’ll do
7. What is a Staff Eng?
8. Common tracks
9. Junior Graduate Mid Senior Staff Manager track Technical track Engineering Manager
10. Manager track Technical track Senior Staff Principal Distinguished Engineering Manager (EM) Senior EM Director Staff VP
11. Senior vs Staff
12. archetypes
13. source: Will Larson’s “Staff Engineer - Leadership beyond the management track” Technical Lead
14. source: Will Larson’s “Staff Engineer - Leadership beyond the management track” Architect
15. source: Will Larson’s “Staff Engineer - Leadership beyond the management track” Solver
16. source: Will Larson’s “Staff Engineer - Leadership beyond the management track” Right Hand
17. What’s critical for a STAFF+ role?
18. Technical background
19. Soft skills
20. Soft Power (Collaboration) skills
21. Navigating complexity
22. Autonomous
23. Mentoring / Sponsorship
24. Being a Role model
25. 4 disciplines
26. Core technical skills source: Tanya O’Reilly’s “The Staff Engineer’s Path - A guide for Individual Contributors navigating growth and change”
27. Product management source: Tanya O’Reilly’s “The Staff Engineer’s Path - A guide for Individual Contributors navigating growth and change”
28. Project management source: Tanya O’Reilly’s “The Staff Engineer’s Path - A guide for Individual Contributors navigating growth and change”
29. People management source: Tanya O’Reilly’s “The Staff Engineer’s Path - A guide for Individual Contributors navigating growth and change”
30. Panel Time
31. Thanks