How to become a staff+ engineer
Summary
TLDRThe webinar panel discussion, centered on the journey to becoming a Staff Plus Engineer, offered a wealth of insights from various industry professionals. Key takeaways included the importance of understanding the specific requirements and expectations for the staff title at one's company, the value of having a sponsor or mentor to guide and support the promotion process, and the necessity of demonstrating staff-level work before receiving the promotion. Panelists emphasized the need for continuous hands-on experience with coding, even as one advances into leadership roles, to maintain a grounded perspective and effectively address business needs. Additionally, they highlighted the significance of soft skills, such as communication and mentorship, alongside technical expertise. The discussion underscored the importance of setting technical direction, making impactful decisions, and balancing hard skills with soft skills to successfully navigate the path to senior engineering roles.
Takeaways
- 📈 **Demonstrate Staff-Level Work:** Before being promoted, consistently perform work that aligns with the expectations of a staff engineer, showing initiative and taking on extra responsibilities.
- 🤝 **Find a Sponsor:** Identify a mentor or manager who can support and guide you through the promotion process, offering valuable feedback and visibility within the organization.
- 🔍 **Set Technical Direction:** Develop the ability to set the technical direction for projects, which is crucial for staff engineers as they make decisions on behalf of the company.
- 💡 **Identify Business-Aligned Opportunities:** Look for opportunities that solve business problems and drive impact, which can be a strong indicator of your readiness for a staff role.
- 👥 **Promote Diversity and Inclusion:** Recognize the value of diverse perspectives in leadership roles, which can lead to better problem-solving and decision-making.
- 📝 **Maintain Coding Practice:** Even as you move into more senior roles, continue to code to stay connected to the realities of engineering work and maintain a clear understanding of business needs.
- ⏰ **Manage Time Effectively:** Set boundaries to protect your time for deep work and strategic thinking, which are critical for a staff engineer's role.
- 📋 **Be Transparent with Your Work:** Share your to-do list or work priorities openly to communicate your focus, increase accountability, and invite collaboration.
- 🚀 **Take Initiative on Large Projects:** Show your ability to lead by taking charge of significant projects that have a broad impact across teams or the entire organization.
- 🧩 **Build Relationships Across the Organization:** Networking and building relationships with colleagues in different departments can lead to a better understanding of cross-departmental needs and opportunities.
- 🗣️ **Communication is Key:** Improve your communication skills, including listening and tailoring your message to different audiences, to increase your influence and effectiveness as a leader.
Q & A
What is the general duration of the webinar on becoming a staff plus engineer?
-The webinar is designed to last roughly 45 minutes.
How does one become a staff engineer according to Alex?
-Alex became a staff engineer by starting as a developer, gradually expanding his skills to include front-end and back-end development, learning about SRE, and growing into the role through platform engineering and influencing across teams.
What is the importance of visibility in the journey to becoming a staff engineer?
-Visibility is crucial as it helps others in the organization to start seeing the individual as a leader. This can be achieved by leading projects or through a collection of small, impactful actions.
Why is having a sponsor important for promotion to staff engineer?
-A sponsor, typically one's manager, provides support, feedback, and general guidance on how to achieve the next level of promotion. They can also advocate for the individual during the promotion process.
What is DTI's insight on what it takes for someone to learn and earn a promotion?
-DTI observed that initiative is key. In one case, a report identified a problem with the permissions model and took the lead in refactoring it, demonstrating the ability to drive significant change and business value.
What advice does Alex give for someone preparing for interviews for a staff engineer role?
-Alex advises doing the work with or without the title and focusing on demonstrating the skills and experiences from past jobs that align with the expectations of the staff level at the new company.
What are the similarities between the roles of a staff engineer and a senior staff engineer?
-Both roles focus on high-impact work, are expected to lead others to accomplish goals, and help unblock teams when they encounter obstacles.
How does the influence scope differ between a staff engineer and a senior staff engineer?
-The influence scope increases for a senior staff engineer, potentially spanning multiple areas within the engineering organization, and may involve assessing the company's position in the marketplace and guiding executive decisions.
Why is diversity important in leadership roles, and what is the role of inclusion?
-Diversity brings different ideas and experiences to the table, which is critical for solving novel problems. Inclusion ensures that diverse individuals are actively involved in discussions and decision-making, maximizing the benefits of diversity.
Why should staff engineers continue to code even after promotion?
-Continuing to code helps staff engineers stay connected to the realities of the work, identify optimizations and risks, and maintain credibility and relevance within the engineering team.
What strategies can staff engineers use to balance their time between coding and meeting demands?
-Strategies include setting office hours, making appointments, and protecting time for deep thought and coding. It's also important to set boundaries and be clear about when they are available.
Outlines
😊 Introduction to Staff Plus Engineer Webinar
The webinar opens with Blanca introducing the session on how to become a Staff Plus Engineer. The session is set to last 45 minutes followed by a Q&A segment. Panelists include Alex, Curtis, DTI, and Maxi. Each panelist shares their journey and insights on transitioning from various technical roles to Staff Plus positions, highlighting the importance of diverse experiences and the development of soft skills alongside technical expertise.
📈 Exploring the Path to Staff Plus Engineering
Discussion focuses on the requirements and expectations for achieving a Staff Plus Engineering role. Panelists share personal strategies for navigating the promotion pathway, emphasizing the importance of understanding company-specific criteria, securing a sponsor, and increasing visibility within the organization. Key advice includes being proactive in demonstrating leadership and tackling significant projects to gain recognition and advancement.
🌟 Insights from a Manager's Perspective
DTI shares insights from a managerial perspective on promoting team members. The importance of initiative and the completion of impactful projects are highlighted. The role of a manager in facilitating such growth is discussed, stressing the need for strategic support and protection of staff engineers' time to allow for impactful contributions and the successful completion of major initiatives.
🛠️ Essential Skills for Staff Plus Engineers
The discussion pivots to the vital skills necessary both to obtain and succeed in a Staff Plus role. Alex emphasizes the value of diversity in leadership for innovation and problem-solving. Curtis debates the importance of coding as part of the role to stay grounded in practical realities. The necessity of balancing coding with leadership and strategy is also highlighted.
📚 Leveraging Skills and Mentorship for Advancement
The panel shifts focus to personal growth strategies necessary for reaching Staff Plus levels. The importance of setting technical direction and being a force multiplier through mentorship is emphasized. Maxi and DTI discuss the benefits of proactive involvement in key projects and the strategic delegation of responsibilities to showcase leadership and readiness for advanced roles.
🚀 Crafting Opportunities and Overcoming Challenges
Discussion on how staff engineers can create and seize opportunities to demonstrate their capability and readiness for promotion. Emphasis is placed on understanding business needs and aligning technical efforts to address them effectively. The panelists share personal experiences and strategies for identifying impactful projects and making significant contributions while balancing regular job duties.
🔍 Maintaining Focus and Accountability as a Staff Engineer
Alex discusses the benefits of maintaining an open and transparent to-do list to manage priorities and ensure accountability. This approach not only helps in staying focused on impactful tasks but also facilitates collaboration and mentorship, as others in the organization can see, contribute to, or assist with ongoing projects. This transparency helps avoid the 'Ivory Tower' syndrome by keeping staff engineers grounded and connected.
🌐 The Role of Sponsorship in Career Advancement
The panel explores the critical role of sponsorship in advancing to Staff Plus roles. Maxi emphasizes the importance of having strong advocates within the organization and the mutual benefits of mentorship. The discussion also covers the responsibility of senior engineers to nurture upcoming talent and the positive impact of mentorship on both the mentor’s and the mentee's career trajectories.
📈 Identifying and Leveraging Impactful Opportunities
Curtis and other panelists discuss how to identify and capitalize on opportunities that significantly impact the business. They stress the importance of aligning technical work with business goals and the benefits of being proactive in solving critical business problems. Tips on finding high-impact, low-effort projects that can lead to substantial business savings or improvements are shared.
🔗 Closing Remarks and Future Directions
In the concluding remarks of the webinar, each panelist shares their views on the most crucial skills for becoming a Staff Engineer. The skills discussed range from technical direction setting to balancing soft and hard skills, and the importance of communication. The webinar wraps up with an invitation to continue the discussion on Slack and an announcement of the next webinar focused on further promotion within Staff Plus levels.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Staff Engineer
💡Promotion
💡Technical Leadership
💡Diversity and Inclusion
💡Soft Skills
💡Technical Direction
💡Sponsorship
💡Impactful Work
💡Architectural Astronauts
💡Business Problems
💡Leadership Visibility
Highlights
Introduction of the panelists and their journey to becoming staff engineers, highlighting the diverse paths and experiences that can lead to the role.
Discussion on the importance of both technical and soft skills for advancing to a staff engineer position.
Insight into how promotions often happen by switching companies and the strategy behind gaining the right experience.
The significance of demonstrating leadership and visibility within an organization as a prerequisite for promotion to staff engineer.
Advice on the necessity of maintaining coding skills even after promotion to ensure understanding of ground-level challenges and opportunities.
Exploration of the role of staff engineers in unblocking team challenges and contributing to strategic decision-making.
Discussion on the impact of diversity in leadership roles, emphasizing how varied experiences contribute to innovative problem-solving.
Highlighting the importance of mentorship and sponsorship in career development and progression to higher technical roles.
The value of transparency in work responsibilities, allowing for accountability, feedback, and collaborative opportunities.
Insights into strategic project selection and the alignment of technical initiatives with business goals for career advancement.
The importance of effective communication skills in conveying technical insights to non-technical stakeholders.
Emphasis on the critical role of senior engineers in fostering a culture of mentorship and growth within their teams.
The concept of 'snacking' as a potential pitfall for staff engineers, where focus might shift to less impactful tasks.
Discussion on the need for staff engineers to balance their time effectively between coding, strategic tasks, and leadership duties.
Final reflections from each panelist on the key skills necessary for success as a staff engineer and the importance of continuous learning and adaptation.
Transcripts
[Music]
hello everyone and a h a huge thank you
for joining us today for a discussion on
how to become a staff plus engineer the
webinar will last roughly 45 minutes
after which both myself and the panelist
will head over to the lead slack to
answer some of your questions in the
staff plus Channel we may also have time
to answer a couple of questions live so
please do submit those to the Q&A
feature soon and we'll get to them if we
can towards the end so let's get started
with some introductions uh my name is
Blanca and today I'll be joined by Alex
Curtis DTI and Maxi I'm going to ask
each of you to introduce yourselves
could you please answer in 60 seconds
who you are and tell us how you became a
staff engineer let's go in alphabetical
order by name uh Alex with you go first
yeah so I've been a developer since 1999
across wide range of Industries and uh
for a period of seven um years I was a
front end developer gradually D dipping
my toes into backand and then after that
I I learned the vops and uh all of a
sudden I became an SRE I start
reliability engineer that's what you get
when you put software engineers in
charge of operation and um it continued
when I when when my impact radius grew
over one team that we were doing
platform engineering and uh part of the
job was to something that they don't
teach you in the university the softest
skills uh how to influence how to work
across the teams and kind of naturally
grew into that uh role but I got the the
role officially when I changed job
actually which is something that maybe
we touch
on amazing thank you uh and now ctis
yeah hi I um I started off uh at school
as an electrical engineer um and only
did like a little bit of software um but
then when I got a job they wanted me to
write software so I kind of learned on
the job how to write software um I
started in uh the defense industry and
then later moved on to educational
technology um and then from there I went
into software
consultancy um and then from there I
went to SAS and now I'm a a senior staff
engineer at slack um and at slack I
joined as a staff engineer and uh almost
two years ago got promoted to a senior
staff
engineer amazing uh thank you CES uh
next up uh
DTI hi um let's see I've been in the
tech sector for about 15 years I also
started um as a friend and developer Al
and kind of transition to the back and I
didn't make it as far as you did to over
in the SRE land but um API development
superide development um I started into
Rec agencies and then decided that I
wanted to have a little bit more um
impact and um at the time you know
agencies didn't do like much app
development within sort of a consultancy
model so I wanted to be able to work on
a product more longer term and also
without having to worry about build
hours so moved into the product space
and sort of start space in 2014 I've
been doing that for the last 10 years
worked at a variety of sort of
venture-backed stas companies and I got
the promotion to staff in a um in a job
move from when I left slack and moved to
MailChimp I got the the staff title in
that move so variety of ways to get
there thank you uh and last but not
least uh
Maxie uh yeah so I I started actually as
a back in engineer uh but then become
became a a front and engineer later on
uh and I got the promotion at my current
company which is help Scout where I've
been for the for the past nine years
almost this year is gonna be nine years
and we also uh didn't have we had a
mostly flat uh engineering ladder at at
the time that this was uh a couple years
ago so uh by the time we implemented
titles that's when I got the promotion
to staff engineer which means that there
were some things that need to navigate
and set the expectations of the the
different titles correctly so yeah that
was my my
experience thank you everyone uh I think
my my own experience Echoes uh most of
yours uh I've been in software for
almost two decades and I I I did a lot
of kind of hopping between Industries
and also roles so I did mobile
development I did front end I tried back
end I tried full stack everything you
know kind of gone badly and I I end up
sticking to back end and then transition
into into data and uh most of my
promotions happened bya job moves except
for you know becoming principal engineer
which happened while I was at the BBC
and it was similar to you D like wanted
to have more impact and then similar to
you Alex like growing those soft skills
and and focusing and and kind of
harnessing those um so uh let's let's
get started uh gaining seniority and
promoting wellbeing handsome software
Engineers is correlated with producing
better quality work you are growing a
set of defined behaviors but there's a
certain point that doing more of the
same stops working we need to take a
leap in a certain direction but which
one a new puzzle opens while this can be
of put into some do not despair the
first thing is to learn what is required
what tools behaviors and people will
help you uncover it so we're going to
start with the first topic for our
webinar today uh that's we're going to
focus on what does it take to become uh
that first rank of sta Plus Engineering
I'm going to start with you Maxi uh what
things did you need to figure out on the
path to being promoted to staff
yeah so the I'll say the most important
thing will be to to find out what the
requirements and the expectations for
the staff title role are at your your
current company uh every company is
different they all have different
requirements and they have different
processes as well some uh some companies
may have more of a formal process to get
to staff and for others all maybe all
you have is a list of bullet points with
the requirements but no matter how how
complex or how simple this requirement
are I recommend just getting you a copy
of those and using them as as your North
Star for for getting the promotion um
another thing that is very uh important
I think uh it's to to find who your
sponsor is going to be for the promotion
who will typically be your manager um I
suggest being super clear with them
about your intentions of uh being
promoted to staff let them know that you
are working towards getting the
promotion and while you shouldn't expect
a stepbystep plan for from them to to
get you to staff level I think um it's
important to rely on them for support
and for feedback and just for General
guidance on on how you can get there to
the next level um and I'll say finally I
think one thing that is sometimes
overlooked but it's it's very important
is finding ways to make your work and
yourself more more visible uh to the
organization both internally within your
team and and also externally um this is
this can be super uncomfortable Especial
Especially For My my fellow introverts
but uh it's very important for for
people to start to see you more as a
leader and the best way to do this is by
Leading a project like being the tech
lead on a project that is important to
the organization but even if you don't
have the opportunity to do that because
maybe you you won't have the chance to
to get to lead an important project uh
there are many ways in which you can do
it in in my case there wasn't one single
big project that got me the promotion
but uh really a collection of small
actions that were important to the
company and um so even you know if you
don't get a chance to to take the lead
on a big project I recommend being on
the lookout for this type of
opportunities uh because they they add
up over time and they they help you gain
visibility thank you and and and
absolutely like about honing those
behaviors and speaking about you know
about what you do yeah it's it's so key
um so we're going to move on to DTI uh
you have a very interesting uh Insight
uh as a manager uh you help someone in
your team promote you know recently and
you know yeah so uh what did it take in
this situation for the person to Le to
Lear the promotion what did you see yeah
it's interesting being on the other side
of it now um so one thing that can
happen in the promotion to staff is sort
of the completion of a large Capstone
project and as a manager I want to see
initiative from my reports and so in
this instance I had a report kind of
dive into a very run-of-the-mill feature
that we were working on and realized
that our permissions model was in quite
a state and he was able to sort of make
the argument that we should refactor it
break up all the work into sort of
sequencing ran the work was super
horizontal it affected every team so our
front end team worked on it our backend
team worked on it so it was like super
horizontal it um LED to a variety of
things happening we ended up like
sunsetting our mobile app it led us to
uh the creation of custom roles for our
Enterprise customers so there strong
business value as well and then on top
of all that was the driver of the work
and completed the work I think sometimes
people can get promoted before the work
is finished but I wanted to see the sort
of full life cycle as well as sort of
his own tenacity in pushing the um
project forward and so I think um
there's nothing like there's no hack to
hard work like you actually to finish
the thing start um and so I think the
initiative and also you know I'm I was
trying to be a supportive manager I was
like okay let's see how we can car out
the time I can give you the air cover to
actually get this work done so we're
kind of working on it a little bit as a
team but there's nothing um like seeing
someone delve in identify a business
need solve the problem and do it well
and successfully so that was kind of
what I saw when I got to prosity
recently oh thank you thank you for
highlighting that that that we need to
you know to lead to promote but it
doesn't mean that we're necessarily
doing it all on our own and and manager
can be you know the best person to to be
to be that person just pushing you
forward um I think we're going to touch
some some of the points that you
highlighted later so I'm not gonna
dissipate anything uh G next upop we're
gonna move on to Alex um about U what is
what is your advice for someone who is
preparing for interviews externally when
they're also trying to promotee the stop
plus is it
harder yes I do a lot of uh technical
interview for staff Engineers I also
have influenced the staff intake
pipeline for my current company I also
have a newsletter where I write about
technical leadership which is the stuff
about so I I am pretty opinionated about
that um for the interviews the ones that
um don't make it they usually haven't
done the work unfortunately because we
don't care so much about the leveling
that you your current company um we
rather ask questions and ask you to
demonstrate or talk about the skills
that you have done uh in the past jobs
and see if it maps to the stuff the
expectation of the staff level that we
have with the c company um and
we my advice for um if you're trying to
um apply for a staff engineer job is to
do the work with or without the title
don't care so much about the title and I
can later talk more about this strategy
but generally that is a strategy I've
had in my own career is that always
invest in you always do the work and
don't um say that oh this is above my
pay grade or this is not related to what
I'm doing do the work because that
experience will uh show up in the
interviews that you have for the next
job that's that's fantastic and and I
like how you reiterate the this point on
you you have to do the work it's not
just about talking is it's doing doing
the hard things um let's hear it from
Curtis uh next um having been a stuff
engineer and now you're a senior staff
uh your organization what are the key
similarities and what are the difference
to each one of the
roles yeah
it's um I I'll start with the
similarities um for both senior staff
and staff you typically are focused on
high impact work like
things that are business critical for
your company um you are expected to help
lead others on your team to accomplish a
goal it doesn't necessarily mean that
you have to write all the code yourself
or anything like that um and then you're
also expected to help unblock others
right so sometimes teams can get stuck
focusing on one particular requirement
or feature um and the role of a staff
engineer on that team is to help unblock
it like how can we simplify this and
move forward and keep making progress um
in terms of
differences the scope in which you're
you have influence over does increase um
so you may be over multiple depending on
how big your company is but maybe your
your influence spans multiple pillars
inside the engineering organization or
maybe um you need to see how your
company fits into the entire Marketplace
of your competitors and what others are
doing and help the leaders and
Executives of your company make the
right decisions on on where to go next
um and then also the complexity um the
complexity gets even higher you have to
start thinking about how does your
company work in the marketplace like I
said before but then also like what a
solution may not be clear-cut to exist
to the business problem and it it's a
blank canvas sometimes and you may need
to figure out how can I leverage
existing competencies and tools and
capabilities that my company has
developed over the years months or weeks
and remix those to attack or solve like
a business
problem oh thank you thank you for that
uh well we won't be touching you know a
lot on on on the senior staff role in
this webinar uh we will in the future
but that that helps kind of see that
there there's difference with with it
kind of leap that you make okay so uh
let's move on to to the second topic for
our webinar uh which is what what are
the skills you need to demonstrate so we
said you need to demonstrate things but
what what are these things uh that you
need to demonstrate before the role and
what do you need to be successful once
you are in the role it might be the same
might be different um so we going to go
back to Alex uh you have mentioned
before the importance of bringing people
with diverse backgrounds into leadership
positions can you tell us how you see
this making the difference to being in a
staff plus role yes very good question
because um we we have to step back and
see what's the value of diversity why
why are we doing diversity are we doing
it for stats do we look good or are we
really looking for diversity of opinions
diversity of experiences and why are we
doing that but it turns out that a
homogeneous team actually can perform
very well uh when uh you rely on
Unwritten rules and you know everyone
knows exactly what to do but where where
they fail is novel ideas or not novel
problem sorry novel problems when there
is something that's very new and you
need all different ideas to to solve
that which is critical in in many um
software companies or big take because
you're you're kind of leading the way
you cannot look into someone else and
say I just follow them you know you have
to solve those nor problems so um we use
generally speaking we use gender age
ethnicity nationality language these
metrics as diversity which is a good
proxy metric for um diversity of
experiences diversity of opinions like
people who come from different comp
countries generally have lived different
lifestyle different genders they have
Liv different experiences but the
ultimate goal is to bring different
ideas to the table now here's the catch
many companies do diversity but they do
it on only at the leaf nodes of the
organization tree you know the engineers
and when you go up you see that the sea
level is all homogeneous but that's
exactly where you need diversity right
because um if people cannot look up to
the leadership U um room and say that oh
I I see myself in that room you know a
person of color or maybe a person coming
from different country or something of
of that nature different genders are
presented at the leadership table and
also it just happens that leadership
really needs that um different opinions
on the table to be able to tack
novel problems so that is where I think
you need diversity which goes back to
the question like why why would you need
diversity for staff because staff is a
technical leadership position so you of
course you can benefit from everything
that I just mentioned for a staff
engineer so when we are recruiting we
are very careful with with that metric
uh to bring diverse talent because I'm
currently I'm working for a car company
and there is a lot of disruption
happening in the car company un you have
the EV you have software defined cars
you have autonomous drive and this is a
very new um area and era for this
industry and so we need really people of
different backgrounds to come and and
add I just want to close with saying
that there is a lot of focus on
diversity but inclusion is also key and
I didn't know that I actually learned
this from one of my um mentors I was
like yeah diversity we have to increase
he was like no the key is inclusion so
what is inclusion it doesn't matter that
you hire diverse if that person is not
in the room if they're not included in
the discussion you're missing all the
benefits of
diversity yeah absolutely I I was going
to reiterate that that you need the
diversity at each level because
otherwise the ideas that are bubbling
they will not be adopted like there will
be no buying so you need all the
different angles every every run um so
thank you thank you for bringing that
point Alex uh I I've heard that lots of
minorities actually uh they don't see
themselves in staff plus roles because
of that lack of presentation but it's so
it's so important
um now we're back to Curtis uh let's you
know let's focus on you know on the key
skill I think that everyone asks
whenever you are in a stopus roow uh is
it important to code during and after
promoting to the role and
why yeah yeah this is a a spicy one and
I think I'll caveat everything what I
say with this is what I've SE seen at
the companies I've worked at but maybe
it's not necessarily true forever but my
spicy take is you should continue to
code I think the time you spend coding
will likely
decrease um but it should still be part
of your code function if you're an
engineer um there's this quote from Rita
McGrath that I like um where she's
talking about how the more senior you
are unfortunately the more your
organization will try to prevent you
from seeing and hearing the brutal
truth and the more successful one has
been in the past the less eager they are
to hear bad
news and if you are an engineer but
you're not in the code base doing the
coding you may not be able to see
potential optimizations potential risks
potential opportunities for your
business
because you're so far
abstracted from actually doing the work
and you may try to push solutions that
are not for the benefit of the company
but look good on a work chart or you
know like as Engineers we've all done
things that don't look good on an
architectural diagram like um I'm going
to store that in a database why would I
do that well that's what we have right
like there are some things that just
don't make sense when you're
whiteboarding it but when you're
actually in the code doing the work is
pretty clear um so it's my opinion that
you need to continue to be an engineer
and code um to help your organization
the most even as uh a staff plus
engineer thank you thank you for that I
you know I've had many chats uh with
staff Engineers about how you know
techniques for them to kind of keep you
know keep being close to the code when
you have limited time um but sadly today
we don't have we don't have time to Del
into that but I I love that you of made
the point and just left left us to think
about it
yeah let's let's bring to reti uh again
and you know following from from cage
point of of being
handsome how do you reconcile this with
people needing to consult you as a staff
engineer and being available for
meetings that's you yeah because if you
if you let it it can take up your whole
calendar yeah
um I think there's some interesting um
strategies you can take you know sitting
up office hours making um some
appointments based um calendar entries
for yourself so people can find you at a
time that like works for you I also
think people go to you because you are a
leader and want to validate their ideas
and you know and validate an
architectural approach or validate um
you know some problem that they're
having I think a lot of times when
people have asked asked me for Hands-On
help it's mostly around permission
granting like oh I have this idea I want
to do it do it like okay I give you the
permission like have fun I think a lot
of times that's what people are seeking
when they are looking for you but you
have to protect your own time especially
if you want time for coding if you want
time for deep thought which is often the
request um of a staff
engineer yeah absolutely that's kind of
the Crux of the role I find you know
setting boundaries that work for you and
your
teams yeah otherwise you can find
yourself working you know late into the
night and sort of your day is piing up
by meetings and then the five to n shift
is when you actually get some of that
deep thought or that deep work done and
so you can kind of get find yourself in
sort of a i strange treadmill of not
being able to keep up and so you can
just kind of get in front of that by
being clear about when you are
available yeah thank you
um now uh Maxi um
what what is the the most important
skill you see engineering Engineers
needing to work on when When approaching
that
promotion yeah I I think F first of all
I want to say that I highly I definitely
agree with everything that uh every swi
saying about keeping being Hands-On and
keeping in the code I I think staff
engineers and Architects should continue
to code there is a great article um by I
think it's by Joel spolsky about um
architectural or architecture
astronauts they call it that these
people who who get too caught up on
levels and levels of attraction that
things stop making sense when you when
you go down to the code level so finding
that balance is hard but I think it's
definitely important to keep uh to keep
coding and keep closer to the code uh
when When approaching the the promotion
I think um it's really important that
you demonstrate and this ties up to what
Alex and were talking about about doing
the work to demonstrate that you can do
staff level work even before getting the
promotion uh it it's not typically you
won't get promoted to staff and then
you'll start doing staff level work you
you have to demonstrate that beforehand
and this is that you have to you know do
the work you have to go the extra miles
on times and show initiative and do
things that are outside of your um your
the expectations of your current level
but showing that you can take on the
extra responsibilities and and deliver
uh it's it's one of the best way to
demonstrate that you are ready to to
make the jump to the next level um as
for specific skills I think there there
are many of course that are very
important for for uh staff Engineers but
if I had to highlight one it would be
the the ability to set technical
technical Direction uh because no matter
which type of Staff engineer you you aim
to become whether it's an architect or a
tech lead or any of the other Arch types
of Staff Engineers what they all share
in common is that they they make
technology decisions on on behalf of
their company so um so they all speak
for the company technology by by setting
technical Direction so this is one of
the the key initiatives to to to keep in
mind there are many ways in which you
can do this the leading a project
technically is of course one one of the
the main ones but uh you can do this by
writing a really good Discovery do or a
really good uh design spec or by uh
advocating for the need to to pay off a
speciic specific Tech depth for example
or just by showing initiative in those
small things that they don't have owners
but are really important to the company
and and do the work and drive those
those things forward so communication
and mentorship these are all like super
important for staff Engineers but if if
I had to highlight one will be the the
ability to set that
direction thank you Maxi and I think
that leads that very nicely into that
the next topic which is about carving
opportunities internally once you kind
of know what you need to demonstrate uh
to become Stuff Plus and know that's
like to hear you from the r because
you've seen this you know on yourself
and then now from your from your reports
uh as a manager you you kind of have
superpowers because you now know what it
think to get promoted
and what what is your advice for people
who don't know how to go about finding
opportunities or stretching themselves
on that path to
promotion mhm yeah yeah um that's a
great question in terms of finding those
um opportunities a lot of times it is um
not the most interesting problem to you
technically a lot of times it's trying
to solve a business
problem if there is something that can
put more money in your company's pocket
that's going to be a great thing to go
towards and it's not always going to be
something around
it's not going to be the most it may not
be the most like I've come up with some
new programming language I've written
some new framework like that's very
intellectually interesting to the IC and
to the individual but it's you know what
is at the end of the day it's about
solving business problems with code so
is there a way for you to get closer to
other business functions and figure out
what they need can you talk to the
support team can you talk to the sales
team you know they're the ones that
often will interface closest to the
customer and closest to the business
problems that there are are so if you're
looking for scanning for opportunities
uh the GTM side of the house is a great
place to kind of go and get some ideas
there and also you don't need permission
to solve a problem with code like you
don't you don't and I think one of the
interesting things about being a staff
engineer is um you are kind of a a back
stop in in a lot of ways so a lot of
times the problems that come across your
desk are not going to be the most
interesting or engaging but they are
going to be the ones that are the most
complex and and most in need of solving
so I think there's a variety of ways
that you can go about scanning for
opportunities but it's not going to be
it's rarely going to be what your first
inclination is going to be my
experience
okay thank you for that so yeah stay
stay away from the really interesting
kind of technical problems and I me you
may be able to yeah you may be able to
like find something that's like
interesting technically to you as well
and that's like a great a great thing to
do but I think oftentimes it's around um
or if you do find something interesting
it's about making the business case like
we should fix this because I think it
will lead to say um a speed up in you
know like some API method that will then
mean that customers can access things
but you have to make the case for it
right if it is something you like doing
you have to make the business case for
it so it's not to say that you can't
enjoy it but you have to always think
about the business case for what the
problem you're solving yeah yeah again
you know something pops through my mind
there was a an infrastructure migration
of of a data warehouse that I I had to
lead and it wasn't you know as an
example it wasn't the you know the
sexist problem and I had no idea how to
go about it but I was able to
communicate and make the decision do we
need to migrate do we stay as we are
what are the risks and and it really
challenged me in a different in a
different way so yeah definitely okay uh
let's let's go let's go let's go to Alex
because there's there's a d side of of
being stuff so one of the be beat Falls
of being stuff is you have a lot of
autonomy
but then you can it can lead to a term
that called we call snacking which is
focusing on the wrong thing maybe this
also ties with the this point about what
projects you pick so Alex you mentioned
that you have an open to-do link to a
strategy document to hold yourself
accountable and communicate your focus
uh within your company what's your
experience with
that yeah so to reiterate the idea this
is something that I did in my current
company because this was the first time
that I was staff engineer senior staff
engineer responsible for many teams and
um I got a lot of asks uh from across
the organization because the org is
really large and to protect myself I
opened my to-do list so one reason was
to have the positive no so to speak as
like if someone wants wants something I
I'll just show them my to-do and say
okay where do you want me to put it
compared to everything else like you you
just prioritize my to-do um but also it
goes back to one of my biggest
professional fears as a staff engineer
is to become Ivory Tower um staff
engineer or principal what you call it
and these are roles that are detached
from the uh realities of of the
engineer's life I mean think about it um
engineering managers product managers
they are part of um hierarchy and they
have their own UH responsibilities like
in case of engineering managers they are
responsible for engineers and
Engineering matters for product and
they're responsible for defining the
problem definition and and basically
defining product whereas staff I think
it is I always see engineers at the LIF
nodes of the organization as my true
Masters they should tell me like what is
the I'm there to to enable them
regardless of my direct reporting line
or the dotted reporting line at TR
organization so for me this is a way to
uh communicate responsibility and be
transparent with the engineers um
actually it it led to some side effects
like I said I have never heard of this
idea before maybe there are other people
who do this too but for me it was the
first and some of the side effect I I
saw that other stf Engineers started
doing that as well and also um every now
and then out of nowhere someone comes
and say hey this thing on your to-do
list I can help you with that and um
example of that is Roman one of my
colleagues he actually came out of
nowhere and helped me with a migration
project that I was running and I had
little time to code as it is classic for
for this level but he actually did the
majority of the coding and communication
and this is an example of a person who
he was a senior engineer he demonstrated
the skills of operating at the staff
level and later I got the staff engineer
I sponsored him we were hiring for staff
like he he's a person who we know that
he has demonstrated this G and he got
promoted into that level so this is one
side effect of that H and the last one
is that um it is kind of um you know the
idea of a brag do it kind of uh you keep
track of your accomplishments it's it's
useful for when there is internal
promotion but also when you're are
applying for jobs like sometimes it's
hard to keep track of what were I doing
in a job like 10 years ago you know what
was the needle I was moving what's the
impact that I drove and how did I do
that you know the star um um interview
uh um framework uh for me this to do
also serves that that I can look back
and kind of be proud because it's kind
of hard to I have a blog post about the
difference between senior and staff
engineering I can share that in in this
se but basically it boils down to the
fact that H the higher level you are the
closer to the business you are but also
usually the longer initiatives you drive
like one of the initiatives I'm driving
now it is running since April rolling
out service levels across organization
and sometimes you lose you lose track of
uh progress because at any point you're
just seeing the next step uh I missed
those days when I was a junior senior
engineer and my task was limited you
know to just today or you know this is
you could see the progress whereas for a
staff since um you are enabling and
empowering other people and also long
running task it's hard so one of the
side effect of this Todo was to have
that brag do for myself and also you
know be able to talk about what I have
accomplished it's a way to kind of
crowdsource the um the auditing of your
to-do list because everyone you know
that everyone can see what you're doing
so that's one way not to be Ivory Tower
I also got a lot of feedbacks for for
individual tasket that I know that they
have stakeholders since I transparently
write down everything they could just go
there and correct me I'm not known to be
perfect I I make a lot of mistakes so
it's very good to get those feedbacks
which help me to actually get a better
understanding of what was the ask what
how do they see me adding value there
because usually when a team reach out
they really know the problem better than
I do but maybe they they need mandate
maybe they need someone with external
view into the problem maybe they want a
sponsor in the leadership table well
like what is it that you want from me
that is something that I can get in the
to-do list something that maybe is is
hard to get on on Asing conversation on
chat or you know on a short
meeting thank thank you Alex I love how
you being open about what you focus on
is is act those documents act like a
communication which is comes both ways
and the example of you were sponsoring
someone to to kind of promote that
that's that's really really beautiful um
because it also relates to our next
question uh to Maxi um uh what has been
your experience with sponsorship for
gaining
visibility uh yeah sponsorship it has
been crucial for me for for getting
visibility and getting getting promoted
um as we mentioned before the person
most likely to be your sponsor will be
to your manager they will help you you
know get get these opportunities to get
visibility and help you in the process
of becoming uh a staff engineer but and
sometimes that that's enough but
sometimes maybe you don't have the best
relationship with your manager or maybe
uh they're too busy because they have
too many reports and they can't give you
the the dedicated support that you need
so I think finding opportunities from uh
to establish our relationship with other
staff Engineers other staff plus
Engineers within the the company I think
it's very very important as well and I
know uh some people maybe uh there's
this idea of St Engineers being in the
eye Tower like like Alex was was saying
and some people maybe don't want to they
don't want to bother the staff Engineers
but um one thing to keep in mind is that
it's part of their job part of their
responsibility also to to mentor and
sponsor other people like it's part of
their responsibilities to sort of grow
the team around them and to to act as as
a force multiplier and one of the best
ways they have to do that is to uh to
Mentor other people to find
Opportunities uh for them to grow so I
think relying on them is is very
important and it's kind of like a
win-win situation because they're
helping you and you're also helping them
you know meet their their expectations
um also about sponsorship I I I want to
mention that it it's important to also
like pay it forward if if you can to uh
find opportunities for you to be a
mentor or a sponsor for other people
this is especially uh if you've been out
at the same company for some time which
is is my case you in inevitably start to
collect a lot of domain knowledge about
different projects or different uh parts
of the codebase and this isn't about
just collecting knowledge just just for
for just for collecting Stak so you have
to uh you have to work on uh delegating
some of that responsibilities
documenting and finding the people
within your team that are um more
appropriate to to tackle some on some of
that work so those are great
opportunities to show that you can do
this type of work mentorship and
sponsorship that are um that the trait
of a staff Engineers so if you can show
that you can do those even before
becoming a staff engineer that that will
that really only help your your
promotion fantastic thank you and there
this there two really big points that I
I want to reiterate about sponsorship uh
that I that would bit surprising to me
first is the more senior you become
sponsorship becomes so much more part of
your of your job uh and this is to bring
people
with you and the second one is that
actually sponsoring others for for kind
of growing and promoting actually
affects your career positively because
you end up promoting at higher rates as
well so keep an eye on that because it's
a win-win situation
um uh and you know we're GNA C on I
think this going to be the the last
question uh for the webinar today uh and
we'll take the the last remaining slot
on slack we're going to close up with
with ctis uh and Diving more into you
know at the staff level you said you
focus on public domain or or or or
pillar um how did you find opportunities
for
growth yeah that's a good question
because um before I reached staff
engineer I had this thought in my mind
and and let me know in the chat if any
of you listening have this as well where
you think that your man is going to kind
of lay everything out for you like okay
Curtis here's my plan for you you need
to do this and then you can do this and
then you can that's not how it works um
and for me one of the biggest unlocks
was okay I need to like use what I'm
talented at and what I'm skilled at and
hopefully what I like to do but it may
not be what I like to do and drive
impact for the
organization but I also have to do this
while doing my day job so I can't let
like my manager D is asking me I need to
do this feature I still have to deliver
on that but I may see opportunities for
other things because as I said before
the people doing the work and as Alex
was alluding to those are the ones that
have the most knowledge about the
friction the pain points the
opportunities for the company to get
better so find those opportunities that
are real pain points not the well I
let's just rewrite this thing in Rust
manager can I rewrite this in Rust uh
maybe we don't need to do that right now
but if instead oh um if we stored our
data in this way I think it'll drop our
request rate our response at times by
50% and save us x amount of dollars or
whatever and a lot of times it's
tempting to think that whatever is going
to drive the most impact also requires
the most effort but that isn't always
true I've seen Engineers write 20 lines
of terraform that save the company
millions of dollars a
year and if you can find things like
that that are low effort something you
can do in a week an afternoon a few
weeks that drive
impact that's a sweet spot and that's
how you can still do your day job and
provide impact on the organization on a
broader level and and like we all
alluded to before like your title is
typically a lagging indicator of the
level you're at you need to be operating
at that level for a sustained period of
time before you get the title to match
it um and the title does help but it's
not the end all Beall like the goal is
to provide impact to the organization
and the ways you're uniquely like
equipped to provide that
impact thank thank you ctis I think
that's a that's a great way to kind of
wrap the panel uh I've heard a lot of
people saying do I do the role before
doing it because hey you know
compensation and all these things but at
the end of the day it's about you know
it's better to focus on your career
growth than chase you know that that
title and that that next level um so uh
thank you to your P to our panelist for
sharing uh their insights now it's time
to wrap up our panel so let's let's go
around the room and summarize in a
sentence what is the most important
skill to develop from your point of view
in order to become a staff
engineer we go in in reverse astical
order now starting with
maxi H yeah so I think I mentioned
earlier the for me the most important
skill to develop is uh your ability to
to set technical Direction uh because as
a staff engineer you're not just
responsible for for writing code but to
uh for solving the needs and the
problems of the company uh using
technology so focus on develop your your
technical breath and and spend more time
like zooming out of the code and and
working on on the big picture high
impact
work thank you uh and next uh
DTI the thing I wrote down with
developing judgment but I think that's
very similar just said but I think um
more
than like our tastes do dictate so much
of what we do um and and I think being
able to spot things um and apply a
little bit of Leverage is kind of really
an underrated skill and I think on top
of that being able to be persuasive once
you've spotted that thing because you
have to bring other people along for the
journey to tell a compelling story so if
you can develop a good sense of judgment
as well as make everyone excited to come
along with you I think those are some
like really killer skills that people
can
develop thank you uh
ctis yeah I think a lot of it may depend
on you know what particular archetype or
skills you are if you're like depth
first breath first collaborative or
whatever but one thing that um has
served me well in any role I've been in
is the ability to learn and
collaborate um so if there's you know
some new technology some error some
something some opportunity
being able to digest information and
then effectively collaborate with my
team on figuring out where to go um a
lot of times the like how you do
something can be kind of straightforward
but the what to do is the hardest part
and um that's where I like to lean on
staff Engineers to help us find the
what thank you uh and finally Alex yeah
I would go for balancing soft dis skills
and harder skills so harder skills is
what we learn in University in
engineering school but softer skills is
the part that becomes even more
important for this leadership positions
um on Monday I actually published a post
on that I call it toop which is a mental
model that has Tech but it also has
people operation and product and my
suggestion is to um distribute your
energy and time in all these aspects and
don't don't expect that oh I I I'm staff
engineer so I have to be very deep inch
because that's not going to happen let's
be honest you you go to so many meetings
you have to write documents you cannot
be um as deep as a senior engineer uh in
all the areas that you're responsible
for maybe in some of them you have
history and you are deep enough but uh
this is a mental model to kind of um
spend time in networking having those
dotted reporting lines building
relationships because later you may need
that influence power inside the
organization and also operation What's
the culture what's the incentives in the
organization uh and the product because
Tech is a solution to a problem the
problem is defined by the product so
it's very important to have a close um
understanding of the product and build
and networking with the uh with the
product management line balancing soft
skills and hard
skills thank you Alex uh for me it's
it's it's kind of the everything under
the umbrella of communication either
spoken or written but also that includes
listening so listening to everyone
around you and being able to tailor your
message because you're not going to be
speaking to people with a technical
background all the time that on the
contrary they're going to have increased
exposure to the business layers and they
don't like any jargon so I I you know
maybe this this kind of EOS my own
Journey which was to kind of learn to
kind of make my my message more
accessible to a wider audience and and
that actually increases your influence
because what people want to come to you
even more and they want to tell you
their problems and want you to kind of
take on uh their things so that's that's
all from us today I noticed there's a
lot of questions in a Q&A that just pop
now but we're going to take those two
slack because they came uh towards the
end and there's no time left uh so thank
you so much for all the good insights in
today's panel we're all going to be
heading now to the lead slack in the in
the hasht staff plus channel so please
head there to continue the discussion
we'll be back on Monday the 1st of May
uh for our next staff plus webinar where
we'll be discussing how to promote to
the next Stuff Plus level in your
organization look out for the
announcement in the coming weeks thank
you for joining and hope to see you next
time bye
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