How to become a staff+ engineer

Summary

The 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

00:00

😊 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.

05:00

📈 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.

10:03

🌟 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.

15:05

🛠️ 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.

20:05

📚 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.

25:06

🚀 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.

30:08

🔍 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.

35:09

🌐 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.

40:11

📈 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.

45:12

🔗 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.

Keywords

💡Staff Engineer

A Staff Engineer is a senior-level technical position within an engineering organization. They are responsible for high-impact work, leading teams, and making strategic decisions that affect the company's technology direction. In the script, the panelists discuss their personal journeys to becoming Staff Engineers and the skills required for the role.

💡Promotion

Promotion in the context of the video refers to the process of advancing to a higher job title or rank within a company, specifically to the level of Staff Engineer or above. The script discusses the importance of understanding company requirements, finding a sponsor, and demonstrating the ability to perform at the desired level before formal promotion.

💡Technical Leadership

Technical leadership involves guiding a team or organization in technology-related decisions and directions. It requires not just technical expertise but also the ability to influence and align stakeholders. In the video, the panelists emphasize the importance of this skill for those aiming to become Staff Engineers.

💡Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are highlighted as crucial for bringing different perspectives and ideas to the leadership table. The panelists discuss how diversity can lead to better problem-solving, especially for novel problems, and stress the importance of inclusion to ensure all voices are heard and valued.

💡Soft Skills

Soft skills are personal characteristics that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. In the context of the video, soft skills such as communication, influence, and mentorship are discussed as essential for Staff Engineers who need to work across teams and guide others.

💡Technical Direction

Setting technical direction involves making decisions that will guide the technological advancements and strategies of a company. It is a key responsibility for Staff Engineers, as mentioned in the script, where the ability to set technical direction is identified as a critical skill for the role.

💡Sponsorship

Sponsorship in a professional context refers to a more senior person actively supporting the career advancement of a less senior person. In the script, the importance of having a sponsor to vouch for one's abilities and potential is emphasized, especially when aiming for a promotion to Staff Engineer.

💡Impactful Work

Impactful work refers to tasks or projects that have significant effects on a company's success, often by addressing business needs or solving complex problems. The panelists discuss the need for Staff Engineers to focus on impactful work, aligning their technical skills with business objectives.

💡Architectural Astronauts

The term 'architectural astronauts' is used to describe individuals who become overly absorbed in high-level design discussions to the point where they lose touch with the practical realities of coding and the actual needs of the business. The script warns against this, advocating for a balance between strategic thinking and hands-on technical work.

💡Business Problems

Business problems are challenges that affect a company's operations, revenue, or growth. In the video, the panelists stress that Staff Engineers should focus on solving these problems with technology, rather than purely pursuing technical interests that may not align with business goals.

💡Leadership Visibility

Leadership visibility is about being recognized within an organization as a leader and having one's work and contributions noticed by others. The script discusses how increasing one's visibility can help in career advancement, particularly by leading projects and taking on initiatives that benefit the company.

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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