7 Levels Of Engineers Describe Software’s Most Important Skill

Summary

The video features interviews with engineers at various career levels, from new grads to distinguished engineers. They share insights on important skills at each level - for entry-levels, following coding patterns; for mid-levels, debugging and root causing issues; for senior staffs, impacting the broader team; and for distinguished engineers, understanding the business and earning trust across the organization. The video also notes that reaching the most senior levels requires long tenures, company growth providing opportunities, and combining talent with business context and scope.

Takeaways

• 😀 New grads should focus on following established patterns in the codebase to complete tasks
• 👩‍💻 Mid-level engineers need efficient log analysis skills to debug issues
• 🙌 Senior engineers should align projects to business goals and stakeholder needs
• 💡 Staff engineers should focus on upleveling their teams for multiplicative impact
• 🔍 Principal engineers need great technical communication to delegate effectively
• 📈 Spending many years at a fast growing company enables promotions
• 🤝 Distinguished engineers combine business knowledge, people skills and technology
• 😊 Pursue impactful projects to advance to senior levels
• 🤔 Constant job hopping limits career growth
• ⌛ Growth opportunities come from solving business problems over time

Q & A

What are some key technologies used by iOS engineers at Slack?

Uriel mentions primarily working in Swift and some Bazel for the build systems.

What advice does Uriel give to junior engineers at big tech companies like Slack?

Uriel advises taking time to build connections not just on your team but also with other teams since they have deeper knowledge in different areas that you can learn from.

What does Dipa at Qualcomm work on and what languages does she use?

Dipa works on the camera processing chip that goes in phones, using mainly C++ and Python.

What does Richard at Meta say is the most important skill for a senior engineer?

Richard says aligning project outcome expectations and risks with stakeholders, and making sure the projects are important for the company and your own growth.

What advice does Richard have for new senior engineers at big tech companies?

His advice is to focus on bringing people along and building long-term collaborations across teams.

What team is Sammy on at Gusto and what technologies do they use?

Sammy is on the communications platform team at Gusto, using Ruby on Rails on the backend and Typescript and React on the frontend.

What does Sammy say is the most important skill at the staff engineer level?

He says it's leveling up your teammates through feedback and mentoring so they can work independently and have multiplicative impact.

What does Kaik at Instacart work on?

Kaik works on the smart carts team that builds carts running the Android OS after Instacart acquired Caper.

What three things does Kaik say contribute to having impact as a senior engineer?

He says identifying opportunities, executing work to deliver impact, and measuring the impact.

What communication skill does Pong say is critical for principal engineers?

He emphasizes the importance of technical communication - being able to effectively delegate tasks and extract the right information from teammates.