7 Levels Of Engineers Describe Software’s Most Important Skill

Summary

本视频深入探讨了不同级别工程师在大型科技公司的工作经验和建议。从新毕业的iOS工程师Euriel在Slack使用Swift和Bazel，到高级工程师Richard在Meta优化移动UI平台，再到杰出工程师Andrew Z在Pinterest的深度学习项目，每位受访者分享了他们认为该级别最重要的技能和给新人的建议。视频强调了持续学习、有效沟通和对业务的深入理解的重要性，并通过实际例子展示了如何在技术领域内成长和成功。此外，还观察到长期在一家公司工作和在公司快速增长期间工作对职业发展的积极影响。

Takeaways

• 💡 不同级别的工程师需要掌握不同的核心技能,例如新人工程师需要学习代码模式,中级工程师需要解决问题的能力,高级工程师需要沟通和影响他人的能力。
• 👩‍💻 新人工程师需要关注学习现有的代码和解决方案模式,中级工程师需要进行有效的日志分析,高级工程师需要与利益相关方进行期望管理。
• 🤝 随着级别的提高,工程师需要更多地与人合作和传播技能,这比单独工作更有成效。
• 💰 整个公司的增长为工程师提供了晋升和影响力的机会。
• 📈 在某个公司工作很长时间可以更深入地理解业务,这有助于成为资深工程师。
• 👥 构建关系非常重要,需要与不同团队的人互动和学习。
• ⛳️ 高级工程师需要确定可以产生重大商业影响的项目。
• 🔬 高级工程师需要技术视野和业务视野的结合。
• 😎 资深工程师需要成为良好的榜样来塑造工程文化。
• 🎯 资深工程师追求对整个公司具有重大影响的工作。

Q & A

Uriel提到的获得提升最重要的技能是什么?

Uriel表示对于新工程师,获得提升最重要的技能是学习代码库中现有的解决方案,例如如何创建标签、按钮以及连接屏幕等常见任务的解决方式。

Dipa表示高级工程师最重要的技能是什么?

Dipa认为最重要的技能是高效的日志分析,即如何解析日志文件,从中获取信息,用以调试或弄清错误来源。

Richard提到工程师E5级别最重要的技能是什么?

Richard认为最重要的技能是与相关利益相关方就项目的结果预期和风险进行沟通,确保所从事的项目对公司和个人成长都很重要。

Sammy表示工程师达到Staff级别后最重要的技能转变是什么?

Sammy认为在Staff级别,最重要的技能是提升团队整体,而不仅仅是靠个人力量驱动,要确保每个人都在取得进步。

高级工程师应该如何产生影响力?

Kek认为高级工程师产生影响力的关键是识别出能够产生重大影响的机会,制定执行计划,并测量最终产生的影响。

Pong表示principal engineer最重要的技能是什么?

Pong认为principal engineer最重要的技能是技术交流,当任务复杂时,必须依靠他人的帮助,因此与团队成员的有效沟通尤为重要。

video中最高级别的工程师都是在公司工作了多长时间?

video中出现的最高级别工程师,比如instacart的L7高级工程师以及Pinterest的L9杰出工程师,他们在所在公司都工作了8到9年以上。

成为公司最高级别工程师的关键因素有哪些?

除了超强的技术能力和勤奋工作外,其他主要因素还有对业务的深入理解,以及公司快速增长为工程师提供机会。

Andrew认为杰出工程师最重要的技能是什么?

Andrew认为杰出工程师最重要的技能是了解业务和人员,既要懂技术,也要会团队协作。

Andrew对工程师有什么职业建议?

Andrew建议工程师要关注最重要的影响力点,弄清楚如何取得决策权,组建必要的团队,从而推动重大变革。

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introductions from entry level to mid-level engineers

The first few paragraphs contain introductions and advice from engineers at different career levels. An entry level iOS engineer talks about learning from existing code patterns. A mid-level Qualcomm engineer emphasizes efficient log analysis for debugging. A Meta senior engineer recommends aligning project outcomes with stakeholders.

05:01

😃 Responsibilities and skills progress from individual contributor to team lead

As engineers become more senior, their responsibilities shift from hands-on coding to guiding and leveling up their teams. A Gusto staff engineer focuses on making teammates self-sufficient. An Instacart senior staff engineer prioritizes identifying high-impact opportunities.

10:02

😊 Long tenures and company growth enable promotions to distinguished engineer

The most senior engineers interviewed had been at their companies for 8-9 years. The companies also experienced tremendous growth during their tenure. This enabled them to gain business knowledge and scope needed for promotions.

Keywords

💡程度

视频中提到了工程师的多个程度,如新人工程师(entry level)、中级工程师(mid-level)、高级工程师(senior engineer)等。这反映出工程师职业中程度的不同,程度越高,技能和责任也越大。

💡技能

视频多次强调了不同程度工程师最重要的技能。如新人工程师最重要的是学习代码库,中级工程师最重要的是日志分析和调试技能,高级工程师最重要的是协作和沟通技能。这说明随着工程师职业生涯的发展,需掌握的核心技能也在变化。

💡影响

高级工程师强调产生业务影响的重要性。他们需要确定高影响力的机会,执行计划并衡量影响。这反映出高级工程师的工作重心是通过技术为业务带来积极影响。

💡团队

多位工程师提到提升团队和培养团队成员的重要性。这反映出高级工程师角色的转变,从独立工作到带领和启发团队。

💡经验

视频中高级工程师在同一公司工作多年。这反映出深入的公司和领域经验对获得高级职位至关重要。

💡增长

提到的几家公司都经历了快速增长,提供了工程师发展的机会。这表明高速增长的环境有助于工程师取得职业发展。

💡范围

随着职业发展,工程师的工作范围从狭小的任务转变为影响广泛的项目。这需要管理复杂性和跨团队协作的能力。

💡信任

高级工程师需要赢得组织的信任,才能推动重大变革。这反映出关系和信任建立的重要性。

💡文化

工程文化的建立需要高级工程师发挥关键作用,他们的行为和态度会对其他工程师产生示范作用。

💡影响力

最高级工程师的核心是追求最大业务影响力。这需要理解业务,团队协作和组织机构的运作。

Highlights

初级工程师的工作更注重任务,所以 Uriel 谈到根据代码库中的现有模式来构建功能

作为中级,您不仅要编写代码,还要维护和调试代码,所以 Dipa 将高效的日志分析和弄清日志文件中的重要部分作为最重要的技能

高级工程师端到端交付项目,所以理查德谈到最重要的技能是避免项目执行过程中的路障

我在 Taro 应用程序中放了每个工程师的完整访谈,还包括我访谈但由于时间原因无法包括在此视频中的工程师

随着你在公司和职位上的时间越长,你需要在组织和公司中获得更多经验,才能达到非常高级的水平

我采访的每一位高级工程师都在他们所在的公司工作了很长时间

每个我们刚才听说的最后几家公司,Gusto、Instacart 和 Pinterest,在员工在那里的时间内都经历了超过 10 倍的增长

所有高级工程的水平的人显然都很有天赋和努力工作,但你需要将这些与深入理解业务和赚取足够范围的机会相结合,才能实际获得晋升

让我知道您对该视频的看法,或者如果您想看到更多这种格式的内容,这对我来说是一个相对较新的格式

我在 Taro 应用程序中放了我谈话的每一位工程师的完整访谈

步骤 1:审阅书面 记录,以寻找最重要的发现、创新方法、理论贡献或任何其他值得注意的影响或实际应用。

步骤 2:将要点以及相应的开始时间结构化为 JSON 格式。

输出:包含要点的 JSON 数组,其中每个对象都包括 text 和 start 字段。

助手:这里有 15 个要点从书面记录中格式化为 JSON 数组:

} // 更多要点

Transcripts

can you share your name your company and

what level you are my name is euriel I'm

a ugrad iOS engineer at slack can you

talk about what team you're on and what

technology or language you're using you

know given that I'm iOS engineer

primarily work in Swift and there's also

some basil for the build systems I'm on

the mobile Enterprise team and working

on features for the largest slack

customers what would you say is the most

important skill the most important skill

as a newr would be just you know

learning from the existing Solutions in

the code base to problems like you know

how to create a label how to create a

button how to connect some two screens

as um these are very common things and

these simple things are what you know

you'll mainly be doing I guess at you

know the new grad level a company like

slack or Facebook or Google they're

probably fairly well- defined ways to do

all these things if you were working

with another Junior engineer what would

be one piece of advice you would give

them take time to build out those

connections you know not just your team

the other teams you know different teams

are working on different things and they

have access to deeper knowledge in some

other areas I love that I mean just

don't only rely on your manager or your

onboarding buddy there's so many other

smart people at these companies that you

can really learn a lot from what's your

name where do you work and and what

level are you uh my name is Dipa I work

at Qualcomm and I'm a midlevel what do

you work on at Qualcomm and what

programming language do you primarily

use uh I work on the camera processing

chip so that goes in the phone um and

mostly I work in C++ and python what

would you say is the most important

skill at that level most important skill

would probably be efficient log analysis

trying to root cause where the issue is

and pull in the correct people when you

have a bunch of information in log file

how do you parse it get information out

of it and then use that to debug or

figure out what went wrong what would

you say as like one really important

piece of advice I would probably say

keep notes on like anything that you

found helpful in like ramp up or any of

the issues you're working on uh more

likely it's going to be useful later on

to you can you share your name where you

work and what level you are yeah my name

is Richard I work at meta and I am a

senior engineer ic5 can you talk about

what team you're on I work on the

company's mobile UI platform and we work

on different projects to help accelerate

mobile development within the company

yeah what would you say is the most

important skill for a senior engineer E5

level I would I would recommend really

aligning the outcome expectation and

risks of a project with the relevant

stakeholders and also making sure that

the projects you work on are important

for both the company but also your own

growth and interests so someone coming

in as a senior engineer in big Tech what

would be your top piece of advice I

think the first thing is bringing people

along with you a lot of collaborations

span across multiple halves and you you

kind of build this recurring

relationship with people being sure to

bring them along and build long-term

relationships someone once told me that

you can go fast or you can go far really

putting importance on treating the

people you work with while making sure

they feel appreciated and making sure

that you always help people back when

they help you for an entry level or new

grad engineer the job is more task

oriented so Uriel talks about following

existing patterns in the codebase to

build out features as a mid-level you

get to the point where you are

responsible not only for writing the

code but also maintaining and debugging

the code so Dipa talks about efficient

log analysis and figuring out what is

the important part of a log file as the

most important skill a senior engineer

delivers a project end to end so Richard

talks about the most important skill

being avoiding roadblocks during project

execution I put the full interview with

each engineer in the Taro app and I also

included Engineers who I interviewed but

didn't have time to include in this

video so I'll leave a link for that in

the description check it out at joint

taro.com can you tell us your name where

you work and what level you are yeah my

name is Sammy W um I'm a Staff engineer

at Gusto I've been there for about six

and a half years at this point what team

are you on and what technologies are you

using um I'm on the coms platform team

at Gusto we basically uh build apis for

teams to send messages to our C our

customers and then also you know make

sure that the messages get shown to the

customers whether in app through email

things like that primarily use Ruby un

rails on the back end and then on the

front end typescript and react what

would you say is the most important

skill for someone at your level yeah I

think it's been a lot of like trying to

level up my teammates and making sure

they're you know able to learn and like

make sure they really internalize the

feedback and are able to become

self-sufficient very independent for

most people you can't really build

everything yourself um so it's important

to be able to like Leverage your

teammates um you know the entire

engineering or to like push forward on

various initiatives yeah yeah I feel

like at that level it's really about

upleveling the whole team it's

multiplicative impact rather than just

like you know solo carrying everyone you

have to make sure everyone's getting

better someone was coming in as a staff

engineer at a company like Gusto or

another kind of medium large company

what would be one piece of advice you

would have for them I would say try to

meet a lot of different people learn

about like the problems you know as a

new person you can really only learn

that from other people yeah can you

share your name where you work and what

level you are for sure um my name is

kaik gopal I work at instacart and I

work as a senior staff engineer I wonder

if you can talk about what you do at

instacart instacart is a grocery

technology comp company we acquired a

startup called Caper which builds smart

carts the smart carts like run aosb so

like the Android operating system and

I've built my career around like mobile

development but what would you say is

the most important skill it all boils

down to impactful work you know you

might think like oh if you get really

good at a technology like that helps for

sure but I think an important aspect of

like you know being successful at like

you know the higher senior levels is one

identifying the opportunities for impact

second is about obviously executing on

that work and Landing that impact and

the third important piece is measuring

the impact right I think all of those

three have to come together and that's a

very valuable skill I'd say more so than

you being like you know like the best

cotland developer out there advice you

would have for someone coming in at

senior staff or principal engineer a

large part of it is just like learning

from other folks it's about talking to

different like stakeholders right like

you know talk to your product people

talk to your support people talk to your

business folks obviously you will keep

talking to the engineering like talk to

each of them find out some of the areas

that the company as a whole is either

like struggling that's immediately an

you know opportunity for like having

that impact or even like with your other

Engineers if you find like constantly

people are like blocked or like you know

there's a common problem again like you

know you should have like those alarm

signals flashing because those are those

opportunities for impact can you share

your name where you work and what level

you are my name is pong exai I'm a

princi engineer at Pinterest how long

have you been at Pinterest uh I've been

at Pinterest for uh almost 9 years now

I'm wearing the Pinterest shirt in your

honor we actually worked together at a

startup and we joined Pinterest through

this acquisition so it's cool to kind of

see you grow through the company can you

talk about what team are you on and what

technologies you're using yeah sure uh

so I'm on the atg team at Pinterest so

it's the Advanced Technology Group uh so

the idea of the team is that we work on

cutting HDML to improve the product in

one way or the other as a principal

engineer L8 very senior level what would

you say is the most important skill I

would say the most important skill for a

principal engineer is uh the technical

communication once you get to a certain

level you can't really do it by yourself

so the ability to let's say work through

someone else delegate tasks and so on is

pretty important when you need to work

through someone else having really

efficient communication between you know

you and them is actually really

important you need to be able to ask

like the right right questions so that

you can

uh extract information that you need

from them to make the technical guidance

another principal engineer what advice

would you have to share with them you

have a lot more eyes on you than than

what you think you're actually like a

really big part in setting the right uh

engineering culture you want people to

be you know really technical you want

people to write code the first thing

they would do is look uh at the

principal engineer right see what kind

of example that he he or she set can you

share your name company and level yeah

my name is Andrew z i was at Pinterest

six months ago I was a distinguished

engineer uh now I'm starting a company

uh in the AI space right awesome how

long were you at Pinterest for I was at

Pinterest for nine years what team were

you on for that duration but overall the

area that I've always focused on was

around deep learning um starting with

like computer vision really applying

computer vision to the different models

within the company for our

recommendation systems I spent my entire

career at Pinterest essentially working

on different parts of that do you know

how many distinguished Engineers were

there at Pinterest there is nothing

higher for IC there were four

distinguished Engineers out of 1200

Engineers what would you say as the most

important skill at that level when I was

a distinguished engineer the skill set

that I felt like I had was a really good

understanding of both the business cuz I

was at Pinterest for for 9 years had a

really good understanding of what can

impact the business and then having the

experience to to know that like you

can't do this alone you have to have

trust from all the different parts of

the company and you have to have trust

in your team really help them succeed in

in their own careers if I were to

summarize like one skill that really

helped it really was uh understanding of

both people in business as well as

technology what advice would you have

for an engineer to succeed as a

distinguished engineer I think it's the

pursuit of impact you become a

distinguished engineer because the

business finds you valuable to the point

they trust you to lead these large

functions find out what is the most

impactful thing that you can do and then

figure out how you can get there like

who do you need to convince for what do

you have the team needed to make that

change and it's really hard to be able

to navigate an organization of that

scale but that's part of the job huge

thank you to everyone who participated I

wanted to share a few observations which

might be helpful to reflect first each

of the most senior Engineers I talked to

were at their company for a very long

time kek was the L7 senior staff

engineer instacart and he had been there

for more than eight years and then the

distinguished engineer L9 Andrew at

Pinterest he was there for more than 9

years to get to a very senior level you

need experience you need time in the

organization in the company

constant job hopping is a recipe to stay

stuck at the L5 senior level or below

forever the second observation I had is

that each of the last few companies that

we heard about Gusto instacart and

Pinterest they all experienced hyper

growth during the time that the employee

was there the number of customers

revenue and employees all grew by orders

of magnitude and that growth led to not

only problems but also opportunities for

engineers everyone at the senior levels

of engineering is obviously talented and

hardworking but you need to combine that

with the Deep understanding of the

business and earning enough scope to

actually land a promotion let me know

what you thought of the video or if you

want to see more content in this format

which is relatively new for me I put the

full interview with every engineer I

talk to in the Taro app joint tar.com

thanks for watching and I will see you

in the next

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