Working as Staff Engineer

In senior roles, you’re more likely to self-determine what you pay attention to with minimal or no management guidance. If you need to track your projects as a Staff Engineer, it’s easy to catch yourself doing little to no high-impact work.

Determining what to work on in any role depends on the level of communication and commitment of the individual. Yet, Staff Engineers often follow a similar work pattern across organizations.

Follow first, lead second

Understanding how things ought to work is robust. Yet, you need to blend your vision with the visions of leadership and peers. Stay aligned with authority to remain an effective leader over time.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters to make the most of your working hours, particularly as you get further along in your career and life’s commitments expand.

Write an engineering strategy

An engineering strategy guide the organization’s approach to technology. Engineering strategies describe the north star for architecture, technology selection, and organizational structure.

Improve technical quality

Curate technical quality to maintain the quality of your company’s architecture and software as it grows and tacks over time.

Create space for others

Create space for others so that your team grows stronger than your contribution.

Build a network of peers

Build a network of peers to vet difficult decisions and give honest feedback when your role’s authority starts to temper feedback.