I'm transitioning out of my freelancing workstyle into a full-time role, and to be honest, that path after the Senior Engineer level was quite confusing. I've seen all these roles in different job postings, but it's not only that I didn't know enough about them; they can also mean slightly different things in other organizations. This post helped me clear up some of my confusion about the staff and EM roles. Thank you!
Great introduction/landing page on a topic that many people talk about but not many fully understand.
One small comment. In the article, you mention that having a Staff engineer on the team *is* an anti-pattern. My understanding is that it *can* be an antipattern, but there are also situations where the system owned by the team has a level of complexity - often platform services - that require Staff engineers permanently allocated to the team.
This was a great read, Alex!
I'm transitioning out of my freelancing workstyle into a full-time role, and to be honest, that path after the Senior Engineer level was quite confusing. I've seen all these roles in different job postings, but it's not only that I didn't know enough about them; they can also mean slightly different things in other organizations. This post helped me clear up some of my confusion about the staff and EM roles. Thank you!
Great overview, I can finally explain my Technical Lead Engineer role properly 😅! Thanks!
Great books, I have read the right one, it explains very well.
You have also broken down well for the audience.
Awesome article, I am going to bookmark it for the future because it will be helpful for people that what to go through this path.
Personally, I Love Larsons Book, It has helped me to define the tech career growth path in a couple of places.
Great introduction/landing page on a topic that many people talk about but not many fully understand.
One small comment. In the article, you mention that having a Staff engineer on the team *is* an anti-pattern. My understanding is that it *can* be an antipattern, but there are also situations where the system owned by the team has a level of complexity - often platform services - that require Staff engineers permanently allocated to the team.
What's your thought on that?