Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsThe extra cost of reversibility in technical decisionsWhen making technical decisions, among many dimensions of consideration (like correctness, maintainability, ownership, extensibility), we…Mar 26Mar 26
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsTips for collaborating with platform teamsYour team might ask for something from a platform team, who responds that they don’t have capacity to help. Your team does have capacity…Mar 19Mar 19
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsSaving time in complex projectsSometimes, a project lets you choose whether to be hands on in the weeds or to leave that to the team that owns the relevant technology. An…Mar 17Mar 17
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsAs a Senior engineer, how do I motivate my teammates to work harder?If you’re an engineer motivated to maximize your impact, or if you’ve come from a company that had a faster delivery pace, it can be…Sep 20, 20232Sep 20, 20232
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsAs a Senior engineer, how do I know if I’m operating at the Staff level?When you’re a senior-level engineer (i.e., focused on being impactful in a single team), it’s hard to tell how far you are from being…Aug 16, 20232Aug 16, 20232
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsAs a teamless Staff+ engineer, how do you avoid feeling lonely?From what I’ve seen, Staff+ engineers are usually heavily involved in a team/squad, or are squadless. If you’re newly squadless (and want…Mar 2, 2023Mar 2, 2023
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsAs a Staff+ engineer, when do you get pulled into a new project?Non-Staff Engineers are typically pulled into a project once an initiative already has-buy in and needs to be technically detailed for…Feb 8, 2023Feb 8, 2023
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsAs a Staff+ engineer, when do you step in?As a Staff+ engineer that opens up opportunities for Senior+ engineers to lead, it can be hard to know when to step in (ideally without…Feb 3, 2023Feb 3, 2023
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsHow Staff+ engineers can benefit from lurking in many chat roomsThis post assumes you’re working in an environment with heavy use of chat applications. If the majority of your team collaborates in…Jan 20, 2023Jan 20, 2023
Published inStaff+ Engineering LearningsAs a Staff+ engineer leading multi-team projects, when do you code?A coworker asked me this question and I thought my answer could be helpful to others struggling with the same ambiguity (though biased to…Jan 13, 2023Jan 13, 2023
