Joel KempinStaff+ 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…2 min read·Sep 20, 2023--2--2
Joel KempinStaff+ 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…3 min read·Aug 16, 2023--2--2
Joel KempinStaff+ 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…3 min read·Mar 2, 2023----
Joel KempinStaff+ 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…3 min read·Feb 8, 2023----
Joel KempinStaff+ 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…1 min read·Feb 3, 2023----
Joel KempinStaff+ 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…2 min read·Jan 20, 2023----
Joel KempinStaff+ 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…2 min read·Jan 13, 2023----
Joel KempinStaff+ Engineering LearningsStaff+ engineering archetypes at SpotifyI haven’t seen it written about much publicly, but I deeply connect with and often use the Spotify Staff+ engineering archetypes when…2 min read·Jan 13, 2023--2--2
Joel KempinStaff+ Engineering LearningsPhrasing your impact in promotion packetsI see a lot of engineers struggle with phrasing their impact in promotion packets. I think the same problem could manifest itself in 1:1…2 min read·Jan 9, 2023----
Joel KempinStaff+ Engineering LearningsArchitect thinking: Peeking into the product’s futureI have this habit of asking product managers questions about whether or not customers will need a particular feature in the future. Product…3 min read·Nov 15, 2022----