A lot of people enter software development because they don’t want their primary job task to consist of interacting with people. However, career progressions often define management as the next step after being a senior developer. To those who don’t want to be with people full-time, this hierarchy can make a dead end. In recent years, the pathway of a staff engineer has opened up. Staff engineers are in charge of the technical direction of their team and pushing hard projects foward, but they do not have direct reports. In such a system, managers deal with people issues and do not have to be technical masters themselves. In this book, Tanya Reilly explains in clear words what this position is about to encourage companies to adopt the pathway and individuals to contribute uniquely as individual contributors.
Many times, technical books, even on non-technical topics, aren’t written in conversational tone. Thus, readers can be turned off by a writer’s style instead of ingesting their content. Fortunately, this book is not one of those and is pleasant to read cover to cover. Among other topics, Tanya describes what a staff engineer does, talks about possible political pitfalls, and imagines what career development looks like. The reader leaves the book with a 360-degree picture of what a role as a staff engineer might look like.
Personally, I’m not interested in the staff engineering path. I’m most interested in leading others down that pipeline. This book helped me see how to guide my colleagues towards a fulfilling career that doesn’t involve having direct reports. It certainly met that aim quite well.
Those involved in the later stages of careers developing software should read this book, regardless of their role. It’s the best snapshot of this career trajectory that I’ve read so far. It applies to both future staff developers, who might take the path, as well as managers, who might guide others down it. It can apply to other engineering and technical pathways although it has an admittedly strong bias towards software development. Reilly simply shines a bright beacon on this emerging career direction that can benefit individuals along with businesses significantly in years to come.
The Staff Engineer’s Path: A Guide for Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change
By Tanya Reilly
Narrated by Wendy Tremont King
Copyright (c) 2023
Ascent Audio
ASIN B0C7SFBXW3
Length: 13:52
Genre: Software/Technology
www.amazon.com