The path of the Staff Software Engineer represents the career progression of a technologist. Senior Engineer leads to Staff Engineer which leads to Principal Engineer which hopefully leads to a comfortable retirement. Unfortunately, Staff Software Engineer responsibilities are often poorly defined by management. The goal of this article is to give clarity to these responsibilities so aspiring Staff Engineers—and their managers—can perform their jobs more effectively.
Management
Debugging is a critical skill. More important than the skill is the mindset. The debugger’s mindset is the attitude that you must always understand the why behind a problem; any ambiguities or unknowns are unacceptable. This mindset has the potential to carry you from debugging small functions to solving difficult organizational issues.
Creating a technical plan is a sign of professionalism and maturity as a software developer. No matter what you’re working on, whether it be a straightforward feature extension or a massive data migration, a technical plan must be written.
Why Should I Write A Technical Plan?
- A written plan forces you to think deeply about your work.
- A written plan facilitates communication. Review it, talk about it, reference it.
- A written plan serves as documentation. What did we set out to do and how did we do it?
- A written plan organizes your execution.
- A written plan invites collaboration, which begets technical thoroughness and stakeholder alignment.
- A written plan signals professionalism.
As you write your technical plan, here are some ways to ensure the process is as effective as possible.