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Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

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Re: Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

#51

Post by MarkMarine »

angarg12 wrote: post #42
MarkMarine wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is just the market trying to find a discount. If you actually want to see what the market is, list yourself as looking for work, take the interviews, excel, and negotiate the position you want. Worst case you hear “no” but don’t let that define your worth. After 15 years at a FAANG you must be drowning in money, do what you find intriguing, regardless of title.

A few implicit assumptions in your comment. > After 15 years at a FAANG you must be drowning in money I have 15 yoe total, not all in FAANG. And almost all my career is in EU anyway. My net worth is probably an order of magnitude smaller than you think. If you worked an average software dev job in the US for 15 you almost certainly have more money than me. Also, as a 40 years old renting a 2 bedroom with my family, I…

Ah, well I can’t speak to the market in the EU, but in SF (US) the market for your talent set is robust. I know because I just went through it and I can’t see your resume but it sounds like we’re similar. I had more interest than I could handle, and ended with multiple offers that are above TC and promotions to principal level.

Talk to the talent orgs at VCs.

Re: Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

#52

Post by VirusNewbie »

angarg12 wrote: post #18

Yes, but the market is particularly bad now. I have 15+ YoE, and currently working at FAANG. I've spent the last few years leading a team of engineers to deliver one of the top priority projects of my org with estimated impact of +$100M ARR, and I have been consistently rated high performer. I also have some niches skills that are particularly on demand these days. I am not actively looking, but I am open to hear fro…

Sounds like there was a team that only had an L5 position open, and they were hoping you'd entertain that.

Re: Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

#53

Post by brailsafe »

basedrum wrote: post #47

People keep mentioning roles, such as Staff, Staff+, Principle as if they are standardized. Can someone point to a reference where these are defined in a standard way?

As far as I know they're not defined in any standard way, the attributes I mentioned were taken from a few that had open at the time.

Re: Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

#54

Post by mindcrash »

Yes they do. One of my current search jobs (no pun intended) on LinkedIn is "staff engineer", two of the others being "architect", and "consultant".

And while the amount of jobs on that level is - understandably - a lot smaller than lets say "senior software engineer" they still pop up because while there is a enormous demand on the junior/senior level (and quite some supply) highly skilled people who can perform on beyond that are extremely scarce while there is quite some demand due to a ever expanding IT market.

At least especially here in Northern Europe, YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

#55

Post by ajkjk »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #12
ajkjk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree. I've worked with engineers who were taking on much more business responsibility after two years than others who are basically moderately proficient code bots after twenty. There is a huge difference in competency at the stuff that scales well, such that some people don't even notice it's a skill at all and others instantly gravitate to it it. Principal roles are for the people who learn to do them (with som…

I just think you arent cynical enough about how people are evaluated

When you've worked with truly exceptional people it becomes clear that there truly are 10x and 100x engineers and it's not just that some people did better at politics.

But plenty of companies don't know about this and do succumb to stupid politics. It's a tragedy, really.

Re: Ask HN: Do companies hire principal and staff level engineers from job postings?

#56

Post by angarg12 »

MarkMarine wrote: post #51
angarg12 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few implicit assumptions in your comment. > After 15 years at a FAANG you must be drowning in money I have 15 yoe total, not all in FAANG. And almost all my career is in EU anyway. My net worth is probably an order of magnitude smaller than you think. If you worked an average software dev job in the US for 15 you almost certainly have more money than me. Also, as a 40 years old renting a 2 bedroom with my family, I…

Ah, well I can’t speak to the market in the EU, but in SF (US) the market for your talent set is robust. I know because I just went through it and I can’t see your resume but it sounds like we’re similar. I had more interest than I could handle, and ended with multiple offers that are above TC and promotions to principal level. Talk to the talent orgs at VCs.

Actually I moved to the US last year so this experience is currently in the Seattle area :/
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