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What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

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Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#31

Post by pmorais »

0xDEFC0DE wrote: post #27
nightski wrote: post #5

I'm sure this just suits some people's fancy but the idea of being in a "track" is so off putting and mind numbing to me. Ooh here is where I'll be exactly in 5, 10, 15 years. So exciting /s. So glad I went self employed almost a decade ago.

It's more exciting if I'm making $300k google salaries at the end of the track. A track with 6-7 difficult rungs and +10% pay increase? nah, I'm good.

I mean, once you hit a certain salary more money doesn’t even appreciably increase your quality of life. And I think most good software engineers are already close to that asymptote

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#32

Post by dvtrn »

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #24
nightski wrote: post #5

I'm sure this just suits some people's fancy but the idea of being in a "track" is so off putting and mind numbing to me. Ooh here is where I'll be exactly in 5, 10, 15 years. So exciting /s. So glad I went self employed almost a decade ago.

It really does suck. In some ways they say that you just have to be doing x, y and z but it ends up being so vague and fuzzy that it's frustrating. They end up just saying "well you have done that, but not enough times or for long enough (with no specific details about those criteria)." I think it works out fine for people with a good manager who for whatever reason thinks your style is good. But if they aren't good…

They end up just saying "well you have done that, but not enough times or for long enough (with no specific details about those criteria)."

Is they the internal decision makers or the HR/recruiters gatekeepers who kvetch about the 'talent shortage' in software engineering? Am I out of line here for feeling like that line could easily come from either group?

Asking as a guy who was rejected by a recruiting agency for my current job, and only got hired later on after discovering by complete and utter coincidence a friend (well, more of an acquaintance, a regular at my neighborhood pub) worked on the team, referred me to his boss who was absolutely delighted with my experience and qualifications, was a near instant-hire.

Sometimes I wonder (quite negatively and cynically) about the agency hiring model.

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#33

Post by ummonk »

pmorais wrote: post #31
0xDEFC0DE wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more exciting if I'm making $300k google salaries at the end of the track. A track with 6-7 difficult rungs and +10% pay increase? nah, I'm good.

I mean, once you hit a certain salary more money doesn’t even appreciably increase your quality of life. And I think most good software engineers are already close to that asymptote

Have you looked at house prices in the Bay Area recently?

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#34

Post by 0xDEFC0DE »

pmorais wrote: post #31
0xDEFC0DE wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more exciting if I'm making $300k google salaries at the end of the track. A track with 6-7 difficult rungs and +10% pay increase? nah, I'm good.

I mean, once you hit a certain salary more money doesn’t even appreciably increase your quality of life. And I think most good software engineers are already close to that asymptote

>I mean, once you hit a certain salary more money doesn’t even appreciably increase your quality of life

Not for my definitions of quality of life!

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#35

Post by sethammons »

matchagaucho wrote: post #29
codingdave wrote: post #2

I find it interesting that a culture is being described here where Senior Engineers are considered lower level, with multiple higher levels above that. It just goes to show that titles mean different things at different companies, and you cannot generalize across this industry. I've had the "Staff Software Engineer" title once in my career. It was at IBM, in the 90s, where it was a was a title given to anyone who was…

"Staff" is one of several military terms that have made its way into business job titles. When used properly, it should refer to someone who supports front line roles. The ratio of Staff to Line in IT is generally 7:1. The OP cites spending ~50% of her time on creating scrum tasks; very much a staff function.

> I only spend around half my time on tasks directly for my scrum team

That does not mean half her time is spent making tickets. This could be code writing, code reviews, testing, meetings, agendas, designing or ideating new systems or improvements, and, also, making tickets.

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#36

Post by blub »

scarface74 wrote: post #16

Working for mostly smaller companies, titles haven’t really meant anything. My influence came mostly from using the other two levers in the organization - building relationships and building a reputation. I have a lot more influence over the technical/infrastructure direction of the company I work for now as “just” a senior developer than I ever had at my last company where I was officially the Dev lead with dotted l…

The compliance seems to rely on you not making mistakes or taking malicious actions, which doesn't really qualify as compliance IMO.

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#37

Post by barrkel »

pmorais wrote: post #31
0xDEFC0DE wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more exciting if I'm making $300k google salaries at the end of the track. A track with 6-7 difficult rungs and +10% pay increase? nah, I'm good.

I mean, once you hit a certain salary more money doesn’t even appreciably increase your quality of life. And I think most good software engineers are already close to that asymptote

This has not been my experience. I can easily see ways to substantially increase my quality of life at $1 million per year, and at $10 million per year, neither of which I'm close to (unless my lottery tickets, I mean options, pay off).

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#38

Post by SerialOwl »

generated wrote: post #14

Are the tracks actually parallel? Had she gone into management after 5 years, how would the compensation, promotion opportunities, or job opportunities have differed? I see many people go into management because they think it's the only way to continue to grow a career.

They're parallel in theory and get paid the same, but if you look at the ratio of high-level managers to high level ICs, climbing the management ladder is clearly easier.

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#39

Post by itronitron »

mplanchard wrote: post #30
itronitron wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of these level requirements are tacked on by the HR department because they are required for advancement in non-technical roles. Unfortunately they really foul up personal dynamics as some people believe they need to 'mentor' their colleagues in order to fulfill the responsibilities of their job title... how fucking condescending is that?

This seems like a really uncharitable view of mentorship. I have never felt condescended to when I was being mentored by someone with more skills or experience in any of my jobs, and I certainly hope that the people I help through one on ones, code review, and pairing now don’t feel as though there’s any condescension in it. I think mostly, we all just want to become as good as we can be at our jobs.

If everyone wants to become as good as they can at their jobs then why call out mentoring as a special activity? People should already be helping their colleagues perform better at their jobs without incentivizing it as a checkbox for career advancement.

Re: What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Does

#40

Post by adimitrov »

delish wrote: post #7

I read the article once and thought, "So at Box a senior staff SWE is differentiated from a senior SWE by mentoring others, and in so doing, has a greater impact. And senior staff is still in the technical track, not the management track. What does the author (or, What do HN commentators) think are the differences between mentoring and managing? Other than the obvious of course." I read it again--I liked the article-…

I'd say my vision of an ideal technical career parallels an ideal academic career: the Juniors learn, grads do grunt work (but sometimes that's the most interesting stuff), post-docs do their own projects and lead small teams, and finally, professors get to pass on their knowledge all while contributing their valuable expertise to many different projects of their grads and post-docs. In this scenario, the difference between a post-doc and a professor is the difference between a senior SWE and a senior staff SWE.

The sad reality of both tracks, however, is that admin work eats your creative time more and more as you progress along your career path.

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