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Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

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Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#111

Post by jackblemming »

sys_64738 wrote: post #105
nadam wrote: post #27

I find it amusing how people take this 'leveling game' at big companies so seriously. The title they get at these companies become their identity. They live by the rules the company imposes on them. Amusingly almost the opposite of independent thinking, which they are so proud of. What I found during my career is that some people blossom at these big companies, and some, with equal talent cannot really realize themse…

Job title defines your salary and size of your bonus/RSUs. Hell yeah it is your identity.

If money is your identity, you’ve already lost the game.

Especially if you’re trying to do it as an IC engineer. C suite, directors, and many more probably laugh at their salaries.

Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#112

Post by akdev1l »

brown9-2 wrote: post #96
akdev1l wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

L6 is a senior engineer - typically effecting change and setting direction within a development team (or small group of related teams) L7 is a principal engineer - typically effecting change at org level which will impact many teams

Amazon skipping “staff” and jumping straight to “principal” seems like such title inflation

on the contrary it seems like title deflation as Amazon principal engineers typically work at a higher level than staff at most other orgs (at least I remember a Microsoft principal would be basically an Amazon L5-6 level)

Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#114

Post by sys_64738 »

jackblemming wrote: post #111
sys_64738 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Job title defines your salary and size of your bonus/RSUs. Hell yeah it is your identity.

If money is your identity, you’ve already lost the game. Especially if you’re trying to do it as an IC engineer. C suite, directors, and many more probably laugh at their salaries.

I'm not playing a game. I'm paying a mortgage as quickly as possible.

Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#115

Post by archagon »

8e8m wrote: post #108
LPisGood wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that’s quite the accusation. Any evidence?

#15 is copied verbatim. #18, #23, #26, #27, #30 are paraphrased. Most of the other advice have been shared in talks for ages, and are not new advice. It’s intellectually dishonest for the author to present collective advice as the their own (“I’ve distilled … My perspective”)

Any chance the author contributed to the wikis?

Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#118

Post by 8e8m »

archagon wrote: post #115
8e8m wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#15 is copied verbatim. #18, #23, #26, #27, #30 are paraphrased. Most of the other advice have been shared in talks for ages, and are not new advice. It’s intellectually dishonest for the author to present collective advice as the their own (“I’ve distilled … My perspective”)

Any chance the author contributed to the wikis?

Nope. It predates the author

Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#119

Post by zb »

the_af wrote: post #37

To me, in a way, it reads like Principal IC is the worst possible job. You're doing all the politicking and influencing stuff many of us presumably don't like and associate with management roles, while also being expected to be "hands on" and at the top of your technical game. "Nothing is not part of your job", as this article describes it. Someone who's not doing this, the article argues, "is setting themselves up f…

Another way to look at it is that you’re getting to do all of the fulfilling parts of management roles (helping your team(s) to grow and develop) without the less fulfilling parts (endless meetings, budget spreadsheets, unpleasant conversations, having to give up writing code).

> These are not rookies if they reached Principal IC, but the most experienced team members ever, yet the author still feels the need to say this.

At this level the job is qualitatively different from what went before - you do start as a rookie in this role, and if you only try to keep doing what you’ve done before only better then you’re not setting yourself up for success.

> Do we need to move up or out?

Not to this extent, no. If you are still a Junior after 15 years, that’s a problem and questions will be asked. But if you want to stay in a role where you keep doing what you’ve done before only better, then that’s generally completely fine and the right choice for many people.

Re: Advice for new principal tech ICs (i.e., notes to myself)

#120

Post by zb »

LPisGood wrote: post #56
questionableans wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way it works is you convince engineers and managers to want to work with you.

Making your whole living on influence without authority sounds awful.

It’s a lot better than the reverse.
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