251–260 of 337 posts
No one cares that you took one for the team. Principal Engg or not, recruiters are trash these days and they suck. Every numbskull keeps repeating "So, what are you expert in?". How about none, because if I was a expert, I would not be talking to you.
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I’ve seen this happen even within the same (large) company. Someone is a director level who has maybe 100 reports. The entire product gets cut. The IC’a find other jobs within the company. There are only so many Director level positions around and many of them are achieved organically. The ex-director then goes somewhere else as a regular engineering manager unlikely to ever have such a position again.
Yeah this is pretty common in most large enterprises. If your company is not in a hyper-growth stage (i.e. its a cash cow) then upper management positions become a game of musical chairs and political infighting as some leaders try to promote "their" people to top positions to hold on to their power and status. I guess there are certain folks who find this enjoyable. Personally I find it a massive waste of really goo…
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Well, that very post is criticizing self-proclaimed organization "leaders" for not holding themselves to the same level of basic accountability as a senior engineer would. I do believe in leadership, in the abstract. But at the end of the day companies do whatever the hell people in power choose to (e.g. Fire Steve jobs, promote their friend, hire somebody sexy) and then come up with fancy meaningless words after the…
You believe there are qualities that good leader would exhibit — in the abstract — but experience has never offered mentor, teacher, motivator you respect thus all promotions must be based on facets unrelated to merit: ignorance, nepotism, and sexism. You may want to ask yourself if your viewpoints are a case of WYSIATI bias or a generalizable fact about how businesses are run.
I've had good managers before, I'm not sure why you're saying I haven't, or how that's related to my central claim.
Also "WYSIATI" is a misdirection. You could suggest that to anybody in any argument (I could suggest it to you now). But without providing any evidence of what those unseen factors are it's of no probative value.
I don't think you're trying to understand my point in good faith anymore so I'll leave it here.
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I think you are wise to worry. Last year I was laid off from a company whose technology I helped build for years. I was promoted up to the position of "CTO"... with no team below me. It was a very small company working on email archiving and encryption that still runs today. As the system admin and solo developer I was spread thin, working on a system that now processes anywhere from 80 to 120 (150?) million emails a…
"I find the question "what was your biggest accomplishment?" to be a frustrating one during interviews because I did so much for that previous company that I almost don't remember any of the subtle details." I've kept a daily work log at my last few jobs -- just a line about each significant thing I made progress on, so usually one sentence a day (and often the same sentence for several days). This could be helpful.
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"But I am also at this weird point where I am not sure if the title of "staff/principle" can be transferred to another company. A lot of the value that I add now is because of the historical knowledge I have. What we have tried as a company, what we haven't, why we built some things the way we did, how things work currently, how the politics works and the trust I have built. " This worries me too. Within my company I…
I think you are wise to worry. Last year I was laid off from a company whose technology I helped build for years. I was promoted up to the position of "CTO"... with no team below me. It was a very small company working on email archiving and encryption that still runs today. As the system admin and solo developer I was spread thin, working on a system that now processes anywhere from 80 to 120 (150?) million emails a…
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The challenge I have interviewing people for very senior engineering roles is how to tell the difference between somebody who was nearby when some interesting work got done, and somebody who made something interesting happen . What I’m looking for in a principal engineer is someone who turns good teams into great teams; who steers the organization away from disastrous mistakes; who enables the business to accomplish…
> The challenge I have interviewing people for very senior engineering roles is how to tell the difference between somebody who was nearby when some interesting work got done When I was a technical recruiter, I could probably have faked my way through some technical interviews without much understanding of how to code. Now as a senior level engineer, I could probably do a pretty good job of sounding like I was the on…
Is there a path where one can get to work on code without getting to design and architectural space. Is this thought as career stagnation when someone doesn't wants to work more on higher level design and to remain close to implementation side of things?
Ultimately it's going to come down to the value you provide the company. The reason senior engineers get paid more than juniors is because of the value they provide over a junior. The same applies to principal over senior and so on. Eventually, there is only so much value you can provide if you limit your skills to one specific area and are unwilling to expand. I can't speak for every company, but I imagine that if y…
Is there a path where one can get to work on code without getting to design and architectural space. Is this thought as career stagnation when someone doesn't wants to work more on higher level design and to remain close to implementation side of things?
In this current market I would say there's absolutely a stagnation if you are not finding other ways to provide value. There are others coming up from behind who can arguably provide the same value of just coding without thinking much about strategic decisions down the road, and they might be cheaper to boot. And those people might be more willing later on to take on the mantle of these decisions.
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You believe there are qualities that good leader would exhibit — in the abstract — but experience has never offered mentor, teacher, motivator you respect thus all promotions must be based on facets unrelated to merit: ignorance, nepotism, and sexism. You may want to ask yourself if your viewpoints are a case of WYSIATI bias or a generalizable fact about how businesses are run.
You've totally lost me there. I've had good managers before, I'm not sure why you're saying I haven't, or how that's related to my central claim. Also "WYSIATI" is a misdirection. You could suggest that to anybody in any argument (I could suggest it to you now). But without providing any evidence of what those unseen factors are it's of no probative value. I don't think you're trying to understand my point in good fa…
This mindset seems corrosive. I assume you had good managers, but I cannot imagine a career in which that was the norm would result in such cynicism.
My point was only this: in my experience, healthy organizations have a better value systems.