Staff Engineer

In our industry, the job title “Staff Engineer” is relatively new. Although it may be referred to by different names, such as “Distinguished Engineer” or “Principal Engineer”, the term “Staff Engineer” is likely the most commonly used. It could be due to books like Will Larson’s “Staff Engineer” popularising the title.

I chose to read this book because, as a manager in software engineering, I wanted to understand better this career track to assist my team members with their career development plans.

This book is divided into two parts. The first part covers the role of a staff engineer, including its definition, how it relates to other roles, and how to get promoted to it. The second part features interviews with staff engineers from well-known companies such as Dropbox, Slack, Stripe, Squarespace, Auth0, Mailchimp, etc. These interviews referred to as “stories” in the book, make up over 60% of the content. This has led to some criticism of the book.

I had no issues with the stories. They were helpful and informative. They provided me with valuable information about the companies, their internal operations, and the work of their staff engineers. Additionally, the interviewees shared their personal experiences and learning journeys, which included books, blogs, people, and other resources they have learned from.

What I liked the most:

• The book gives a good overview of the subject.
• The interviews were a great source of information for me.

What I didn’t like much:

• I cannot highlight something special. It’s not one of my top five favourite books, but it serves its purpose.