The Staff Engineer's Path
by: Tanya Reilly (0)
For years, companies have rewarded their most effective engineers with management positions. But treating management as the default path for an engineer with leadership ability doesn't serve the industry well--or the engineer. The staff engineer's path allows engineers to contribute at a high level as role models, driving big projects, determining technical strategy, and raising everyone's skills.
This in-depth book shows you how to understand your role, manage your time, master strategic thinking, and set the standard for technical work. You'll read about how to be a leader without direct authority, how to plan ahead to make the right technical decisions, and how to make everyone around you better, while still growing as an expert in your domain.
By exploring the three pillars of a staff engineer's job, Tanya Reilly, a veteran of the staff engineer track, shows you how to:
- Take a broad, strategic view when thinking about your work
- Dive into practical tactics for making projects succeed
- Determine what "good engineering" means in your organization
The Reviews
According to Sandro Mancuso, there are 4 kinds of books we have read to advance our careers:1- Technology-specific books are very valuable but they expire.2- Conceptual books are the books that give us the foundation to advance in our careers.3- Behavioral books are the books that make us more efficient when working in teams and organizing ourselves.4- Revolutionary books (some call them classics) are the ones that changed the way we work.We should favor conceptual and behavioral books for long-term career progression, starting with the revolutionary ones and read technology-specific books for short and medium-term plans.Tanya's book is a technology-agnostic, conceptual & behavioral book at the same time and to me already revolutionary. It has all the elements to change the way we work as an industry.I read the early release of this book on OâReilly back in April and I have been catching up on every new chapter as Tanya wrote them. I have accumulated hundreds of notes and highlights useful not only to Staff Engineers, but to Directors of Engineering like myself and to be honest to any Engineering Leadership role.Canât recommend this book strongly enough!
Glad to see such a detailed book about debit IC paths! As a manager of senior ICs I found this very useful to understand what and how to help them with. Also written in usual Tanya style - with lots of great references and analogies - to make it an engaging read!
Fantastic book! I wish Iâd had such book when I just stepped in staff engineer role
Very deep thoughts about how things stand up in todays software industry. Comparing organizational structures and how to work the system in your favor in good way. If you look to improve your project management skills or become a better influencer , that would de a great read.
Very interesting book with a lot of good practical examples. The book covers all aspects of Staff+ (IC) engineering. In addition, it has a lot of excellent references to other articles, blogs, and books. The book doesn't have to be read from beginning to end. You can read chapters in any order.I recommend reading this book if you are new to the Staff+ path. Even though this book targets Staff+ engineers, there is a lot of wisdom for any level of developers.
According to Sandro Mancuso, there are 4 kinds of books we have read to advance our careers:1- Technology-specific books are very valuable but they expire.2- Conceptual books are the books that give us the foundation to advance in our careers.3- Behavioral books are the books that make us more efficient when working in teams and organizing ourselves.4- Revolutionary books (some call them classics) are the ones that changed the way we work.We should favor conceptual and behavioral books for long-term career progression, starting with the revolutionary ones and read technology-specific books for short and medium-term plans.Tanya's book is a technology-agnostic, conceptual & behavioral book at the same time and to me already revolutionary. It has all the elements to change the way we work as an industry.I read the early release of this book on OâReilly back in April and I have been catching up on every new chapter as Tanya wrote them. I have accumulated hundreds of notes and highlights useful not only to Staff Engineers, but to Directors of Engineering like myself and to be honest to any Engineering Leadership role.Canât recommend this book strongly enough!
