The Staff Engineer's Path

Alot of people enter software development because they don’t want their primary job task to consist of interacting with people. However, career progressions often define management as the next step after being a senior developer. To those who don’t want to be with people full-time, this hierarchy can make a dead end. In recent years, the pathway of a staff engineer has opened up. Staff engineers are in charge of the technical direction of their team and pushing hard projects foward, but they do not have direct reports. In such a system, managers deal with people issues and do not have to be technical masters themselves. In this book, Tanya Reilly explains in clear words what this position is about to encourage companies to adopt the pathway and individuals to contribute uniquely as individual contributors. Many times, technical books, even on non-technical topics, aren’t written in conversational tone. Thus, readers can be turned off by a writer’s style instead of ingesting their content. Fortunately, this book is not one of those and is pleasant to read cover to cover. Among other topics, Tanya describes what a staff engineer does, talks about possible political pitfalls, and imagines what career development looks like. The reader leaves the book with a 360-degree picture of what a role as a staff engineer might look like. Personally, I’m not interested in the staff engineering path. I’m most interested in leading others down that pipeline. This book helped me see how to guide my colleagues towards a fulfilling career that doesn’t involve having direct reports. It certainly met that aim quite well. Those involved in the later stages of careers developing software should read this book, regardless of their role. It’s the best snapshot of this career trajectory that I’ve read so far. It applies to both future staff developers, who might take the path, as well as managers, who might guide others down it. It can apply to other engineering and technical pathways although it has an admittedly strong bias towards software development. Reilly simply shines a bright beacon on this emerging career direction that can benefit individuals along with businesses significantly in years to come.

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 O’Reilly 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. Can’t recommend this book strongly enough!

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.

The ideologies for building a great career in software were always beneath my tongue. This book help me see my ideas and put them into practice in a more efficient way. It helped me put my career in my own hands against and carries a lot of wisdom for all levels id software engineers.

I am an SEII and I read this book every morning before my daily standups. I always find relating stories. I am learning a lot for my future self from this book. A must read for anyone who intends to grow.

This book is filled with gems for any software engineer with some experience to excel and expand their influence as they grow as leaders. I refer to this book quite often for myself and as I mentor other engineers.

I ran a book discussion at work with a number of like minded co-workers. Everyone found it extremely valuable. Initially I didn't think lower level engineers would get anything out of it, but now I think developers of all levels should read it. It helped me by providing a framework against which I could evaluate my own position and career goals. We're taking a brief break for the summer, but will return to do a deeper dive on some of the chapters that resonated with us.

More worn out than I expected. But ok overall.

Content is valuable but pace is painfully slow. I got the feeling that the volume of the book was artificially inflated. I had to return it.

This appears to be a fake item. The printed text is a bit blurry, the pages a little translucent, the cover art is not square, and the (paperback) cover sticks out further than the edges of the pages. Other reviews here have similar complaints. The book seems interesting, but the experience of reading it won't be as enjoyable as it should be.

Interesante. Quizá está más orientado al mercado laboral americano

I believe soft skills are terribly underestimated for senior software engineers, this book will teach you everything you need to know to be successful as a st

The book goes in-depth about the responsibilities and challenges staff engineers face. It is a good read.