Staff+ Engineering: Leadership Beyond the Management Track | Petr Zemek

An extended version of my talk given at the 6th Gen™ Development Conference on 2025-01-29.

Outline: Are you a senior software engineer who wants to grow professionally as an individual contributor but does not want to switch into people management? Staff+ engineering to the rescue! Let's learn what it is, what does a staff+ engineer do, and how to evaluate whether this is the right career move for you.

Slides: https://github.com/s3rvac/talks/tree/...

00:00:00 - Greeting
00:00:00 - Before We Begin...
00:01:57 - An Example Career Ladder: Starter Pack
00:03:03 - An Example Career Ladder: People Management Track
00:03:50 - An Example Career Ladder: Technical Leadership Track
00:05:16 - Managing Expectations
00:08:20 - Who are Staff+ Engineers and What Do They Do?
00:15:38 - But I Will Still Write Code... Right?
00:16:56 - Archetypes, or Choose Your Staff+ Flavor
00:21:24 - Staff vs Senior Staff vs Principal vs ...
00:24:58 - Some of the Reasons To Become a Staff+ Engineer
00:28:16 - Some of the Reasons NOT To Become a Staff+ Engineer
00:30:43 - What Is the Right Career Path for Me?
00:32:00 - Support/Training/Expectations for Staff+ Engineers
00:33:02 - Miscellaneous Notes
00:39:59 - Recommended Reading
00:40:29 - Summary and Q&A