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"tenured engineering managers"? http://thestartupconference.com/2017/03/25/the-350k-google-salary-is-hurting-startups/ http://thestartupconference.com/2017/03/

• opportune 9y ago
  That's an even more specific case, because again, most software developers aren't working at Google/FB/Airbnb/Uber/Snap. And those are figures for experienced workers to boot, and "Staff Engineer" is typically a managerial role IMO, if not directly by delegation/HR-type stuff, then in a technical sense. The total comp is in practice also generally a bit lower because most of those companies backload the vesting
  • jacobolus 9y ago
    “Staff Engineer” is about halfway up the technical career ladder in many places, with a few possible (but increasingly rare) levels above, and a few levels below. Someone promoted to staff engineer likely has at least 5 years of work experience (probably more) and is self-motivated, good at their job, gets along well with their coworkers, and has some technical vision. Many of these people might have some quasi-managerial duties (interacting with other parts of the organization, helping with recruiting, ...), get roped into more meetings than they would like, or make high-level technical decisions and delegate work to a handful of more junior engineers, but most of them are sitting at their desks writing code a significant part of the day (or perhaps rewriting the schlocky code that the junior engineers just handed in).
    • opportune 9y ago
      I think it depends on the company. I was extrapolating from my own experience but I realize it may not be the same elsewhere. In my experience Staff Engineers were almost always at least 10 years-experienced. I might be wrong about those companies I mentioned, though, because I've never worked at any of them Also keep in mind I said "usually" in my original comment. Blue collar labor and software engineering are not directly analogous because yes, there are software developers at the high end that are making a lot of money compared to some of the best blue collar workers. But it's still only a small percentage of them making that much, and I wouldn't mention those figures to someone looking to go into software for that reason
    • djb_hackernews 9y ago
      I've worked for 2 well known software companies and what you are describing is a Senior Engineer in both (5-10 years experience). The place I am now starts fresh grads as Engineer I, then Engineer II, Senior Engineer, Principal Engineer, Architect and then Staff Engineer. Each promotion takes about 4-5 years so you aren't reaching Staff until about 20 years. A Staff Engineer is basically fully autonomous and is an IC that reports directly to the executives. They work on what they want and with who they want. I understand this is different at Google and I guess Staff is the equivalent to a Google Fellow.
      • opportune 9y ago
        My experience aligns with yours
      • jacobolus 9y ago
        Yeah, the version the earlier poster was talking about in his link is somewhere between your levels of Senior and Principal.
  • pedrosorio 9y ago
    "That's an even more specific case, because again, most software developers aren't working at Google/FB/Airbnb/Uber/Snap." That's why you said: "when it's usually 10-20+ year tenured engineering managers at a few specific companies" right?
    • opportune 9y ago
      Yeah I was speaking in broad terms across the industry, not accounting for edge cases