Depends if you mean “tech” companies or “traditional” companies. Principal engineers at traditional companies is someone who has lived and breathed the product

Depends if you mean “tech” companies or “traditional” companies. Principal engineers at traditional companies is someone who has lived and breathed the product for 10-15+ years. Principal engineers at a tech company is someone who has a vision for a technology and understands what it’ll take to gather a team to execute on it.