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I'm a principal engineer for the next 3.5 days, and then I retire. The key element is that you are half technical and other half people. You could say the othe

I'm a principal engineer for the next 3.5 days, and then I retire. The key element is that you are half technical and other half people. You could say the other half is political, but that's just what happens when you get a bunch of people together. The key is that larger companies are hard to steer. You can't have N engineers in N directions, and you need to point them in direction. The way I look at it from a technical perspective is ensuring that the game being played is winnable. Is the project going to work? Or, is this a death march waiting to happen? Do people know what they need to do? Do they have the tools and knowledge? Are stake-holders bought into the picture? Is funding going to endure the march? The title is entirely useless if you are not in a large organization. Turning the ship even 1 degree is a lot of talking and organizing... Meh... I like to build, but I'm happy to never build a pyramid again.

posharma 5y ago
Would it be fair to say that half of the job is project/program management?
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
  Not in my experience: there are typically specific project and program managers. The job of the Staff/Principal Engineer is usually to perform some kind of technical leadership: guiding code reviews, mentoring, architectural or technology guidance (what framework should use use?), remember the lessons learned from previous projects, and also serve as a liaison between the technical and non-technical departments in a company. And in most cases, that's in addition to writing code. One of my last job descriptions as a Staff Engineer had me writing code about 10% of the time :-(
- deleted 5y ago
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- mathgladiator 5y ago
  Not in my experience. I think a key thing is that a principal engineer is technical glue. You run around talking people getting insight on what is happening on the front-line, and then you nudge things in directions such that the game wins. Does this meaning providing tactical insight for the project? yes. Does this mean questioning priorities and aligning priorities? yes. Does this mean that making sure the department is sustainable on hiring objectives? yes. You could say that the role is being a smart technical person that is responsible at the level of "almost stake holder". A key thing here is that a principal engineer should also have significant stock. At a big company, this should be in the seven figures.
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posharma 5y ago

Would it be fair to say that half of the job is project/program management?

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
Not in my experience: there are typically specific project and program managers. The job of the Staff/Principal Engineer is usually to perform some kind of technical leadership: guiding code reviews, mentoring, architectural or technology guidance (what framework should use use?), remember the lessons learned from previous projects, and also serve as a liaison between the technical and non-technical departments in a company. And in most cases, that's in addition to writing code. One of my last job descriptions as a Staff Engineer had me writing code about 10% of the time :-(
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mathgladiator 5y ago
Not in my experience. I think a key thing is that a principal engineer is technical glue. You run around talking people getting insight on what is happening on the front-line, and then you nudge things in directions such that the game wins. Does this meaning providing tactical insight for the project? yes. Does this mean questioning priorities and aligning priorities? yes. Does this mean that making sure the department is sustainable on hiring objectives? yes. You could say that the role is being a smart technical person that is responsible at the level of "almost stake holder". A key thing here is that a principal engineer should also have significant stock. At a big company, this should be in the seven figures.

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