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Sometimes I see the title "principal engineer" used, and my impression is that it trumps a mere senior. See [1] for an example. I'm not in the US though and al
by unwind 4y ago
Sometimes I see the title "principal engineer" used, and my impression is that it trumps a mere senior. See [1] for an example.
I'm not in the US though and also work as a contractor so it's hard to use titles like these in my daily work.
[1]: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation/compensation-calculator/#gitlab-job-grades https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation...
- kasey_junk 4y agoYou, accidentally, tripped a pet peeve of mine. Many people seem to think of writing software as a command and control function like some hypothetical military rank (and the leveling process engaged in by tech. companies reinforces this) where people higher up the ladder “trump” those lower. But in software (and perhaps all knowledge work) many many times its the lowest ladder employees who are closest to the actual problem space. They are the ones dealing with the hacked up code base from 8 years ago, the indecipherable comments, the untested code that is critical to the business. The job of the more senior people is not to command and control those employees, but to empower them. Bringing breadth of experience, or in depth expertise that is not specific to the problem at hand to help them make a decision. Sorry, rant over.
- treis 4y agoWhat do you think should happen if a more senior person brings their breadth of experience or expertise and the junior engineer disagrees and does something else?
- kasey_junk 4y agoObviously depends on the situation but almost always the person closest to the specific problem should make the call. That’s why one of the most important differences between a more senior engineer and a more junior one is the ability to mentor.