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> I don't know the official job requirements, but I'd assume 7-10+ years of real actual digital product design work. I'm not sure your point stands any scrutin

> I don't know the official job requirements, but I'd assume 7-10+ years of real actual digital product design work. I'm not sure your point stands any scrutiny. Titles such as principal engineer or staff+ levels are not granted by seniority or at an anniversary. They are granted if an individual meets all the technical and organizational requirements, as well as career accomplishments, that make a case for a promotion. You don't get that just by sitting at your desk. Also, principal engineers at Amazon, a company renowned for the average SDE career spanning only around 2-3 years, tend to have been in the company for over a decade and comprise a very small fraction of the whole engineering community.

moneywoes 4y ago
I believe average tenure at Amazon was 1 year
vogt 4y ago
>I'm not sure your point stands any scrutiny. Titles such as principal engineer or staff+ levels are not granted by seniority or at an anniversary. OK, fair enough - instead of guessing, I went and pulled up some current job postings: -Staff Product Designer @ DoorDash: "You have 8+ years of experience as a product/UX designer in a relevant industry" -Staff Product Designer @ Opendoor: "Experience: At least 8 years of relevant experience as an individual contributor on an in-house product design team" -Staff Product Designer @ Mozilla: "5-7 years of professional product design experience" -Sr. Staff Product Designer @ CNN Digital: "12+ years professional experience, specifically as a Product Designer -Staff Product Designer @ Ro (Roman): "8+ years of experience shipping high-impact and successful digital products across mobile and web at consumer-facing/focused products and brands" So to me, the OP question wasn't "What makes a Staff designer?" it was "What happens to designers as they get older and don't want to pivot to management/PMing?" The answer I was attempting to give was "It looks like there are lots of Staff/Product+ roles opening, which may be good fits for such people." Maybe the main hangup you found was my reference to FAANG/FAANG-adjacent companies, and I may have been off the mark there. And make no mistake about it, I won't hide it - I'm definitely wish-casting here as an old guy in the design industry myself.

moneywoes 4y ago

I believe average tenure at Amazon was 1 year

vogt 4y ago

>I'm not sure your point stands any scrutiny. Titles such as principal engineer or staff+ levels are not granted by seniority or at an anniversary. OK, fair enough - instead of guessing, I went and pulled up some current job postings: -Staff Product Designer @ DoorDash: "You have 8+ years of experience as a product/UX designer in a relevant industry" -Staff Product Designer @ Opendoor: "Experience: At least 8 years of relevant experience as an individual contributor on an in-house product design team" -Staff Product Designer @ Mozilla: "5-7 years of professional product design experience" -Sr. Staff Product Designer @ CNN Digital: "12+ years professional experience, specifically as a Product Designer -Staff Product Designer @ Ro (Roman): "8+ years of experience shipping high-impact and successful digital products across mobile and web at consumer-facing/focused products and brands" So to me, the OP question wasn't "What makes a Staff designer?" it was "What happens to designers as they get older and don't want to pivot to management/PMing?" The answer I was attempting to give was "It looks like there are lots of Staff/Product+ roles opening, which may be good fits for such people." Maybe the main hangup you found was my reference to FAANG/FAANG-adjacent companies, and I may have been off the mark there. And make no mistake about it, I won't hide it - I'm definitely wish-casting here as an old guy in the design industry myself.