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A Staff Engineer doesn't really have to care about for example people that have a rough patch, or about notorious assholes ruining the team's morale. That's mos
by H8crilA 3y ago
A Staff Engineer doesn't really have to care about for example people that have a rough patch, or about notorious assholes ruining the team's morale. That's mostly a people's manager problem.
On the other hand people's sense of who they should really listen to always skews to their manager (the person that can fire and/or promote them, or at least has the most say in the process).
- wlonkly 3y agoIf I can modify that slightly: The staff engineer isn't accountable for people that have a rough patch or who are assholes (and the manager is). I've found as a staff engineer that I definitely have to care, adapt to the rough patch, and campaign/do politics to get the assholes out, but I'm not accountable for it. (I originally wrote this with "responsible" in place of "accountable" but that was fuzzier; surely as a staff engineer I'm responsible for more than my direct contributions even if I'm not directly accountable for them.)
- H8crilA 3y agoYeah I agree, accountable is a much better word.