> Making high-level architectural decisions > Understanding unfamiliar codebases quickly > Debugging systems you didn’t write > Reasoning about scale and failur

> Making high-level architectural decisions > Understanding unfamiliar codebases quickly > Debugging systems you didn’t write > Reasoning about scale and failure modes > Keeping systems secure > When you look at that list, it reads a lot like a Staff+ job description I did most of my career in a backwater without big tech and I only heard of the “staff+” label a few years ago. I assumed it meant something fancy until I heard descriptions of what these people do; like this one, which to me just sounds like “competent experienced programmer”. 5 years ago in my backwater it was pretty normal to meet very good “senior developers” with 20 years of experience who could do all this and more, because “senior” wasn’t a phase, it was the IC career destination. What happened?