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Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track by [Will Larson, Tanya Reilly]

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Will Larson

Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track Kindle Edition

by Will Larson (Author), Tanya Reilly (Foreword) Format: Kindle Edition

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At most technology companies, you'll reach Senior software engineer, the career level for software engineers, in five to eight years. At the career level, your company's career ladder won't require that you work towards the next promotion; being promoted further is an exception rather than expected. This is also when many engineers are first given an opportunity to move into engineering management. Over the past few years, we've seen a flurry of books unlocking the engineering management career path, like Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path, Julie Zhuo's The Making of a Manager, Lara Hogan's Resilient Management, and even my own An Elegant Puzzle. The engineering management career isn't an easy one, but there are maps available to help navigate it. What if you want to advance your career without becoming an engineering manager? The technical leadership path remains relatively undocumented, hard to navigate, and inconsistent across companies. Staff Engineer is your guide to building your career towards a Staff engineering role, receiving the title, and succeeding within the role.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publication date

February 5, 2021
File size

6461 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Becoming a Staff engineer is both a promotion and a job change; many immensely talented engineers pursue the first and arrive unprepared for the latter. Will Larson's Staff Engineer is a wide ranging and thought provoking overview of the many dimensions of the role. As a software engineer at any level, this book will challenge you to become better and should be required reading if you're pursuing a Staff engineer role." - Amy Unger, Staff Engineer @ Github

"It is not easy to find many resources on the staff engineer role which is still massively misunderstood due to wildly varying definitions and assumptions. This book lays out some of the differing role definitions and then brings them to life with real case studies making it easy to map the archetypes to your own circumstances, passions and ambitions. This should be a go to resource for anyone thinking of pursuing the IC path or that has already moved into a senior IC role." - Nicky Wrightson, Principal Engineer @ Skyscanner and formerly Principal Engineer @ The Financial Times

"In Staff Engineer, Will Larson does more than demystify the staff engineer role: he explains the whys and hows of long-term technical strategy, the power of sponsorship, and the responsibility that comes with having influence. Throughout the book, he references inclusive studies, addresses realistic scenarios, and offers practical advice. Staff Engineer leaves me feeling more equipped for success as an engineering leader, but more than that, it leaves me feeling affirmed -- it's the first engineering leadership book I've read with over half its quotations from women." - Padmini Pyapali, formerly Engineering Manager @ Uber, Sonder

"Will Larson's An Elegant Puzzle has earned its spot on my recommended reading list and is the manual I wish I had during my early years as an engineering manager. "Staff Engineer" is poised to join it and is the manual I need NOW to support my engineers in their continued growth. From the various staff engineer profiles to the analysis of staff engineer archetypes and the focus on working on things that matter Staff Engineer is a must-read for engineers and engineering leaders alike." - Kevin Stewart, VP Engineering @ Harvest

"Staff Engineer explores a completely new space that is under-resourced for both senior or staff engineers as well as the managers that support them. I have already pointed people to many sections in the book as I support staff engineers and those aspiring to grow into the role. I expect 'Staff Engineer' to be a frequently referenced guide for me and many other engineering leaders and the perfect companion to An Elegant Puzzle." - Uma Chingunde, VP Engineering @ Render

"While more companies are introducing senior-plus levels that usually run parallel to the management track, breaking into your first staff/principal role can feel like going against the glass ceiling. How do you get there? Once you've made it, how do you perform at that level? Staff Engineer is the missing resource that helps you understand the landscape, how others have gotten to this level, and how they keep thriving here." - Gergely Orosz, author of The Tech Resume Inside Out and The Software Engineer's Guidebook

"Staff Engineer not only answered the many questions I had about becoming and operating at a staff-plus position, it also made me re-evaluate what I thought I knew. I'm a data scientist, not an engineer, but the comprehensive guidance in this book - from laying out the technical and leadership skills needed to operate at a staff-level to the practicalities of how organizations actually work - has already changed how I'm thinking about advancing my career. If you're looking to grow as an individual contributor in any kind of technical field, this book will be a critical resource for you." - Emily Robinson, author of Build a Career in Data Science

About the Author

Will Larson has been an engineering leader and software engineer at technology companies of many shapes and sizes including Calm, Stripe, Uber, and Digg. He grew up in North Carolina, studied Computer Science at Centre College in Kentucky, spent a year in Japan on the JET Program teaching English, and has been living in San Francisco since 2009. He is the author of An Elegant Puzzle and Staff Engineer.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08RMSHYGG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Will Larson (February 5, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 5, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6461 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #36,694 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5 in Software Development (Kindle Store)
- #9 in Computers & Technology (Kindle Store)
- #17 in Career Guides

Customer Reviews:
495 ratings

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Will Larson

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Will Larson has been an engineering leader and software engineer at technology companies of many shapes and sizes including Calm, Stripe, and Uber. He grew up in North Carolina, studied Computer Science at Centre College in Kentucky, spent a year in Japan on the JET Program teaching English, and has been living in San Francisco since 2009. He writes frequently on his blog, Irrational Exuberance, at lethain.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		23%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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henghong

Book quality is terrible

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2021

Verified Purchase

book quality is terrible, ink smudged, inconsistent color and print alignment issues

43 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Powell

Interesting topic, poor execution

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

I'm a software engineer interested in developing my career into the staff level. This book is the only one that touches on this topic that I'm aware of. Sadly, the writing is awful, and the book's production quality isn't much better. The author could've used a much better copy editor. There are sentences that use the word "folks" four times, no exaggeration. It's tedious to read this book, which is too bad because occasionally it offers some useful insights.

36 people found this helpful

Helpful

Vishal Kasliwal

Tedious and verbose

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

300+ pages of absolutely useless crap. I've seen technical specifications that are shorter. The text meanders on from paragraph to paragraph. The material is better suited to a Medium post ..

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Luis Espinal

Perfect for me

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2022

Verified Purchase

As someone who has been working as a Staff Engineer for several years, this book answered several important questions I had about my role and expectations. Moreover, it clarified things that I've observed (about operating at Staff level), that I didn't understand until now.

I wish I have read this book sooner, earlier in my career. FYI, I have both the print and Audible versions.

This is not a book about engineering management, and it is not about coding or project management. If that's the mindset you are coming from, this book will disappoint.

If you are interested in knowing what comes after a Senior engineering level (whether you are a senior or junior developer), and how to operate at that level and beyond, this is the book for you.

There's a certain "filtering" that comes with this topic since engineering positions that come after Senior-levels only occur in mature companies that 1) are sufficiently large, 2) are product or service oriented (not limited to web/IT support to other businesses) and 3) are likely to have substantial IP and patents.

I would still recommend this book even for engineers working at firms to do match these criteria, since it covers significant material on how to operate efficiently as a team lead.

3 people found this helpful

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BMAN1703

Read this book!

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

Just like An Elegant Puzzle, this book is so full of info, ideas, and links out to even more info and ideas. I've out ten hours into reading this and going down the rabbit hole of all the articles linked from the book. Get the kindle version for ease of transitioning through to the linked topics. Great for managers trying to understand their staff+ folx better and especially for Staff+ folx. Already recommending this to everyone and anyone I can get to listen.

5 people found this helpful

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echo.girl

Terrible book quality

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

Though I am enjoying the content of this book, the printing quality is terrible. When the book arrived its spine was broken on the lower half from being roughly handled in the mail, and pages were falling out. The spine is cheaply made, the pages are thinly glued to it. The paper is rough and feels very budget, the ink is very light and faded. I expected that the book would be higher quality for $25. I might be able to get through reading this once then will spent $10 in tape putting it back together.

17 people found this helpful

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Chaitali Narla

Goes in my top recommendation list!

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book and especially the links to blogs/talks that gave me vocabulary for some of the things I hadn't found words for before. As the manager of Staff+ engineers and an engineer at heart, I found this book interesting and energizing to read!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Customer

Great introduction to staff eng role

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2021

Verified Purchase

I really like how Will writes: he explores relevant systems and tried to distill them. As a newly minted staff eng, this book really helped jumpstart my modeling of how to be effective.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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hussein elsayed

Amazing book and shared experiences. Very helpful for mid-level engineers and above

Reviewed in Canada on June 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

The book is very useful and full of others experiences. It can help a lot to have good understanding of the role.
I think it aldosterone very helpful for mid-level engineers to determine their path and also work on their skills early in the career to reach staff positions

Rodrigo Faria

A great book on technical path

Reviewed in Brazil on January 11, 2022

Verified Purchase

The book is really great on its purpose. The interviews are also good and give a good sense on how Staff engineers operate.

AntÃ³nio

Fast and as described

Reviewed in Spain on January 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

Delivery was fast, in perfect shape and as described

Pierre HILBERT' girlfriend

A must have

Reviewed in France on April 7, 2021

Verified Purchase

Beaucoup de supports expliquent la bascule vers un métier de manager mais très peu le chemin du leadership qui est parfaitement décrit dans ce livre !

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