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Innehåll tillhandahållet av Swyx and Randall. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Swyx and Randall eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.
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Staff Engineering (ft. Will Larson, CTO of Calm)

41:16
 
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Manage episode 279138277 series 2819903
Innehåll tillhandahållet av Swyx and Randall. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Swyx and Randall eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.

What happens after you go past Senior? Will Larson, CTO of Calm, has been interviewing Staff-plus engineers across the industry for his new book, Staff Engineering.

This is our first full-length interview podcast episode! If you enjoyed it, please help us share with a friend and let us know your feedback! (Links at bottom)

----

1:00 Why research Staff Engineering?

  • Most bigcos make up their ladders as they go along, or cargo cult from FB/Google.
  • We have to separate management from leadership.

4:31 Who are Will's role models?

11:08 How do you find someone to help you grow?

  • 3 types: Role Models, Mentors, and Sponsors
  • Sponsors: Lara Hogan on Sponsorship
  • The key question: "Do I need to develop myself" or "Is the company evaluating my work fairly"?
  • Mentors: Some mentors give generic answers, others know your specific context. The second one is harder.
  • Role Models: Helps you know someone with your background can accomplish something. Lighthouse hires are important as proof.
  • Retention is most important here
  • Look externally on Twitter and on StaffEng.com
  • The best people may not be writing online

16:30 Being Visible

  • Books are bought, not sold
  • If you aren't visible, your work won't be valued.

18:12 Career Management

  • Most people don't manage their careers at all
  • Most companies are set up to assume Fungible Developers which is exactly what you don't want to be
  • But also blaming your manager is a self limiting belief. You personally have to be managing your own career.
  • Write your own promotion packets on an ongoing basis.
  • Julia Evans on Brag Documents
  • Tip: Make your own achievements channel in Slack and log all that info for later

20:39 Architects - How do you lead without authority?

  • Silvia Botros at Twilio
  • Katie Sylor-Miller at Etsy
  • Spend a huge amount of time soaking up context
  • Reduce communication and coordination costs
  • We rarely understand the problems we are solving when we design the solution
  • One directional communication doesn't work - gathering context and providing a common interface helps solves this
  • Architects are powerful bc they are aligned with their engineers, Managers have to align with their orgs
  • Similar to a Product Manager role - all of the responsibility, none of the authority

24:37 Solvers and Matching Archetypes to Company Stage

  • Opposite of Architects? It depends on the company's approach - do they plan and then ship, or do they ship and learn. Architects cannot function in the second type.
  • 4 archetypes: Team Leads, Architects, Solvers, and Right Hands.
  • Calm is all Team Leads - the majority of the value is not in operating or creating infrastructure - it is in creating product
  • It's pointless to bias too much to Architect or Right Hand early on
  • You don't see Right Hands except at much bigger companies - for scaling out

29:10 What should Senior Engineers know about Systems Thinking?

32:33 Metrics: The subtle art of Measuring Engineer Productivity

36:30 Career Advice

  • Will Larson's Career Advice
  • Think about the teams you've worked with with the highest density of people you want to be working with
  • Yahoo story
  • Digg v4 story - your network will outlast your job
  • Your manager and team matters more than the company

Thanks for listening!

Speaker Links

- Will Larson (@lethain): Blog, An Elegant Puzzle, StaffEng.com
- Randall (@randallkanna): The Standout Developer
- Swyx (@swyx): The Coding Career Handbook
- Podcast Episode discussion on Circle

  continue reading

18 episoder

Artwork
iconDela
 
Manage episode 279138277 series 2819903
Innehåll tillhandahållet av Swyx and Randall. Allt poddinnehåll inklusive avsnitt, grafik och podcastbeskrivningar laddas upp och tillhandahålls direkt av Swyx and Randall eller deras podcastplattformspartner. Om du tror att någon använder ditt upphovsrättsskyddade verk utan din tillåtelse kan du följa processen som beskrivs här https://sv.player.fm/legal.

What happens after you go past Senior? Will Larson, CTO of Calm, has been interviewing Staff-plus engineers across the industry for his new book, Staff Engineering.

This is our first full-length interview podcast episode! If you enjoyed it, please help us share with a friend and let us know your feedback! (Links at bottom)

----

1:00 Why research Staff Engineering?

  • Most bigcos make up their ladders as they go along, or cargo cult from FB/Google.
  • We have to separate management from leadership.

4:31 Who are Will's role models?

11:08 How do you find someone to help you grow?

  • 3 types: Role Models, Mentors, and Sponsors
  • Sponsors: Lara Hogan on Sponsorship
  • The key question: "Do I need to develop myself" or "Is the company evaluating my work fairly"?
  • Mentors: Some mentors give generic answers, others know your specific context. The second one is harder.
  • Role Models: Helps you know someone with your background can accomplish something. Lighthouse hires are important as proof.
  • Retention is most important here
  • Look externally on Twitter and on StaffEng.com
  • The best people may not be writing online

16:30 Being Visible

  • Books are bought, not sold
  • If you aren't visible, your work won't be valued.

18:12 Career Management

  • Most people don't manage their careers at all
  • Most companies are set up to assume Fungible Developers which is exactly what you don't want to be
  • But also blaming your manager is a self limiting belief. You personally have to be managing your own career.
  • Write your own promotion packets on an ongoing basis.
  • Julia Evans on Brag Documents
  • Tip: Make your own achievements channel in Slack and log all that info for later

20:39 Architects - How do you lead without authority?

  • Silvia Botros at Twilio
  • Katie Sylor-Miller at Etsy
  • Spend a huge amount of time soaking up context
  • Reduce communication and coordination costs
  • We rarely understand the problems we are solving when we design the solution
  • One directional communication doesn't work - gathering context and providing a common interface helps solves this
  • Architects are powerful bc they are aligned with their engineers, Managers have to align with their orgs
  • Similar to a Product Manager role - all of the responsibility, none of the authority

24:37 Solvers and Matching Archetypes to Company Stage

  • Opposite of Architects? It depends on the company's approach - do they plan and then ship, or do they ship and learn. Architects cannot function in the second type.
  • 4 archetypes: Team Leads, Architects, Solvers, and Right Hands.
  • Calm is all Team Leads - the majority of the value is not in operating or creating infrastructure - it is in creating product
  • It's pointless to bias too much to Architect or Right Hand early on
  • You don't see Right Hands except at much bigger companies - for scaling out

29:10 What should Senior Engineers know about Systems Thinking?

32:33 Metrics: The subtle art of Measuring Engineer Productivity

36:30 Career Advice

  • Will Larson's Career Advice
  • Think about the teams you've worked with with the highest density of people you want to be working with
  • Yahoo story
  • Digg v4 story - your network will outlast your job
  • Your manager and team matters more than the company

Thanks for listening!

Speaker Links

- Will Larson (@lethain): Blog, An Elegant Puzzle, StaffEng.com
- Randall (@randallkanna): The Standout Developer
- Swyx (@swyx): The Coding Career Handbook
- Podcast Episode discussion on Circle

  continue reading

18 episoder

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