How to Navigate Your First Year as a Staff Engineer
Most engineers who get promoted to or hired as staff engineers are surprised by how different the role feels in the first year. The technical skills that made them excellent senior engineers are necessary but no longer sufficient. The work is less about coding and more about judgment, direction, and coordination. The feedback loops are longer. The impact is harder to see in real time. This post is for engineers in their first 12 months as a staff engineer: what to focus on, what mistakes to avoid, and how to think about the year as a whole. ...