Thanks for writing this. This is exactly where I’m trying to go as my next step, but I’m not quite sure how to get there.
Is there any path to getting to this level at a smaller organization, or would I basically be required to work somewhere huge if I don’t want to top out my career at Senior Engineer?
Not really. Depends on how small though. To operate at the staff level you need approximately team scope, so you need to be setting the direction for about 8-12 engineers worth of work. If the org is small enough that this is all of engineering then there’s not a lot of room unless the CTO wants to delegate it to you so they can do something else. If you’re big enough there’s multiple teams then maybe, but there’s a lot of overlap with management and small orgs tend to ask managers to be TLMs (tech lead managers) so there’s not a lot of opportunity to demonstrate operating at the staff level.
Thanks for writing this. This is exactly where I’m trying to go as my next step, but I’m not quite sure how to get there.
Is there any path to getting to this level at a smaller organization, or would I basically be required to work somewhere huge if I don’t want to top out my career at Senior Engineer?
Not really. Depends on how small though. To operate at the staff level you need approximately team scope, so you need to be setting the direction for about 8-12 engineers worth of work. If the org is small enough that this is all of engineering then there’s not a lot of room unless the CTO wants to delegate it to you so they can do something else. If you’re big enough there’s multiple teams then maybe, but there’s a lot of overlap with management and small orgs tend to ask managers to be TLMs (tech lead managers) so there’s not a lot of opportunity to demonstrate operating at the staff level.