Understanding the role of a principal engineer

As you continue your path on the Staff+ career ladder, you will begin to get more involved in setting the technical strategy. But defining all the staple jobs of Principal engineers is difficult, as the role differs from org to org which can often pose challenges when new ICs are being recruited into the business.

Whilst a standardized definition might be nice, we’re taking an alternative approach! What should you start working on when looking to be promoted above a Staff engineer level?

Join the second webinar in our ‘Defining the IC career ladder’ series to find out exactly what the job of a principal engineer looks like across an array of organizations.

Key takeaways

- Learn how to set your definition as a principal engineer
- Understanding when you're ready to be promoted from Staff to Principal engineer
- Communicate technical strategy across all levels of the organization
- Define and demonstrate the skill set needed in your day to day role

[kevvvinnn]

34:30 - 36:00 — Be a scientist. Present evidence. Admit when you're wrong (with no excuses, defenses, or qualifications).

[rogeruiz]

I agree with Bryan Liles here about having essential engineering skills to have that title. There are plenty of adjacent positions that done need the word engineer in the title and doing similar work.

[kimyves]

Great discussion, currently in Cloud IaaS Architecture and hope to work towards Principal or Distinguished engineer in my career goal ! Thanks for the virtual discussion

[kazimd.saidul]

Thanks for sharing with us their own journey.

[ihsanpro]

What’s the difference between staff and principle engineer ?

[impeRAtoR]

I expected more down to earth, low level talk. This Bryan is full of himself. Just a friendly comment

[zshn]

The absolute worst experience is an "over-experienced" principal engineer and on top of that a non-PoC Principal Engineer who ALWAYS takes the my way or the highway approach.
If you haven't moved up, move out. So many engineers are now leaving because of snobbish power drunk Principal Engineers. As if leaving your manager was not enough.

[mr.mystiks]

Honestly I didn’t learn much from this. They all sounded like they were describing tech leads or senior engineers or even staff engineers. It wasn’t clear why these people have the principal title instead of say senior, staff, or even sr. staff.

[clakams]

@ 36:50 did she say it's hard when you are not the standard black male? like wtf is the standard black male? I though Bryan grimaced when she said that too. Could be wrong but that was revealing some biases if that is what she said.

[seinfan]

Lol "if you don't code, you shouldn't have an engineering title."

Hey bro, I need a real engineer over here to help me design the power supplies and aluminum housing for a space instrument, making sure we choose the right materials to avoid off-gassing in vacuum and ensure immunity to radiation. I can't think of where code is needed, but a real engineer would be appreciated.