On Being A Senior Engineer – Am I Already There?
summary
Argues that “senior engineer” is misleading and proposes mature engineer as a measurable role: reduces complexity, makes assumptions explicit, teaches and learns, and prioritizes small wins over premature large architectures. Cites DevOps-era claim of “10 deploys per day,” Robert Sutton’s No Asshole Rule and a sales-rep cost example showing toxic people can be net negative. Recommends product trios, minimal spikes, readable code, and calculating the toxic cost of ownership before tolerating rockstar behavior.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction and speaker background
- 7:50What makes a senior engineer
- 15:24Toxic behavior in engineering
- 24:03Avoiding conflict and protective postures
- 31:25Mature engineers and product development
- 37:47Mature engineers and estimates
- 40:14Teaching and learning as core tasks
