Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track

Location: I came to the US from Switzerland to join Stripe. I came to Switzerland from Russia to join one of the best PhD programs in Computer Science. I came to Russia to join one of the best ex-USSR universities from Ukraine. In each of these relocations, I feel, I played geographical arbitrage: I was looking to escape the place where I was among the best to the place where I’d be average. In some of them, I think I wasn’t the prime candidate. By joining the people there and learning from them, I grew a lot. It’s hard for me to tell if US vs EU is a better location career-wise, but I can definitely tell from my experience that changing locations helped me grow a lot.

not to just build something that ships, but for it to roll out smoothly and continue to succeed and grow over time with as few regrettable choices as possible

ultimately sponsorship includes letting them take an approach that you wouldn’t

Change your mind. One of the biggest signs of respect for your coworkers is listening to them and then changing your mind afterward. If senior leaders don’t change their mind, then soon everyone will correlate bluster with success

audiences is a skill. It’s one that I try to cultivate and hone everyday.

Verbal communication about technology with various technical and non–technica

He told me to write my performance review in the third person. The idea being that you’re more likely to praise others, and be less critical, when giving them a review. It’s pretty simple, but has been super useful to me. Oddly enough, it’s played a part in helping me understand how to build a coherent narrative around the work I do and the value it provides to the business.

Instead, pursue work that you find energizing, even if on paper it doesn’t seem like it’d get you to a Staff-plus.

it harder to reach Staff-plus roles when working in product engineering rather than in infrastructure engineering?

that I hadn’t liked their proposal because I didn’t say anything. This was the first time that I realized people looked to me to have an opinion and to support their ideas! I’ve been careful since then to always stay engaged during meetings and to give feedback, even if it is just to explicitly say that I haven’t fully formed any opinions yet.