Role and Influence: The IC trajectory beyond Staff
- link
- Leaddev
- related
- Software Engineering
The IC Path
Junior Engineering Execute a task with supervision
Senior Engineering Execute a task without supervision
Staff Go from description to the tasks
Senior Staff Go from well-defined problem area to the tasks
Principal Understand an area and manage it
Distinguishable+ Find the problems and fix them
Every job has four groups of skills
- The core technical skill (software engineering, UX, litigation, etc)
- Product management
- Project management
- People management
Every team needs leadership of all four types.
Your combo shapes the kind of influence you have:
- Just engineering: Hyperspecialist (and your influence wanes)
- Other tech skills (beyond end): Bridge and communicator
- Product mgmt: Become strategic leade, shape direction
- People mgmt: Become a mentor to the company, the person IC’s turn to
- Project mgmt: Become an operational leader, drive execution