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Welcome everyone! We're going to get started with our final breakout session for this year's RailsConf. We made it! We have a great talk planned for you here today.
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We have Dawn, a New Zealand turned Canadian transplant, who's been working with Ruby and Rails for over 10 years. Currently, she's working as a Principal Engineer at Thinkific, living the mountain life in Vancouver, Canada. Everyone, please join me in welcoming Dawn.
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Hello Ruby friends! I'm very excited to be here. As mentioned, it's actually my premier Ruby anniversary. Back in 2014, I attended my first Ruby conference and was welcomed with such open arms and kindness that I decided this was the community I wanted to be a part of. I hope long-time audience members remember that it's my first time on stage, so wish me lots of smiles!
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Today, I will be talking to you about the technical career path—moving beyond senior roles into technical leadership, into what the industry often refers to these days as Staff Plus roles. I'll be sharing with you my personal journey in one of these roles over the past three years and the lessons I've learned along the way.
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If you're considering a Staff Plus role, my hope is that this talk might give you some insights into what it might look like compared to a senior role. If you're already in a Staff Plus role, I hope you can learn something from the strategies I'm using to succeed.
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So, first, who am I? My name is Dawn, for you North Americans. Here I am hanging out in the mountains in Vancouver, Canada, but this is not a Canadian accent—I am from New Zealand. It's important to clarify that New Zealand is not the same as Australia; it's a proud, independent little island that is very unique.
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I am a Principal Engineer at Thinkific. This is us at our last company retreat. We have an online platform that has helped over 50,000 educators.
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The technical career path often starts out like a ladder, with all sorts of different titles in various companies. Generally, the path is quite linear once you reach a senior level. You've developed your technical skills, perhaps leading projects and mentoring peers. But what's next?
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Traditionally, there is the management track, which starts with leading people and having direct reports. However, a growing option in tech is also this Staff Plus technical lead role. This is where you'll find titles like mine, and these two tracks are not mutually exclusive. The pivot between the two can actually help you build valuable skills for both sides.
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For example, managers benefit from retaining strong technical skills, while technical leaders can enhance their skills in areas like empathy and communication. Today, I will be sharing my experience focused on the right side, particularly in the technical leadership domain.
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Looking back, I was hired as a senior engineer, but I was really operating closer to a Staff role. However, we were a smaller company at the time, and the levels were not so well defined. It quickly became clear that I was interested in more than just my senior title; I wanted to reach beyond my immediate technical responsibilities.
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I was particularly interested in growing in the architectural direction. So, when a position for Principal Engineer opened up, I was encouraged to apply, and I got the role. However, there was a lot of naivety in my decision to take it.
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On paper, it sounded like a natural progression, but the role itself was a big shift. What even is a Principal Engineer? It's just a title, and these titles can mean very different things at different companies. The descriptions often get vaguer, using terms like 'influence' and 'strategy' without clarity on what they truly entail.
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Coming into this role, I had a limited understanding of the expectations, and didn't fully grasp what I would need to learn to do the job effectively without burning out.
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Three years on since taking the role, I summarize my learning into four core lessons: understand the role, prioritize yourself, uplift others, and strategize. Each of these lessons builds upon the others.
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You need to understand the role to know what to prioritize for yourself. You need to have self-stability before you can properly uplift others, and you need to support others to strategize effectively. Let's unpack these lessons.
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Lesson one: understand the role. One thing I can say for certain is that being a Principal Engineer is a very different job. I still write code—I'm still active in the codebase—but it's not my primary focus anymore. When I do write code, it tends to be more about investigation or providing context.
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The Principal Engineer role at my company is a mix between a tech lead and an architect, defining a technical vision for a particular business line and leading teams to deliver projects while delegating execution. The expectation is to focus on higher-level technical challenges rather than just coding.
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The definition of Principal Engineer will vary by company, but at my organization, it means maintaining a long-term view. As a senior engineer, I was focused on the short term—thinking weeks or months ahead—while as a Principal Engineer, I think in quarters or years.
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Instead of concentrating on immediate deliveries, I'm now looking towards the long-term vision for our product and considering how to make more impactful decisions. In this role, I don't have the overhead of managing direct reports, allowing me to spend more time delving into the technical aspects of challenges that affect multiple teams.
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This perspective helps me identify the most impactful areas to influence across the organization.
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At this level, there's also the autonomy to define my own priorities. It's akin to a personal adventure where I can chart my own course, balancing time effectively across multiple initiatives and adjusting to the dynamic nature of the role.
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For example, I must be adaptable in the face of integration calls, product strategy changes, and production incidents while keeping focused on my own projects.
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To do this effectively, I'm leveraging various skills—leadership, strategizing, and communication—skills that were not taught in my computer science classes, but there are many resources available for learning.
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Recognizing that I must consciously upskill in these areas has been critical for my transition into this role.
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Before transitioning into this role, I asked myself if the tasks and skills required would genuinely interest and energize me. At Thinkific, there is much room for growth in both senior and staff roles where I can push my technical skills further.
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It's important to understand the role's expectations and whether it fulfills your ambitions in the right way.
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Moving down this path presents lots of new challenges, which leads us to lesson two: prioritize yourself.
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Even as a senior engineer, there can be a substantial workload with endless tasks and messages. But for me, becoming a Principal Engineer multiplied these challenges tenfold. I now manage significantly more meetings and commitments than ever before.
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I often apply the concept of 'putting your own oxygen mask first.' You can’t help others unless you take care of yourself. You can’t support your team if you are overloaded.
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For a long time, I struggled with the role because I hated relying on others while feeling overwhelmed. I wasn't receiving bad feedback; however, my inner critic left me feeling as though I was underperforming.
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The jump from senior to principal was daunting, especially as I found myself supporting three teams, leading to feelings of inadequacy and signs of burnout.
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After a period where I tried to do everything for everyone, I learned to find better ways to manage my workload. In my early days, I mistakenly thought that my problems stemmed solely from time management.
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Navigating the demands of various business areas meant I spent more time in discussions. As an introvert, nothing burned me out quite like back-to-back meetings. Therefore, calendar control became vital for maintaining balance.
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I put a lot of effort into organizing my calendar, prioritizing focus tasks and ensuring I had sufficient time to work with my teams.
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If everything is prioritized, nothing is prioritized. To stay accountable, I've started writing down my priorities.
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I've found it's essential to identify one top priority and genuinely focus on it, minimizing distractions. I’ve broadened my understanding of the importance of prioritization.
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For instance, I avoid multitasking in meetings, recognizing that it diminishes the quality of both tasks.
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I create intentional blocks of time for focused work, allowing me to catch up on messages and address more complex requests later.
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Taking accountability has helped me build better habits at work. I started seeking mentorship and formalizing my relationships with my manager.
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I've found that building good relationships, both with my team and across the company, has made me feel more connected and supported.
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Regular reflections on what's worked, what hasn't, and what I want to do next have been invaluable.
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One tool I've utilized is seeking counseling, which has provided me with exercises and techniques that have been beneficial in managing my experiences.
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Accepting 'good enough' instead of perfectionism has freed me from the shackles of unrealistic expectations.
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Lesson three is uplifting others. At this level, the impact of your work comes not just from solving problems but from helping your team grow.
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I believe that my effectiveness as a technical leader stems from empowering my team to solve their problems. I'm not the one delivering; instead, they are.
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Being a role model is crucial in this respect. People look up to me, so I must act responsibly. I strive to maintain a high technical standard without being afraid to show my human side.
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If I make a mistake, I own it and promote a culture of learning. At the Principal level, the focus expands to uplifting skills beyond the technical realm.
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For example, I strongly encourage my team in areas like gaining visibility and learning how to lead projects effectively. During one-on-one sessions, setting objectives helps in ensuring they receive what they need.
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Being proactive in asking questions and encouraging direct answers enhances their learning, allowing for a richer development experience.
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The biggest game changer has been trust. Learning to let go and empower my team with opportunities eases my workload while facilitating their growth.
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Even if I think they might not complete tasks the way I would, I allow them to take charge. It's through trial and error that my engineers truly grow.
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I can still be influential in my engineers' career growth by providing support, visibility, and mentorship. It's about being an advocate even from a non-managerial position.
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Principal Engineers should act as a force multiplier. I gain satisfaction from witnessing my team achieve success.
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Finally, lesson four is strategizing technical initiatives. Initially, the words 'technical strategy' were intimidating, as they imply having all the answers, a place where I didn't feel confident.
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However, as I found my footing, I recognized that technical strategy is simply a natural extension of ideas I've been advocating for—to reduce risk, support scalability, and enhance developmental efficiency.
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Now, I have the authority to influence progress significantly. At Thinkific, my team has started to formalize a technical strategy document that outlines our annual goals.
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This document guides our technical direction and helps advocate for projects that align with those goals.
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An example of this was in the last quarter when I assisted my teams in integrating our new Federated APIs, moving away from our legacy system.
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I've learned that being an influence does not mean dictating practices; it means being a guiding presence that developers turn to.
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When pressure comes from above to deliver, engineers may feel compelled to follow newer techniques, even if it affects timelines.
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My perspective helps to navigate these situations and make a case for investments to improve our products.
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Money is indeed a significant factor; it influences decisions on what to build and how resources are allocated.
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For example, one of my first projects was to re-architect our notification system. When I proposed a fully managed distributed architecture, I quickly learned that its high cost would hinder approval.
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In 2022, business investments were primarily targeted elsewhere. Money dictates many avenues within a business.
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By demonstrating the value of projects, I've successfully gotten support for initiatives, even where technical work had previously stalled.
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Last quarter, I proposed a solution for feature archiving so our customer support team could more efficiently address deletion requests.
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By calculating the financial savings from reduced support tickets versus the effort on engineering time, I proved it would generate a net positive impact.
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Communicating these technical visions to stakeholders and advocating strategically requires a new skill set, which I'm still honing.
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Success lies in putting on both your technical and product hats, finding the sweet spot of advancing both strategies simultaneously.
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A key element of this is thinking beyond the immediate technical limitations.
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As engineers, we often focus on the constraints of solutions. Instead, I try to embrace a 'yes, and...' mentality, expanding our thinking.
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Collaboration is crucial. When you're included in critical conversations, you can influence key strategic decisions.
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Reflecting on this journey, it’s essential to understand that different companies have different definitions of roles.
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My three-year journey as a Principal Engineer has been about redefining what that role means to me, embracing the opportunity to influence beyond coding.
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In summary, Staff Plus roles require more than just technical skills. Applying technical strategy demands leadership and collaboration.
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Your teams are greater than just you, emphasizing the need to focus on uplifting others.
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Finally, accept that perfection does not exist; focus on the areas where you can exert the most influence.
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I hope this provided insight into what a Staff Plus role might look like compared to a senior role.
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If you're in a Staff Plus role, I trust you take away valuable principles to enhance your performance.
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I would also love to hear about your experiences in similar roles, so feel free to come and find me. Thank you!