Senior and staff engineer qualities??

Wayfair
OPVw30

Go to company page Wayfair

OPVw30
Feb 13 6 Comments

Currently SDE2 at my new company (not Wayfair) and looking at few senior and staff engineers. It seems like the skill gap between different seniors engineers is really wide and maybe less wide in staff engineers. Just wondering, what are qualities that will gain your approval for someone who is senior/staff eng? Ability to solve problems? Tackle vague eng problems? Super technical skill?

I ask senior and staff folks questions API design, scalability, etc and while some have great insight some also just shrug off and don’t really have good answers. I am just confused what I should expect from them and wanted gauge other peoples pov

Blind tax
TC: 200
YOE: 5.5

comments

Want to comment? LOG IN or SIGN UP
TOP 6 Comments
  • I’ve learned that strict skillsets are similar across most individual contributors, but those at the senior or master level have much more well rounded business acumen. They are better at explaining concepts to product owners, providing cover when upper management comes knocking, and other various soft skills that keeps one employed and useful.

    Just my perception of it all, though. Might not carry across different orgs with different philosophies.
    Feb 13 2
    • Wayfair
      OPVw30

      Go to company page Wayfair

      OPVw30
      OP
      Yah def agree with this too. Have seen lot of coworkers who excelled in communication and inter-team collaboration skills get promoted super fast. Their technical skills were always above avg though. On the other side, also saw people who are not very good at communicating but super technical rise up fast as well
      Feb 13
    • Amazon
      cGnh50

      Go to company page Amazon

      cGnh50
      Well said
      Feb 13
  • Oracle
    o(n^n)o

    Go to company page Oracle

    o(n^n)o
    Knows a lot broadly
    Can go deep/ get up to speed quickly
    No stupid questions/ rambling
    Can lead monkeys to finish projects
    Feb 13 0
  • Meta
    hggggg

    Go to company page Meta

    hggggg
    Amazon?
    Feb 14 1
    • Wayfair
      OPVw30

      Go to company page Wayfair

      OPVw30
      OP
      Nope, a small company in Boston but I have a recruiter chat coming up with Meta this month and was wondering the scope between e4 and e5. Would love to hear your input!
      Feb 14