What’s next for senior developers? The IC track missing manual
summary
Clear steps to reach staff engineer include trading low‑effort busywork for projects with measurable business outcomes, tracking before/after metrics like measure build time before and after and quantifying fixes that recover revenue (example cited as £30,000 per month), increasing cross‑team visibility via internal docs and talks, and shifting time toward proposals, mentoring and strategic problems. Roles cluster into archetypes: tech lead, architect, right hand, solver, and promotion means longer feedback loops, more writing and delegation, and choosing high‑effort high‑impact work.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction to IC track
- 3:21Joe’s story and missed promotion
- 6:32Time management for promotions
- 8:39Raising visibility in tech
- 12:15Measuring impact with metrics
- 15:05Becoming more strategic
- 20:44Managing expectations and career
- 24:58What staff engineers actually do
- 32:48Performing as a staff engineer
- 34:31Summary and closing
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