Re:I followed my dreams to get demoted to software developer
by ghaff on Monday February 08, 2021 @06:23PM
(#26071753)
>the staff+ level engineers are measured by impact.
That's a good description. And the reality is that while, as you say, there are master engineers who can crank out great inventions largely autonomously, the vast bulk do so in large part by mentoring and guiding others. I know many distinguished engineers and SDEs who are ICs. But at least the ones I know spend most of their time communicating and working with others. Open source project maintainers often describe themselves as primarily editors.
Some are actually managers (which carry more formal administrative responsibilities) and some aren't. But almost none of them are largely working on their own because it's really hard (especially outside of a research context and even then) to have maximum impact that way.
That's a good description. And the reality is that while, as you say, there are master engineers who can crank out great inventions largely autonomously, the vast bulk do so in large part by mentoring and guiding others. I know many distinguished engineers and SDEs who are ICs. But at least the ones I know spend most of their time communicating and working with others. Open source project maintainers often describe themselves as primarily editors.
Some are actually managers (which carry more formal administrative responsibilities) and some aren't. But almost none of them are largely working on their own because it's really hard (especially outside of a research context and even then) to have maximum impact that way.