Principal Engineer

Silvia Botros, Principal Engineer, Twilio

Silvia shares her thoughts on the cross-organizational nature of the principal engineer role.

Keavy McMinn, Senior Principal Engineer, Fastly

Keavy discusses her decision to stay on the engineering track, versus moving into people management. She also shares examples of what the strategic work of a principal engineer looks like.

David Van Couvering, Senior Principal Engineer, WeWork

David discusses some aspects of his role as a software architect: looking for underlying themes and patterns, reading, writing, teaching, and doing the dirty work.

Charlie Ablett, Senior Backend Engineer, GitLab

A senior engineer at Gitlab interviews colleagues to find out exactly what the staff engineer role entails.

Will Larson, Foundation Engineering, Stripe

Will's guide to being a staff engineer covers: • Setting technical direction • Mentorship and sponsorship • Providing engineering perspective • Exploration • Being Glue