Speaker: Nicky Wrightson

Historically, as engineers/developers became more senior, they hit a decision point — do I become a manager or an architect? Architecture tended to be the standard route for folks that wanted to stay focused on tech.

As engineering culture evolved, the adoption of dev ops and the cloud has led us to autonomous cross-functional teams where architecture is something team members do, rather than a separate role. This has left two problems: firstly, what path is available for engineers who want to remain focussed on the tech, and secondly, who is responsible for the holistic wide-angle view of the technical direction, particularly where that crosses multiple teams. 

In this talk, I will share my expertise from having several different senior IC roles to give insight into the possible routes of staff plus role, including my path and what you need to make yourself a great candidate for getting that staff plus role. I will also explore what a staff engineer role is, and some of the problems in the wider industry. At the end of this talk, you should be able to identify if this path is definitely for you, have some examples of routes to get there, and understand the pitfalls if you follow the individual contributor route.