The Staff Engineer's Path: A Guide for Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars | 585 ratings

Price: 18.37

Last update: 01-07-2025


About this item

For years, companies have rewarded their most effective engineers with management positions. But treating management as the default path for an engineer with leadership ability doesn't serve the industry well—or the engineer. The staff engineer's path allows engineers to contribute at a high level as role models, driving big projects, determining technical strategy, and raising everyone's skills.

This in-depth book shows you how to understand your role, manage your time, master strategic thinking, and set the standard for technical work. You'll learn about how to be a leader without direct authority, how to plan ahead to make the right technical decisions, and how to make everyone around you better, while still growing as an expert in your domain.

By exploring the three pillars of a staff engineer's job, Tanya Reilly, a veteran of the staff engineer track, shows you how to:

- Take a broad, strategic view when thinking about your work

- Dive into practical tactics for making projects succeed

- Determine what "good engineering" means in your organization

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Riley
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best engineering books I've read
    Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2024
    I was recommended this book from a colleague, and it's very good. I have been in tech professionally for over 10 years, and learned many things from this book - and how to formulate what I already knew even better. 10/10, and i dont even like reading tech books usually!
  • Nathan E Lilly
    5.0 out of 5 stars A better title would have been: "The Software Developer Career Lifecycle"!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2024
    I ran a book discussion at work with a number of like minded co-workers. Everyone found it extremely valuable. Initially I didn't think lower level engineers would get anything out of it, but now I think developers of all levels should read it. It helped me by providing a framework against which I could evaluate my own position and career goals. We're taking a brief break for the summer, but will return to do a deeper dive on some of the chapters that resonated with us.
  • Thiago Ghisi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Paradigm Shifting Book on Career Growth & Long-term Impact in the Tech Industry
    Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2022
    According to Sandro Mancuso, there are 4 kinds of books we have read to advance our careers:

    1- Technology-specific books are very valuable but they expire.
    2- Conceptual books are the books that give us the foundation to advance in our careers.
    3- Behavioral books are the books that make us more efficient when working in teams and organizing ourselves.
    4- Revolutionary books (some call them classics) are the ones that changed the way we work.

    We should favor conceptual and behavioral books for long-term career progression, starting with the revolutionary ones and read technology-specific books for short and medium-term plans.

    Tanya's book is a technology-agnostic, conceptual & behavioral book at the same time and to me already revolutionary. It has all the elements to change the way we work as an industry.

    I read the early release of this book on O’Reilly back in April and I have been catching up on every new chapter as Tanya wrote them. I have accumulated hundreds of notes and highlights useful not only to Staff Engineers, but to Directors of Engineering like myself and to be honest to any Engineering Leadership role.

    Can’t recommend this book strongly enough!
    Customer image
    Thiago Ghisi
    5.0 out of 5 stars Paradigm Shifting Book on Career Growth & Long-term Impact in the Tech Industry
    Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2022
    According to Sandro Mancuso, there are 4 kinds of books we have read to advance our careers:

    1- Technology-specific books are very valuable but they expire.
    2- Conceptual books are the books that give us the foundation to advance in our careers.
    3- Behavioral books are the books that make us more efficient when working in teams and organizing ourselves.
    4- Revolutionary books (some call them classics) are the ones that changed the way we work.

    We should favor conceptual and behavioral books for long-term career progression, starting with the revolutionary ones and read technology-specific books for short and medium-term plans.

    Tanya's book is a technology-agnostic, conceptual & behavioral book at the same time and to me already revolutionary. It has all the elements to change the way we work as an industry.

    I read the early release of this book on O’Reilly back in April and I have been catching up on every new chapter as Tanya wrote them. I have accumulated hundreds of notes and highlights useful not only to Staff Engineers, but to Directors of Engineering like myself and to be honest to any Engineering Leadership role.

    Can’t recommend this book strongly enough!
    Images in this review
    Customer image
  • Kelvin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2024
    I am an SEII and I read this book every morning before my daily standups. I always find relating stories. I am learning a lot for my future self from this book. A must read for anyone who intends to grow.
  • KK
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must read and refer over and over again for software engineers
    Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2024
    This book is filled with gems for any software engineer with some experience to excel and expand their influence as they grow as leaders. I refer to this book quite often for myself and as I mentor other engineers.
  • Alex Y.
    5.0 out of 5 stars All the things I didn’t know I needed to learn
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2023
    I’ve been in the software industry for about ten years. A lot of what’s mentioned in this book makes sense in hindsight, and I feel like I was on the cusp of really getting a lot of this knowledge eventually. However, this book really drove it home for me!
  • Vlad Bezden
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a great examples, ideas, and wisdom
    Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2023
    Very interesting book with a lot of good practical examples. The book covers all aspects of Staff+ (IC) engineering. In addition, it has a lot of excellent references to other articles, blogs, and books. The book doesn't have to be read from beginning to end. You can read chapters in any order.
    I recommend reading this book if you are new to the Staff+ path. Even though this book targets Staff+ engineers, there is a lot of wisdom for any level of developers.
  • LCh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good career guide
    Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2023
    I’m not a software engineer but I’m an engineer that works a lot with IT. But the content of this book is extremely relevant to my everyday work. I am very glad I purchase this book in my early stage of engineer career. It’s a perfect guide for me to plan my career development as well as evaluate the people I’m working with.

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