The Staff Engineer's Path cover
The Staff Engineer's Path
by Michael B. Riddle
Description: The Staff Engineer's Path examines alternatives to traditional management roles for engineers, outlining career progression focused on technical leadership rather than people management within technology organizations
ISBN: 9781098118723
Found in 2 comments on Hacker News
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dcminter · 2025-11-12 · Original thread
If you've not already done so, peruse the Staff Engineer¹ website and maybe get the book associated with that² or another one that I like³

It's not clear to me if you have a role with that kind of title, so if not, see if that path appeals to you.

Speaking for myself, I find that the type of colleagues I have are the most important factor in how much I enjoy my work and how much I can get done (impact). It can be tricky keeping space for hands-on work in a staff rôle though.

¹ https://staffeng.com/

² https://staffeng.com/book/

³ https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-staff-engineers/978...

libraryofbabel · 2025-07-16 · Original thread
Huh? The staff+ IC track is well established at many large companies. There are several good books about it: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/the-staff-engineers/978...