Principal Engineer

Reasons Promoting From Within Is Better for Growing Your Business

When a principal engineer left a team without a backup plan, the Associate Director had to decide whether to groom a senior engineer to the next level or hire a Lead engineer from outside. The Associate Director chose to groom the senior engineer, giving him more ownership and products, and dividing the project lifecycle into three phases. The Associate Director invested a lot of time with the senior engineer, providing feedback and 1:1s, and after two quarters the senior engineer was ready to lead independently. The lessons learned from this experience were to invest in the internal team, be tactful in choosing and nurturing second-line leaders, and lead by example.

Helping Your Reports Become Managers

At Niche, the author had the privilege of growing a department from two people to over a dozen. To enable further growth, the author needed to foster and develop a new layer of management within the team. To do this, the author set a six-month plan for the most senior member of the QA team to become a manager. Through a SWOT analysis, reading curriculum, and mentorship sessions, the author was able to equip the emerging manager with the skills and confidence to become a successful manager. The author learned that having a longer preparation time was helpful in changing the emerging manager's perception within their team and that nurturing talent internally is a sound business decision.

Contractors: Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When to Fold ‘Em

The author was promoted to Director and inherited a team of 10 contractors and one junior FTE. After assessing the situation, the author created a hiring plan to reduce contractor headcount and hire more senior full-time engineers. Through creative problem solving, the author was able to bring up a new group of engineers in New York City and increase customer satisfaction by 50%. The author learned that contractors can be a quick fix but their incentives are not always aligned with the business, and that it is important to think outside the box to use resources that might not be obvious.

Too Many Direct Reports

The author joined a small company eight years ago and, as the product scaled and more customers were acquired, the team grew and the author ended up with 20 direct reports spread across four teams. This was overwhelming and time-consuming, so the author took it upon themselves to drive the change and create a structure to groom people from IC to management. They mapped their responsibilities, wrote down role descriptions, advertised the roles internally, and provided thorough feedback to candidates. The author was able to take a step back and become more strategically oriented, and found immense enjoyment in coaching managers and being part of their personal and professional growth. They learned that if they see a problem, they should try to fix it and not wait for their managers to do that for them, and that investing in their own people is important.

Do You Know How to Tackle Diversity Issues on Your Team?

After a woman declined a job offer, the company realized that 90% of their team were men and decided to do more sourcing at women's engineering events. This resulted in a more gender-balanced team with a 60/40 male to female ratio, without changing their technical requirements. The lesson learned was that it is important to create a non-hostile work environment for everyone, and to prioritize women candidates without changing the bar.

Pleading With Your Executive Team

This story is about a company that specialized in mobile app downloads and wanted to get into programmatic ad-buying. The author was recruited to manage the product and business development, and worked closely with the engineering team to increase the throughput of the system. Despite the author's efforts to optimize the system and acquire users for as little as a dollar, the CEO chose to ignore the data and shut the product down a few months later. The author learned that leaders can make ego-driven decisions, and it can be difficult to disagree with them.