The designer of a new kind of system must participate fully in the implementation. — Donald E. Knuth

Often, when a Sr. Engineer gets promoted to Staff Engineer, they tend to be involved in more system design than before.

For some, it can be overwhelming. If not managed well, It can lead to the Staff Engineer losing touch with how the system works.

At a Staff level, you are expected to understand the end-to-end system. However, staying hands-on with a large platform is difficult.

But if you don't stay hands-on, your systems design skills will suffer.

If you don't participate in creating the system, you won't understand the nuances of how the system works.

So, how do you stay hands-on with a large platform?

You don't.

Don't try to be an expert in every part of a platform.

You should, however, understand a vital piece of that platform in depth.

Ideally, pick something very complicated, not well understood, mission-critical, or something that fits all three of these.

If it's impossible to stay deep with everything, then stay deep with the core areas and have a good understanding of everything else.

Enjoy this "Short Read"? Follow me on LinkedIn, for more bite-sized insights, opinions, and discussions on similar topics.