Choosing a Career Path

Principal Engineer

Principal engineers are technical leaders within a company. They focus on high-level design and architecture, and make crucial decisions that affect the entire organization.

You won't have engineers reporting to you directly, but you are still expected to be a force multiplier, and help engineers level up their skill sets through mentorship.

You also need to have a deep understanding of the business side of things. The company is going to throw you a bunch of ambiguous, big-picture problems, and rely on you to add clarity around technical solutions to help the business move forward.

This role is perfect for those who enjoy tackling problems that involve various teams, but it's not ideal if you prefer coding all day. Principals focus on big-picture issues, advise the business on next steps, and often step back once the problems are in manageable state.

If this role sounds interesting, learn more about how to get there.

Lead Data Engineer

This role primarily involves overseeing data infrastructure and ensuring that data pipelines are efficient, reliable, and scalable. These engineers work closely with data scientists, analysts, and other stakeholders to design and implement systems that collect, store, and process large volumes of data in a stable and secure manner.

Being a Lead Data Engineer requires a strong foundation in programming languages such as Python, Java, or Scala, as well as expertise in big data technologies like Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka.

Technical Product Manager

Lots of people spend a few years coding, and then realize they're most passionate about managing projects, and helping teams turn ideas into shipped functionality.

This role helps bridge the gap between technical teams and business stakeholders. They oversee the product lifecycle from inception to launch, ensuring that the technical aspects align with business goals and user needs. This involves defining product requirements, prioritizing features, and working closely with engineering teams to ensure timely and successful product delivery.

Technical Product Managers must possess a unique blend of technical knowledge and business acumen. They should be proficient in agile methodologies, project management tools, and have a deep understanding of the technology stack used by their teams. Effective communication skills are also crucial, as TPMs need to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and vice versa. If you enjoy both technology and strategic planning, this role might be a great fit for you.

Director of Engineering

For those who aspire to take on more leadership responsibilities, the role of a Director of Engineering could be the ultimate goal. Directors of Engineering are senior leaders responsible for overseeing the engineering department within an organization. They set the technical vision, manage multiple engineering teams, and ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget. Their role involves strategic planning, resource allocation, and maintaining high standards of engineering excellence.

To succeed as a Director of Engineering, one must have extensive experience in software development, project management, and team leadership. Strong interpersonal skills are essential for fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment. Additionally, Directors of Engineering need to stay updated with the latest technological trends and industry best practices to guide their teams effectively. This role is ideal for those who have a passion for technology and a proven track record of leading successful projects.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

The Chief Technology Officer, or CTO, is one of the highest-ranking executives in a technology company. This role involves setting the overall technology strategy, ensuring that the company's tech stack is robust and scalable, and keeping the company ahead of technological trends. As a CTO, you're not just solving technical problems; you're also shaping the future direction of the company.

CTOs need a deep understanding of both technology and business. They work closely with other executives to align technical initiatives with business goals. This role often involves making high-stakes decisions about which technologies to invest in, which projects to prioritize, and how to allocate resources efficiently.

Managing teams is a big part of the job. You'll be responsible for leading multiple engineering teams, ensuring they have the tools and guidance they need to succeed. This requires strong leadership skills, as well as the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

If you aspire to be a CTO, you'll need extensive experience in software development, project management, and strategic planning. This role is perfect for those who have a passion for technology and a vision for how it can drive business success.

Embedded Engineer

Embedded engineers specialize in designing and developing software for embedded systems. Think: the software in your microwave, the firmware in your car's engine control unit, or the code running on a smart thermostat.

You'll often work closely with hardware engineers to ensure the software you develop can function correctly within the constraints of the hardware. This means dealing with limited memory, processing power, and storage.

Programming languages like C, C++, and Assembly are commonly used in this field. You'll also need to be familiar with real-time operating systems (RTOS) and understand how to optimize code for performance and efficiency. Debugging can be particularly challenging, as it often involves diagnosing issues that arise from the interaction between hardware and software.

If you enjoy working close to the hardware and solving complex, low-level problems, a career as an embedded engineer could be very rewarding. This role is crucial in industries like automotive, consumer electronics, medical devices, and industrial automation.

DevOps Engineer

DevOps engineers focus on bridging the gap between software development and IT operations. Their primary goal is to streamline the software development lifecycle by automating processes and ensuring continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD).

In this role, you'll work with a variety of tools and technologies to automate infrastructure, manage configurations, and monitor systems. Familiarity with scripting languages like Python, Bash, or Ruby is essential. You'll also need to know your way around cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, as well as tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and Jenkins.

DevOps engineers play a crucial role in ensuring that software can be released quickly and reliably. They work closely with developers to integrate new code into the production environment and with operations teams to ensure that the infrastructure can handle the demands of the application.

If you enjoy automating processes, ensuring smooth deployments, and working in a collaborative environment, a career in DevOps might be a perfect fit for you. This role is critical in organizations that prioritize agile practices and continuous improvement.

Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)

Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) are responsible for ensuring that a company's online services are reliable, scalable, and efficient. They apply software engineering principles to system administration tasks, creating a bridge between development and operations.

This role involves a lot of monitoring and troubleshooting. SRE's use a variety of tools to monitor system performance, identify issues, and implement fixes. They also write code to automate repetitive tasks, improve system reliability, and enhance performance.

SREs often deal with incidents, working to quickly resolve outages and ensure that systems are back online as soon as possible. They also conduct post-incident reviews to understand what went wrong and how to prevent similar issues in the future. This proactive approach helps improve the overall reliability of the system.

If you enjoy solving complex problems, automating tasks, and ensuring that systems run smoothly, a career as a Site Reliability Engineer could be very fulfilling. This role is vital for companies that operate large-scale, high-availability systems, such as cloud services, e-commerce platforms, and social networks.