something else i meant to say on this thread
wrt the hypothetical of "should the glue-working engineer get promoted to senior engineer on par with the engineers writing code?" i actually come down mmmostly on the side of "no", though context is key. here's my reasoning.
wrt the hypothetical of "should the glue-working engineer get promoted to senior engineer on par with the engineers writing code?" i actually come down mmmostly on the side of "no", though context is key. here's my reasoning.
first, when you have a fresh faced junior engineer, your #1 job as an org is *get junior performing at senior level as quickly as possible*. juniors take a *tremendous* amount of investment and oversight, and cause a lot of havoc. they're worth it! but they're an investment.
in fact, for every engineer that joins your org, your first mission is to get them up to speed and operating independently as quickly as possible, which is a capsule version of this process.
until someone can work autonomously && use good judgment, they should not be doing glue.
until someone can work autonomously && use good judgment, they should not be doing glue.
i've seen too many junior engineers get distracted by the peripheral, glue-like functions of being an engineer, because they're shiny and interesting and way more fun than buckling down to the tough code review they actually need to internalize to become senior.
if you want to be an engineer, first you get to senior engineer status (at least 5-7 years of work). you can do some glue stuff on the sidelines, once you've gotten your primary work done well, but you cannot let it distract you from that work or expect to be promoted on it.
partly this is because it's just the dues you gotta pay. partly bc when you go to another company, they're gonna expect you to be able to work independently.
partly it's because tbh good engineering judgment is needed *even more* for glue work, it's just not as obvious.
partly it's because tbh good engineering judgment is needed *even more* for glue work, it's just not as obvious.
i really want my senior engineers and tech leads deciding which frameworks we're going to standardize on and how to train folks, not a junior eng.
also? glue is expensive. if there's a TON of glue work to be done, some managers and tech leads are not doing their fucking job.
also? glue is expensive. if there's a TON of glue work to be done, some managers and tech leads are not doing their fucking job.
all that said.
senior engineers should absolutely be recognized and promoted on the strength of their full contributions to the org, including all the super valuable glue (or better yet glue-elimination) work that they do to keep things humming. and yes, promoted too.
senior engineers should absolutely be recognized and promoted on the strength of their full contributions to the org, including all the super valuable glue (or better yet glue-elimination) work that they do to keep things humming. and yes, promoted too.
(would love to hear your thoughts on this @whereistanya)
