Latest
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New study suggests major productivity boost when using Cursor’s coding agent
Is this the massive productivity benefit we’ve been waiting for?
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Why introverts get overlooked (and what to do about it)
Introverts have natural abilities that can make them the strongest leaders, but getting the visibility on these skills is the key.
Editor’s picks
What is a staff engineer? Technical leaders who aren’t managers
Staff engineers are technical leaders who have deep domain knowledge, walking the line between tech and the business.
Deadline: January 4, 2026
Call for Proposals for London 2026 is open!
Essential reading
On our StaffPlus playlist
How to master the four Staff archetypes and elevate your impact
While the specifics of the job can vary widely, Will Larson has famously categorized the Staff+ experience into four archetypes: Tech Lead, Architect, Solver, and the Right Hand.
Understanding the role as a Staff engineer
How to define, develop and deliver in your role on the technical track.
How to balance technical direction and leadership work
But as is often the case in business, priorities constantly shift and where you focus your efforts will too. So how do you strike the right balance between working on the technical direction of the business and those tasks that require you to put your leadership hat on?
Start with an exit in mind: How to be effective by being selfish as a staff engineer
Staff engineers often get overwhelmed by long-term ownership of critical projects. This talk explores how to avoid burnout by starting every project with an exit strategy—whether transferring ownership, pausing or bootstrapping a team.
The festival for modern engineering leadership
London • June 2 & 3, 2026
More for Staff engineers
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AI-first hiring is everywhere and it’s not slowing down
Engineers might start being penalized for not using AI in technical interviews.
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Why untested AI-generated code is a crisis waiting to happen
Here’s why the sector should embrace the principle of more haste, less speed.
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MCP and the future of AI tools
What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and how does it simplify data access, enhance AI reliability, and accelerate development?
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How AI will change software engineering
No one can agree how AI will change software engineering. Here’s how to prepare anyway.
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7 principles for balancing agility and durability
Engineering is a game of trade-offs – move fast and break things, or build slow and last forever? Know when to do which.
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Be the best ally to your business development team
As a staff+ engineer, being the bridge between engineering and the business development team isn’t always straightforward.
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The 6 warning signs of overengineering
How to look for the signs of overengineering in software, why it happens, and how to prevent unnecessary complexity to build maintainable systems.
Videos for Staff engineers
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How to lead when you just don’t know the tech
How to lead successfully in unfamiliar technical domains by embracing uncertainty, empowering teams, and still delivering results – even when you’re not the expert.
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The lean architect: Experimenting your way to better decisions
Discover how hypothesis-driven architecture helps Staff+ engineers make better decisions early, reduce risk, and build resilient systems.
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Requirements [Citation needed]
A reflective talk on questioning “requirements,” exposing assumptions, and reducing costly missteps through honesty, clarity, and adaptability.
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Guiding mentees on the path to distinguished engineering
Discover how to mentor engineers toward Distinguished roles by developing technical excellence, strategic impact, and organizational influence.
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All of this has happened before
A mother-daughter conversation revealing how past tech trends mirror today’s AI hype and what we can learn.
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The Pragmatic Engineer live podcast: How AI is changing engineering at Shopify with Farhan Thawar
Listen to a candid chat exploring Shopify’s AI strategy, remote velocity, and a unique approach to career growth.
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Software engineering with GenAI
A look at how AI coding tools are reshaping software engineering, how teams are adapting, and what remains unchanged in the development process.
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From dashboard soup to observability lasagna: Building better layers
Transform chaotic dashboards into a layered observability strategy that improves reliability, streamlines incidents, and builds real on-call confidence
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Building scalable systems in a complex compliance world
Gain actionable insights to build scalable, compliant systems that adapt to evolving regulations while maintaining engineering speed and agility
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Being secure by design: Engineer-led security
This talk shares how the secure-enough software challenge can be solved by building an engineer-led security culture, leading to a culture of collaboration and confidence in good security choices.
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The creative technologist
Learn how to build a creative practice to help you become a more creative leader.
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Using postmortems to break out of infinite loops
Our experience is our best resource when it comes to incident prevention, so why are we so resistant to learning from our past mistakes?