Bio
Senior Principal Engineer at Twilio (formerly SendGrid). Database and distributed-systems specialist who built one of the canonical public arguments for what a principal IC actually does. Operates as @dbsmasher on social and writes at blog.dbsmasher.com. Her 2020 LeadDev essay is widely cited in engineering-ladder design and was load-bearing for many post-2020 staff-engineer career frameworks.
Operating themes
- Principal IC is a different role, not a more-senior senior.
- Multiplier behaviour, not output, is the qualifier for the role.
- All problems above a certain level are people problems.
- Career ladders need explicit competencies — implicit ladders favour bias.
Cards
- ins_principal-ic-is-force-multiplier — Principal IC is a force multiplier, not a more-senior senior [Tier A]
- ins_all-problems-become-people-problems — Above a certain level every problem is a people problem [Tier B]
Sources
- "The reality of being a Principal Engineer," LeadDev, 2020-08-10 —
raw/essays/silvia-botros--principal-engineer-reality--2020-08.md
External
- https://blog.dbsmasher.com/
- https://leaddev.com/hiring/reality-being-principal-engineer