Principal software engineer
In the software engineering profession, a principal software engineer[1][2][3][4][5] is responsible for providing technical strategy for multiple teams of software engineers. A similar role is a chapter lead. [6]
Responsibilities[edit]
Principal software engineers are responsible for providing guidance and oversight to multiple development teams working on different products or technologies to ensure that the technologies interoperate or connect to each other appropriately. Their exact responsibilities vary from company to company. There is often specialism in one aspect of engineering, e.g. a principal back-end engineer, or a principal front-end engineer. They also set the technical requirements, such as coding conventions, and collaborate with a software architect to determine the macro scale architecture of a software technology or product line. A principal software engineer's duties are typically mostly managerial, meaning they do not necessarily write software code on a daily basis, or participate in pair programming, but they often support lead engineers with code reviews, and promote good development principles, such as test-driven development.
Although the responsibilities are primarily managerial, principal software engineers also generally serve as an interface between the programmers and management, have ownership of their department's development plans and have managerial responsibilities in delegating work. They ensure that software projects come in on time and under budget, and have responsibility for the hiring of staff. Principal engineers also serve as technical advisers to senior business management and provide programming perspective on requirements. Typically a principal engineer will oversee a development department of between two and twenty teams. A principal software engineer normally reports to a head of engineering.[7]
Qualifications[edit]
In the nascent field of software engineering, many principal software engineers are self-taught, though formal qualifications are in increasing demand for job applications. Many complete short technical courses provided by the creators of software languages and frameworks[8], or hold formal mathematics-based computer science or software engineering degrees. Some principal engineers hold Chartered Engineer status from organisations such as Engineers Australia and the British Computer Society [9], for which typically, one must have completed a Master's degree. They learn management responsibilities either on the job or through short courses.[10]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Principal Engineer Salaries". Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Principal, Senior Principal, and Distinguished Engineers are Amazon's most senior individual technical contributors". Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Principal Engineer Job Description". Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Being a principal engineer at Skyscanner". Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Principal Engineer". Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Agile works with three leadership roles in autonomous teams". www.linkedin.com. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ↑ "Head of Engineering". Retrieved 7 June 2019.
- ↑ "Earn Your PHP Certification: Take The PHP Certification Exam". www.zend.com. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ↑ "Chartered Engineer (CEng)". www.bcs.org. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ↑ "8 agile certifications to take your career to the next level". Retrieved 7 July 2020.
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