The Other Kind of Staff Software Engineer

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2022-05-13 10:30:08

11 minute read Updated: May 12, 2022

Let’s talk about a career in tech, but not the usual boring stuff about salary or how to pass the interview process at the place with the most oversized comp packages. Instead, let’s talk about how your relationship to how the company accomplishes its goals influences what your job is like and what skills and strengths you’ll develop there.

( What is enterprise software? It’s large, bland software for large corporations. My story will also apply to other areas but bear with me here. )

Ok, so only enterprise software exists, and so you can work at two types of companies. First, you could work at a large company, where you build and maintain their internal billing software. Second, you could work outside the large company selling software and development services to them.

You can either work at Duke Energy (a large utility company) or Thoughtworks (a consulting company). But in either case, by some coincidence of made-up-anecdotes, you’ll write billing software for a utility company.