StaffEng Amy Unger (GitHub)
Jun 1, 2021
Amy Unger from GitHub discusses her transition from academic programming to for-profit tech, the differences between tech lead and deep diver roles, trade-offs in engineering projects, and the importance of value and service ethic in developer tooling. She shares insights on managing rushed feature requests, navigating product failings, mentoring, balancing coding with non-coding work, and learning from peers in a male-dominated environment.
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Staff Engineer Roles at GitHub
- There's no standard set of expectations for staff engineers at GitHub, varying by organization and role.
- Common archetypes include tech lead, extending senior roles, and deep diver, focusing on specific technical areas.
Amy Unger's Role
- Amy Unger's role focuses on departmental risk assessment, particularly addressing legacy code.
- She also handles unaddressed issues and urgent situations that arise, ensuring smooth departmental operations.
From Libraries to Developer Tools
- Amy Unger's background is in libraries and archives, influenced by her history background.
- She transitioned into developer tools after working at a library software vendor, B-Press, which sells Digital Commons.