Why Coding Skills Won’t Get You To Staff Engineer
Beyond Coding17 Joulu 2025

Why Coding Skills Won’t Get You To Staff Engineer

Are you just executing tickets, or are you driving business impact?

In this episode, Praveen Murugesan (VP of Engineering at Samsara) breaks down why the best engineers don't just write code and why "coding skills" alone won't get you there.

He explains the critical shift from "software engineer" to "product engineer," why you shouldn't wait for permission to solve problems, and how to de-risk high-stakes projects like a true owner.


In this episode, we cover:

The difference between a "Ticket Taker" and a Product Engineer

Why Product Managers should NOT be doing project management

How to grow to Staff Engineer without managing a large team

The exact interview questions to ask to test a company’s culture

A real story of an engineer telling a VP: "That's not an important problem"


Connect with Praveen Murugesan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/praveenmurugesan


Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:55 - Product Engineer vs. Software Engineer: What’s the Difference?

00:06:20 - Why Product Managers Should Not Do Project Management

00:11:06 - The Danger of "Flying Blind" Without Business Context

00:15:24 - Why Curiosity Is the Ultimate Leverage in the AI Era

00:25:06 - Why the Best Ideas Must Win Regardless of Hierarchy

00:27:43 - The #1 Interview Question to Test for Engineering Ownership

00:32:12 - How to Test a Company’s Culture Before You Join

00:36:04 - Why You Don't Need to Be Senior to Be a Product Engineer

00:40:46 - Managing High-Stakes Projects and De-risking Failure

00:43:56 - What I Learned From Breaking Production at Salesforce

00:48:29 - The Myth About Staff Engineering and Managing Teams

00:51:59 - The Engineer Who Told the VP: "That's Not an Important Problem"


#SoftwareEngineering #StaffEngineer #CareerGrowth

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(251)

Most Replayed Moments: What Elite Software Engineers Do Differently

Most Replayed Moments: What Elite Software Engineers Do Differently

After 250 episodes of Beyond Coding, a pattern shows up again and again: the engineers who thrive aren't the ones chasing the newest tool or the cleanest code. They're the ones who learn fast, keep th...

20 Touko 32min

Special Q&A: What Separates Cracked Engineers From Everyone Else Today

Special Q&A: What Separates Cracked Engineers From Everyone Else Today

Reddit Reacts is back. I'm taking the most controversial takes on software engineering from Reddit and giving you my unfiltered perspective on what's happening, from juniors leveraging AI tools, to th...

6 Touko 38min

Microsoft Trainer: The AI Engineering Fundamentals To Succeed As Software Engineer

Microsoft Trainer: The AI Engineering Fundamentals To Succeed As Software Engineer

Most engineers are using AI coding tools without understanding what they actually are and it's costing them. Microsoft Certified Trainer Rob Bos has trained thousands of engineers on AI tooling, and h...

29 Huhti 47min

Open Source Expert: The Best Engineers Don't Apply For Jobs

Open Source Expert: The Best Engineers Don't Apply For Jobs

Most engineers approach open source the wrong way. They write code, open a PR, and wonder why it never gets merged. Bruno Schaatsbergen, Terraform core contributor and ex-HashiCorp engineer, breaks do...

22 Huhti 37min

Software Expert: This Is How You Design Systems That Survive

Software Expert: This Is How You Design Systems That Survive

What separates software that survives from software nobody wants to touch? Nico Krijnen has spent 30 years building systems, coaching teams, and learning why some projects thrive while others quietly ...

15 Huhti 53min

Top Microsoft Advisor: "Coding Is Cheap, Software Is Expensive." You're Focused on the Wrong Thing

Top Microsoft Advisor: "Coding Is Cheap, Software Is Expensive." You're Focused on the Wrong Thing

Suzanne Daniels is a Top Microsoft Advisor who works with CTOs and engineering leaders across EMEA on developer productivity, GitHub, and AI adoption. Her take: the industry is obsessing over coding s...

8 Huhti 46min

AI Expert: Most Software Engineers Aren't Ready for What's Coming

AI Expert: Most Software Engineers Aren't Ready for What's Coming

The role of the software engineer is shifting from execution to orchestration, and it's happening faster than most of us realize. Dennis Vink, Principal Consultant at Xebia, breaks down how he approac...

1 Huhti 47min

Ian Miell: If You've Been At The Same Company 3+ Years, You're Already In A Box

Ian Miell: If You've Been At The Same Company 3+ Years, You're Already In A Box

Most senior engineers don't realize they're stuck until it's too late. The longer you stay, the more people around you have already decided who you are and what you're for. Ian Miell, CTO at Container...

25 Maalis 1h