Beyond Coding17 Dec 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

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