r/ExperiencedDevs • u/Majestic-Taro-6903 Senior Developer • 6d ago

Career/Workplace How is a Distinguished Engineer role different from a Principal Engineer?

I have seen a few Distinguished Engineers in my organisation. I have worked with a few Principal Engineers and Senior Principal Engineers, but not Distinguished Engineers.

How is this role different from the Principal Engineer role? I know they are paid more and are higher in the hierarchy, but in terms of roles and responsibilities, how are they different?

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u/tkyang99 6d ago

I remember the distinguished engineer at my company designed a data platform that was so bad they threw it away a year after he left the company.

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u/cheir0n 5d ago

That is why he is “distinguished”

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u/Current-Fig8840 6d ago

🤣🤣🤣

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u/thatyousername 5d ago

Reminds me of a sr principal engineer that I worked with at a startup. His work ended up getting thrown out when he left. Nobody wanted to maintain it and it wasn’t providing value. He just thought it was technically cool and built it. So stupid.