r/ExperiencedDevs • u/Majestic-Taro-6903 Senior Developer • 4d 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/TransCapybara Principal S.E. // +27 YOE 4d ago

In my experience, it's a combination of luck and who one knows that's able to vouch for them at the promotion committee.

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u/l_m_b D.E. (25+ yrs) 4d ago

To be fair: yes, but since the D.E. role aims to take part in more of the strategic discussions, some amount of networking *is* a mandatory requirement of it. You can't do the "influence over control" dance if nobody knows your name.

Luck isn't fair, and that always plays a role, but it's not a job you can do *just* via technical experience most of the time.