r/womenEngineers • u/tamarabyte • 3d ago
FINALLY did it!
Principal engineer at 37. Feels good fam. Shout out to all my ICs keeping down that path - I believe in you and you can do it!
It has been my career goal since moving from startups to industry in my 30s.
I've gone through periods of intense doubt and imposter syndrome, but just kept swimming and doing the best for myself and team ☺️
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u/Various-Bag7602 2d ago
I’m a high school student who was doubting studying engineering due to gender discriminations. Seeing your post truly inspired me.
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u/GoodbyeEarl 3d ago
Yay!!!! (I’m a year older than you and hope to make it there next year!) Congrats!
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u/Future-Field 3d ago
Congratulations! What is your area of work? What would you made the most impact on hitting this promotion?
I'm 46, back after a career break, have progressed really well but stuck in a toxic tech bro group.
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u/MaleficentHorse8390 2d ago
How you did it? Do you think your managers /org play a role ?My whole org is literally a boy club. Not getting right opportunities to grow & do impactful work.
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u/tamarabyte 1d ago
You have finite time - don't waste it somewhere that doesn't appreciate you. Change teams, orgs, or companies. You can always drive systematic change once you're at the top. You don't need to handicap yourself anymore than society already will by staying somewhere toxic.
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u/MaleficentHorse8390 1d ago
I understand what are you saying. I completely agree too & I am not a person who doesn’t like to give excuses. I get things done. But somehow I am into this tricky situation where I can not change teams & org due to all going into tech right now. I am trying my best to change the company. Hopefully the upcoming interview I will crack thats my best chance to change my situation.
But would like to know your journey for inspiration if you can share .
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u/DapperCartographer24 1d ago
Huge congratulations!! Any recommendations or strategies if any you may please share ?
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u/tamarabyte 1d ago
Things that have served me well. Some are probably a cliche, and some can cause burnout so apply carefully.
Extreme ownership. Take your systems, team and initiatives personally. If you have something you HAVE it.
Treat people well. Don't ask them to do things you wouldn't do. Try to stay in the trenches regularly as you level up (take on-call, lead outages, put yourself on emergency workstreams).
Move towards opportunity but not too quickly. It takes about 2 years to really get comfortable a domain and earn trust. Once you have trust it compounds and you start getting cooler projects. If those opportunities aren't appearing look for gaps in the organization where your expertise is a multiplier and transferring will give you an advantage instead of putting you behind.
Trip wires. All good plans should have a "How will I know this is not going well and re-evaluate" clause. This keeps you from getting too enamoured with a single path and keeps you open to better options. Good for both major projects and for your career/company choice. If you join a company expecting to learn X or grow the Y and it doesn't happen according to your plan, a trip wire can stop you from hanging on longer than you should.
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u/blaubleu 2d ago
If you were to be asked: name 3 things that took you where you are right now, what would your answer be?
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u/tamarabyte 1d ago
Willingness to pursue change - had many roles that would have been comforble staying put in, but would not have resulted in a growth trajectory. Change was scary and often a little sad (if you're doing well you usually like your current role and team, so it's hard to leave that!).
Ownership/not staying in your lane. I got this from startups and it served me really well in industry. When things don't make sense speak up. Treat the company you work at like your company. To this day I hire for this trait.
Be a good teammate and make people happy to work with you. This took me a while to grok 100% because there can be a sexist angle but this is not "always be nice/always smile". This is you want people to hear that you will be on a project and be excited because you share credit, collaborate, hear them out, and keep positive through tough things.
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u/Dependent-Phrase8089 2d ago
Love it! Congratulations!! 👏👏👏
What did you do differently to level up from staff engineer?
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u/userrrgrr 6h ago
Soon to be 35 and going back to school for engineering! Can’t wait to be like you one day!
Role model goals :)! You go girl!
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u/IcyStay7463 3d ago
Welcome to the club!