Transparency is the armor of the competent

Senior engineer series: 1

The Senior Engineer Series is a multipart blog post describing the best practices and lessons I employ as an experienced software engineer.

A powerful idea that I've come to believe as a senior engineer is that transparency is the armor of the competent. We have nothing to hide. In fact, by making our work visible to all we earn trust and increase our effectiveness.

Opacity leaves us guessing. 'I haven't heard, but I'm guessing they will have it done tomorrow,' sets the stage for disappointment. 'Their status update says they will have it done by end of week,' builds trust.

A software engineer's cachet lies in their ability to solve problems. Most problems, at least the ones you are charged with, cannot be solved immediately. This does not mean you are incompetent, though it may trigger imposter syndrome.

There is not much upside to hiding where you are at in your problem solving process. Like a star athlete, you perform best on a big stage. Writing it down and making it available to others will increase the rigor of your solution. The written word and an audience will force game day performance.

Embrace transparency in your problem solving process.

In upcoming posts, we'll dive into practical techniques—like public stack ranks, documentation, and status updates—that will make transparency an efficacious tool in your engineering toolkit. We’ll also explore other pillars of senior engineering success, including ownership and mentorship.

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