Fight the Glue Engineer Within

Glue engineers know the tools. They know the frameworks. They know which package to install. But ask them to build the tool itself — the database, the compiler, the scheduler — and they’re lost. They won’t build the next kernel. They won’t write the next compiler. They won’t create the next database. They won’t design the next OS. They won’t invent the next hypervisor. They won’t architect the next distributed system. They’re great at using the tools. But they’re not the ones who will build them. Glue Engineers usually work at an abtraction where they don’t have to think about the underlying systems. They can’t debug a kernel panic. They can’t write a compiler from scratch. They can’t design a new protocol. – Vipul Vaibhaw, How to Hire Engineers Who Ship Kernels

It’s sadly so easy to end up working as a Glue Engineer.

When everything you’re building only requires this level of “collage” skills to “bring shareholder value”, you just find efficient ways to keep doing it.

The more you do it, the more you think it’s the kind of Skills you need to become better. Because of course bringing more shareholder value increases your value, right?

Sometimes, and it depends which shareholders you want to make happy (career choice). You can keep solving similar problems your whole life and label yourself as a “React Software Engineer”, as if carpenters would say “Red Hammer Carpenter”, silly yet always used.

Do specialize, but don’t limit yourself to tools you could learn to build yourself.

The best people I worked with are the ones who aren’t afraid of building tools and have a VERY deep understanding of the fundamentals so they could build the blocks required to develop the solution.

This is also required to act as a “glue engineer” when required because how else would you assess the tools available?

I fight against slowly drifting to Glue Engineer every day, and put extra effort to push my team to think differently about how we tackle problems.

That’s not easy, and it gets harder the less time you have for technical deep dives, but it’s the only fight worth fighting.