Main Responsibilities of a Senior Software Engineer at a Top Tech Company

I work in server software, specifically for web development. You might refer to my role as a full-stack engineer, but I feel that's too all-encompassing. I focus on API integrations, which involves doing some work on the server and some in the browser.

Using these skills, I help build features for our product. In this case, I'm using Java and TypeScript, among other things. I mostly focus on the UI, then go back into the server enough to deliver the data needed to render that UI.

Day to day involves building features, often based on decisions made for the fiscal year or larger company goals. It can also involve fixing bugs and ongoing maintenance. A lot of my work is collaborating with others to flesh out what we're doing.

You might get a single sentence describing what you need to build and work on for months. From there, you talk to people to figure out who can help in different aspects. Since I've been here a while, I have a good understanding of the system.

I can figure out how things get slotted in and delegate work to different teams. I also figure out how to accomplish tasks without re-implementing everything ourselves on our smaller team. It's about getting something across the finish line and building it within the company context.

Since I'm senior enough, things aren't explicitly spelled out. Instead, we often come up with solutions together. This also includes scheduling and deciding when to do certain things.

We have meetings, of course, but there's also monitoring the systems. Things are often monitored for you, but you need to know how to react to ensure things don't break, or to react quickly when they do.

One of my main responsibilities is sharing knowledge with others, both on and outside the team. It's about how to be efficient and make your time at work worthwhile and interesting.