What is a Product-Focused Software Engineer?
I've struggled over the years to describe exactly the kind of software development I do. I've referred to myself as a full-stack developer, a web developer, frontend engineer, and more. Right now, my current title at Kizen is "principal front-end engineer." However, none of those descriptions really explain anything about what I do to someone who doesn't know me.
Web developer evokes (to me) a certain image of the halcyon days of the web - back when things were simpler and didn't require so much complexity. It doesn't really communicate the depth of my skills or even indicate what I focus on. Traditional "web development" isn't even the most fun part of my work. Maybe it's too similar to webmaster too.
Full-stack developer is a pretty loaded term, but usually it seems to mean "jack of all trades, and master of none." While I do technically work across the full "stack," I've ditched that term for a while now.
Front-end engineer is better, but it still implies a certain lack of depth in my knowledge - and most people equate it with the "web developer" term. I don't like full-stack developer (see above), but I also don't want to be pigeonholed into only writing Javascript, HTML, and CSS for front-end (a term which can be hard to define in and of itself).
So, all that in mind, a couple years ago I started calling myself a "product-focused software engineer." You can see it right there on my home page! I don't remember where I first heard this term, but as soon as I did, it resonated with me. That's what I do! I build products - not just isolated features, not just pretty buttons and color choices, not just single static web pages, and not even just code that runs in the user's browser.
My favorite projects are ones where I can take a holistic approach. Ones where I can understand the users' needs, plan a solution, architect it, and then design it and execute on it! All along the way, my primary focus is on attention to the small details. How can a piece of software be more accessible, more efficient, more beautiful, more fun, and of course, more effective? These are the questions I enjoy answering the most as a software engineer.
So, product-focused software engineer it is! At least for now...
How do you describe the work you do? In my experience it tends to be highly personal, and doesn't always align with an official job title. I'd love to hear what you think!
