Is Distinguished Engineer Worth It? Dealing With Pressure And Work/Life Balance

Andrew became a Distinguished Engineer at Pinterest after working there for more than 9 years. He talks about: 

- The importance of persuasion and executive communication at this level.
- The amount of hours he put in to attain the Distinguished Engineer title at Pinterest. Andrew would frequently stay at the office until midnight, and his work/life balance suffered for years.
- Why he left his role at Pinterest (he made it to the top of the career ladder, literally could not get promoted further) to start a startup. 

Relevant links: 
- [How do you stay on top of everything?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/tgoVPigLZjzx7Z3qmMNH/how-do-you-stay-on-top-of-everything/)
- [How to keep my mental health while working in a competitive team and having kids?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/wpPPjI1gZtM5eNaCxlB0/how-to-keep-my-mental-health-while-working-in-a-competitive-team-and-having-kids/)
- [Master The Art of Successful Negotiations](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/zQWx8Vq89OA2lERWnjvL/master-the-art-of-successful-negotiations-unlock-your-full-potential/)
- [Andrew on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-zhai-2796ab34/)

Was Getting A Masters While Working Worthwhile? From a Distinguished Engineer

Andrew Zhai was a Distinguished Engineer at Pinterest.

After graduating from UC Berkeley in 2013, Andrew started working at Pinterest in Computer Vision. Within a few years, he decided to do a part-time Masters degree from Stanford to build his foundational knowledge of Machine Learning and Deep Learning.

Andrew says the academic rigor and the courses helped him achieve success in industry. For the Machine Learning (ML) field in general, the field evolved quickly enough that going 'back to school' was worthwhile.

[Andrew on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-zhai-2796ab34/)

Related:

- [Does having a Master's mean I can expect a salary equivaent of a 2 YoE SWE?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/YSMUN3uxDmGLqKxIvmXI/does-having-a-masters-mean-i-can-expect-a-salary-equivaent-of-a-2-yoe-swe/)
- [Do I need to do masters in Computer Science to move ahead in career?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/tKuUT3ELEa1uCGBuMykX/do-i-need-to-do-masters-in-computer-science-to-move-ahead-in-career/)
- [Is an online Master's Degree in Computer Science worth it for a non-CS Bachelor's degree holder with 2 YOE?](https://www.jointaro.com/question/Qth4ohK7HbHTEC83dwIJ/is-an-online-masters-degree-in-computer-science-worth-it-for-a-non-cs-bachelors-degree-holder-with-2-yoe/)
- [Rahul's Computer Science Masters Degree from Stanford in 7 Minutes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDu6slRfLY4)

Distinguished Engineer (L9) Describes Most Important Skill - Andrew Zhai

Andrew became a Distinguished Engineer at Pinterest through his 9+ year tenure at the company. He was one of 4 Distinguished Engineers in the whole company (1200 engineers).

- **Most important skill**: a deep understanding of people, business, and tech. That understanding is required to build trust from your team and the entire company to lead large-scale initiatives. 
- **Advice**: Aggressively pursue impact. Being a Distinguished Engineer means that the company trusts you to tackle some of the hardest and most existential problems. Defining what those problems and getting the right functions involved is critical.

Here's the full playlist asking engineers what the most important skill is for their level: [Asking 7 Levels Of Engineers The Most Important Skill](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/J9Io5lDGaYUpI8vGrUyI/)

Helpful links:
- [Senior Director shares his perspective on role evolution at the executive level](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/Tr3bHl6mIVsmZZ6BAQLc/case-study-how-to-become-a-data-guru-as-an-engineer-w-senior-director-of-ds-mo-shahangian/)
- [How to write better code faster](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/iYpRj8XfyzCSaTYnce3y/masterclass-how-to-write-better-code-faster-as-a-software-engineer/)
- [The story of SWE2 --> Principal Eng in 4 years](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/Lvf1TDKt1R4ZJSCr9BVv/rockstar-software-engineer-story-sw2-greater-principal-in-just-4-years/)
- Taro's top 10 to get promoted from [senior to staff engineer](https://www.jointaro.com/playlist/YD8LMCSlE71VUGUbNAWM/)
- [David Pan on what makes a great tech lead](https://www.jointaro.com/lesson/uHqZZ15SK19MatEvLSO6/what-makes-a-truly-great-tech-lead-a-vp-of-engineerings-perspective/)
- [Andrew Zhai on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-zhai-2796ab34/)

Distinguished Engineer Career Development Videos, Forum, and Q&A

How A Distinguished Engineer Can Grow Their Career

Is Distinguished Engineer Worth It? Dealing With Pressure And Work/Life Balance

Was Getting A Masters While Working Worthwhile? From a Distinguished Engineer

Distinguished Engineer (L9) Describes Most Important Skill - Andrew Zhai