Responsibility Is Taken Before It Is Given

To get promoted as a software engineer in Big Tech, you generally need to show “ownership” of a product or area. This means being responsible for it and deciding what should happen over time. I often hear more junior engineers ask: “How can I demonstrate ownership when my manager hasn’t given me anything to own?” This way of thinking is a trap: an easy one to fall into, but a trap nonetheless. The problem is that they are treating responsibility as a complete, self-contained opportunity that someone must give them first. In my experience, they’ve got it the wrong way round: responsibility is demonstrated before it is formally given. Put yourself in the shoes of your technical lead (TL): by “giving” you responsibility, they are implicitly accepting the consequences of your decisions. They need to trust you not only to get work done but to exercise judgement without constant supervision. The most important question they ask themselves is: “Does this person deal with problems the same…