Defining Real Engineering Excellence vs. Perceived Skill

🔍💡 A graduate student’s question yesterday struck a chord: "How do you distinguish between genuine competence and the mere appearance of it❓️" A nuanced challenge🧐 because confidence, whether grounded in expertise or mere illusion, is inherently persuasive. ▶️ Some highly competent individuals are also masters of showmanship, making it difficult to tell skill from spectacle. Yet, many who lack real ability overestimate themselves (Dunning-Kruger effect), while true experts recognize the complexity of what they don’t know. Early Career: Choosing the Right Leaders and Organizations ✅ Seek leaders who ask sharp, insightful questions. The strongest executives say "Let's find out" rather than feigning certainty. ✅ Prioritize organizations that reward intellectual honesty. Environments where learning is valued over bravado foster long-term success. ❌ Be wary of leaders who dismiss feedback or overpromise. Competence comes with curiosity; empty confidence is brittle when tested. ❌ Watch for leaders who deflect accountability. Those who take credit for success but blame their teams in failure signal insecurity, not expertise. Later Career: Navigating Leadership and Avoiding Self-Delusion ✅ Challenge your own biases. Even seasoned professionals can fall into overconfidence traps. The best leaders stress-test their assumptions. ✅ Mentor those who balance ambition with self-awareness. The most effective executives build depth before dominance. ❌ Avoid organizations where visibility outweighs execution. Those who look competent but lack substance thrive in environments where rhetoric wins over results. ❌ Recognize leaders who delegate responsibility but not accountability. Effective leaders own decisions, while insecure ones hide behind their teams when mistakes surface. At Any Stage: Confidence vs. Competence Real expertise is curious, measured, and backed by substance. The illusion of superiority? Loud, rigid, and fragile when challenged. While I currently report to a leader who embodies both competence and confidence, I’ve encountered many who rise through performance theater alone. Distinguishing real expertise from its illusion is one of the most valuable executive skills. So, how do you tell the difference?

Early in my career, I thought being a great engineer meant writing the best possible solution. I was wrong. True engineering excellence is about: - Understanding user needs - Simplifying complex problems - Delivering something useful soon that works also later - Thinking beyond the immediate technical challenge The most successful engineers are those who can bridge the gap between technical capability and real-world impact. They don't write merely write code. They solve problems.

My early engineering days were consumed by chasing the "next big framework." I was convinced that mastering bleeding-edge tech was the path to success. Fast forward to today as a Staff Engineer at Meta, and my perspective has completely shifted. Now I ask: How many companies have successfully implemented this technology? What were their key learnings? Can it truly scale to millions or billions of users? The mark of engineering maturity isn't knowing every new tool—it's selecting the right one for the specific problem at hand. True engineering excellence comes from wisdom, not just technical knowledge. What perspective shift have you experienced in your technical career?