Tech World With Milan·32wWhat is a Principal Engineer at Microsoft?
Dejan Dundjerski, Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft's Belgrade Development Center, shares his 20-year journey from building POCs for Azure SQL's first open-source database to replatforming Azure SQL Managed Instance at 10x scale. He explains that principal engineers differ from seniors by not just identifying problems but implementing solutions and leading others to join. Key advice includes focusing on simplicity in architectural decisions, understanding technical details deeply in your domain, avoiding short-term workarounds, and making changes at the right level of the tech stack. He emphasizes problem-solving mindset over titles, recommends blocking time for deep focus while handling 30-second tasks immediately, and treats LLMs as queryable libraries rather than requiring comprehensive study.
