Role Glossary
Browse 8 role terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.
8 Role Terms
- Contributor
- Anyone who contributes to an open-source project — code, documentation, bug reports, translations, design, or community management. Not just coders; the person...
- Full Stack
- A developer who works on both frontend and backend code. Whether 'full stack' means 'competent in both' or 'mediocre at everything' is an active debate. Some...
- Maintainer
- A person responsible for managing an open-source project — reviewing pull requests, triaging issues, making release decisions, and often doing it all for free...
- Staff Engineer
- A senior individual contributor role above senior engineer, focused on cross-team technical leadership without direct reports. Staff engineers set technical...
- Sysadmin
- System Administrator — the person responsible for maintaining and operating computer servers and networks. The title has been evolving toward 'DevOps engineer'...
- Tech Lead
- An experienced engineer who sets technical direction for a team, makes architecture decisions, mentors team members, and bridges between engineering and...
- Technical Cofounder
- The cofounder who builds the product — the one who can actually code. The most sought-after person at any startup networking event, typically found hiding from...
- Technical Writer
- A professional who creates documentation, tutorials, and reference guides for technical products. One of the most undervalued roles in tech — everyone...
Related Topics
- Community (2 terms in common)
- Leadership (2 terms in common)
- Career (2 terms in common)
- Founding Team (1 terms in common)
- Burnout (1 terms in common)
- Essential (1 terms in common)
- Participation (1 terms in common)
- Classic (1 terms in common)
- Operations (1 terms in common)
- Documentation (1 terms in common)
- Overloaded (1 terms in common)
- Undervalued (1 terms in common)
- Versatile (1 terms in common)