Engineers can win influence by aligning technical projects with executive priorities, using high-visibility work and a ready backlog to ride political waves instead of scheming.
Engineers often feel powerless in corporate politics, assuming decisions are made by selfish executives and that any attempt to intervene is futile. The article flips that view, arguing that engineers don't need to become political operators; they just need to position their technical work where executives are already looking for solutions.
The core tactic is to attach your technical ideas to high-profile projects that the leadership cares about-AI initiatives, reliability pushes, or visible performance improvements. By delivering success on those fronts you earn bonuses, promotions, and future project opportunities without spending your own political capital.
A more proactive approach is to keep a backlog of well-defined technical initiatives ready to match the next executive priority wave. When reliability becomes a buzzword, offer a billing refactor; when developer experience is on the table, propose a build-pipeline overhaul. Having concrete options lets you steer the conversation and capture political capital instead of reacting to vague mandates.
The payoff is two-fold: you get the work you care about done, and you protect the organization from poorly thought-out, politically driven technical choices. Senior engineers who can surface the right idea at the right time become the go-to partners for leadership, turning political necessity into technical advantage.
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