--- title: What does "playing politics" mean for software engineers? description: A practical guide explaining what 'playing politics' actually means for software engineers in large companies. The core advice: identify who holds real... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/what-does-playing-politics-mean-for-software-engineers--kytm9doee twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: What does "playing politics" mean for software engineers? | daily.dev og:description: A practical guide explaining what 'playing politics' actually means for software engineers in large companies. The core advice: identify who holds real... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-does-playing-politics-mean-for-software-engineers--kytm9doee og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/KytM9DOEE.png og:image:alt: What does "playing politics" mean for software engineers? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What does "playing politics" mean for software engineers? **[sean goedecke](https://daily.dev/sources/seangoedecke)** · 13 min read · 3 upvotes · 2 comments ## Summary A practical guide explaining what 'playing politics' actually means for software engineers in large companies. The core advice: identify who holds real organizational power, avoid making powerful enemies at all costs (and quit if you already have one), actively help powerful people succeed, and ensure your contributions are visible. The post uses a 'castle guard' analogy to frame engineers as workers who must navigate political currents without being major players themselves. Practical tactics include responding immediately to VP Slack messages, leaning into high-profile projects, supporting management narratives, and proactively sharing progress updates with senior leaders. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can a software engineer tell which managers actually have power in a company? Power in a company is signaled less by title and more by two concrete indicators: whether a manager's projects get called out by name in CEO or CTO updates, and whether their team is growing through hiring, especially in a post-ZIRP environment where headcount is scarce. Ferocious competence also tends to correlate with some degree of power, since upper management rarely ignores useful people. _Engineers weighing career moves can find more perspectives like this on navigating workplace dynamics through daily.dev._ ### What should I do if I have made an enemy of a powerful VP or CTO at my company? The recommended response is to quit. Making an enemy of a powerful executive is described as essentially unrecoverable, since they have little incentive to reconsider and significant ability to damage your promotions, raises, and job security through layoffs, except in rare cases where that executive is already planning to leave. _Developers weighing tough career decisions can browse more engineering career advice on daily.dev._ ### Should I keep arguing with my manager after they overrule my technical opinion? No, you should stop arguing immediately once overruled. The three rules for disagreeing with powerful people are to do it in private, be polite, and drop the argument the moment they make their decision; following their plan without complaint afterward can actually help build a stronger working relationship rather than harm it. _Engineers refining how they communicate disagreement at work can find similar reflections on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@ricktonoli** · 0 upvotes > Simple rule, try your best to be famous, but at all costs avoid being infamous. **@andradei** · 0 upvotes > In the ideal world (aka some startups) you don't have to do that. The company is small and everybody shares many tasks, everyone knows what you did whether you failed or succeeded at anything almost immediately. > > The major problem is in larger businesses that have been around for a while. Most of them have this layer of political games. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [We Are All Playing Politics at Work](https://daily.dev/posts/we-are-all-playing-politics-at-work-i1xp5i0em) · Ibrahim Diallo · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [5 Tips for Interns To Stay Prepared for Office Politics](https://daily.dev/posts/5-tips-for-interns-to-stay-prepared-for-office-politics-8bykgvt2x) · Code Like A Girl · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [You have to know how to drive the car](https://daily.dev/posts/you-have-to-know-how-to-drive-the-car-xvj1itmom) · sean goedecke · 16 upvotes · 0 comments - [Software engineers should be a little bit cynical](https://daily.dev/posts/software-engineers-should-be-a-little-bit-cynical-hdbhtk8sy) · Hacker News · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why Senior Engineers Let Bad Projects Fail](https://daily.dev/posts/why-senior-engineers-let-bad-projects-fail-2uk1elflx) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#company-culture](https://daily.dev/tags/company-culture) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-does-playing-politics-mean-for-software-engineers--kytm9doee) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"What does \"playing politics\" mean for software engineers?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-does-playing-politics-mean-for-software-engineers--kytm9doee","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-does-playing-politics-mean-for-software-engineers--kytm9doee"},"datePublished":"2026-07-14T10:56:45.853Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:12:43.421Z","description":"A practical guide explaining what 'playing politics' actually means for software engineers in large companies. 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