Career Frameworks — Part 1 🪜
What they are useful for, how to use them, and the various styles and examples
This week we dive into one of my all-time most requested topics: career frameworks!
I spent a good chunk of the last month doing research, talking with guys in the community, and reflecting on my own personal experience.
It was a ton of work, because this topic is massive. Over time I received all kinds of questions about it: from founders who are in the process of creating such a framework for the first time, to engineers who want to use it for growth, to hiring managers who struggle to keep it up to date.
To make sure I am thorough about it, I will split this into two consecutive editions:
1️⃣ Part 1 — this one will cover definitions, why and when you should use a career framework, and some good examples.
2️⃣ Part 2 — the one coming up next week will cover how to create one that fits your team, and how to roll it out properly.
So, here is the agenda for today:
📌 What is a career framework — definitions first.
🗝 How to use it — what are the practical use cases where it brings value?
📆 When you need it — when is it the right time to create one?
📚 Styles and Examples — let’s cover some of the most famous frameworks out there.
Disclaimer: career frameworks do exist for all kinds of jobs, but I will focus here on engineering teams. Some of the general advice may apply to any department, but the details and examples will be centered on the tech space.
Let’s go! 👇
📌 What is a career framework
In its most basic form, a career framework is a document that covers two things:
🪜 Levels progression — the various roles and levels people can perform in the team, and how people can advance from one to another.
🎓 Competencies — skills and responsibilities that are expected of people in each role.
Other things that are sometimes included are:
📋 Track record — for each role, what you should exhibit to get promoted into it.
💰 Compensation — for each role, salary bands, equity, bonuses and other forms of compensations.
Why is this useful?
A career framework is to managers what regular docs are to engineers and PMs. It creates alignment and makes their jobs easier:
For managers — it reduces the room for personal judgment and mistakes.
For everybody — it provides clarity about their growth path.
So how do you use it, in practice?
🗝 How to use it
In my experience, career frameworks see practical usage in three main scenarios:
1) Hiring 🎒
A clear definition of roles and levels is immediately useful in hiring. Joel Chippindale, CTO and executive coach, reports 👇
In smaller companies I have found that much of the work to define roles and levels has been driven by the need to hire. For example if we are going to work together to hire a "Senior Engineer" then we need to have a shared understanding of what we expect from a "Senior Engineer".
Then it is only a short step to start using these definitions to help have conversations about professional development.
Starting in this way enables the team to start small i.e. think about one role/level and practice using these expectations in real conversations about hiring and professional development before building up a wider framework.
The career framework also makes for good hiring material. Candidates may ask hiring managers to have a look at it to assess where they would stand in the wider org, and their own opportunities for growth.
As a candidate this is a smart move, and you should consider it a red flag 🚩🚩🚩 if the hiring manager refuses to make you see it, or if the company is above a certain size and doesn’t have one.