Building an Engineering Career Path in Startups: My Take on It
Building an Engineering Career Path in Startups: My Take on It
Structuring Effective Engineering Career Paths
👋 Ciao, Alex here. Welcome to a new free edition of Not Just Bits, and thank you to all the readers and those who support my work. Every week, my goal is to share lightweight and informative resources for CTOs.
Creating an engineering career framework in startups is really like plotting a journey on a map. It's got to be clear, adaptable, and in line with your startup culture. Here's a straightforward look at how to do this, based on what I've learned along the way.
What Your Startup Believes In
Your startup's values are like its heartbeat. The career path you set up should match these values. This means making sure that each step forward in someone’s career helps them and the startup stay true to these beliefs. It's like making sure every step takes you in the right direction. In addition to the overall startup pillars, you should have more engineering-specific pillars. Start defining engineering principles too. In the second part of the following article, you will find some of what we defined when I was at limehome: Limehome's Engineering Principles
See few of them below:
We believe that each domain should have the people and the tools to build/deliver/iterate without dependence on the other teams.
We make changes small — the only way to know if it works is to get feedback from real users and see how they use it
We deeply understand the importance of documenting well our work
What a good framework should be is a facilitator in navigating professional growth. It should focus on key competencies, which become more specialized as one progresses in seniority within each role.
It's also important to ensure that individuals transitioning from an Individual Contributor (IC) to a People Manager role have a clear understanding of the respective competency pillars. I would suggest interim positions for those who are unsure about their preferences, and make it clear that it is possible to move between tracks along the way, too. Developing people is not for everybody
A good framework for Individual Contributors might include competencies in:
Architecture
Code
Delivery
For Engineering Managers, the areas of competency could be:
Team Building
Coaching
Additionally, it important to be make clear that these areas are not exclusive to each respective role.
Keep It Simple and Smart
In a startup, you've got to be smart and iterative with your guidelines. So, start your engineering career framework simply. There's no need to make everything from scratch. It's okay to take good bits from other companies’ ways of doing things and then tweak them to fit your startup's style.
Here are the resources I found most valuable:
I find the framework from CharlyHR perfect as a starting point because, from the feedback I received, it's the one that supports managers and reports in understanding responsibilities the most.
Something I always use from the CircleCI framework is the quote (at least I think I read it on the CircleCI article):
This is not a checklist but guidance.
Engineers tend to be logic-driven, but personal development is a mix of business and personal needs where the person who develops should be the captain. So there's no need to make everything set in stone but clear enough to use during the journey.
Linking with Team Growth and Reviews
A good engineering career path should fit snugly with how you manage and grow your team. It should show up in things like performance reviews. It's about making sure the way you plan careers is in tune with how you look at your team's work and progress. Try to list competencies that you are able to track and evaluate at your stage, and cut out boilerplate skills that aren’t needed at this point.
For senior roles, focus on ensuring they can build relationships across the organization. Leverage those relationships for better planning and collaboration.
Change as You Grow
Just like a startup changes and grows, your career guide should too. Keep updating it as new roles appear or as the business evolves. This keeps the career path relevant and helpful, even as things shift around. Set a review cycle and try to update it while growing as an organization. People tend to work hard on it and then forget about it, but documents are meant to be adapted and, like any other wiki, need commitment.
Summing Up: More Than Just a Plan
Setting up an engineering career path in a startup is more than just drawing a plan. It's about creating a place where growth and improvement are part of the day-to-day. By ensuring your career path reflects your startup’s values, is simple yet flexible, ties in with how you manage your team, and adapts as you grow, you're building an environment where everyone moves forward together. This not only helps each individual grow but also propels the entire startup towards its larger goals.
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See you next week! Best, Alex Di Mango