Software Engineer's Career Management Toolkit
- 1. Software Engineer’s Career Management Toolkit Özgen Güngör 10.10.2023 Berlin
- 2. Why me and why this topic? Currently VP of Engineering at Catawiki (Project A: series B & C) - 105+ ppl - Recently Installed: - Competency FW, Mentorship Programme, 4YPs, Effectiveness Surveys Past management experiences in diverse industries and different stages of engineering org lifecycles; including Uber and FedEx, adding up to 13 years in management Prior to that software engineer for 8+ years I care deeply about software engineers’ impact and growth, because I’ve been there
- 3. Agenda ● Why ● What ● How ● Q&A Software Engineer’s Career Management Toolkit
- 4. Why? excluding education, continuous learning, commute and all extracurricular activities 13.2% and more
- 5. Why? “If you don’t know where you are going any road can take you there.”
- 6. Why? A journey mindset is active; expressing desires, making progress, and reflection.
- 8. …to your toolkit Long term plan Competency framework Goals Brag Doc Mentors and coaches Learning and development
- 9. your toolkit Long term plan Competency framework Goals Brag Doc Mentors and coaches Learning and development Let’s pack !
- 10. Long term plan
- 11. Long term plan Benefits: ● Direction and purpose ● Optimizing potential ● Achievements ● Adaptation to change ● Increased motivation ● Increased job satisfaction Benefits for your manager/org: ● Understand what motivates you ● They can support you better ● Match you with the right opportunities
- 12. Long term plan Example: 1. Vision of your future (3-5-10 years) 2. Career Goals 4. Short-Term Milestones 5. Skills and Qualifications: Current/Needed 6. Networking and Relationships 7. Resources and Investments 8. Potential Challenges Annual, 4hrs
- 13. “it's important to realize that the person responsible for your career growth is yourself; nobody cares more, nobody knows better what your value is. So drive your career as you would drive a project. Understand what your team/company need, set personal goals that address those needs, get buy-in from your manager and start building. Document your progress and discuss it with your manager periodically. This way growth becomes measurable and predictable.” - Sabin Roman (Engineering Manager @ Linear)
- 14. Pitfalls: ● Rigidity ● Overambition ● Ignoring the short term ● Single-mindedness ● Stress and anxiety Mitigation tactics ● Introspection ● Have a mentor (outside view) ● Find a few peers that you can trust for critical feedback ● Revisit annually ● Embrace cone of uncertainty Long term plan
- 16. Competency Frameworks Benefits ● Clarity of Expectations ● Goal Alignment ● Skill Enhancement ● Feedback and Assessment ● Structured Development ● Professional Growth Benefits for your manager/org: ● Expectation management ● Context for performance feedback ● Measure progress ● Recognize and reward growth
- 17. Engineer 1 (Fresh Graduate): Technical Proficiency: Basic understanding of programming languages and technologies. Ability to write and debug simple code. Demonstrated problem-solving skills in a guided environment. Learning Orientation: Willingness to learn new technologies and programming languages. Openness to feedback and a proactive approach to improvement. Eagerness to seek guidance and mentorship. Team Collaboration: Effective communication within the team. Basic understanding of team dynamics and contribution to team goals. Ability to work under supervision and in collaboration with senior team members. Quality and Testing: Basic understanding of software testing and debugging. Awareness of coding standards and code reviews. Commitment to producing clean and maintainable code. Principal Engineer (Highest Level): Technical Mastery: Deep expertise in specific technical domains or technologies. Lead in complex architectural design and decision-making. Innovation and exploration of emerging technologies. Strategic Leadership: Strategic thinking and contribution to the organization's technical vision. Mentorship and coaching of engineers at all levels. Influence on technical strategy and direction. Ownership and Impact: Ownership of significant and critical areas of the product. Impactful contributions to the organization's goals and growth. Risk management and mitigation at an organizational level. Thought Leadership: Recognition as a thought leader in the industry. Contribution to open-source projects or technical publications. Representation of the organization in industry forums and conferences. Competency Frameworks Annual, 4hrs
- 18. "Competency Framework" is definitely the most impactful career management tool for me, by analysing where I stand compared to next level, I was able to identify gaps and create a plan to successfully get promoted 3 times at Uber. Leveraging this framework as the baseline removes the potential biases and helped me and my manager(s) actually come up with an actionable growth plan for me. - Baran Küçükgüzel (Sr. Staff Eng. @ Uber) Bonus: DropBox released publicly and then iterated on their Career Framework here Bonus: Keep an eye on Gergely Orozs’ (Pragmatic Engineer Blog) new book coming out soon.
- 19. Pitfalls: ● 404! ● Rigid Compliance & Box-Ticking ● Lack of Individualization ● Neglect of Soft Skills ● Inflexible Career Pathing ● Lack of Real-World Application ● Stress and Pressure Mitigation tactics ● Polyfill! There are great sources available for you to have your own version ● Balance with long-term career goals. ● Use as a foundation but remain open to skill development beyond its scope. ● Emphasize the development of both technical and soft skills. ● Align with your manager on realistic expectations Competency Frameworks
- 20. Goals
- 21. Goals Benefits: ● Trade-offs and focus ● Measurable progress ● Structured feedback ● Accountability Benefits for your manager/org: ● Mutual commitment and accountability ● Clear support vectors ● Increased fairness in performance management
- 22. Goals Professional Development Goals: Technical Competence: Goal: Actions: Soft Skills Enhancement: Goal: Actions: Project and Team Goals: Project Contribution: Goal: Actions: Measurable Outcome: Collaboration and Mentorship: Goal: Actions: Measurable Outcome: Bi-Annual, 4hrs
- 23. Pitfalls: ● Unrealistic goals ● Ignoring motivation ● Inattention to results ● Failure to reflect Mitigation tactics ● Communicate early and frequently ● Use LTP and Competency framework to align your goals with your motivations ● Get feedback and reflect Goals
- 24. Brag doc
- 25. Brag doc Benefits: ● Personal development ● Performance reviews ● Recognition and visibility ● Personal branding ● Self-confidence ● Objective evaluation Benefits for your manager/org: ● Short feedback loop ● Scalable to the org ● Fairer performance reviews ● Find and shine good examples
- 26. Brag doc (a.k.a. internal résumé) Achievements Project X (Q1 2023 - Q2 2023) Led a cross-functional team of 5 engineers to deliver Project X, a critical system upgrade. Delivered the project ahead of schedule, reducing implementation time by 30%. Achieved a 20% improvement in system performance, resulting in enhanced user experience. Received recognition from the project sponsor for outstanding leadership and results. Mentorship and Team Development Mentored two junior engineers, guiding them in project work and skill development. Organized and conducted weekly knowledge-sharing sessions on emerging technologies. Led technical training workshops for the team, improving overall coding standards and practices. Skills Enhancement Technical Skills Deepened expertise in Python, becoming the go-to resource for Python-related technical questions. Actively contributed to open-source projects, enhancing proficiency in open-source development. Soft Skills Improved communication skills through Toastmasters participation, resulting in more effective team meetings and presentations. Initiated cross-functional collaboration efforts to foster a culture of teamwork and knowledge sharing. Feedback and Recognition Received consistent positive feedback from peers and supervisors during performance reviews. Selected as a technical reviewer for the company's coding standards and best practices documentation. Future Goals Plan to pursue AWS certification to further strengthen cloud computing skills. Lead a high-impact cross-team project focused on improving system scalability and reliability. Monthly, 1hr
- 27. “Recommending one to any engineer - I think brag doc / work journal. Not only it helps during the perf/promo process, but on a daily basis as well. Sometimes there are periods when you feel that you didn’t achieve much, so it’s important to have a reference to look back and say, ah, no, I did this and that and here are the results.” - Pavel Mazurin (Staff Software Engineer @ Noom) Bonus: Julia Evans’ great article and template are available here
- 28. Pitfalls: ● Emphasis on self-promotion ● Lack of humility ● Failure to update regularly ● Inflexibility ● Confidentiality ● Goodhart's law Mitigation tactics ● Fact based statements ● Provide additional context ● Review with stakeholders ● Credit others around you Brag doc
- 30. Mentors and coaches Benefits: ● Mindset fit ● Get feedback and advice on your goals ● Leverage their network ● Learn from their experience Benefits for your manager/org: ● Create a 360° network of mentors and mentees ● Connect with competency framework ● Bring external insights into team/org
- 31. Agenda: 1. Progress Review 2. Career and Skill Development 3. Technical Topics of Interest 4. Questions and Guidance 5. Action Items and Next Steps Mentors and coaches Monthly, 1-2 hrs
- 32. Pitfalls: ● Not helping them help you ● Overdependence ● Ignoring their experience ● Expecting immediate results Mitigation tactics ● Seek guidance, not decisions ● Use reflection and peer network ● Channel their input to specific areas/topics ● Take time to build mutual context for long-lasting results Mentors and coaches
- 34. Benefits: ● Increase depth of knowledge ● Add new specialised skills (I-shape, T-shape, V-Shape, DevOps, DevSecOps,...) ● Support progress through the competency framework ● Keeping skills sharp ● Communication skills ● Leadership skills Learning and development Benefits for your manager/org: ● More robust, versatile ICs and teams ● High performance ● Increased impact radius ● Growing leaders
- 35. Learning and development Online Learning Platforms Coding Practice and Challenges Programming Books Video Tutorials and YouTube Channels Open-Source Projects Programming Blogs and Websites Coding Bootcamps Tech Conferences and Webinars Podcasts Online Code Playgrounds E-books and Digital Libraries Certification Programs Monthly, 4-10hrs
- 36. Pitfalls: ● Overambitious planning, too many tabs open ● Inconsistent learning habits ● Diminishing returns ● Comparing yourself to others ● Not celebrating achievements Mitigation tactics ● Create reliable bandwidth ● Prioritize and focus the bandwidth ● Validate your L&D objectives ● Celebrate ● Share learnings with others Learning and development
- 37. Key Takeaways ● Start with: Where do I want to go in my career? ● Continue with: How can I be most impactful? ● Use the toolkit to make things more visible and tangible ● Mix and match the tools as you need: ○ Absolute minimum recommended: Competencies + Brag Doc + Mentor ● Share your plans, develop relationships and leverage resources to get good feedback and support ● Remain adaptive and active in your career growth ● Set cadence to review and update ● Enjoy the journey
- 38. Thank you Danke schön Dank je wel Teşekkürler
- 39. Q&A
- 40. Coming soon ● Employee Journey Mapping for Software Engineering Organisations
- 41. Attributions Icons Mountain icons created by Freepik - Flaticon Hills icons created by mnauliady - Flaticon Map icons created by Freepik - Flaticon Compass icons created by Freepik - Flaticon SatNav icons created by phatplus - Flaticon Backpack icons created by srip - Flaticon Cycle icons created by Uniconlabs - Flaticon Images via Imagin.art Backpack / Prompt: contents of a traveler's backpack, including a compass, a flashlight, a map, a rope, don't include glasses or spectacles Time / Prompt : a pocket watch in the center of a square postcard Alice / Prompt : alice in wonderland chatting with the cheshire cat sitting on a branch Traveler / Prompt: a traveler standing in front of mountains with hills and valleys