v0.0.1-alpha
Heavily inspired by SoundCloud & Patreon
Categories
Technical Mastery
This category focuses on technical skills, including an engineer’s mastery, best practices, code reviews, code stewardship, quality & testing, design, and debugging.
Execution
This category focuses on the way that an engineer gets things done: planning, scoping, estimation skills, getting unstuck, taking ownership, strategic alignment, product/business understanding, and vision.
Collaboration & Communication
This category describes teamwork, communication skills, asking for and giving feedback, collaborating, and documentation.
Influence
This category looks at an engineer’s level of impact and influence within the organization, including leadership, knowledge sharing, mentoring, hiring, onboarding, and representation of our brand.
Mindset & Maturity
This category looks at the traits that make an engineer trustworthy and professional: accountability, self-awareness, respect, consensus building, handling conflict, and receiving feedback.
What Is Expected at Each Level?
Level 1 — The individual scale - Entry Level Focusing on themselves and improving their own skills. Successfully delivering as part of a team with the help of other team members. Level 2 — The team scale - Mid Level Focusing on their team and improving the team’s efficiency and productivity. Successfully driving a team project. Level 3 — The area scale - Senior Level Focusing on their own team and some neighboring teams and improving collaboration between these teams, e.g. successfully driving a cross-team project. Level 4 — The organization scale - Principle Level Having an impact on the entire engineering organization. Improving efficiency and collaboration across the organization. Level 5 — The company scale Having an impact on the entire company. Driving cross-organization initiatives, and leveling up Cleverse as a business. Level 1 - Entry Level
Technical Mastery
Competent in primary tech, knowing and applying best practices Writing clean codes, unlikely to find obvious bugs Participating in code reviews and pursuing one if needed Focusing on growth and learning the tech stack Execution
Be accountable for the tasks assigned, delivers it within the expected time frame Asks questions to clarify estimations, building estimation skills Able to deliver small stories May participate in on-call rotation, if applicable for their domain Integrates contributions as early as possible (no long-lived changes in branches) Collaboration & Communication
Collaborates effectively with team members in both working and meetings Effectively and proactively asks questions and reaches out for help when stuck Voices concerns or need for clarification to their manager Keep the team updated on work status Communicates constructively, positively, honestly, and sensitively Takes feedback graciously Influence
Has project/team-level impact Participate in tech discussions Mindset & Maturity
Treating others with respect, honoring commitments to the team Looking for & integrating feedback Seeks to take on more responsibility Have a positive attitude; raises constructive improvement ideas instead of complaining Self-aware of strengths and weaknesses Level 2 - Mid Level
Technical Mastery
Proficient in the tech of the team Makes informed decisions about tools, algorithms, and architecture for specific problems Scopes and implements project-level solutions Write codes which comply with the team guidelines Provides helpful, timely code reviews Builds up knowledge of neighboring systems Understands trade-offs between alternative solutions Keeps availability, robustness, scalability in mind Execution
Break down tasks, plan, estimate and cut scope to ship on time Provides story estimates and breaks up bigger ones Keeps track of technical debt Identifies potential technical risks Finishes or hands-off works before planned absences Collaboration & Communication
Helps the team stay focus Explains & Advocates certain decisions/solutions Can represent the team on questions/meetings Actively contributes to meetings Engages in productive dialog even when there are conflicting views, seeks to understand other points of view When communicating, makes sure messages are arrived and understood Influence
Doing pair programmings and code reviews Can onboard new members (has a basic understanding of the product) Suggests process improvements, be active in retrospective meetings Mindset & Maturity
Thinks critically and makes informed decisions based on first principles Admits mistakes and shares learnings Holds themselves and the team accountable for the work Aware of and actively works on their gaps in relevant tech skills Cares about a specific system/service/component - acts as an owner without being possessive Proactively supports positive culture by confronting negative behavior - leading by example Trusted to do what they say they will do, or communicate if there are any problem Level 3 - Senior Level
Technical Mastery
Designs systems that are easy to understand and works with Drives technical aspects and owns them Be the go-to person for the primary technology of the team Handles open-ended & ambiguous problems well Competent in diverse technologies Understands the implications of a decision for other teams/services/components Consistently delivers code that sets the standard for quality Writes insightful, comprehensive code reviews Execution
Drives larger projects reliably by delegating and coordinating Splits larger projects into smaller parts effectively Gives reasonable estimates and sets realistic deadlines that drive effort but support healthy work habits Uses analytics and product thinking to inform decisions and measure the impact Provides multiple solution proposals with different costs Identifies and manages risks on the team Plans all aspects of a project (testing/monitoring/alerting) Collaboration & Communication
Collaborates across multiple teams/functions Facilitates technical decision-making in the team Serves as a team representative in cross-team meetings and initiatives Participates in broad architectural conversations Builds relationships cross-functionally, with operations and support teams, and with senior engineers Communicates technical issues and decisions clearly and proactively to a cross-functional audience, sharing bad news quickly Mastering ability to express complicated issues simply Influence
Mentors other engineers (pair programming, code reviews, feedback) Proactively increases the visibility of the team's works Convinces others about technical trade-offs & decisions Shares their experience and expertise to help others grow Broaden the impact, considers effects of their work on other teams, as well as identifying and helping to resolve problems facing the team Coaches and helps teammates prioritize Identifies if currently used technologies are appropriate Enables surrounding people to be more effective Mindset & Maturity
Keeps the team honest and accountable to commitments Encourages team members to deliver with high quality Proactively improves the tools the team is working with Shows empathy for other teams Constantly puts effort into understanding the business/product big picture Regularly assesses security and legal risks Able to change direction quickly based on shifting company needs Level 4 - Principle Level
Technical Mastery
Be an expert specialist or proficient generalist Considers engineering as a whole by making the right trade-offs (security, performance, maintainability, availability, cost) Well informed about technical solutions peer companies use Systematically thinks through potential design impacts on other teams and the company Execution
Is a tech consultant for major product ideas Drives long-term, large-scale projects Coordinates work across a functional area Identifies and manages risks for an area/cluster Manages external tech vendors/partners Refers to return on investment in prioritization discussions Identifies, defines, and solves strategic problems, thinking holistically about the whole system Collaboration & Communication
Proactively builds up relationships with stakeholders Trusted to always share status with all of the stakeholders, and proactively remedy communication issues Acts as a tie-breaker in technical discussions, resolving conflicts and put personal opinion aside Facilitates effective meetings across a functional area Communicates technical issues, and ties work to company objectives Influence
Enables teams around them to be more effective Acts as a technical consultant to other teams The engineering leadership team is aware of their work Researches and evaluates new technologies that can influence an area/cluster Creates content/framework for learning Leads "build or buy" decisions Sets/directs technical strategy Mindset & Maturity
Identifies and addresses company-wide gaps in skills/delivery/strategy Understands the company KPIs and different revenue streams and the business in general Regularly zooms out and thinks outside their expertise/area Improves tools and development processes for an area/cluster Help others maintain resilience in periods of change Builds consensus for decisions Level 5
Technical Mastery
Can ask difficult questions in all technologies Focused on technical leadership, defining patterns and operational guidelines for their domain(s) Creates and leads organization-wide guidelines Proactively learning the tech of the company Has experience in scaling up a system through multiple stages of growth Evaluates and brings in new technologies/tools used across the company Incredibly knowledgable both inside and outside of the company in their area(s) Anticipates technical challenges, exploring alternatives and trade-offs thoroughly Independently scopes, designs, and delivers solutions for large and complex challenges Execution
Drives and leads company-wide projects that positively affect all areas Creates impactful and foundational solutions to the company Able to prioritize the most important works and break them down effectively Be a decision-maker on major tech topics (deprecating tech stacks, strategy) Plays a key role in defining the company's multi-year tech strategy and roadmap, despite uncertainty Defines and drives vision for their area(s) Trusted with any critical project or initiative Collaboration & Communication
Coordinates communication among team & stakeholders, including the right people at the right times Proactively identifies and solves communication gaps and issues Represents the engineering org across all business functions Facilitates tech vision discussions for the entire engineering org Inspires while communicating - motivates others to follow them through their leadership Can act as the external face of the company for engineers Influence
Looked to as a model for balancing product and engineering concerns Creates new business opportunities for the company Seeks out, recruits, and grows other levels 4 or 5 leaders Uses their leadership platform to promote and hire for diversity Leads initiatives across domains, even outside their core expertise Leads by example and inspires others to establish new cultural norms May work with exec team on high-level technical guidance Mindset & Maturity
Proactively offers regular, constructive feedback to others Trusted to de-escalate conflicts and build consensus between team members about technical matters Models and engages others around developing maturity Balances and is aware of technical and non-technical sides to company-wide challenges Develops new company-wide processes 
