We had a chat with Tim Olshansky (Tim Olshansky, EVP of Product & Engineering at Zenput) about building a career ladder for your engineering team. Tim shared many great insights, and I wanted to highlight some key takeaways here.

1. Articulate your company values

It's essential for any important process or framework you want to implement. If you are clear on your values, you'll make consistent decisions.

2. Get backing from key stakeholders

Senior management certainly has to be on board, but it's best if your entire engineering department is clear on why creating a career ladder for them is necessary.

3. Start building it with only a few people

Early on, you want to start brainstorming ideas with the people who have the most insight into career development, your company's inner workings, and engineering. You want to put together a reasonable draft. 4. Gather feedback

Once you have at least a rough draft, involve a broader group of people from the company, and get their feedback. Expect to introduce a lot of changes to your first draft.

5. Implement feedback Basically, rinse and repeat points 3-4 until you're ready.

+1 Update it regularly

You may outgrow your career framework, so don't be afraid to update it systematically. Don't do it too often. You want to set concrete goals for your engineers!

You can find more insights in the blog post and podcast episode.