Define Career Ladders Early
One thing that is definitely absent from the lengthy to-do lists on day one of a company’s founding are career ladders. At the inception of a company, there are only the founders. The title of founder (if one) or co-founder is all that exists. Titles don’t matter because each person involved knows how they can contribute. Getting things off the ground is the most important thing.
As the founders build something that may justify a round of outside investment, they hustle to get a foot in the door with VCs and Angel investors. These conversations involve clarification of the role of each co-founder: who’s the business one, who’s the technical one and who else does what. Prior to terms sheets, investors may request a more classic org-chart. They want a single point of contact — most commonly the CEO.
Now there is the founding team with titles like CEO, CTO, and COO. There’s money in the bank. The next stage of the company will be reached with more than just the co-founders on the team. First hires are typically technical. The product must go from prototype / v1 to something that would attract the masses and eventually the wallets. Engineer #1 is hired. Titles are still not important. It’s very clear what the CTO can’t do alone and the first engineer comes with the skillset needs to augment the CTO. Aspects of all engineering fall under the domain of this individual. Salary is fairly low regardless of experience level because that seed round can’t cover market rate. Equity is generous to compensate for the salary. Software Engineer covers the role very well.
The first engineer may have been recruited from within a close network, but for the next 3–10 the CTO will need to compete with other startups and well-financed tech companies. Creativity becomes the name of the game and diamonds in the rough the prize. Fresh college and coding academy grads are a solid choice. Yes, a lot of effort will go into finding the perfect candidates, but the budget can’t afford those looking to maximize their paycheck for their expertise. With some luck, there is a small pool of candidates passionate about the problem the company is solving, who prioritize that over high salaries. Between the grads and the passionate crowd, titles still don’t matter. Most are software engineers, perhaps an extra cherry on top for the more seasoned hires is a senior software engineer title.
A couple of years go by and the company is now a solid Series A/B-funded business. While tough, recruiting has gone well and the engineering team is now at 10–15. Most engineers are within the first 1–3 years of their career. There is a decent onboarding process to make sure the roughness is polished off the diamonds quickly and they start contributing to the engineering roadmap effectively. After 1–2 years, those same diamonds are able to do the full breadth of projects the company requires. Based on everything they read online describing the role of a senior software engineer, they fit the bill. The CTO is now sitting on a potential time bomb: a significant number of engineers on the team believe they deserve a promotion and the next title up is senior software engineer. There are plenty of companies who are willing to pay more and give fancier titles to get the polished diamonds to join.
Should the CTO promote several hires with 2–3 years experience to senior roles?
This problem is not new. It has been solved by many late-stage startups and large tech companies. The majority of the time this problem has been solved reactively. Defining a career ladder proactively is not a herculean task. While many companies will have their own nuances, an example of a basic career ladder is as follows:
Level 1 — Intern I
Intern with no prior software engineering internship experience.
Level 2 — Intern II
Intern with at least one relevant software engineering internship.
Level 3 — Software Engineer I
Someone who recently graduated with an undergraduate or Master’s degree. Takes 1–2 years to get to the next level.
Level 4 — Software Engineer II
Someone with 2–6 years of experience after graduation. Takes 2–5 years and to demonstrate impact on tasks of sufficient difficulty to get to the next level.
Level 5 — Senior Software Engineer I
Someone with 6–10 years experience, who is primarily autonomous and takes on tasks without excessive detail, while being able to figure out what to do and execute on it. Takes 2–3 years to get to the next level.
Level 6 — Senior Software Engineer II
Someone who in addition to L5 attributes can demonstrate leadership on projects. There is no concrete timeline to get to the next level.
Level 7 — Staff Software Engineer
Someone who demonstrates a track record of substantial contributions to complex and large projects. Proposals for quality solutions, planning, execution and delivery become key. Working closely with cross-functional partners to define the roadmap is common.
Level 8 — Senior Staff Software Engineer
Someone who drives technical strategy in large product areas. This role is rare at a company and is focussed on management and leadership.
Level 9 — Principal Software Engineer
Someone who is a peer to VP of Engineering and leads large initiatives across the organization, including areas outside their core expertise.
Anything above L9 is very company-specific.
Let’s apply the career ladder to the initial problem. The recent grads would move up from L3 to L4 after 1–2 years. Then after another 2–5 years to L5. The total 3–7 year runway gives time to truly master the skills needed at each level, while having a clear vision of where the career is going. Of course, if the diamonds are getting polished faster, there is no need to artificially throttle.
A career ladder may seem like overkill in the early stage companies. Yet, it is very straight forward to define and sets up the engineering organization and its members for long term success and understanding of their path.
