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Developer bands

The following bands are designed to provide a structure to help better understand current competencies and act as a starting point for individualised discussions around progress.

The criteria set out in each band is by no means exhaustive, but aims to provide a solid point of reference.

1. Associate Developer

  • Pull Requests require multiple rounds of feedback to reach a mergeable state
  • The basics of a language or framework are mastered, but more advanced concepts are unfamiliar
  • Occasional issues following patterns and approaches within existing code bases
  • Most comfortable working on tightly scoped features or routine problems
  • Typically less than 2 years focused on a specific domain in a professional environment

2. Developer

  • Pull Requests require occasional discussion around approach or implementation
  • Clearly able to identify and follow predefined patterns or approaches in an existing code base
  • Most comfortable working on clearly defined, well scoped features or problems
  • Typically 2-5 years focused on a specific domain in a professional environment
  • Being able to decide the priority level of a bug and set of the appropriate course of action
  • Being able to understand user stories and translate them into technical requirements
  • Being able to keep the client up to date on the day to day progress of a project

3. Senior Developer

  • Pull Requests are a tool for communication of new features and a spring-board for higher-level discussions around approach
  • Experienced and comfortable through the entire lifecycle of a feature, from ideation to delivery
  • Can understand business drivers and make solid proposals to the relevant stakeholders for building new features or refining existing ones
  • A subject matter expert in at least one programming environment
  • Typically 5-8 years focused on a specific domain in a professional environment
  • Line managing other team members
  • Managing all client communication on a project
  • Being able to attend sales meetings and bring your technical expertise to the conversation
  • Using your technical knowledge to put together a plan based on client requirements (Solutions Engineering)

4. Tech Lead

  • Pull Requests are a mentoring tool to engage less experienced teammates and showcase best practices
  • Highly adept at running and executing on multiple projects across multiple domains
  • Heavily involved in setting and maintaining professional standards for the organisation as a whole
  • A subject matter expert in a number of programming environments
  • Training other developers on both technical and non technical skills
  • Confident building and running small teams through substantial projects
  • Typically 8-12 years focused on a specific domain in a professional environment

5. VP of Engineering

  • Focus on defining and progressing processes and innovation at a company-wide level
  • Fully capable of designing, owning and running entirely new, non-trivial systems
  • Confident building and running larger teams through long-running, complex projects with multiple-stakeholders
  • Recognised widely in the industry as having made substantial material contributions and considered a subject matter expert by peers
  • Typically 12-15+ years focused on a specific domain in a professional environment

The bands are based on those set out by the team at Basecamp

Questions

If you have any questions about this process, please reach out to Andi.