Engineering Ladders
A free framework describing what each engineering level means across technology, system ownership, people, process and influence, as radar charts you can compare yourself against. Makes the promotion conversation concrete.
Cheat sheet
Career Growth
Jorge Fioranelli
An hour
All
Free
What it is
An open source career ladder framework defining levels from junior through principal across five dimensions, with a radar chart for each level showing the expected shape.
Why the multi dimensional view helps
Engineers usually think about seniority as one number, which makes promotion feel arbitrary. Splitting it into technology, system ownership, people, process and influence makes visible the common situation where someone is strong technically and stalled because they have no influence beyond their own team. That is a specific, fixable gap rather than a vague sense of being stuck.
How to use it
Plot yourself honestly, plot the level above, and look at the difference. If your company has its own ladder use that instead, and if it does not, this is a reasonable proxy for the conversation with your manager.
Best for: engineers preparing a promotion case, and leads who have to write one for someone else.
Ready to start?
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Stuck on something specific?
Writing only gets you so far. If you want an answer to your situation rather than the general case, book a session and we will work through it together. Every session is free; a few slots open each week.
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