When I started at Cobalt, there was a generic spreadsheet that the entire company used for career development, and none of the designers on my team had career development plans.
Having a solid career development framework in place is incredibly important and something I needed to get to work on asap. I spent time researching what other design leaders had developed for their teams. I was keen to see what was considered best practice and what would make the most sense for me to incorporate. I found the design career levels framework that Peter Merholz published at Snagajob, and I loved the core skills he weaved into each level. I took this piece, built on it, and threaded it through the career ladders I developed for Cobalt.
The images to the right illustrate some of the different artifacts I created.
- Career pathing for both maker (IC) and management levels
- Guide to diving deep into each level and competencies (slides)
- High-level overview for side-by-side comparison (spreadsheet)
- Self-Assessment Doc – helps the team member evaluate where they are at in their current level and what they have achieved to reach the next.
- The doc also includes a promotion case.
