career-progression

# Career Progression

This skill provides frameworks for understanding software engineering career levels, competency expectations, and progression paths from Junior to Staff+ engineer.

## Keywords

career levels, junior, mid-level, senior, staff, principal, promotion, competency, progression, IC track, management track, level expectations, career ladder, engineering levels, seniority

## When to Use This Skill

- Understanding expectations at each engineering level
- Planning progression to the next level
- Evaluating readiness for promotion
- Choosing between IC and management tracks
- Understanding competency frameworks
- Setting career development goals

## Engineering Levels Overview

Software engineering careers typically follow this progression:

| Level | Typical Titles | Experience | Scope of Impact |
| ----- | -------------- | ---------- | --------------- |
| L3 | Junior Engineer, SDE I | 0-2 years | Individual tasks |
| L4 | Engineer, SDE II | 2-5 years | Features, small projects |
| L5 | Senior Engineer | 5-8 years | Large projects, team impact |
| L6 | Staff Engineer | 8+ years | Multi-team, org-wide |
| L7+ | Principal, Distinguished | 10+ years | Company-wide, industry |

**Note:** Titles and levels vary by company. Focus on scope and expectations, not titles.

## Core Competency Categories

Engineering progression is measured across multiple dimensions, not just coding ability:

### 1. Technical/Implementation

- Code quality and best practices
- Debugging and problem-solving
- System understanding and mental models
- Performance optimization

### 2. Design

- Breaking down problems
- Architecture and system design
- Technical decision-making
- Risk assessment

### 3. Operations

- On-call and incident response
- Monitoring and observability
- Production ownership

### 4. Product

- Understanding business context
- Customer focus
- Requirements translation

### 5. Leadership

- Mentoring and teaching
- Influence without authority
- Process improveme