{"id":3159,"date":"2019-02-03T14:15:17","date_gmt":"2019-02-03T13:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thekua.com\/atwork\/?p=3159"},"modified":"2022-03-17T20:17:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:17:13","slug":"the-trident-model-of-career-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thekua.com\/atwork\/2019\/02\/the-trident-model-of-career-development\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trident Model of Career Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Careers ladders<\/a> are all the rage in software firms. They create structure and shared expectations around different levels. Like any model, career ladders have pros and cons. Career ladders are a starting point for shared expectations across an organisation. However career ladders cannot be comprehensive, as people are unique, like snowflakes. People bring their different strengths and experiences to what they do. Everyone will do this differently. As a result, I like to explain that levels in a career ladder do not represent a checklist. Rather, levels reflect how people can have a different impact in an organisation in different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my most recent talk, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Talking with Tech Leads,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I explain how, some companies have a two-track career model. Two tracks are great, as they allow for more development and growth in different areas. Most of the research I did seemed to focus on two main tracks. In Silicon Valley they refer to these as Individual Contributor (IC) and Management<\/a> tracks. I actually don’t think a two-track ladder is enough. This is why I present you the Trident Career Model<\/strong> below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Trident Model of Career Development<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Trident Career Model<\/strong> has three tracks. Each track represents where people spend most of their time or energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Management Track<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In this track, people spend a majority of their time (70-80%) on management activities. This still includes leading people, supporting people, managing structures & processes and organising. People in this track must still have some background in the topic they are managing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, their main value add is not necessarily through making decisions related to the specialist field (e.g. system architecture). Instead, they manage the surrounding system & structure to ensure people closest to the work have the best context and information to make better decisions. They provide enough support, time and\/or budget to enable others to do what they do best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example roles in this track<\/strong>: Engineering Manager, VP Engineering, IT Manager<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Technical Leadership Track<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In this track, people spend a majority of their time (70-80%) leading people on a technical topic. People in this track must<\/strong> have relevant hands-on technical skills and experience. They should have good but not necessarily the best skills in the team they are leading. People in this track draw heavily on refined leadership skills to be successful. Classic activities for this role (in the field of software) include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n