Understand Your Leveling Framework
Tags: career, management
Published: 2022-11-18 13:58:10

## First Experience

My first experience with a leveling framework was my manager Slacking me a link to a spreadsheet with a message to "rate myself" before we talked about it. So I did. I thought about myself critically and, going down my level's column, marked off a few squares in green as "always exceeds", a few in yellow for "meets expectations", and some in red representing "needs development". I didn't understand what I was doing or what I was saying.

So we have our next 1-on-1 meeting and go over what I'd written. The sum total of the conversation was approximately "could you try doing better?" I didn't get a promotion there before I left. I made this same mistake a few times, never learning what it truly meant until I'd become an engineering manager.

Being on the other side of the performance review process really opened my eyes to what a leveling framework means. As a management group we calibrated on what we expected for meeting and exceeding expectations. We had definite rules, not vague gut feelings. The leveling framework was full of useful guideposts for measuring engineer growth in their career, not a bureaucratic requirement born out of mimicry of “successful” companies.

## Anatomy of a Leveling Framework

A leveling framework is a mechanism to attempt to objectively classify individuals into competency levels to appropriately adjust pay and title. Usually it looks something like a spreadsheet with increasing levels on one axis (associate engineer, software engineer, senior engineer, staff, principal, etc.) and behavioral categories on the other (skills, leadership, growth, communication, etc.) and each box has a handful of sentences on what is expected. For example, from Carta’s blog on [job leveling]([https://carta.com/blog/job-leveling-guide/](https://carta.com/blog/job-leveling-guide/)):

> **Complexity** [At level 5] Employees work on complex issues where analysis of situations or data requires an in-depth evaluation of variable factors. We expect them to exercise judgment in selecting methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. They regularly network with key experts outside their own area of expertise.
> 

Complexity is the behavioral category. Every employee, at different levels, is expected to handle different levels of complexity. Level 5 is, appropriately, the level. Level 5 at Carta maps to Senior Software Engineer II. Those three sentences are what Carta expects of level 5 employees every day. This doesn’t mean every task you take on must be of that level of complexity, but that you are most commonly working at that level of complexity. And if you aren’t handed something of that complexity you find a problem at that level to solve for the company.

### Expectations

Of course different companies have different expectations and you must gain clarity, especially around what it means to promote if that’s your goal. Going from this level 5 example, maybe the expectation is that you should be ticking off L5 boxes weekly. Maybe it’s that you should tick off *every* L5 box every week. Maybe you should always have a known project that ticks off most L5 boxes, but that you might not be doing L5 tasks on that project every day. Talk to your manager and gain that clarity! Ask them what it means to meet or exceed expectations in your first 1-on-1, not when it’s review season. Verify your progress with them regularly. It’ll make it easier to handle reviews for you *and them*, and following a plan will make your promotion process go more smoothly.

How I see it, as a manager, is as a frequency distribution. Not every task you take on will be L5 complexity, but it’ll have some level of complexity attached, maybe 4.2 or 5.7 — less or more complex than 5. If you were to plot all of your work as a histogram, what would that frequency distribution look like? I’d expect a normal curve centered around or right of level 5. As each of your behavioral frequency distributions shift right we’d be talking about promotion to level 6. Not everything you do is going to be L5 work at level 5, but your frequency distribution of work should reflect someone who consistently achieves or exceeds at that level in all categories.

## Applications to Daily Work

Creating that frequency distribution is easy if you’re already tracking your work in a [brag doc]([https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/](https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/)) — just add leveling framework information while you’re writing up your brag doc. Nothing’s really that easy though. This requires you having a great understanding of your leveling framework. Meaning, from the example above, you must ask for every task you record:

1. Are there multiple, variable factors for this problem that require an in-depth evaluation?
2. Is there a choice of method, technique or evaluation criteria for this problem?
3. Will I need to collaborate with other experts outside of my skillset to solve this problem?

Doing this for every task you accomplish, across five to ten competencies with three sentences each can be a bit draining. This is where having a strong understanding of the leveling framework becomes necessary — consider the themes of the leveling framework. Often a level will work at a certain layer of the business: the self, the team, the group, the org. Junior engineers are expected to improve themselves, mid-level improve the team, senior engineers interface the team with other teams, staff engineers improve teams in their group, principal engineers across the whole organization or company.

Once you’ve identified how your company organizes levels and scope it makes it easier to consider whether the work you’re doing is at the right level by considering what major scope it falls into.

As important as working at your level is, however, recording when you stretch beyond your level is crucial for increased recognition and growth. Always track when you’re stretching beyond your level and always be certain of which core competency that work maps to. Seeking out work that stretches you is critical to obtaining promotions quickly. Finally, when you do your good work that is on your growth path, review that with your manager during your next 1-on-1, both to verify that you’re on track and to ensure they see and recognize your efforts. This makes their job easier!

## Next Steps

If you haven’t already, start a brag doc. Once you have a brag doc add level and competency annotations to it according to your leveling framework. If you’re new to brag docs start by tracking every task you accomplish and every discussion you’re a part of. Over time you can start skipping anything below your level, but never fail to record something at or above your level.

Ask your manager to go over the leveling framework with you to ensure you understand it. Show them how you’re tracking your work and what level you believe you’re working at in each behavioral category, making sure you both agree. Seek out their guidance in the areas you’re not already exceeding at so that they can help you grow and advance.

Finally, look out for more resources on how to grow in your career. Consistent growth is a function of consistent research and experimentation with what works best for you.