CSM Development

Available development paths and resources for Customer Success Managers at GitLab.

As a Customer Success Manager at GitLab, you should feel empowered to take the time to invest in yourself and your career, leaning into the 70-20-10 rule for development.

To be intentional about our commitment to continuous improvement, the first Friday afternoon of every calendar month is strongly encouraged to be protected and used for personal and professional development, either individually or in collaboration with other GitLab team members.

To this end, it is essential to understand what resources are available for your personal and professional development, and the remainder of this page strives to be a place for leadership and CSMs to contribute to the resources available for the progression and development of the CSM team.

Key handbook sections, roadmaps and L&D platforms for enablement

  1. CSM Planned Enablement Roadmap for FY24
  2. CSM Enablement Corner (updated Quarterly with Key Dates and CSM required actions)

Customer Success Management - Learning and Development Resources

The content is divided into three key categories of competencies. LevelUp is GitLab’s Learning Experience Platform for certifications, learning paths and more! If you have ideas about a course you’d like to develop, consider checking out the Learning Evangelist Training.

💡 Customer Success Management 💬 Soft Skills 🚀 Technology and Domain Knowledge

{: #general-csm}

💡 Customer Success Management

CSM Best Practises and Examples at GitLab

  • Chorus Playlist gives you access to the recordings of the best CSM calls. The recordings are continuously updated, so keep this playlist bookmarked for best practices.

CSM Intership

Customer Success Management

Leadership

Executive Communication

As CSMs have positioned themselves to be more strategic and reach Director, VP, and CISO personas, we have to adjust our communication styles and consider how to cater them for executives. These resources will aid CSMs with executive presence and communication.

Public Speaking and Enablement

{: #soft-skills}

💬 Soft Skills

{: #tech-domain}

🚀 Technology and Domain Knowledge

GitLab for CSMs

DevOps

Software Development

DevSecOps

Git

Markdown

Docker

Kubernetes

How PS Technical Instructors Teach Technical Concepts

These are videos of actual 8-hour courses given live to customers by GitLab’s Education Services department. These are good examples of how to present technical concepts in a structured format.

The Education Services team is working on shorter, edited versions of these class videos. They’ll replace these links with the edited versions when they’re available. For now just fast-forward through labs and breaks in these unedited class recordings.

Access codes and recording links can be found in this internal doc.

Career development

Within the CSM job family

  • The CSM Job Family page is kept updated with the roles and responsibilities of each level within the CSM job family
  • The CSM Skills Matrix enables a CSM to determine areas of opportunity in working towards their next level of seniority

Within the CS org

  • The SA Job Family page is kept update with the roles, responsibilities and technical expectations of an SA. For CSMs interested in moving into SA roles, they can work with their managers on learning paths to develop the technical and sales skills where needed.

Within GitLab, outside of CS

  • While there is no ‘formula’ for moving into roles in other teams, we welcome CSM growth and desire to explore alternative areas with GitLab. For CSMs looking to move into different groups outside of CS, the first step is to review the job family requirements and connect with their manager on determining a path. It is encouraged for managers to connect with the group’s team leaders in question to build out a development plan that will have the best chances of success.

External Sources/Tools linked here

LinkedIn Learning

Handbook details about LinkedIn Learning.

We also have a list of Recommended Learning Paths.

Coursera

Handbook details about Coursera

Last modified December 22, 2023: Migration cleanup (2633b619)
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