To support and scale GitLab’s continued growth and success, the Field Enablement Team is developing a role based certification program that includes functional, soft skills, and technical training for field team members.
Certification badges will align to the customer journey and critical “Moments That Matter” (MTMs) as well as the field functional competencies that address the critical knowledge, skills, role-based behaviors, processes, content, and tools to successfully execute each MTM.
Certification programs allow us to validate GitLab skills and knowledge, recognize individual mastery, and motivate continuous learning and skills growth all aligned to expectation setting and performance discussions.
The goal of the Field Certification Program is to validate that:
The Field Certification Program will include functional and soft skills training for:
Moments That Matter are episodes where a field team member creates engagements with a customer that make a lasting emotional impression on how they feel about them. They are based on the concept explained in "Blueprints for a SAAS Sales Organization: How to Design, Build and Scale a Customer Centric Sales Orgnization" by Jacob Van Der Kooj and Fernando Pizarro.
Please note: The GitLab Moments That Matter continue to evolve. To see that latest, please check out the slide below.
| Level Name | Skills Level | Course/ Exam Numbering Scheme | Color Highlight | Validation Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1: Learning | Knowledgable | 101 | Yellow | Has essential skills |
| Level 2: Growing | Intermediate | 201 | Orange | Has deep skills in specialized area |
| Level 3: Thriving | Advanced | 301 | Purple | Has broad skills across multiple areas |
| Level 4: Expert | Mastery | 401 | Red | Possesses "professional" level certification |
Course content will be a combination of handbook pages, YouTube videos, and interactive content delivered through the new Learning Experience Platform (LXP). This new system is not intended to replace the Handbook as the single source of truth, and instead will serve to curate content from a variety of sources and provide a guided tour of curated content for the learner.
To achieve GitLab “certified” status, candidates must complete both the online written exam (knowledge) and practical assessment (skill) with a passing score on each exam.
Alpha testing for the below courses will take place in FY21Q3:
The first courses are scheduled to go live in conjunction with the launch of our Learning Experience Platform (LXP) in FY21Q4.
To get involved or follow along with the development, check out the Field Certification Issues Board. We love feedback and questions, so check us out on Slack in #field-cert-program.
