Exploring your passions and interests is just as important as focusing on a plan of short and long-term goals needed for any career development plan. Taking that time to explore, prepare, learn, and self-reflect can help ensure that you remain on track with where you ultimately want to grow.
While it's important to understand the how (how do I accomplish my goal? how do I get promoted?) and the what (what do I want to do? what do I need to do to get there? what do I still need to learn?), understanding the why is what becomes your ultimate driving force.
Promotions within the Support Department are guided by the Support Career Framework Matrix, following this track of role promotions. Consider the matrix (competency requirements) and promotion path as your expected baseline targets. Utilize the resources and recommendations in this document to explore your why, and to build your path to promotion with an extended view of what you can expect as you decide on your direction.
When you are ready to start building your path to promotion, review the section on creating and building a promotion doc. Ask for manager guidance and feedback as necessary.
Familiarize yourself with what it means to plan your career path, and how leadership plays a role in your next step.
A Senior-level Support engineer is a natural leader who has championed multiple areas of technical skillsets required to resolve both intermediate and complex customer issues. Senior engineers are direct mentors of Support Engineers, and extend their contributions to other areas, such as contributing to documentation, bug fixes, workflow improvements, or engaging as the next point of escalation for technical issues.
Recommendations to explore this path:
Considerations when building your path:
Choosing to pursue a Staff-level role within the Support team involves an advanced level of technical skills that are often both broad and deep, in combination with leadership skills that help support and mentor other engineers. Staff Engineers lead by example, and often help to breakdown barriers between customers, Support, and other cross-functional teams by engaging in technical deep dives, contributing to bug fixes, contributing to feature enhancements, or providing product-improving recommendations.
Recommendations to explore this path:
Considerations when building your path:
People managers need a combination of skills involving not only technical credibility, but interpersonal and organizational skills in order to lead a team of diverse individuals. These skills include embodying the GitLab Values, coaching, interviewing and hiring, and thinking holistically about the Support team, how we fit within the company, and interact with users. People managers also need to have organizational awareness within GitLab, so you know where to look for answers and how to guide team members toward solutions. Read more about Leadership at GitLab.
Maintaining your technical skillsets becomes secondary, however you have the autonomy (and ability) to balance your level of technical skill upkeep with the priorities and needs of your team. Above all, you keep team members and our customers your top priority.
Recommendations to explore this path:
Considerations when building your path:
While this document is meant to primarily focus on career development opportunities for Support Engineering IC's, there are many other possible opportunities to pursue. This may include transfer option examples, or continued promotion opportunities that go beyond that of Staff and Support Engineering Manager, such as a Principal Engineer role, Senior Engineering Manager role, and Promotions to Director and above.