Climbing Off The Ladder, Before We Fall Off

Our industry has undergone many changes over the years. From small groups waiting for time on mainframes to large teams working with waterfall projects to the small Agile teams of today, we have continuously striven to perfect the craft of software development. However, one aspect of our lives remains unchanged. The career ladder is still, in many places, the only way to advance our careers, gain respect and experience new challenges. This one size fits all approach often ends with attrition, unhappiness and people being promoted out of positions they enjoyed. While the linear path is correct for some, the system fails for many engineers and hurts retention of our teams.

In this discussion I will outline the challenges presented by having only the linear growth option, the organization of Spotify and some examples of how we are trying to provide non-linear options in addition to more traditional models to improve happiness and retention within the team. My goal is not to define a perfect solution, rather I would like to start the discussion that will lead to positive change within our ecosystem.