Technical Skills Framework
A technical skills assessment framework for the modern tech workforce
To remain competent for technology companies in this modern era is becoming more and more challenging. While struggling to up-skill huge man power in major service companies, not enough due diligence is being put while absorbing fresh talent. Not being able to cope with rapid technological changes and practices are not an excuse that one can afford any more.
There comes the need of a well-defined criterion for improving the technology talent and reference model against which companies can perform technology capability assessments.
Modern technology landscape is so diverse with new technologies and frameworks emerging more frequent than ever. A periodical careful assessment of technology capability is required to meet the changing business requirements for any modern technology firms. A Skill framework act as a foundation for building the capability and identifying the gaps within. While the structure of the framework stated here is inspired by TOGAF architecture skills framework, the reference technology stack (web) and topics are picked based on my recent experience in IT services industry.
Below tech reference model focus only on full stack web development. Not all technologies are covered either. The intention here is to give a high-level picture of how diverse and complex the tech landscape has become and how difficult it is to remain technology aware. Without a well-defined process, it is almost impractical for companies to up-skill their tech talent in an aggressive way and remain competent.
A typical Skill Framework contains roles, skills and proficiency levels. Skill matrices is developed using these details which depicts the level of knowledge each role requires against a list of applicable skills.
Technical Role Catalog
A role catalog lists all technical roles in the order of their position in the organizational hierarchy.
Technology Agnostic Developer Skill Catalog
It is always challenging to list a set of technical skills applicable for a wide range of companies focusing different domains and technologies. Technologies and practices adopted between different departments in a large organization itself could vary significantly. This gives the importance for developing a technology agnostic skills catalog which can apply seamlessly across organization and beyond. Below catalog act as a starting point which can be custom tailored for your organizational needs.
Proficiency Levels
Proficiency level lists the different levels of knowledge or expertise.
Skill Matrices
Skill matrices show the proficiency level required in each type of skill for varying roles in the role hierarchy.
Benefits of Skills Framework
The benefits from the use of a skill framework like this is many. It has good potential to improve the overall efficiency in talent acquisition and management. Organizations can perform periodical technology capability assessments and mitigate the gaps proactively.
The skills framework simplifies communication between recruiting organizations, consultancies, and employment agencies. It also ensures people capable of filling technical roles are not overlooked.
In addition, a detailed career path can be defined for technical talents above this foundation, motivating to realize career milestones via streamlined process and so on.
Summary
Up-skilling the workforce has become the need of the hour in tech industry. It is important to formalize the skill assessment strategy to remain agile and competent. Simple frameworks and process like this could lay a solid foundation and take you a long way.
I’m working on a refined version of the above generic tech skill framework and detailed career path for full stack web developers. It includes supporting resources (references) to achieve each mile stones. Please reach out me if you are interested to contribute or would like to know more about it.
Thank you for reading!
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