Unlocking the secrets of Pipedrive’s software engineering career framework
Pipedrive’s software engineering career framework outlines different positions for software developers while fostering professional progression. Though it doesn’t sound exceptional, there is something unique about it. So what is it that makes it stand out in comparison to other career models?
Let’s start from the very beginning. For years, Pipedrive had a software engineering career framework. As the company kept growing, the existing system became unsustainable. For example, the definition of a senior engineer varied across tribes, with each having different standards. This also meant it was easier to get a promotion in some teams than in others. When the company grew to around 200 engineers, it was time for a change.
Jakub Kadlubiec, an engineering director at Pipedrive Prague, gathered a group of volunteers in his office and started drafting an alternative. At about the same time, some employees in Pipedrive’s Estonian offices also recognized the need for change. The two teams connected in Tallinn and started working on a new solution. The core team consisted of 6 volunteers — a couple of engineers, engineering managers and people partners from HR. They worked closely for almost a year to establish and test the new career framework. By the end of 2020, they were finally ready to roll it out globally.
So what makes our new career framework special compared to the old one? With the new framework, each software developer position in the company has well-defined requirements and competencies they should own. In a way, the new framework is similar to a career guide: It helps engineers understand how they should develop their career and specifies their compensation.
Sounds too good to be true? Jakub Kadlubiec, Kristo Karp and Andrii Rozumnyi share their experiences with the career framework from three different perspectives.
Seeking a well-defined structure combined with flexibility
Though software development is technical, it requires creativity, curiosity and courage to try out different things and find the best solutions. It’s an art in itself, especially when facing bigger challenges. This also means that software development is not uniquely homogeneous. Instead, the skill sets needed to build different product parts vary. Software engineers complete each other’s competencies. Their combined expertise allows companies to build the best possible products for customers.
One of the primary goals of the current framework is to make the system as flexible as possible. “If the career model is not flexible enough and hinders someone’s progress, it’s an obstacle for both engineers and the company. The new version takes into account different skill sets and possible growth directions of our engineers. It serves as guidance on directions and skills that would be rewarded by the company. Based on the model, each software developer can ask their manager to start their evaluation process, including collecting feedback from their colleagues and peers, making the procedure more transparent and fair,” continues Jakub.
At Pipedrive, we have over 300 software engineers in 21 tribes. “If we had just 20 engineers, it would be possible to operate without rules and make decisions based on gut feeling. As the company kept growing, we realized at some point that our old engineering career framework was not always necessarily fair or transparent,” explains Jakub.
Andrii Rozumnyi, engineering manager at Pipedrive Tartu, agrees. “Dealing with performance management is the inevitable part of being a manager. Even though the final decision about the promotion lies on me, in most cases the managers can’t fully assess someone’s performance without 360 feedback. Our model gives me confidence about my promotion decisions, especially since the system is unified and consistent across multiple locations,” says Andrii.
“Another thing I like about it is that it helps create a development plan for employees. Additionally, the framework maps not only positions and expected competencies, but also the best practices to provide and receive feedback, where and how to get support for growing and a breakdown of the evaluation procedure,” adds Andrii.
Constraints don’t kill creativity
A typical engineering career path at Pipedrive models growth within the company and what it takes to grow successfully. Based on 15 levels from interns to principal engineers, each position represents the skills needed and compensation linked with that particular level. With several junior (3), mid-level (5), senior and lead (4–5) positions, the model clearly reflects the growth of Pipedrive engineers. We expect junior engineers to be curious about learning new technical skills and open to feedback. Mid-level and senior engineers are more autonomous and take more ownership within the team. They proactively grow their mentoring skills and lead on-call duties, resolving any incidents.
We promote based on three core competency groups: software delivery, leadership and interactions and ownership. Software developers should excel in engineering and have plenty of non-technical skills. Each person is free to choose where their career goes — if a software developer grows quickly and meets the requirements for a higher position, they’re able to skip some levels.
Kristo Karp joined Pipedrive in 2019 as a mid-level software developer. Now a senior back-end developer, he believes our engineering career framework has inspired him to pick up new skills. “At first, I focused mostly on developing my technical skills,” explains Kristo. “But I have a natural hunger for learning new things. The career framework pushed me to develop my social and leadership skills. I’m glad about it. Otherwise, there might be a hard ceiling that you reach.”
“At Pipedrive, the best way to develop leadership skills is through leading missions. I’ve done it for the past two years, and I’ve learned that you have to be a good project manager, set processes and adjust them according to learned lessons, and give and receive feedback from team members. Succeeding is not just about having strong technical skills, and the key is to keep learning from each step along the way. I was very lucky during the first mission that I ever led — there were two senior software engineers in my team, and I learned a lot from them as well as from my manager. Collaboration and communication is the right formula for succeeding,” Kristo continues.
It’s okay to fail, but it’s not okay not to try
From the beginning, Pipedrive’s co-founders recognized that teams, not individuals, achieve great results. Pipedrive’s values have shaped the meaning of teamwork — team members should be internally driven, reach for greatness and put the team first, to mention a few. Our engineering career framework also honors leadership skills and encourages engineers to strive for excellence.
“Pipedrive is still in a sweet spot,” explains Jakub. “We are mature but still innovative. It’s not a tiny startup where things are done somehow and by everyone, but it’s also not a strict corporation. Inside of our tribes, we still act like startups, and we can innovate to build great products for our customers. One of the biggest bonuses lies in the possibility of learning from one another.”
Andrii reflects on the power of teamwork. “A great team is all about having the right motivation. If people enjoy work and get fuel from solving challenges, then anything is possible. But only if people put the team first and concentrate on finding the best solution, not whose idea wins. I always encourage my team members to take on challenges that they like, even if it’s unknown territory to them. It’s okay to fail, but it’s not okay not to try,” says Andrii.
And the best part of the engineering career framework? We improve it continuously. A dedicated guild of volunteers — from different tribes and seniority levels — regularly tests new strategies to evolve the framework and make it even better.
The key benefits of Pipedrive’s software engineering career framework
- A clear vision of the career path and lots of opportunities for growing professionally
- Freedom to choose which skills and competencies to develop with the possibility of being rewarded accordingly on a fair basis
- Encouragement to train and try out non-technical skills such as mission leading
- For senior roles, the freedom to choose whether to focus on a technical or leadership career path
- A transparent and fair system for promotions and remuneration
Interested in working in Pipedrive?
We’re currently hiring for positions in several countries/cities.
Take a look and see if something suits you
Positions include:
- Principal solutions architect
- Front-end developer
- Back-end developer
- And several more
