Select your current position

Pick a role and level — we'll show the growth path, skills and gap analysis.

Development path

Junior

0-2 years

Current

Responsibility: Completing tasks under the guidance of senior colleagues. Learning the codebase, standards, and team processes. Writing code to spec, fixing simple bugs, writing tests.

Middle

2-5 years

Next

Responsibility: Independently developing features from decomposition to deployment. Participating in code review. Optimizing performance. Mentoring junior developers. Taking part in architecture discussions.

Senior

5-8 years

Responsibility: Technical leadership of a team of 3-6 people. Architectural decisions. Code review gatekeeper. Mentoring. Technology selection. 30% coding.

Key skills:

API Gateway Need
Architecture Decision Records (ADR) Need
Architecture Documentation: C4, arc42 Need
Architecture Fitness Functions Need
AWS Need
Clean Architecture Need
Code Review Need
DDD Strategic Patterns Need
DDD Tactical Patterns Need
Diagramming: Mermaid, PlantUML, D2 Need
Docker Need
Feature Flags Need
Git Advanced Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
GitHub Copilot Need
GraphQL Design Need
gRPC & Protocol Buffers Need
High Load Architecture Need
InnerSource Practices Need
Kubernetes Core Need
OpenTelemetry Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Prometheus & Grafana Need
REST API Design Need
Secrets Management Need
SLI / SLO / SLA Need
Technology Radar Practice Need
Terraform Need
Algorithms & Complexity Need
Async Programming Need
Hexagonal Architecture Need
Microservices Decomposition Need
Documentation as Code Need
Monorepo Tools Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Multithreading Need
System Design Fundamentals Need
Design Patterns Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need
Structured Logging Need
Data Structures Need
On-Call Management Need
Technical Debt Management Need

Lead / Staff

7-12 years

Responsibility: Technical leadership of multiple teams. Domain architecture. Standards. Coordination. Hiring. 10-20% coding.

Key skills:

API Gateway Need
Architecture Decision Records (ADR) Need
Architecture Documentation: C4, arc42 Need
Architecture Fitness Functions Need
AWS Need
Clean Architecture Need
Code Review Need
DDD Strategic Patterns Need
DDD Tactical Patterns Need
Diagramming: Mermaid, PlantUML, D2 Need
Docker Need
Feature Flags Need
Git Advanced Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
GitHub Copilot Need
GraphQL Design Need
gRPC & Protocol Buffers Need
High Load Architecture Need
InnerSource Practices Need
Kubernetes Core Need
OpenTelemetry Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Prometheus & Grafana Need
REST API Design Need
Secrets Management Need
SLI / SLO / SLA Need
Technology Radar Practice Need
Terraform Need
Algorithms & Complexity Need
Async Programming Need
Hexagonal Architecture Need
Microservices Decomposition Need
Documentation as Code Need
Monorepo Tools Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Multithreading Need
System Design Fundamentals Need
Design Patterns Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need
Structured Logging Need
Data Structures Need
On-Call Management Need
Technical Debt Management Need

Principal

10+ years

Responsibility: Technology strategy. Cross-team architecture. Company standards. Public expertise. 5-10% coding.

Key skills:

API Gateway Need
Architecture Decision Records (ADR) Need
Architecture Documentation: C4, arc42 Need
Architecture Fitness Functions Need
AWS Need
Clean Architecture Need
Code Review Need
DDD Strategic Patterns Need
DDD Tactical Patterns Need
Diagramming: Mermaid, PlantUML, D2 Need
Docker Need
Feature Flags Need
Git Advanced Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
GitHub Copilot Need
GraphQL Design Need
gRPC & Protocol Buffers Need
High Load Architecture Need
InnerSource Practices Need
Kubernetes Core Need
OpenTelemetry Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Prometheus & Grafana Need
REST API Design Need
Secrets Management Need
SLI / SLO / SLA Need
Technology Radar Practice Need
Terraform Need
Algorithms & Complexity Need
Async Programming Need
Hexagonal Architecture Need
Microservices Decomposition Need
Documentation as Code Need
Monorepo Tools Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Multithreading Need
System Design Fundamentals Need
Design Patterns Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need
Structured Logging Need
Data Structures Need
On-Call Management Need
Technical Debt Management Need

Career transitions

Possible career trajectories for the <strong>Technical Lead</strong> role

📈 Growth 1

Where you can grow from this role

╨а╨╛╤Б╤В ╨▓ ╨░╤А╤Е╨╕╤В╨╡╨║╤В╤Г╤А╤Г ╨╜╨░ ╤Г╤А╨╛╨▓╨╜╨╡ ╨║╨╛╨╝╨┐╨░╨╜╨╕╨╕

Match: 100%

↔️ Lateral 1

Adjacent roles for a lateral move

╨Я╨╡╤А╨╡╤Е╨╛╨┤ ╨▓ people management ╤Б ╤Б╨╛╤Е╤А╨░╨╜╨╡╨╜╨╕╨╡╨╝ ╤В╨╡╤Е╨╜╨╕╤З╨╡╤Б╨║╨╛╨│╨╛ ╨║╨╛╨╜╤В╨╡╨║╤Б╤В╨░

Match: 100%

🔙 Comes from 2

Roles people often move here from

╨а╨╛╤Б╤В ╨▓ ╤В╨╡╤Е╨╗╨╕╨┤╨░ Python-╨║╨╛╨╝╨░╨╜╨┤╤Л

Match: 100%

╨а╨╛╤Б╤В ╨▓ ╤В╨╡╤Е╨╗╨╕╨┤╨░ frontend-╨║╨╛╨╝╨░╨╜╨┤╤Л

Match: 100%