Guidelines

The following guidelines are used to assess the level someone should be at within a specific job family.

We start with general guidelines for all job families. These are followed by job family specific guidelines which build on the general guidelines. Employees need to meet both the general and specific guidelines for the level.

Guidelines are meant as a guide to steer the assessment of levels alongside individual judgement and common sense. The levels are cumulative, i.e. the guidelines for B4 assume everything in A1 to B3, and the guidelines for C assume everything in A and B, etc.

General guidelines

Before getting into specific guidelines for job families, here are a few general guidelines that apply regardless of the job family, including some general principles to use when assigning levels, and some of the broader skills that we expect to see at each level.

A concept that can help when thinking about the relationship between broader and more specific skills is ‘T-shaped skills’. The vertical bar on the letter T is the depth of skills and expertise in the specific job family, whereas the horizontal bar is the ability to collaborate across disciplines with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than one's own.

A1 to A4: learning how to do the job**

more junior, learning the skills, and gaining the experience necessary to carry out their role. A1 have little or no prior experience in carrying out the role - they might have recently graduated or be changing career. A2 have some relevant skills and experience but have significant gaps in their knowledge (for example they may not be familiar with our tools and methods, and non profit business processes). They will still need a fair amount of support and supervision from more senior staff to carry out their job. While A3 and A4 people still have some gaps in their knowledge, they will have had significant involvement in at least 2 or 3 projects and be able to bring these experiences to bear on their day to day work.

B1 to B4: experienced and able to do the job*

Experienced and able to competently carry out the tasks for their role with little or no support from other staff. They are comfortable talking with clients and answering day to day questions from them. They have extensive experience and understanding of non profit business processes and how we use technology to help our clients. B3 and above are able to train more junior staff to carry out their role. They are confident project managers able to manage key relationships with clients (setting and monitoring budgets and timelines) and ensuring they are happy with our services. B4 have successfully managed our largest clients, won large new client contracts, and sold significant new services to existing customers.

C1 to C4: can improve how we work

Highly experienced in their role and bring this experience to their day to day work. They provide insights and feedback that we can use to improve our processes. They are able to effectively line manage others (though they may not do so). C2 and above have made significant improvements to how we work (e.g. curating CSF goals, leading retrospectives, implementing a new product or service, etc.). C3 and above are engaged with the business at a senior leadership level, playing a key role in setting the strategy for the organisation.

Project manager and consultant guidelines

A1 to A4

Getting their heads around what is possible with CiviCRM and how non-profits can make best use of it. They are also learning about non-profit business processes and the ways in which they work (fundraising, campaigning, communication, membership programs, etc.). They are learning about when code is useful and when it is better to avoid code.

B1 to B4

Have significant experience implementing CiviCRM (or similar systems) and are able to provide quality advice to clients on how they can best meet their requirements with CiviCRM and related technologies (payment processors, analytics, etc.). They know when CiviCRM and WordPress is the right tool for the job, and when it makes sense to use something else instead. They are comfortable talking about CiviCRM to clients and others that are interested (e.g. at conferences, pitches, etc.). They are comfortable working with designers and with developers on customisations to both CiviCRM and WordPress. B2 regularly train others (both internally and externally) on specific areas of CiviCRM and have in-depth understanding of some key areas of CiviCRM. As well as the project management and business development skills and experience mentioned in the general guidelines, B3 and B4 have experience making significant improvements to our toolkit and to CiviCRM and CiviCRM extensions (typically in collaboration with developers and designers and others in the CiviCRM community). C4 have experience successfully managing large and complex delivery projects.

C1 to C4

Have an in-depth understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of CiviCRM based on their experience meeting client needs. Have deep understanding of some non-profit business processes and experience in improving CiviCRM and related tools to meet these needs. C2 and have have used their experience to make significant improvements to how we run the company and how we meet our client needs.

Developer guidelines

A1 to A4

Developers at these levels understand the basic principles of coding but have limited real world experience of turning real world requirements into working code. They are learning how to write code that is reliable and easy to maintain. They may not be familiar with what is possible ‘out of the box’ and won’t be able to make the call on when a low or no code solution is better than a coded solution.

B1 to B4

Developers at this level are experienced in writing code for CiviCRM (or a comparable system that uses comparable technologies, e.g. other CRMs or business software). They write and document quality code. They have experience maintaining code for a specific project or client over multiple years. B2 and above are comfortable helping others with issues online and at events (sprints, developer training, etc.). They will be engaging with other CiviCRM developers on a regular basis. Developers in B3 and B4 have extensive experience with CiviCRM and related technologies and will know when code is the right solution for a problem and when no code solutions are available and preferable. They can provide training to more junior developers. They have a proven track record of keeping up with emerging technologies and applying them appropriately. They play a key part in creating our preferred client toolkit.

C1 to C4

Developers at this level are intimately familiar with CiviCRM or another relevant tool (e.g. WordPress, PHP, Vue, React, front-end (html+css) Docker, system administration, etc.). They are up to date with modern coding standards and best practice and are able to write idiomatic code in that framework and help others to do so. Developers at C2 and above are able to engage with clients, understand their needs and requirements and (when appropriate) turn their ideas into well architected quality and maintainable code. They are also able to train and communicate with clients to help them make the best use of the tools that we have developed for them. They are involved in conversations that set the direction for our development team.