testland/career-ladder-author
Build-an-X workflow that designs a QA career ladder - parallel individual-contributor and management tracks, per-level criteria across consistent axes, and observable promotion evidence per level - modeled on public engineering career frameworks (the Dropbox Engineering Career Framework, which includes Quality Engineer and SDET roles) and the career-development guidance in Camille Fournier's The Manager's Path (ISBN 978-1491973899). The ladder defines what each level looks like over a career - not a snapshot of the team's capability today, not a scorecard for grading external candidates against one open role, and not feedback on one person's recent work. Use when a QA org needs leveling criteria - before promotion season, during compensation banding, or when senior testers ask what comes next besides management.
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level-criteria-example.mdreferences/
Worked example - one mid-ladder level (QA-IC3)
A full level entry showing the fixed-axis criteria plus the observable-evidence and not-evidence blocks that Step 3 of career-ladder-author prescribes. Copy the shape; replace the content with the org's own QA work. The "not evidence" block is what keeps the ladder honest at promotion time.
QA-IC3 - Senior QA Engineer
Scope: Owns quality for a product area end to end; trusted to make test-approach decisions inside that area without review.
| Axis | Expectation |
|---|---|
| Results | Ships the test approach for area-sized features; escapes in the owned area trend down or stay at the team floor |
| Direction | Writes the test-strategy section for their area; flags risk trade-offs to the lead before they become escapes |
| Talent | Onboards new testers onto the area; gives review feedback that changes what others ship |
| Culture | Raises quality concerns outside their lane through the right channel, with evidence |
| Craft | Designs tests across at least two test levels; automation contributions reviewed without rework loops |
Observable promotion evidence (from work already done at IC2):
- Authored the test approach for >=2 area-sized deliveries, including one with a documented risk trade-off the team followed.
- A defect-escape or incident retro where their analysis changed team practice.
- Review comments on others' test code that produced concrete changes (linkable PRs).
- Onboarded >=1 tester onto the area, with the onboardee shipping independently after.
Explicitly not evidence: time in level; volume of test cases executed; certifications alone; being the only person who knows a system (that is a bus-factor problem, not seniority).