WAYPOINTS

Credits & Acknowledgements

This engineering career framework was developed with the intention of providing clear, actionable guidance for engineering career development across different organization sizes and contexts. It represents a synthesis of industry best practices, real-world experiences, and contemporary thinking about engineering progression.

Authors

The primary authors of this framework are:

This framework was initially developed with the support of Float Health and Andela.

Contributors

We would like to thank all the individuals and organizations who contributed their time, expertise, and insights to the development of this framework. While many contributors prefer to remain anonymous, their collective experience spans startups, growth-stage companies, and enterprises across various industries.

Special thanks to:

  • [TODO Add named contributors once permission has been granted]
  • Numerous engineering leaders who participated in framework validation, despite busy schedules
  • HR/People Operations professionals who provided guidance on implementation
  • Engineers across different levels who offered feedback on clarity and applicability

Inspirational Sources

This framework builds upon and was inspired by several excellent public engineering ladders and career frameworks, including:

Career Frameworks

Methodology

Feedback and Evolution

This framework is designed to evolve. We encourage organizations implementing it to:

  • Adapt it to their specific context and needs
  • Share their experiences and learnings
  • Contribute improvements back to the community
  • Maintain the spirit of transparency and growth that inspired its creation

License and Usage

This framework is provided for use under a combination of Creative Commons and MIT licenses.

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

This work, including the Waypoints Career Development Framework documentation and any related non-code assets, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially

Under the following terms:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Full license text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

MIT License (for Code Contributions)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.