Build your competency matrix

New and futuristic technologies are being introduced every year. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things, etc., demand more skills from software engineers, who are the backbone of all digital apps and automation we use daily. I often get asked, “How can I do it better?” or “How can I improve myself for my job?”. So how can they know where they’re lacking and what they need to improve? I often recommend that engineers look at the success guide provided by the company for their level and levels above and build a competency matrix.? It is a crucial asset that helps engineers and practicing professionals improve their body of knowledge, expertise, and skillset.

What is a Competency Matrix?

A competency matrix helps define the areas of work and how good you are at them based on competency levels. A person’s expertise in such skills can be measured by the seven levels of responsibility outlined in detail by the SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age). A software engineer must be well-equipped with knowledge in software development, requirements, design, testing, and more complex procedures to be an indispensable asset to a company.

Visually, a competency matrix for a software engineer can look something like this:

The 7 Levels of Responsibility Define How Good You Are in that Particular Area

From low to high, the levels of responsibility have increasing attributes for individuals’ autonomy, influence, complexity, business skills, and knowledge. The higher the level, the more proficient that person is in the specific domain being evaluated.?

For example, suppose a person has a responsibility level of 7 for software design. In that case, this means they can plan out and create a set goal for their project realistically and lead teams by giving them clear-cut directives and communicating with them effectively and coherently. The person can take responsibility and accountability for their work and others.

A responsibility level of 1 indicates that the engineer has the basic knowledge required to perform the rudimentary tasks required by his area of expertise. He cautiously works under close direction and performs all his duties while sticking to a solid schedule, routine, and structured environment.

The traits of a person that the seven levels of responsibility are evaluated on are:

• Autonomy – How discrete and exclusive they are as a person and how they take responsibility for their actions and decisions.
• Influence – How well the person can be a role model for their fellow workers and how they can influence others to work and enhance the development quality of their projects.
• Complexity – How they take on increasingly difficult tasks to meet their goals and formulate strategic ideas based on a deep understanding of the industry.
• Business Skills – How well a person communicates, plans, schedules, learns, and works within the company to create opportunities and learning experiences. These include security measures and privacy as well.
• Knowledge – To do any work, you must know enough about it beforehand to ensure you know what you’re doing.

Source: SFIA

How do you think you should go about building your Competency Matrix?

As a software engineer, you must be able to assess and realize how proficient you are in your realm of work. This will allow you to understand better and improve your skillset and responsibility level. After all, who doesn’t want to be better at what they do?

By identifying their strengths and weaknesses, software engineers can close the gap between them and their career goals.

You can follow these steps to help build your competency matrix from scratch:

1. Body of Knowledge

Any area of work requires a body of knowledge that you must have to be able to perform the tasks required in it. As a software engineer, you require a deep understanding of the different programming languages, best practices, engineering processes, communications, etc. Step 1 is to identify the tools you'll need under your sleeve as a software engineer.

2. Setting Levels of Competency and Assessment

The highly competitive work environment requires you to go above and beyond the basic needs to gain recognition and approbation. Once the bodies of knowledge have been identified, you should set the competency scale for each skill using different levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert, master, and so on.?

Here you can make use of the seven levels of responsibility. As a software engineer, you must have a wide basin of knowledge for each required skill and social skill for the workplace, like communication, leadership skills, management, scheduling, and project design. Once the scale is set, evaluate yourself based on the criteria for each level and identify where you stand in each skill mentioned.

3. Analysis

Once your competency matrix has been completed, you can go over to identify the areas that are your undoubted strengths and the areas that need improvement. Also, take coworkers/mentors/manager help, and have them take a look to give a second opinion on the assessment.

4. Identifying Other Skills You Want to Master

After analyzing your completed competency matrix, the next step should be to single out the domains you want to improve yourself. For software engineers, these domains can include learning a new language, technical communication, software development methodologies, design pattern, etc.

5. Draft Up an Improvement Plan

Now that you know what you must improve on, the last step towards betterment is drafting a properly scheduled, realistic, and optimized plan. This will be your path toward building your skills and polishing up what you already know to have more tools to work with. Software engineers should take the initiative by attending workshops on different programming topics like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing as these are the domains people want experts to work in.

Conclusion

Software engineers are improving daily, and new technologies are being introduced into the fray, which requires them to have new skills that they must become proficient in. Keeping up with the speed of advancement is difficult; identifying where you need improvement or lacking can seem arduous.

A competency matrix is a critical and vital tool that will help you visualize how good you are and how you can turn that “good” into “great” and “great” into “excellent.” All software engineers must take time out for self-evaluation. By going through some simple steps, you can easily build and give shape to your competency matrix and make a concrete plan that will lead to definite improvement.