A place to find the growth tools available for our engineering team to develop and grow together with the fast growth of Vio.com.
The way we look at the growth of Vio.com is through the growth of our people. Growing together is perhaps the most fulfilling way to achieve and continuously improve oneself.
We aim to live the values of Vio.com. When you speak to people at Vio.com or look at how we act, you will recognise the values in our actions. As Ben Horowitz nicely named his book about business culture - "WHAT you do is WHO you are". Being part of Vio.com means doing as it is defined by our values.
We are building a great long-lasting business disrupting one of the largest industries in the world. Every day we work on delighting our customers with the most amazing deal at the best price, worldwide. Every day we work on creating opportunities for our suppliers to reach out to many more customers, worldwide.
Every engineer has the opportunity to grow together with the fast growing Vio.com team. Everyone on the team is ready to help you build your dream career here at Vio.com.
It is normal to look for a reference point to understand where you are in your growth. We are not addicted to career ladders but they are useful as a reference point to set one's growth path. Vio.com’s ladder contains six levels in two career tracks - makers and managers. At Vio.com we support the transition between the different career tracks when at the same level and with a clear 6-12 months development plan to close any gaps in the required skills & expertise.
Each progression level consists of 3 sub-levels enabling everyone to make small and tangible steps towards the next level. Such a design makes the career ladder challenging to “climb“ but very fulfilling as even small learning steps matter.
To move between the different levels in the career ladder, you have to develop a set of skills or in other words you have to grow. Hence, it is important to understand how the growth model helps you follow your path and how you can manage your growth.
There are four growth tracks each containing four specialisations that are designed to help you grow in the context of Vio.com and in accordance with your professional interests. Each specialisation has five levels of awesomeness one can achieve. Those are the milestones. They relate to what we expect, what we strive for and what we believe in.
Note that the growth tracks allow everyone to develop skills in different areas despite the career track they are currently on. Either maker or manager, everyone is able to strengthen their skills and expertise in a technical, operational, organisational or leadership topics. This model enables the development of an I-shaped or a T-shaped profile. It all depends on your choice and we are here to help you with your future growth. The only expectation and guidance is that when you advance in your career your profile will be gradually moving towards a T-shaped one.
This is a unique feature of this growth model that we truly believe in. All people are different and smart. Talented people often would like to grow in many different and complementary areas. So, let’s do that together!
For every specialisation and milestone there are a couple of examples of behaviour and achievements. These are added to clarify the expectations for a particular specialisation milestone.
The growth model is a great tool to support one's growth but it doesn't set the expectations in a concise way so that people from across the organisation can easily determine what to expect from you. To complement the growth model we have outlined the expectations for each level. With that defined, the growth model is the tool to help you grow and the progression levels are what we expect to see you doing at a certain level. Both are complimentary and comprise Vio.com's toolbox to help you grow.
Each progression level is defined with two elements.
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You should have - This is what you should have in order to be considered at a certain level. Note that covering 80% of this requirements is sufficient to consider one to be ready for the next level.
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We expect you to - This is what we expect you to do at a specific level. In other words those are your responsibilities and accountabilities. The same expectation in some cases could be a responsibility and in others an accountability. For instance, you are responsible for your tasks but you are accountable for the same task should you have delegated it. We expect everyone to meet between 70%-100% of the expectations and this percentage should increase when you transition between the sub-levels.
Although everyone can choose which specialisation to develop, we would like to help you being successful in the track that you have selected as your dream career path. Therefore, for most progression levels we will recommend specific growth specialisations that will help you be successful.
Note that the recommendations won’t provide you with sufficient milestone points to move between the levels. Hence, the final step between two levels will require you to self-reflect and decide which specialisations to further develop. Keep in mind what is expected in the current and next level.
Please use this information as a guidance and a foundation for conversations with your growth manager. We expect you to work on development plans to rapidly learn, grow and advance in your career. We officially evaluate one's growth and performance bi-annually. Should you need any support and other resources to meet the growth objectives you have set to yourself, do not hesitate to ask your growth manager for support and advice.
Makers progression levels
Managers progression levels
Once a milestone is achieved and the requirements for a progression level are met, you can expect to be promoted to the next level on the ladder.
It is important to remember that it is expected to consistently demonstrate the skills, expertise and behaviours required for each specialisation milestone. Hence, if a particular specialisation milestone has been degraded in the past six months period this is a clear signal that you are performing below the expectations in regards to that specific specialisation milestone.
This is possible to happen due to various reasons and in the next six months period we expect you to step up your game to the specialisation milestone that you have had demonstrated in the past or to compensate with the development of another specialisation.
This work is inspired by (sometimes direct copy) many different models used in different companies.
The growth tracks are inspired by the implementation @ Medium and are also building on top of prior work of people at Vio.com on implementing such models.
The career ladder is inspired by, hmmm, tons of tech companies out there that have defined it before we even thought we will be growing so fast. The naming of the ladder tracks "makers” and “managers” are inspired by the creative naming in Medium’s growth rubric.
The progression levels work is inspired by many ideas that we have tried and that worked. Some of the most inspiring work is: