Technical Careers

Technical Careers are a professional growth model associated with a specific technical discipline that is central or essential to the business. Technical Careers arise from the need to preserve a specific and key set of knowledge within the Company to ensure its sustainability and strategic competitiveness.

The use of Technical Careers becomes especially relevant when the technical talent in question is not available in the market or is too expensive, i.e. there is not an adequate relationship between the market cost of external advice and the creation of value for the Company that results from receiving such advice.



Having technical careers becomes especially relevant when the technical talent in question is not available in the market or is too expensive, i.e. there is not an adequate relationship between the market cost of external advice and the creation of value for the company that results from receiving such advice.



The above shows how Technical Careers provide a career vision and concrete growth possibilities for people whose vocation is technical and who would otherwise find a ceiling in their professional development within the Company. Without the Technical Careers model, professionals with outstanding technical skills who do not wish to embark on a Management Career will have to find pathways for professional growth outside the company, for example, in the world of consulting.

People who are assigned to a Technical Career should show a deep vocation for knowledge over other possibilities offered by the Company, and in particular prefer technical subjects over the supervision of people, since -generally- this implies discarding the Management Career.

Furthermore, Technical Careers allow communicating the needs of a given specialty, highlighting those aspects that are especially valued and make them more valuable to the Company. They also facilitate the understanding of the specific training and development needs of a specialty and provide encouragement to attend, participate and execute activities that allow access to career advancement.

Since career advancement is related to performance, this tool acts as a motivator of excellence.

And how is a Technical Career implemented?

The implementation of the Technical Career Model is based on a formal process that allows certain employees to enroll and advance in the Technical Career to levels of greater responsibility and authority, and consequently higher compensation. Once employees meet certain requirements, they are eligible for consideration for promotion to a higher career level.

As a first step, it is recommended to check the need for a Technical Career in a certain area. It is common to find companies that seek to use Technical Careers as a way to grant salary increases to those people "at the top" of the salary scale, and who it is known that they will not be promoted because they do not have the skills to continue their growth in the Management Career (for these cases there are other appropriate tools).

Once this issue has been analyzed, the key lies in the design of a "Technical Career Map or Matrix":

The Technical Career Map is the central tool for managing Technical Careers in a company. This tool allows us to:

• Identify the profiles needed to feed a given Technical Career
• Identify the development level of a person within a technical career
• Determine the possibility of reflecting advances within the Career
• Document and communicate the needs of a Technical Career in terms of Knowledge, Training, Competencies and Development Activities
• Linking remuneration and recognition levels

From CompStrategy we can help you to design the Career Maps, procedures and policies to implement this Model reaching a level of excellence in talent management. Do not hesitate to contact us.