Learning Hour Career Milestones

These milestones can help senior developers to reason about where they are in their skill and career progression with Learning Hour teaching skills. The Samman Technical Coaching Career has a similar track for Ensemble Milestones. There is more information about training and support for reaching these milestones on the Samman Training Page.

  1. Facilitate learning hours based on detailed existing materials, including video. Senior developers can lead learning hours with their own team of developers. They learn the materials by taking part in sessions led by a more experienced coach. They have good enough facilitation skills to lead discussions and assist hands-on exercises, presenting topics using videos of code demos made by others.

  2. Lead learning hours based on existing plans and exercises, adapted for the needs of the team. Senior developers continue leading learning hours with their own team of developers. They learn the materials by taking part in sessions led by a more experienced coach. They have good presentation skills - they can take existing materials and present them in their own way, tailored for the situation. This includes code demos.

  3. Design and lead new learning hours on topics specifically chosen for the needs of their team. Senior developers lead learning hours with their own team of developers. Coaching becomes a formal part-time role at around 20%. They develop their own materials based on the needs of the team. The coach has good teaching skills and can present a technical topic well.

  4. Design and lead sequences of related learning hours for more complicated topics. Senior developers now have a part-time coaching role of around 50% alongside their development work. They continue leading learning hours with their own team of developers, and occasionally other teams on specific topics. They develop their own materials based on the needs of the organization, putting together series of learning hours to teach more complicated topics. The coach has good teaching skills and can mentor individuals on specific topics.

  5. Coach other technical coaches to improve their learning hour design and delivery. Technical coach is now the main role of the senior developer. They have responsibility for coaching several teams in the organization as well as training other coaches. This role is equivalent to a staff engineer or architect position. They have good mentoring skills and can motivate the value of their work to managers and developers alike.

Note: These milestones are still in draft and under review by the Samman Society. The details are likely to be updated.