Career Paths for Software Engineers at NETCONOMY

Updated 29 June 2026

Our company and our technology stack have grown rapidly over the years. Naturally, our people grew right along with them, seeking to increase their impact, develop in new directions, or become deep specialists in specific areas. 

Our goal is to offer everyone at NETCONOMY the opportunity to take control of their career growth, fully supported by their lead and backed by a clear, concise framework. 

In this article, we’ll describe how our Software Engineering career paths are structured and explore the diverse possibilities they offer. 

Our Approach: Behaviors vs. Competencies 

When looking at the career paths for Software Engineers, not only technical skills need to be assessed and recognized, the role must be seen as a whole. Therefore, we differentiate between behaviors and competencies. We base our current model on this configuration, ensuring a holistic approach to professional growth. 

But what does it actually mean to separate behavior from competencies? Let’s look at a concrete example: 

• The Behavior (The “What”): Imagine a technical employee who regularly champions user stories. The behavior they show over time is the consistent execution of this task. This is deepened through repetition and is continuously improved via performance management and direct guidance from their lead. 

• The Competencies (The “How”): To successfully champion those stories, the employee needs specific underlying competencies, such as strong presentation and communication skills. Therefore, we define competencies for each level in our career paths that can be acquired or enhanced in trainings we suggest for each specific level. 

Of course, our people are supported and guided individually by our People Enablement Team and can suggest other trainings, that they think will be a fit for them. 

Furthermore, development isn’t just a once-a-year topic anymore. With our continuous assessment process, employees and leads go through this evaluation several times a year instead of relying on a single, yearly employee appraisal. 

Mapping the Journey: Our Career Levels 

Applying this holistic view to our engineering team, we define growth not by generic “years of experience,” but through clear, actionable milestones. Progression through our core levels is transparently guided and verified using the level-specific questionnaires we mentioned above. 

Every Software Engineer at NETCONOMY navigates through three core tiers, with the opportunity to branch into specialized roles: 

• Software Engineer: Focuses on foundational programming and basic development concepts. Guided by experienced colleagues, they write code based on clear specifications, assist with debugging, and learn to collaborate openly within the team. 

• Experienced Software Engineer: Works independently on design and implementation using coding best practices. While they actively improve team processes and begin mentoring junior peers, they still benefit from senior guidance. 

• Senior Software Engineer: Guides technical decisions, reviews code and optimizes performance. They master the entire lifecycle, from conceptualization to deployment, while maintaining high code quality, fostering innovation and organizing efficient workloads. 

• The Specialized Branch – Software Architect: For those expanding their impact on a structural level, this role drives the technical architecture and conception phase. Architects work closely with clients and teams to balance functional and non-functional requirements, ensuring the best solution fits the client’s needs and budget

Put simply, this means we expect a defined set of behaviors and competencies for each level. We have developed a separate questionnaire for each level to make it easier for employees and the lead to assess and rank their skills in both areas, instead of letting them rank themselves from 1 to 10 as we did before. With our newly defined process, they go through this assessment several times a year instead of yearly employee appraisals.

Beyond the Senior Level: The Trident Model 

What happens once you reach the senior level but don’t want to become a Software Architect? Your career path is far from over. Our Trident Model allows Seniors to develop their impact in three distinct directions based on their strengths and goals: 

• Management Positions: Shifting focus toward team leadership, people development and organizational growth. 

• Technical Leadership: Driving technical strategy, innovation, and high-level engineering excellence across projects. 

• Individual Contributor: Becoming a deep subject-matter expert and specialist in a specific area of interest. 

To make this happen, our leads collaborate closely with their team members to design a highly personalized development path, tailored to individual wishes, interests, and life circumstances.

Our Career Paths in Practice: Jürgen’s Story 

Jürgen started with us as a Testing Agent during his studies and has built an impressive career since then. After completing our internal traineeship, he became a Software Engineer and worked on a project for one of our biggest customers. There, he learned how to thrive in an agile team and successfully implement user stories. 

Driven to expand his skillset, he completed the SAP Commerce Certification and quickly took on new responsibilities, such as conceptualizing the technical implementation of features and operating Kubernetes. As he progressed through the careerlevels, he became highly proficient in collaborating closely with customers and delivering complex projects from start to finish under tight deadlines. 

To back his growing expertise, Jürgen earned prestigious certifications, including the iSAQB Certified Professional for Software Architecture and the Google Cloud Professional Architect. Today, he operates at Level A1, managing complex migration scenarios as a Software Architect. 

Growth and Perspective 

We believe everyone at NETCONOMY should have a clear vision for their future. Currently, 90% of our roles have defined career paths, and our other departments are busy creating structured paths for the rest. Even if some roles don’t have a set framework yet, we are always open to exploring your aspirations and building a personalized roadmap together.

At the end of the day, our employees’ growth is NETCONOMY’S growth, and we’re excited to build that future together.