OPERATIONS SKILL MATRIX A

SCOPE
LEVEL
TITLE
Work Ethic

N-1
Entry/Intern

Responsible for Self

N-2
Individual Contributor

N-3
Senior Individual
Contributor
Gets things done: Works hard. Takes responsibility for their own actions: doesn't blameshift. When faced w

Customer Support Viewing everyone you interact with as a customer. Following through on commitments and taking the extra
Demonstrating the ability to make decisions in the best interest of both the consumer, NetOps, and our com
alternatives and information. Recognizes the need for and maintains confidentiality when necessary. View

Communication

Has reasonable verbal

skills

Has reasonable written

and verbal skills.

Work Quality &

Efficiency

Follows team processes Follows team processes.

and reads documents.
Documents work.
Digs in and makes
Attention to detail. Digs
progress on work.
in and makes progress
on work.

Good written and verbal

skills; Ability to work well
with others.

Improves existing team

processes. Creates
effective documention
used by others. Attention
to detail. Digs in and
makes progress on
work. Stays focused
and isn't distracted by
irrelevant things.

Decision Making:
Creativity,
Judgment,
Initiative &
Flexibility

Needs direction; Knows

when to ask questions.
Takes initiative to tackle
tasks relevant to skill
level.

Can work independently

with minimal direction.
Takes initiative to tackle
tasks relevant to skill
level. Capable of and
responsive to change.

Self-starting, able to
work with minimal
direction from
management.
Understands need for
lateral thinking; Displays
willingness to adapt to
new ways of doing
business.

Teamwork &
Culture

Strives to be a team
player. Does their best
to support the team and
extend trust and
confidence to others.

Strives to be a team
player. Fosters team by
demonstrating trust,
confidence, and
commitment in others'
actions and decisions to
create a supportive work
environment.

Effective team player.

Fosters team by
demonstrating trust,
confidence, and
commitment in others'
actions and decisions to
create a supportive work
environment. Is able to
detect when things aren't
working and works to
address problems.

Able to scope out small

projects;

Able to scope out small Able to scope out

projects; build packages; medium sized projects;
do service deployment; service deployment; Able
to drive simple live
cutovers

Technical
Leadership

TECHNICAL
ABILITY

N-1

N-2

N-3

System Design n/a

and Architecture

Appreciates basic trade- Understands basic

offs for large scale
components in service.
administration.
Able to create
requirements which
reflect solid large scale
administrative principles.

Diagnosis &
Able to follow basic
Troubleshooting diagnosis scripts and
resolve expected
problems.

Able to follow basic

diagnosis scripts. Has
basic understanding of
decomposing problems
into smaller problems.
Knows when to pull in
someone to help.

Uses causal reasoning

to triage problems.
Demonstrated ability to
decompose complex
problems. Able to
engage in lateral
investigations.

Understands the need

for operations-ready
systems, can articulate
the need for automation;
has a "trust nothing"
mindset. Detail oriented.

Able to clearly articulate

key operational
principles, able to
identify key items to be
automated; able to
estimate what is most
likely to break. Extremely
detail oriented. Always
has a plan B. Able to
perform capacity
planning.

able to write scripts;

knowledge of 1-2
scripting languages; can
read C. Understands
code management.

can program in an
administrative language;
Can port & install C
programs and create
packages. Understands
code management.

Operations

Understands the need

for operations-ready
systems.

Programming
able to understand and
Ability (Shift right write simple scripts.
1 for NOC,
networking, and
facilities; Level 58 applicable to
technical track)

O/S Knowledge & Good users skills with

Diversity (shift one OS.
right 1 for people
not working on
hosts day to day)

Strong user skills in

primary OS; Basic admin
experience Understands
local OS environment

Expert user skills with

one OS; Strong admin
skills with one OS; User
knowledge of second
OS; Basic performance
tuning skills;

LAN & Networking familiarity with hubs &

Experience (shift switches, routers
right 2 for people
not in networking
group and make
3rd level ceiling)

basic understanding of
LAN, UDP/TCP, ports
and services,
Nets/Subnets/Routing.
Basic network gear
configuration experience

Understands LAN
routing protocols;
Intermediate network
equipment configuration
skills and WAN circuit
management. Able to
examine packet traces to
debug problems.

Understands the need

for security. Has basic
host security knowledge;
understands the concept
of a firewall. Takes a
defensive posture.

Understands security
theory. Can install and
configure basic firewalls.
Understands VPN
technology and
implementation.
Understanding of
certification,
authentication and
intrusion detection.
Understands basic
intrusion response.

Security (Levels
above 3
applicable to
security folks
only)

Understands the need

for security; knows to
ask for help with respect
to security.

Databases (Shift
right by 2 for non
DBA, and cap at
1)

Can write basic SQL

queries; Understands
basic database concept;
able design a basic
schema; can perform
basic database
monitoring.

Can write SQL and read

PL/SQL. Can perform
basic database
installation, creation, and
monitoring knowledge;
Understands basic
database concept;
Understands basic
replication. Can perform
basic database tuning.
Can be responsible for
basic database backup
and recovery.

Can write complex SQL

and PL/SQL; can
perform database
installation, creation, and
monitoring knowledge
with basic troubleshooting skills; Can
establish backup
policies; Can tune
performance;
Understands database
internals; Understands
database networking;
Able to evaluate
replication strategies.

Facilities (shift Understands need for,

right 2 for people and able to cleanly wire,
who don't work in rack, and mount devices
a data center,
Level 2 max for
not facilities team)

Can clearly articulate

data center standards.
Basic electrical signalling
(ethernet length, how
many pairs, etc).
Familiarity with
datacenter facilities
infrastructure (Power, Air
flow, cabling).

Can clearly articulate

data center standards
and can develop labeling
and basic layout plans.
Understands signal flows
on all media (and can
use test sets for those),
Understands power
(phases, ground, etc),
able to deal with vendors
to resolve technical
issues.

Telco (N/A for

other Groups)

Basic knowledge of
transports types (digital
hierarchy) and basic
alarms. Can follow test
plans to verify
provisioning is correct.

Can test transports and

knowledge of
components used.
Knowledge of specific
network advance
features. Detailed
understanding of
provision and able to
debug provisioning
problems. Able to read
and understand carrier
billing. Able to decode
common signally
protocols.

Detailed knowledge of
carrier transport and
advanced features and
understanding how
those features are
implemented. Able to
guess what phone
company has deployed.
Able to order circuits and
specific all features. Able
to read and understand
carrier billing and
understanding tariff
structures. Able to read
basic signally trace.

NOC (N/A for

other groups.
Specific for the
NOC)

Can tell the difference

between Red, Yellow,
and Green; Perform
basic maintenance
functions such as pushtruth, Keyme, etc; Will
assist with diagnosis of
issues. Correctly
decides when to
escalate to more senior
personnel. Understands
the documentation
methods that are used
by the NOC; Able to
understand the material.

Tracks alerts as they

arrive in the system and
are able to take initial
actions for remediation;
Understands concepts
about marking hosts in
and out of service; can
update load balancer
configs; Perform pod
maintenance and
activations; can perform
basic functionality and
host level testing of the
maintenance that was
performed; Able to own
and resolve simple
issues. Correctly
decides when to
escalate to more senior
personnel.

Tracks alerts as they

arrive in the system.
Able to correlate events
as they pertain to other
activities. Able to
remedy situations based
on alert information. Able
to perform complex
upgrades of service
groups, and confirm that
things are functioning
correctly when complete.
Will own issues with
medium complexity and
will drive them to
resolution.

Relevant Work
Experience

0-3 year

2-6 years

4+ years

2-years or equivalent

BA/BS or equivalent

BA/BS or equivalent

Degree

NOTE: The section on technical leadership, as well as many of the soft skills needs to be updated making use of insig
Mark Verber 2005, Some Rights Reserved
See Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License for terms

ERATIONS SKILL MATRIX AND LEVELING

Responsible for Team
N-4
N-5
Staff / Manager
Sr Staff / Sr. Manager

Responsible for Company and Community

N-6
N-7
Architect / Director
Senior Architect /
Senior Director
ctions: doesn't blameshift. When faced with difficulties, looks for solutions. Displays a sense of personal pride for their work.

ugh on commitments and taking the extra steps to show the consumer that they are important. Treating all consumers with respect.
both the consumer, NetOps, and our company Expressing professionalism, understanding, fairness, self-control and willingness to share
ains confidentiality when necessary. Viewing the client as your job rather than as an interruption of your job.

Strong verbal & written

skills; Works well with
others; Can distill
complex issue to a short
and simple explination.
Can work with upper
management;

Very strong verbal &

written skills; Works well
with others. Can bridge
communication gaps.
Understands the need to
develop a listener
oriented communication
strategy; Works with
upper managers;

Very strong verbal &

written skills; Works well
with others and bridges
communication gaps;
Able to communicate
cross cultures; Can work
with executives; Able to
speak publicly;

Very strong verbal &

written skills; Improve
any team they are part
of; Able to communicate
position even when
others have conflicting
viewpoints; Works well
with executives;
Accomplished speaker.

Understands quality
improvement process.
Creates new processes
and documentation.
Stays focused on key
issues and efficient in
time use. Produces the
desired outcome with a
minimum of effort. Able
to estimate schedules.

Leads quality
improvement process
and motivates others.
Authors team processes
and documents. Highly
effective at completed
work on time. Able to
effectively estimate
schedules. Finds ways
to improve efficiency of
team.

Can drive meta

processes. Authors
organizational process.
Attention to detail.
Highly effective at
completed work on time.
Able to effectively
estimate schedules. Is
able to improve
efficiency across
organizations.

Drives meta processes;

Authors organizational
processes. Attention to
detail. Highly effective at
completed work on time.
Able to effectively
estimate schedules.
Has a proven track
record of improving the
company's overall
efficiency.

Able to initiate projects;

Able to provide direction
to management on
technical matters.
Identifies what needs to
be done and acts before
being asked to or
required by the situation.

Able to initiate cross

team projects; Able to
provide direction to
management on
technical matters.
Consistently anticipates
and drives needed
changes.

Initiates cross team

projects; Provides out-ofthe-box solutions to
difficult problems. Able to
balance technical and
business needs.
Consistently anticipates
and drives needed
changes.

Initiates cross team

projects; Provides out-ofthe-box solutions to
difficult problems. Able to
balance technical and
business needs.
Consistently anticipates
and drives needed
changes.

Effective team player.

Fosters team by
demonstrating trust,
confidence, and
commitment in others'
actions and decisions to
create a supportive work
environment. Is able to
detect when things aren't
working and works to
address problems.
Introduces new
members to team
culture. Encourages
others to value team
culture.

Improves any team they

are part of. Actively looks
to provide mentorship
and encouragement to
team members;
Involvement with outside
community. Reaches out
to other teams;
Regularly examines
team culture looking for
ways to improve team
dynamics;

Improves any team they

are part of; Actively looks
to provide mentorship
and encouragement to
team members;
Involvement with outside
community. Reaches out
to other teams;
Regularly examines
company culture looking
for ways to improve it; Is
able to separate
personal agenda from
company direction.

Improves any team they

are part of; Proven as a
transformational coach;
Involvement with outside
community. Reaches out
to other teams;
Regularly examines
company culture looking
for ways to improve it; Is
able to separate
personal agenda from
company direction.

Ability to mentor team

members; plan and
provide technical
leadership for medium
sized projects. Able to
create formal
requirements for a
project. Able to own live
cutovers.

Ability to plan and

provide technical
leadership for large
sized projects; Ability to
provide mentorship &
technical leadership to
staff; Participates with
the external technical
community. Skilled at
formalizing requirements
for projects.

Ability to plan and

provide technical
leadership for large size
projects across
organizational structures
and anticipate needs;
Ability to provide
mentorship & technical
leadership to technical
staff; Provides
leadership to technical
community (published,
active committee
member, etc.)

Proven ability to plan

and provide technical
leadership for large size
projects across
organizational structures
and anticipate needs;
Ability to provide
mentorship & technical
leadership to technical
staff; Provides
leadership to technical
community (published,
active committee
member, etc.)

N-4

N-5

N-6

N-7

Solid understanding of
production services.
Expert in large scale
administration.
Understands basic
techniques and tradeoffs for HA (High
Availability) systems.

Expert in large scale

administration. Able to
design complex services
which have high
availability requirements;

Ability to design complex

systems trading off
technical issues and
other factors. Skilled at
creating requirements
from customer
interviews.

Proven ability to
architect complex
systems which meet
customers' needs even
when need isn't well
articulated.

Uses causal reasoning

to triage problems.
Skilled at decomposing
complex problems.
Skilled at lateral
investigations. Skilled at
weighting options and
can reason from first
principles.

Uses causal reasoning

to triage problems.
Skilled at decomposing
complex problems.
Skilled at lateral
investigations. Able to
rapidly correlate
problems against
experience. Can write
good post mortem.

Able to diagnose any

technical problem in a
timely fashion. Can
write a good client facing
RCA (Root Cause
Analysis).

Able to diagnose any

problem, even when it
crosses company
boundries.

Able to clearly articulate

key operational
principles, able to
identify key items to be
automated; able to
estimate what is most
likely to break. Extremely
detail oriented. Always
has a plan B.
Experiences at capacity
planning

Able to clearly articulate

key operational
principles, able to
identify key items to be
automated; able to
estimate what is most
likely to break. Extremely
detail oriented. Able to
plan for all normal and
abnormal situations.

program in an
administrative language;
Can write simple C
programs. Able to scope
small size software
projects.

fluent in Perl, C or other

systems language;
known system API and
can write networking
code; able to design a
good API

project level coding

experience; know 3+
languages; able to
decompose complex
systems and identify key
APIs.

project level coding

experience; know 3+
languages; able to
decompose complex
systems and identify key
APIs. Theory
background.

Expert user and admin

skills primary OS; Strong
user and admin skills
with second OS and/or
specialty systems;
Strong understanding of
primary OS kernel.

Expert user and admin

skills primary OS; Strong
user and admin skills
with second OS and/or
specialty systems;
Expert understanding of
primary OS kernel; OS
theory background.

Deep WAN and LAN

routing protocols
experience; Any to work
to resolve problems from
hardware to application
layer. Understands
Networking Theory.

Deep WAN and LAN

protocols experience;
Any to work to resolve
problems to application
layer. Experience
designing networks for
HA services. Network
theory.

Understands complex
site design. Experience
dealing with Internet
scale topology. Deep
appreciate of trade-off
for service availible.
Understands QoS.

Strong security design

and theory; Design and
configure complex
firewalls. Can build basic
certification,
authentication and
intrusion detection
systems. Basic
understanding of
incident response and
forensics acquisition.

Expert understanding of
current security
technology, including
firewalls, VPNs, intrusion
detection, certification
and authentication.
Designs site-wide
security infrastructure.
Can lead incident
response. Solid
knowledge of forensics
analysis, and legal
implications.

Expert understanding of
current security
technology, including
firewalls, VPNs, intrusion
detection, certification
and authentication. Can
lead company wide
security program which
implements industry
standards. Skilled at
balancing technical and
business requirements.

Expert understanding of
current security
technology, including
firewalls, VPNs, intrusion
detection, certification
and authentication. Sr
Dir. has led company
wide security program
which implements
industry standards. Sr
Arch: Has moved the
industry forward.

Extensive experience in
daily database
administration; defines
policies within database;
Skilled at schema
design; Performs
application and
database tuning;
Defines data recovery
strategy; Has good
knowledge of the
distributed database;
Can develop database
replication strategies;

Fully understand
database internals and
features; Expert in
schema design; Has
thorough system and
database tuning
knowledge; Can devise
complex strategies to
meet data available and
performance metrics.

Fully understand
database internals and
features; Expert in
schema design; Can
devise complex
strategies to meet
availability and
performance metrics;
data warehousing and
experience doing
information
management.

Can create a project

book. Understands
signal flows on all media
(and can use test sets
for those). Can model
basic cooling. Can make
tradeoff for power
distrubution. Can lay out
physical space designed
for reliability. Can order
and manage all
materials for a build out.
Manage vendors and
subcontractors.

Has built data centers in

the past. Outside plant
experience with OC-X.
Can model and resolve
cooling. Designs for
workflow and reliablity.
Establish specifications
for subcontractors and
can run geo-diverse
work crews.

Facilities infrastructure
engineering experience;
able to develop
standards and best
practices across multiple
datacenter sites; plan for
company growth and
changing business
needs.

Fully understand
database internals and
features; Expert in
schema design; Can
devise complex
strategies to meet
availability and
performance metrics;
data warehousing and
experience doing
information
management. advanced
information processing
expertise (SLT, etc).

Detailed knowledge of
carrier transport and
advanced features and
understanding how
those features are
implemented with
specific knowledge of
carriers equipment.
Creates feature
templates.
Understanding tariffs
and how billing
integrates with carrier
equipment.
Understanding what
networks can support
what signaling. Able to
debug complex signaling
issues.

Detailed knowledge of
carrier transport and
advanced features and
understanding how
those features are
implemented with
specific knowledge of
carriers equipment.
Deep understanding of
carrier provisioning and
be able to effective
escalate problems.
Understanding tariffs
and how billing
integrates with carrier
equipment. Can design
and build a phone
network.

Expert on transport,
signaling, switching,
provisioning. Command
of voice network
features, and how they
are build. Able to
formulate new services
using existing and new
protocols.

All of the prior. Also

understands the
infrastructure associated
with the monitoring
system. Able to manage
maintenance activities of
others and keep tabs on
the relationships of what
is occurring and the
effects that are being
seen. Will manage other
members of Netops and
drive issues to
resolution. Owns and
resolves complex issues.
Involves senior
management as
necessary.

All of the prior. Also

understands the
infrastructure associated
with the monitoring
system. Able to manage
maintenance activities of
others and keep tabs on
the relationships of what
is occurring and the
effects that are being
seen. Will manage other
members of Netops and
drive issues to
resolution. Owns and
resolves complex issues.
Involves senior
management as
necessary.

6+ years

8+ years

12+ years

15+ years

BS in CS or equivalent

MS or equivalent

MS or equivalent

MS or equivalent

eeds to be updated making use of insights from action research, orginizational learning, and leadership fields

pany and Community

N-8
Fellow/VP

pride for their work.

all consumers with respect.

f-control and willingness to share
b.

Very strong verbal &

written skills; Highly
effective at getting
consensus even with
others who have
conflicting agendas;
Works with executives
outside company
Accomplished speaker.

Drives meta processes;

Authors organizational
processes. Attention to
detail. Highly effective at
completed work on time.
Able to effectively
estimate schedules.
Has transformed
company's efficiency.

Fundamentally changes
what products and
services are offered;
Proven ability to
anticipate trends; Able to
spot discontinuities in
technical and business
landscape.

Creates a culture that

allows the team to
operate at peak
efficency and learn
together.

Proven ability to drive

cross company projects;
Ability to provide
mentorship/technical
leadership to technical
staff; Provides
leadership to technical
community (published,
active committee
member, etc.)

N-8

Has created completely

new or novel solutions to
exceptionally difficult
problems though
effective re-framing
changing what
constrains are applied

Can solve intractable

problems by moving the
industry or redefining the
problem space.

Expert understanding of
current security
technology, including
firewalls, VPNs, intrusion
detection, certification
and authentication. VP:
Has led company wide
security program which
implements industry
standards. Fellow: Has
made major advance in
state of the art.

ership fields

20+ years

MS or equivalent

RESOURCES FOR OPERATIONS CA

Help to move to the nex

LEVEL

N-1

N-2

TITLE

Entry

Individual Contributor

Work Ethic
Customer Support

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Covey. Getting Things Done - David Allen
Raving Fans

Communication

Elements of Style - White

Work Quality & Efficiency

Effective Executive Drucker

Decision Making: Creativity,

Judgment, Initiative &
Flexibility

Teamwork & Culture

TECHNICAL ABILITY
Technical Leadership

System Design and

Architecture

Diagnostic &
Troubleshooting [[Work in
Progress]]

Operations

Laderal Thinking - DeBono

Built to Last - Collins

N-1

Effective Executive Drucker

N-2

Internal Architecture and

Design Documents

de Bono's Thinking Course

Programming Ability

The Perl Manual

O/S Knowledge & Diversity The UNIX Programming

Environment - Pike.
Tutorials at LISA

LAN & Networking

Experience

Security

System Administration - Evi

Nemeth. Attend LISA
Technical Sessions

TCP/IP Illustationed Stevens. Attend NANOG

Practical Unix and Internet Building Internet Firewalls Security - Spaf & Garfinkel Chapman & Zwicky,
Firewalls and Internet
Security - Cheswick &
Bellovin. SANS material

Databases

Attend OracleWorld

Facilities

Mark Verber 2005, Some Rights Reserved

See Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License for terms

ESOURCES FOR OPERATIONS CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Help to move to the next level
N-3

N-4

N-5

Senior Individual
Contributor

Staff / Manager

Sr Staff / Sr. Manager

The Pyramid Principle

Six Thinking Hats - De
Logic in Writing & Thinking Bono
- Barbara Minto

Divide or Conquer. Public

Speaking Seminars

What is Lean Six Sigma George, Rowlands, Kastle

Software Cost - Bourne.

The Fifth Dimension

vey. Getting Things Done - David Allen

The Goal - Goldratt. Six

Sigma - Barrows

Strategic Decision Making Kirkwood

Good to Great. Leadership Servant Leadership is an Art - Max De Pree

Greenleaf. First Break the
Rules - Buckingham.
N-3
One Minute Manager

N-4
Software Requirements Wiegers
Systems Engineering and
Analysis - Blanchard &
Fabrycky

How to Solve It - Polya

The Courage to Teach,

N-5

System Architecting Rechtin. Attend USENIX

OSDI, SOSP

The Practice of
Programming by Brian
Kerninghan & Rob Pike

Practice of System and

Network Admin -Hogan &
Limoncelli. Solaris
Internals - Mauro &
McDougall

Distributed Systems Tanenbaum

Routing the Internet Huitema. Introduction to

BGP4 - John Stewart III

Applied Cryptography Computer Forensics

Schneier. USENIX Security Workshop
Workshop

Code Complete

N-6

N-7

Architect / Director

Senior Architect / Senior

Director

Sources of Power - Klein

Managing Innovation - HBS

N-6

N-7