Software engineer skills matrix template

For a software engineering team

For a product or platform team of four to ten engineers. The rows mix the stack with the work around it — on-call, review, design, writing — because that is where the single points of failure usually hide.

The workbook opens in Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers, with 5 example people, a notes column for what the ratings mean, and empty rows to add your own.

Making it fit your team

• Name the stack you actually run ("Postgres", "Kubernetes"), not a category. A team rates what it touches.
• Keep incident response and on-call in. A system only one person can bring back up is the most expensive gap on the sheet.
• Resist splitting by seniority. The matrix records skills; levels on a career ladder are a different document.

The rating scale

Every cell is rated on the same five levels, each defined by something you can watch a person do, and a blank cell means “wants to learn this”. The proficiency levels guide explains where they come from.

0 None

Hasn't done it yet.

1 Beginner

Does it with guidance or a checklist.

2 Competent

Does it alone on routine work.

3 Proficient

Handles the unusual cases; others rely on them.

4 Expert

Sets the standard and teaches it to others.

From skills matrix to engineering competency matrix

An engineering competency matrix says what each level on the career ladder is expected to do; a skills matrix says what the team can do today. They are the same grid with a different question, and this template can be both.

Add an "Expected level" column per role — junior, mid, senior — beside the skill names, on the same 0–4 scale. A rating below the expected level is a development goal for that person. A row where nobody reaches it is a gap for the team to train or hire for.

Keep the two apart in conversation. The skills matrix is filled in by the team, often together; the competency matrix is set by the leads. Mixing them turns every rating into a promotion case, and the ratings stop being honest.

More templates

• HR skills matrix template
• Product manager skills matrix template
• Customer service skills matrix template
• Manufacturing skills matrix template
• Training matrix template
• General team template

All of them, and how to use any one as a competency matrix template, are on the skills matrix templates page.