The pathway
How you actually get there, here
How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.
- 1
Mid-Level Technical Support Engineer (L2)
2-3 years at L2Skills to master
- Independent problem-solving for complex issues, strong diagnostic skills, initial contributions to knowledge base, informal mentorship of new joiners.
You're ready to move on when
- Consistently resolving a high percentage of complex tickets without escalation.
- Proactively identifying and documenting solutions for recurring issues.
- Receiving positive feedback from peers and managers on your technical expertise and helpfulness.
- Taking initiative to improve small processes or tools within the team.
- 2
Specialist Role from a Smaller Company
3-5 years in a specialist support roleSkills to master
- Deep expertise in a specific technical domain (e.g., databases, networking, APIs), ability to handle end-to-end problem resolution, experience with customer-facing communication.
You're ready to move on when
- Proven ability to be the 'go-to' person for a specific technical area.
- Experience operating with high autonomy and managing customer expectations directly.
- A desire to broaden your impact beyond a single specialism and contribute to overall team improvement.
- 3
Junior Developer or QA Engineer (with strong customer focus)
4-6 years of combined experienceSkills to master
- Understanding of software development lifecycle, debugging skills, ability to read and understand code, strong empathy for user experience and problem impact.
You're ready to move on when
- A clear desire to work directly with customers and solve their problems, rather than primarily building new features.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, for explaining technical issues.
- A knack for identifying bugs and understanding their root causes from a user's perspective.