Scania's Technical development path guides you along your career

The competence classification system comprises five steps:

Level 0: Learning the job. New employee.

Level 1: Established. Familiar with their professional role, and capable of carrying it out effectively.

Level 2: Established and experienced. Has in-depth knowledge and experience in their profession.

Level 3: Specialist. Developing within a particular area of expertise.

Level 4: Senior. An authority whose skills are in demand. Develops and trains others.

Malin Säker, Nicklas Höglund and Maja Truedsson are all on the Technical development path at Scania.

Malin Säker, 28, has been working at Scania for four years and has reached Level 1. She gained a qualification in business administration from Linköping University. She began her journey at Scania as a production technician, moving on to become a project technician, a job she carried out until taking on her present role as a project manager. She is working on a project that involves putting new products into production with other companies in the TRATON GROUP.

Nicklas Höglund, 36, also studied in Linköping. He has been working at Scania for the past eight years and has now reached Level 2. His first role at Scania was as a production technician. The projects he was working on gradually grew in size, and he started working on development projects. Now he is in the Advanced Engineering group, which works on future technical assembly concepts, developing specialist knowledge and electrification in the sustainable transport solution domain.

Maja Truedsson is 26 years old, and has just started at Level 0. She studied business administration in Växjö and did her masters in Linköping. She has previously had a summer job as an assembler at Scania in Oskarshamn, and has also been enrolled on Scania’s student programme there. For the past six months, she has been working as a production technician with Scania’s hybrid gearbox assembly in Södertälje.

The concept of a Technical development path creates clarity for the company and makes it easier to match the right person with the right job since the individual’s competence can be assessed in an objective way in relation to a standard. The Technical development path also creates a possibility for Scania and individuals alike to develop the technical competence required for the long-term development of the company’s production operation in a changing world.

Meanwhile, all three agree that the Technical development path creates clarity for the employee as well.

“It is very useful, providing support during the planning and development talks you have on a regular basis with your manager,” says Höglund. “Then you normally look at this model to see how it’s going for you, which steps you have completed and what you should focus on next. It becomes very clear what you need to achieve to progress in your career.

The new recruit Maja Truedsson agrees that the Technical development path makes the way forward more obvious.

“It’s a good way for me as a new employee to see which path is open to me, and I can discuss that with my manager.”

Malin Säker also points to the clarity of the system as its main strength: “It becomes clear what the company values about a role, including the opportunities to be found in the technology domain,” she says. “You can see whether the opportunities available seem right for you.”

She also highlights another one of its benefits: “This functions very well as a feedback model – it’s not only about where it can lead the individual in terms of their career, but can also serve to highlight my strengths and the areas I need to work harder on.”

It can take many years to progress from one level to the next, but since every level includes so many interim goals, there is always a new challenge to aim for.

“It takes time to get to the next stage,” says Truedsson. “I know I’m not ready for that yet, but I can look back on the situation I was in a year ago and gain confirmation that I am headed in the right direction.”