Since we started the DEV Diary, we’ve been continuously improving the Profile experience. This is already our fourth update in that area and the second focused on Skills. Each release helps make profiles clearer, more flexible, and a better reflection of who you are and what you can do.

Until now, you could add skills across different categories: Languages, Software, Roles and Skills.

In each of these, you could indicate how many years of experience you had.
With this update, we’re introducing a new way to more clearly represent your experience and proficiency.

Why the change?

The number of years gives a sense of time, but it doesn’t always reflect the actual level of proficiency.
Our goal is to make each user’s profile clearer and more comparable, showing what you can do and how you apply your skills —not just how long you’ve been doing it.

The new scale

Each skill category will now have its own proficiency scale:

For Languages: Basic, Conversational, Proficient, Fluent/Native

All the other skills (software, technical, soft skills, etc) Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Mastery
 

With this change, profiles will display skills in a clearer, more consistent, and more meaningful way.
Our goal is to make the platform simpler, more transparent, and more useful to everyone creating a profile and to everyone exploring them.

Transition and validation

During the update, we’ll automatically convert your existing experience (in years) into the new proficiency levels.
We know this conversion might not be perfect in every case, so you’ll be able to review and update your levels directly on your profile.