Our guild distinguishes between two kinds of membership: associate members and full guild members. This page describes what each membership entails and how someone moves from one to the other. ## Associate Member An associate member is usually with the guild for three to six months. This period functions as a trial: it gives us the opportunity to assess whether there is a good fit, and it gives you the same opportunity to assess whether the guild is right for you. By the end of this period we decide together whether you stay on as a full guild member, or whether we part ways because the fit is not quite there. Associate membership is strictly a trial and cannot be extended: you either move on to full guild membership, or your association with the guild ends. You become an associate through our standard recruitment flow. You apply for a specific [[Data Engineer]] role at a given level of seniority, and you need to align with the role requirements and competencies linked to that seniority level. Whether you stay on as a full guild member follows directly from that same role: throughout the trial we validate whether you fit the expected role and demonstrate the competencies we associate with that level of seniority. Your compensation as an associate follows exactly the same mechanic as any other guild member — there is no difference in revenue share or rates. See [[Engineer Income]] for the details. During the associate period you are paired with a dedicated mentor. This is the person you relate with, talk to and do regular check-ins with, so we can make sure you are well on track with onboarding into the guild. Throughout the trial you work for a single client and get a feel for how the guild operates. The minimum commitment of at least 1.5 days per week already applies during the associate period. When the trial concludes well and you move on to full membership, you gain a set of **privileges** and take on a set of **requests** — both described in the [[#Guild Member]] section below. ## Guild Member Moving from associate to full guild membership comes with a set of privileges you gain and a set of requests we make of you in return. ### Privileges - **Become an architect** – You usually start as a member of the team for a client. As a guild member you can also grow into the [[Data Engineer#Architect|Architect]] role, carrying end-responsibility for an entire client setup. - **Claim a product share** – When you contribute to a new or existing product, you can earn a product share that grants you a portion of that product's profits, based on your contributions. - **Work on multiple clients** – As an associate you work for a single client. Once you are a full member, you can work on multiple clients. - **Join our meetups** – You can join our physical meetups, held once or twice a year across Europe. - **Acquire certificates** – You have the right to acquire [[Financial Policy#Certificates|certificates]] through the guild, which carry the economic rights of the outstanding shares. ### Requests - **Commit at least 1.5 days per week** – We ask you to allocate at least one and a half days per week to the guild. You are free to take on other work and projects, but a smaller commitment than this is too little to contribute meaningfully. - **Profile on the website** – We ask you to have your picture and a short bio on our website. - **Mention us on LinkedIn** – We ask you to state on LinkedIn that you work with us, which improves the credibility of our guild. - **Track your holidays** – We ask you to keep track of your holidays in our internal operating system, so we know when everyone is off and can coordinate availability for our clients. - **Engage with our systems and processes** – We ask you to take an active stance in the systems and processes we have, for example in [[Slack]], during our check-ins, with R&D projects, or by coaching fellow members.