Help! I’m stuck! I want to get to the next level!!

Many engineers are frustrated because they feel stuck at their current level despite doing everything they believe is necessary. These feelings intensify when they see ‘less competent’ people in such desired positions. The response to such situations range from denial to blame and anger.

1. Anger: This is totally unfair!
2. Denial: This organization never promotes competent employees. I can’t understand why so-and-so is at the next level!
3. Bargaining: Can the promotion decision be revisited? 
4. Self-doubt: My promotion didn’t go through, so I am not good enough.

Trying to come to terms with these emotions is difficult. Before you rage quit, become cynical, or chalk it up to ‘org politics’; pause and reflect deeply on why you are not getting what you want.

This post aims to assist you in steering clear of common career-limiting practices. By providing a model for career growth, identifying common obstacles, and examples of failure modes, you can take control of your career progression without compromising your well-being.

How promotions work

Some engineers believe that writing more code is the key to getting promoted. This advice may be helpful for those in the early stages of their career, as they need to focus on perfecting their craft, taking on tasks, and completing them. However, relying solely on these tactics can create tunnel vision and hinder progress at higher levels. 

There is a difference between performing at a higher level and simply fulfilling your job duties. Additionally, companies usually require three criteria to be met before promotions happen:

1. Performing at the next level (you and your manager contribute a lot to this)
2. Business justification – Does the business need another person at that level? (Your manager and organization play a significant role here.)
3. Budget availability: Can the company afford it? (People above your manager play an important role here).

Debugging the promotion challenge

1. Unvoiced expectation

My manager should know I am ready; after all, I’ve been leading all these projects for my organization. 

Fix: First, you get what you ask for; you need to have that conversation with your manager and be on the same page. Stop reading and schedule the conversation with your manager NOW.

If your manager is unwilling to create a packet for you, it may be a sign that you are not working at the next level. Some managers might skirt the question and give vague responses like “you are on track” to avoid demotivating you or hurting your feelings. Don’t leave such open-ended; ask for a more specific timeline.

2. Voiced expectation but no firm commitment

We’ve been discussing this for months, and my manager says I am on track, but I never get my promo packet prepared somehow. 

Fix: This is where most folks fall in, and I’ve found the following questions helpful in identifying the root cause: 

1. How important is your current project to your organization?
2. Are you the most senior or the most junior on the project?
3. Have you had a career talk with clear timelines with your manager?

Take the case of a senior engineer who aspires to attain a Staff position but has only been working on projects with SWE1s and SWE2s. Although the engineer is performing outstandingly at their current level, the projects they’ve been working on are not Staff-level projects (hint: if the projects were, they would have included some Staff-level ICs). 

The engineer works round the clock, thinking this is their shot at getting to the next level, whereas the manager thinks they are not ready for the next level.

You must align yourself with your manager to prevent unexpected outcomes at review time. A vague statement like “you are on track” is not enough. It is vital to establish a timeline and clarify expectations to avoid surprises. For instance, ask your manager what you need to do to get promoted at the end of Q3. This framing defines the goal, the timeline, and the actors.

3. Firm commitment but unsuccessful process

It was submitted but didn’t go through, and I got some feedback.

Your manager can prepare and present your packet to a promotion council. The council, which provides a system of checks and balances, ultimately decides the outcome. The feedback from the council can be addressed, which should set you up for the next round.

A career-progression framework

During a year-long training at Microsoft, I was introduced to a framework that completely changed my career development and growth perspective. At first, I had difficulty accepting it because it challenged my decades-long approach to work and even my identity. However, after a few months, I realized my folly and came to embrace its principles.

This framework outlines career growth based on three key pillars: technical skills, interpersonal relationships, and influence. The necessary balance of these skills varies based on career level.

1. Technical: You can acquire the necessary technical skills and produce impactful outcomes.
2. Relationships: You can proactively build relationships and support networks to achieve synergistic outcomes.
3. Influence: You can persuade others, align your organization, and drive outcomes. You understand social cues and utilize connections to achieve results.

A common limiting belief

Many of us are overly focused on technical qualifications; we think that having numerous credentials is the key to success. Thus, we spend much time and money accumulating certifications, Master’s degrees, and Ph.Ds. However, at more senior levels, these technical skills may not be as crucial as we think; they could even limit our ability to make a real difference.

Think: The leaders that had the most influence on your career, what made them stand out?

Applying the Technical/Relationships/Influence framework to Career Stages

Before Senior: Hone your technical skills

Technical skills are the major focus at this stage; you are learning the ropes and executing based on the knowledge. As a team member, you are supervised and assigned well-defined tasks. By completing these tasks and demonstrating capabilities, assigned tasks typically become more challenging.

• Expectations
  • Heavily focused on outputs: executing and delivering results.
  • You are expected to acquire the ‘hard’ skills on the job.
  • A rapid feedback loop allows for visible impact within weeks or months as tasks are appropriately sized.
• Growth accelerant tips
  • Be reliable – do what you say you will do.
  • Consistently deliver high-quality results independently.
  • Seize emergent opportunities – take the initiative and be creative.
  • Get mentors and build a peer support network.
• Failure modes
  • Failure to deliver results despite support
  • Not learning and requiring constant handholding.
  • Negative cultural traits, e.g., argumentative, closed mindset, etc.

At Senior: Relationships matter

In addition to building your technical chops, you must develop relationship skills to get to senior.

• Expectations
  • Focused more on outcomes over outputs.
  • As a project lead, you have ownership over the execution and implementation of your project.
  • You implement, guide, and deliver impact through collaboration.
  • You help peers grow via mentoring, feedback, and teamwork.
  • A longer feedback loop means the impact can take quarters to materialize.
  • You are expected to use acquired experience to inform decision-making in ambiguous situations, make tradeoffs, and focus on the highest-leverage items.
• Growth accelerant tips
  • Start building mental models for solving problems.
  • Tailor communications to stakeholders and set the right expectations.
  • Raise the bar, e.g., via interviewing, dev loop improvements, code design, etc.
  • Balancing between execution and getting things done through others.
  • Impacting the entire organization and not just your immediate team.
• Failure modes
  • The Hoarder: A poor delegator: unable or unwilling to delegate tasks, e.g., keeping the most technically challenging projects to themselves. 
  • The Brilliant jerk: exceptional technical skills wiped out by repulsive people skills. No one wants to work with them.
  • The People-pleaser: Niceness over kindness: will not hold people accountable. Excessively-sweet and friendly engineer but ineffectual since they can’t hold folks accountable.
  • The Tunnel-visioned: can’t see the bigger picture or how projects contribute to the org’s success.
  • The bottleneck: gets spread too thin since they are involved in almost everything. Conflates activity with progress.

Getting past Senior: Influence

• Characteristics
  • Shaping the future via strategic impact
  • Convince a larger set of people about an idea, work with them, and ship it.
  • You represent your org internally and externally.
  • Reputation: Knowing folks and being known
• Growth accelerant tips
  • Provide direction; spin up new initiatives, drive org-wide priorities, 
  • Calmness and confidence with diving into the unknown
  • Get a mentor
• Failure modes
  • The Rambler: Poor communicator and influencer – has the right ideas but ends up confusing the audience.
  • The Agitator: Lacks sangfroid and can’t deal with ambiguity.
  • The Vacillator: hesitates to make tough decisions.
  • The Egotist: thinks only about their views or self-interests.
  • The Impercipient: can’t read the room.
  • The Tactician: Overly focused on short-term tactics at the expense of longer-term vision and strategies.

Each phase in your career is like a building block. You start with the necessary technical skills, but as you progress to senior levels, you have to develop skills in leading others and building relationships in addition to your technical skills. To advance to staff levels, you must demonstrate your technical expertise, influence larger organizations, and gain acceptance for your ideas. Each step builds upon the previous one.

Conclusion

As you progress in your career, what brought you to where you are currently may not be sufficient to get you to the next level. You need to fine-tune your approach to continue making an impact. Your challenges will become more complex and ambiguous, and solving them will require more time and effort. But with practice, you will enhance your skills and enrich your toolbox. Keep in mind that the scope and ambiguity of the challenges will increase over time, which is something to consider while using this framework.

As you reflect on your work, adopting a more strategic approach is crucial, as achieving results may take some time. Being strategic means considering your work, second-order outcomes, and clarifying desired outcomes. Remember relationships and influence – As the saying goes, relationships and influence are like stairs on the way up but an elevator on the way down.

Here are a few guidelines:

1. Your career is yours – own it! Even if you had the best possible manager, it’s still impossible for them to be a stronger advocate for you than you can be yourself.
2. As you progress in your career, you must be courageous to ask for what you want. Don’t just assume that opportunities will come your way without any effort. This is especially true for experienced individuals who may believe that promotions are no longer attainable. If you are willing to work and express your aspirations, you may be surprised by what you can achieve.
3. Set a timeline – an arbitrary “some time” is too generic and vague. Target a specific promotion cycle and start working towards it.

I hope this was useful; share your thoughts in the comments.

Further reading

• Cindy Sridharan’s “Know How Your Org Works” is a must-read.