Just went thru the whole promotion saga, so this is just a gentle reminder and advice Neither your manager nor your leadership have your career development in their heart, this is totally on you, so here is what I did to get promoted This is a random order 1- Timeline: before you reach the required tenure for the up level, ask your manager for a timeline and hold him accountable to his part in your 1-1 2- Measure your impact yourself: when you deliver, understand how does that impact goals especially VP/Director goals, nobody cares about team goals 3- visibility: I double down on this VISIBILITY, speak up and show up on camera it’s much easier for people to promote people they like and know 4- gaps/feedback: there is a really good chance that you will be denied in the first promotion cycle, ask your manager for feedback, work with him on finding you the right projects/features that help fill these gaps Best of luck 🤞🏽 L6 10 YOE TC 340 Update: Damn, I doubled down on visibility and I didn’t know this post would get so much visibility, gonna quit my SDE job now and start my career coach one 😂
340 tc is after promo ? Isn’t that too less ? I thought l6 range is 450-650
Not in Amazon 🥲 band starts at 348k and the stock went down after I got promoted
And also, those are for external hires.
How I got promoted to L6 SWE (when I was at AWS): During covid when the offices had just opened back up but no one was required to go in, I went in nearly every day and it was just me and half a dozen managers. Lots of direct interaction with director and VP too that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
But that’s why I doubled down on visibility :)
For sure, just amplifying that aspect. :) If you don't have visibility outside your L7's teams you're going to be spinning wheels indefinitely with no promo. (For L6 promo.)
You fake fuck
Nothing fake about this. Good advice.
Good advice and Blinders don't deserve it
Well your CEO said exactly this, last week in NY.
Are you SWE?
Doubling down on visibility is HARD for introverts. Damn, for those who are true introverts, what's your strategy? This world is so hard on those who are really introverted by nature. (Those who are extroverts but pretending to be introverts bc it is trendy to be one dont count).
Answering as an introvert myself, you can still do learning series and demos of what you are building. Introverts cannot do small talk but technical presentation and talk is easier.
Possible but giving a technical presentation / talk can also intimidating for some introverts. Are there other options for introverts to shine?
Also, Document everything! my promotion was very easy and got it at one go. Since I have a habit of documenting everything that I do. If somebody asks what you have done give them a list of documents. It shows the quantity of work you have done, also it easy to defend and present yourself
Do you follow a template for this? How do you make it an effective document?
Adding onto Calix’s question, do you create dashboard of Jira tickets u solved or documents or wrote or number of times you helped other people? Also, do you keep screenshots
Find a new job at a higher role
Agreed . It’s Far more easier to find a new job at a higher level and also get more increase in salary than through a promo. Promo in an existing company comes with its own stressors.
But what about if you want to up-level to a people manager position? Because every company asks if you have people management experience when you apply and you won't get that experience until you get promoted at your current job. It becomes a catch-22 situation doesn't it?
Or, just don't try.
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Just doing what is assigned to you is not good enough for a promo? There has never been a delay in delivery due to me but my manager wants me to take initiative and do something different for a promo.
This is for L4 to L5 btw
if this your manager feedback ask him where is it coming from ? Is it coming from a promotion cycle ?! Or from L5 role duties, ask him to share the role duties with you