It’s been more than 18 months now since I joined AWS. I’ve been performing well. I contributed to many projects and now I’m also driving small scale project by myself. I got good forte review and time to time I get appreciated by my manager as well as my teammates. But my manager has never initiated the conversation about promotion. When I joined I was told it’s totally based on merit and I think I deserve the promotion now. I have been doing work what L5 on my team are supposed to do. What’s the right way to start this conversation with my manager? I want to get it by early next year probably by the end of Q1. If it’s not possible, at least let me know so that I start preparing for interview and join somewhere else.
Stop being naive about the process and read up on expectations, do a self assessment and get feedback from a mentor. Own the process instead of waiting for it to happen. L5 is literally about independence.
+1. Tell them you want to work towards your promotion and identify if any gaps need to be plugged in. Work on the promo doc and get projects for areas where there is no data point/weak data point.
I am confused about promo doc, is it true manager writes it for you?
Okay. But if my work and results are obviously better than my peers and teammates, does that not play a factor? My manager is saying the same shit you are. I don’t understand the POV though. Why would another manager that doesn’t know me veto me? What if I’m obviously (in my opinion) a better software developer than my teammates? A lot of them are literally more like IT.
Try to document all your stuff and be clear about your accomplishments when presenting to your peers manager and skip
Imo, document everything you work on like on a checklist for what an L4 to L5 needs, each of their responsibilities is documented. Make sure you check most boxes. If not, get projects that help you fill in the gaps. If all your boxes checks out they cant deny you a promotion, if they do, move on. It sucks starting over, but it sucks more to work for a team that don't appreciate you.
You have to own the promo process, every 1:1 with your manager have a conversion about promo...start a quip or a document with all the projects you have done in star format, this will give you good baseline...basically you need to sell yourself with a good story with lots of data..I got promoted last week after 1.5yrs with the team, dm me if you need any guidance
Literally just say you’re trying to get promoted and ask what you’re missing.