My manager today gave me some bs about why I can't be promoted to L6, saying that I'm not showing enough bias for action and I need more data points for results. But he never gave me any specific info or actionable things to do. I am good at my job, if I was L6 I don't think I would have any performance issues either given my current performance. But I'm sick of trying to go above and beyond to try and get a promo. I think I'm better off just jumping to a different company at a sr level and getting a much bigger comp boost than an L6 promo would get me in the first place. I'm going to start doing less, I can still do my job and meet expectations while working 10hrs less a week, but if I do that then I'm going to have a much better home life and I think my overall happiness will increase. Am I making a mistake? What should I do? TC 220k
Don't wreck your mental health trying to placate your manager at bigtech just to get promo, I made the same mistake when I was younger. Just focus on learning + doing interesting work, then job hop every few years or whenever you need salary boost.
That was my thought, but I failed meta onsite, I'm going to probably try again in 2 or 3 months though
What did u apply at meta, OP?
Isn’t “bias for action” self driven? If they tell you what to do , you’re just following orders. Again I might be wrong.
Yes, but I think I have bias for action. It's just opinion art this point
Op you need to objectively look at yourself. Obviously your manager doesn’t think so. Doing the same thing hasn’t resulted in promo. Think differently. Also I’d take the role expectations and put next to them what you do to exceed them
Why bother working for promo when it’s easier to move diagonally?
That's my new thought process
Non native speaker here. What you mean with diagonally?
3 years at Amazon 8 YOE
Look around at others who report to your manager. Are they getting promoted? Some managers don’t focus on promotions for their directs and aren’t good at coaching to make it happen. If your manager is promoting others around you, then it’s probably your skills or relationship to the manager holding you back. If your manager isn’t promoting people, then you need a different manager.
I have yet to see my manager promote anyone
Over what time period?
10 hours a week sounds like the life. You should find some side projects to work on
Think he said 10hrs less. So probably still 50hrs a week. 😂
I honestly found doing the extra 10-20% made basically no difference for promotion. If you are consistent, they’ll come anyway. Taking on more will just break your back, and honestly isn’t often worth it, unless there’s a real opportunity for big impact. One way of looking at it is that promo is usually considered at an annual review. If you completed the same total amount of yearly work 2 months early, you’d still have to wait another 2 months for the results anyway. Be reliable, self-sufficient and consistent (but this doesn’t mean breaking your back), and a promo will come. Consistently performing at the level you aim to be is the most important thing. If your above and beyond is a sort of surge-rest pattern, then that likely burns you out more, but is also not consistent. What’s your YoE. It can take atleast 2-4 years at a given level to showcase the growth, even if you are stellar. Naturally job hopping is the fastest way to achieve a bump, but that comes with it’s own risks. If you enjoy your role, just relax about it a bit, remain consistent and continue to produce quality work, but don’t go overboard. If it’s gonna take another 12 months anyway, no point cramming to do the same in 9-10.
Are you in tech jobs or non-tech?
Tech
thats why these kind of conversations shouldn’t be once per year. Have these conversations throughout the year. Remember that your one to one isnt just status update
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Why just 220k at L6?
I'm currently L5, trying to be promoted to L6
That’s still way low than normal L5, get some outside offers and they will dive&save you to 400k+