Promotion is a scam

Apr 8 43 Comments

You don’t get promoted. Even if you do, it takes longer than you would have changed for uplevel jobs. Even if they are fast, you don’t get meaningful pay increase. Even if the increases are meaningful, they are late and deferred. When you can hop, don’t count on promotion.

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  • I never do. I have never asked for promotions. I just promote myself by switching every few years.
    Apr 8 3
  • Oracle
    not_LarryE

    Go to company page Oracle

    not_LarryE
    Tell me you are a junior engineer without telling you are a junior engineer.
    Apr 8 2
  • Amazon
    hNyg33

    Go to company page Amazon

    hNyg33
    Spoken like a low performer who can’t get consistent promos to move their career fwd.
    Apr 8 9
    • Amazon
      QbJS51

      Go to company page Amazon

      QbJS51
      @hNyg33 I disagree - I think there is value in staying only if you are going from Senior -> Staff/PE+ and the reason being you need to build up trust for the higher level promos.

      For junior/mid/senior it absolutely makes sense to hop around. The reason for this is because when you get promoted, you start at bottom of new band. However when you interview as an external candidate you are offered middle/top of band.

      When you get into a new company you can still work hard and aim for promo. However it makes sense financially to hop after 2-3 years.
      Apr 9
    • Amazon
      hNyg33

      Go to company page Amazon

      hNyg33
      I think it matters more in non tech where the market isn’t as hot and you can’t get upleveled by jumping gigs. I agree with how hot the market is right now someone can game the very game-able and well documented interview processes into multiple competing up-level offers. If the market ever cools promos will be more important again for SDEs to prove their worth and value in the market.

      Also non tech is more about proving what you’ve done and promos help tell that story. it seems like modern tech interviews are more about “what are your skills” rather than “what have you actually delivered”. At staff/principal level the focus becomes more “what have you done” again
      Apr 9
  • But you have to spend months prepping for interviews. If you're good with politics promotions are much easier
    Apr 8 2
  • New
    PapaPuff

    New

    PapaPuff
    Never understood the push for promos. You should optimize for the least amount of work to highest TC ratio. If all it takes is sys designing Netflix and doing 2 LC hards in under hour to make 400k as a midlevel vs busting your cheeks spending nights and weekends for a trash 8% raise to hit staff/principal to make the same or less at a boringcorp which should you choose? It's a no brainer until you maxed the ratio.
    Apr 8 0