Tech IndustryApr 9, 2021
Googleladdusingh

Things to avoid for career progression

Can you hop every 2-3 years and get a promo? Why isn’t every 12yoe an L7 then? What are some things y’all recommend to NOT do for good career progression? Thanks!

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Google d-ll-b Apr 9, 2021

Pretty sure frequent job hopping is counterproductive to promotion

Google laddusingh OP Apr 9, 2021

I mean worst case after 3 yrs.

Google grwg Apr 9, 2021

Move if you get L+1 or L+2, otherwise don’t.

Facebook kindaa Apr 9, 2021

Works until L6

Microsoft grdnrmsy Apr 9, 2021

Sr to principal level takes longer. Some people don’t have what it takes, others don’t want to, a third moved onto other things

DoorDash 7kLpD34 Apr 13, 2021

My top 3 things to avoid if you want career growth: 1. Not being intentional about your career - it's totally fine to be opportunistic, but you have to have an opinion on why you are joining a particular company, or role, or project, or which city/country, or which technologies. 2. Assume that your technical skills are enough - senior engineering roles require abilities in communication, project management, and lots of other soft skills. Yes, sometimes even office politics. 3. Being too impatient - job hopping frequently is only one symptom of impatience, it could be changing teams / roles / technologies prematurely. It's a judgment call, but most of these require some time to develop any expertise and for rewards to come in. Changing jobs every 2-3 years seems ok, but too may stints under 1 year would rule you out for many senior roles. It's a nuanced topic - I made a short video and mini blog post about it here if you are interested - https://swepro.co/2021-04-10-avoid-these-3-pitfalls-for-career-growth.html