My guess is the answer is never. That you have to use your own intuition and self-reflection and give yourself an honest idea of how likely you are to move up into that better position. Again, just off my guessing, I’d say it’s a tool used by management to encourage productivity and ambition, because when I hear those words it generally seems hollow. Give me your thoughts people, I’d really like to hear some new perspectives. Especially from people in management. What’s going through your head when you tell someone that? How many people do you say that to when a promotion opens up? Totally open to the possibility I’m way off base. TC: 50k, still working on my undergrad
You can’t believe the manager until you’ve been promoted. I had a friend who was told for MONTHS that he’d be promoted after they had a “fair” interview process to please other interested employees. Corporate stepped in and gave the position to an internal remote manager to save money. Edited to include the company: memoryBlue a tech sales consulting company.
I used to think like this. I used to be obsessed with promotion. Especially when I started at my previous company I would get frustrated when I worked my ass off but didn’t get promoted. Let me just say that promotion is more of a political thing than an actual reflection of you being an exceptional person at your job. I’ve met ppl at both ends of the spectrum — people who were clearly more senior but without the title and then “senior” engineers who were straight up incompetent. I think there’s two things you need to realize 1. Why do you want a promotion? So you can get a raise? So you can show career growth? So you feel recognized for the work you do? So you can get respect from your peers? If your manager gave you a promotion and said you know what fuck it you’re senior congratz would that make you happy? I literally saw my prev company toss senior titles to ppl to avoid attrition. Trust me it didn’t make people feel better. For some people it did but most it doesn’t change anything really. Its a title, thats it. And then 2. Do you deserve a promotion? Seriously be honest with yourself. You said you’re undergrad? How long have you worked there? Compare yourself to others (don’t always do this but do it this time). You have a peer who has 4-5 YOE and they are a promotion higher than you. Do you feel you are doing everything as well as them? If they dropped off the face of the earth could you replace them? Like I said theres some politics with promotions. SOME ppl are high level because they have a lot of insider knowledge of stuff no one else knows. The company would be in deep shit if they lost them. It doesn’t mean they are great engineers or better than you, it just means the company can’t afford to lose em and they wanted a promotion? K sure have fun. Point I’m making is promotions aren’t everything. It’s important to be assessed fairly for the work you’re doing but don’t let it consume you. Focus on skills and you’ll get there and best of all you’ll get there the right way. I was at the bottom of the totem pole in my previous company. I wanted a promotion after working 2 years and all these ppl thought I was immature, etc. It’s been 5 years and I’ve matured a lot more and I ended up getting a lot of respect for all the work I put in. I finally hit senior at my previous company but then left for a new company (I stil loved my previous company but felt I wasn’t learning anything new.) . I’m not senior anymore but honestly I could care less. Everyone at my new company who is senior is smart as shit and I know my place. I’m learning a lot and best of all it feels like all the hard work I put into developing skills is paying off because I’m getting respect despite being new to the company.
Great answer, man, honestly! Personally I’m not hungry for a promotion straight away. I’m content to do my time and, like you said, build my skills and respect within the company. I’m mostly coming from a place of seeing coworkers who I thought were clear candidates, who had been assured promotions, get passed over for someone else. As an outside observer it definitely seems like saying that stuff is playing politics. Which makes sense with what you were saying. Anyways, thanks for writing all that out, it was really insightful!
Yeah I also realized I never talked about the manager stringing them along. I think that might have a negative connotation to it but I’l keep it for mow. The unfortunate truth is, they kinda have to do this. And they’re not lying when they say it helps you get promoted. The false perception a lot of ppl have is if you work super hard in a short amount of time you’ll get promoted faster. If it takes you normally 2 years to get promoted, people feel if they work and deliver 2x they can get it in 1. That’s just not how it works. Thanks for also clarifying. I have a lot of friends who were in that boat including myself. It sucks and honestly I think that’s a bad manager setting poor expectations. It’s good to have a healthy ongoing conversation about career growth. My current manager is pretty clear — here is where you are and here is where you need to get. It’s called a gap analysis. How far are you from there and then what can we do to bridge that gap. Some things you can just crank out and do (deliver a project, write a tech spec) whereas others you need to work with your manager to find those opportunities (mentor someone etc). Glad my answer was helpful. I only write all this cuz I wish someone told me this when I first started working full time. Best of luck and don’t sweat it.
TC matters more than promotions. Find a way to increase TC with or without promos!
That’s a great fucking point. I mean a pay raise without added responsibility and stress is probably the ultimate goal
What’s TC?
After you get that promotion
"in line" = waiting in the queue. Be prepared to wait
I agree with all the comments prior, however, I have never lied to an employee and if I said that to an employee I meant it. Likewise, I've had three managers tell me that and all three followed through. I would say "trust your gut." You know if it's BS or not.
I can totally appreciate that. It’s good to hear that it’s not all empty promises. My gut sense might need some honing, but I’ll focus on trusting it anyways.
Sometimes people display certain character traits on the job that make them a natural fit For an opening in the company. Sometimes it’s just luck. You might be a great promo candidate, but there are no openings. Or there are open, but you are not quite ready.
bullshit never until it changes officially
Why do you care about promotion learn and get out, if you change you have new stuff with pay raise. Well this is my openion.!!!
Promotion is guaranteed only after you actually get the promotion. Until then, words are merely words, and can never be 100% reliable. Same can be said of marriage and love until death do we part, among other "promises" by the fickle creatures known as humans.
“Nothing is over until it’s over” definitely seems like an axiom to live by