No one will give you a promotion – you have to take it yourself
It's good to get an opportunity, but it's important that you develop the skills to do it yourself.
Sometimes the same themes seem to come up over and over again. I hear the same theme from several people. This article came about because I have been hearing more than once lately from coaching and training clients that their prospects for advancement are limited. Personally, I have come to the conclusion that in many ways this limitation is self-imposed rather than an actual limitation. After explaining and writing the following in an email to several people, I decided it might make sense to write it as an article. So if I wrote something like this to you recently, thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
People often respond to my topics about career growth like this:
"Конечно, у вас в Amazon шикарные впечатляющие работы, но моя компания/группа/команда не занимается сложной работой. Поэтому я не могу получить повышение".
I've heard similar messages from coaching clients, in classes I've taught at various companies, and even from co-workers at Amazon.
The main message, as a rule, boils down to the following.
I can't get promoted as an engineer because the job isn't challenging enough.
I cannot get promoted to a manager position because my area of responsibility is not complex enough or is not evolving.
I can't promote people on my team because my team doesn't make a meaningful impact.
Yes, in most companies, the complexity, challenge, growth and impact of our work do correlate with the opportunity (or inability) to get promoted.
Some people consider this a disadvantage of the corporation. Their argument is that the corporation did not support them by not providing them or their teams with ample opportunities for advancement.
I believe that the system works as intended. The difference is how people think about their company's motives and where opportunities for advancement lie.
Why do companies promote people?
I have repeatedly heard people refer to promotions as rewards. I don't consider promotion a reward.
The company pays you for your work. Sometimes they give a larger reward (or bonus) if you complete tasks quickly and efficiently. This is your reward for your hard work.
Promotion is different from rewards for excellent performance.
Promotion to a higher position makes you more powerful. You have more responsibility. This is not a reward. On the contrary, the company gives you more influence.
Of course, salary increases often come with promotions.
However, increased responsibility is the reason the company took the raise, not compensation.
Company leaders are constantly looking for people who can take on more responsibility. They are looking for people who can come up with the next business idea, manage large areas of influence, identify opportunities and eliminate emerging problems. It is relatively easy to find people who are good at their jobs, and difficult to find those who are capable of doing the next level of work.
If we go back, companies promote people to higher positions when they appear to be leaders. Leaders define their own capabilities.
But there are no great opportunities here!
It's always easier to blame others for not giving you an opportunity than to admit that you always had the opportunity.
I was once talking to an engineer from Amazon who wanted to join my team. I asked her “Why?” because I like to know what motivates people.
Eloise said: "Я работаю в должности SDE-2, и в моей команде нет возможностей для повышения в должности SDE-3. В моей организации нет ни одного SDE-3, потому что наша работа недостаточно сложна".
For context, SDE-2 is the first level of promotion, above college hiring, and SDE-3 is a senior software engineer position. In general, SDE-2 works as a team player and SDE-3 leads the team from an engineering perspective.
I asked: "Какую работу выполняет ваша команда, что она не настолько сложна, чтобы требовать SDE-3?"
"Наша система находится в режиме обслуживания. У нас миллионы клиентов, но мы просто поддерживаем платформу. Мы не создаем никаких больших новых функций".
I nodded: "Мне любопытно. Я знаю вашу систему, она довольно важна. Есть ли у вас дашборды для наблюдения за поведением клиентов? А контролируете ли вы задержки, ошибки и так далее?"
Eloise shook her head. "Нет, наши отчеты просто ужасны. Но нас не просили это исправлять. Это никогда не было приоритетом".
I asked: "А ваша операционная нагрузка относительно низкая?"
Eloise shook her head again, “No, we have quite a lot of problems. That's why we spend our days fixing customer problems. That's why I need to move. We don't have time for useful work.”
This story with Eloise is a true story (as I remember it), but I've had similar conversations with dozens of people.
I explained to Eloise, “If SDE-3 came on our team, do you know what they would do? They would implement better metrics into your system and create an amazing dashboard. This would allow you to better understand your customers' behavior and their experience.” with our system. It will also create a Pareto chart of your operational problems and solve them systematically.”
Eloise shrugged. "Но зачем нам нужен старший инженер в команде? Эта работа была бы для них скучной. У нас нет больших проблем, которые он мог бы решать".
Now is my time to shake my head: “But you haven’t created a reporting system or solved operational issues. I bet there are a dozen things that no one has proactively addressed.” The company dedicated an expensive team of engineers to this valuable system. Improving system performance and making it easier to maintain is what a senior engineer should do. It may not be as flashy as creating big new features, but it's still hard work with a lot of uncertainty.”
"Если бы вы, как SDE-2, начали активно решать все эти болевые точки в своей команде, я думаю, ваш руководитель легко добился бы вашего повышения. Проблема не в том, что у вашей команды нет возможностей, а в том, что никто из команды не выходит на первый план".
I heard the same story over and over again. There is a problem. There are opportunities. But these are not possibilities that anyone wants to deal with. Why? Because they are ambiguous.
The value is not clear. Result is uncertain. This is not a classic difficult problem, like "Сделайте рекомендации по фильмам лучше, чем рекомендации Netflix"but it is still a challenge for a senior leader.
But I only have operational problems!
This is the most common answer I've heard.
Large-scale technical systems can be difficult to maintain. These teams often have high turnover because the grass is greener where there are fewer problems at 2am.
The argument I hear is that the team is too busy solving operational problems to pursue interesting (aka promotion-worthy) developments.
Solving operational problems is difficult (and potentially boring), but very rewarding. I've seen teams go from two dozen pages a week (which took the time of two full-time engineers) to one page every couple of weeks after a senior engineer came on board and started solving recurring problems.
Do you want an opportunity for promotion?
Fixing large-scale operational problems is a very measurable problem to solve.
But my job is too easy.
I've heard people say that their team only does easy work. They paint buttons and move pictures.
Small functions. Nothing worth getting a promotion for.
There are always opportunities if you can think big enough.
How difficult is it to change the user interface? Can you make it easier?
Is there a way to make these small opportunities spread to more clients?
Which work will actually be more rewarding? Is there a way to make this work better?
But no one gets promoted by fixing bugs or improving existing features!
Absolutely. I heard this from one team and their colleagues were repeatedly promoting people for the same work. I heard this from people on my team (when I took over their team) and I was able to immediately (and easily) promote people on the team for the same work. I've heard this from people in trainings and their colleagues disagreed with it. (provides examples of people who were promoted for quoted “non-promotable” work).
If you are a manager – never agree to a situation where the only work that can be promoted is new systems or new features. What makes the most money for most companies? Existing clients. Where can we identify future company leaders? Those people who work on the most valuable tasks.
If you make an individual contribution, it is difficult to manage.
Help your leaders understand what work is valuable to the business. If your company only recognizes and rewards brilliant work, it won't benefit anyone.
Opportunities are opening up everywhere.
It's easier to grow personally if you're pushed, but opportunities are everywhere.
Make it easier to use.
Reduce the cost of support.
Make it faster for customers.
Make existing features available to new customers.
Simplify system setup.
Ensure its scaling to new countries, new clients, new traffic.
Make it better.
There are always ways to improve your business, tools or processes. Instead of waiting for an opportunity to be presented to you, look around and realize that everything is in your hands.
Invent your own opportunity.
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