It is for sure one way, but you have no idea how long it will take till somebody "picks you up". It might take few months or 5 years (or more), draining you of

It is for sure one way, but you have no idea how long it will take till somebody "picks you up". It might take few months or 5 years (or more), draining you of a lot of energy and time that you could spent actually having a life. Plus some people see good performers around as competition, depends how company is structured (ie if your manager is on same position/level you will be once promoted). My example - I have colleague like that didn't do proper research before interview and agreed on ridiculously low salary for job&area. I started 1 year after him, negotiated properly (when you don't care that much if you get it or not, it's amazing position for negotiation). He works hard and is clever, right now he is my line manager and guess what - gradually he reached same salary as me. Since nowadays any of us could be fired anytime (or not, big multinational corp, you never know, people are fired frequently). So result - he puts 50% more effort, does endless meetings/documents and presentations that nobody enjoys doing, looks completely drained from energy. I do the same +-fun dev work that I enjoy with gradually more responsibilities, and am earning the same. this all depends a lot on specific company, hierarchy, promotion processes, your specific boss etc. in good company for example, you discuss with your manager your desire for promotion, set objectives/expectations you should fulfill in incoming months, and unless there is promotional freeze (or you screw up), you'll get there.