4 ms·

Yes, and you should always work the manager's manager. This is a win-win for everybody in the line.

by idiocrat 6y ago

cpach 6y ago
How do you mean? Feel free to expand on this advice :)
- PakG1 6y ago
  Figure out ways to make the person two levels above you to also understand and appreciate what you do.
  - cutemonster 6y ago
    What are ways to do that? What comes to my mind is taking with him/her at the coffee machine but I guess that's not what you'd think of / suggest
    - PakG1 6y ago
      Hahaha, of course, if I really knew the answer to that, I'm sure I'd be doing much better than I am. :D But I've sometimes had success with the following: - get attached to high-visibility problems or initiatives, which admittedly also have higher risk in making you look bad - write up really good reports/proposals on what you're doing and why it's important; good writeups sometimes get passed around and shown as example to the rest of the company; really good writing skills are underappreciated by many technical people - do presentations about your work, knock it out of the park when someone important is in the room These opportunities are like waves for surfers. Surfers spend a lot of time just waiting for the right wave, but when the wave finally comes, the surfer better be ready. It's like the stories of Apple employees being ready with a summary if Steve Jobs bumped into them in the elevator and asked them what they're working on. Gotta be ready.
      - cutemonster 6y ago
        Thanks, this seems actionable. What if a company set aside a day each month and told everyone to do this -- maybe could give insight into what everyone does, ppl learn from each other, and invisible work gets noticed? > write ... reports ... on what you're doing and why it's important Almost like content marketing for a startup, but instead for oneself inside a company
        PakG1 6y ago
        I think the biggest thing honestly is just having a good manager. If you don't have a good manager, and they don't support making you visible, it's quite the fight to become visible.
innagadadavida 6y ago
Often times the ratings, bonus and "calibration" is done at a senior manager / director level. So if you have no visibility in those circles, you'll not fare well. Often times, your direct manager won't have any say in this matter and the top bosses will need to take decisions based on politics and retention and other considerations. Another thing to keep in mind is that your manager might not want you to move around and giving you average ratings will help. I'm onto my third big project and each of them shipped with my solo effort (but on the backend). It's wildly successfully and impacted 10s of millions of people but the ratings always make it seem that what I thought was exceptional contributions were "expected"! Thankfully the bonus/money is decent.
- cutemonster 6y ago
  > your manager might not want you to move around and giving you average ratings will help So, the more good work one does, the lower one's rating can be? (But not too low of course) That's interesting and a bit counter intuitive like so many other things What about people the manager wants to leave? Might s/he give them higher ratings?

Yes, and you should always work the manager's manager. This is a win-win for everybody in the line.

cpach 6y ago

How do you mean? Feel free to expand on this advice :)

PakG1 6y ago
Figure out ways to make the person two levels above you to also understand and appreciate what you do.
- cutemonster 6y ago
  What are ways to do that? What comes to my mind is taking with him/her at the coffee machine but I guess that's not what you'd think of / suggest
  - PakG1 6y ago
    Hahaha, of course, if I really knew the answer to that, I'm sure I'd be doing much better than I am. :D But I've sometimes had success with the following: - get attached to high-visibility problems or initiatives, which admittedly also have higher risk in making you look bad - write up really good reports/proposals on what you're doing and why it's important; good writeups sometimes get passed around and shown as example to the rest of the company; really good writing skills are underappreciated by many technical people - do presentations about your work, knock it out of the park when someone important is in the room These opportunities are like waves for surfers. Surfers spend a lot of time just waiting for the right wave, but when the wave finally comes, the surfer better be ready. It's like the stories of Apple employees being ready with a summary if Steve Jobs bumped into them in the elevator and asked them what they're working on. Gotta be ready.
    - cutemonster 6y ago
      Thanks, this seems actionable. What if a company set aside a day each month and told everyone to do this -- maybe could give insight into what everyone does, ppl learn from each other, and invisible work gets noticed? > write ... reports ... on what you're doing and why it's important Almost like content marketing for a startup, but instead for oneself inside a company
      - PakG1 6y ago
        I think the biggest thing honestly is just having a good manager. If you don't have a good manager, and they don't support making you visible, it's quite the fight to become visible.

innagadadavida 6y ago

Often times the ratings, bonus and "calibration" is done at a senior manager / director level. So if you have no visibility in those circles, you'll not fare well. Often times, your direct manager won't have any say in this matter and the top bosses will need to take decisions based on politics and retention and other considerations. Another thing to keep in mind is that your manager might not want you to move around and giving you average ratings will help. I'm onto my third big project and each of them shipped with my solo effort (but on the backend). It's wildly successfully and impacted 10s of millions of people but the ratings always make it seem that what I thought was exceptional contributions were "expected"! Thankfully the bonus/money is decent.

cutemonster 6y ago
> your manager might not want you to move around and giving you average ratings will help So, the more good work one does, the lower one's rating can be? (But not too low of course) That's interesting and a bit counter intuitive like so many other things What about people the manager wants to leave? Might s/he give them higher ratings?