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Turn down the promotion. Surprised not to see this suggestion here. I’ve been a C*O many times in my career. Now I’m a IC. I have a strong salary and the direc
by jasonv 6y ago
Turn down the promotion. Surprised not to see this suggestion here.
I’ve been a C*O many times in my career. Now I’m a IC. I have a strong salary and the directors in the last few companies I worked suffered more, and had more volatile continuity in their positions. The ICs can stick around forever. Not sure why I’d want to go higher in the kind of orgs I’m doing well in now. Someday it’ll be different, but for now... no promotions, thank you.
- mattbillenstein 6y agoI took it as a like IC promotion - senior to staff or something - but you raise an excellent point. A promotion into managing people comes with dealing with people's ego and emotions and you have their compensation and well being tied up in it as well... I've had some gigs where I've sorta shirked managing people - I hate dealing with performance reviews and the like. But I have liked mentoring people, so I've accepted dotted-line reports where the actual management responsibilities fall to my boss and I help people build cool things while leading some team that does that.
- adit20 6y agoInteresting perspective. I kind of agree with you. I have a follow up question. Even within IC, there are different levels. One may want to keep a low profile ( for less stress, job security etc) and remain at the same level. But others around (including juniors) can get promoted to the higher IC levels. Due to this, people may perceive you as not good enough. How does one handle this?
- jasonv 6y agoI know people in large orgs who've kept their IC role for 5-10 years, largely because they definitely provide value. They own their space, but they don't use that in a negative power way. They tend to be very generous with their time and knowledge. They're also net-positive contributors. That's a thing to figure out, for sure. It's sometimes the case that the one getting promoted isn't actually providing greater value, they're just the obvious answer to a painful question. I think this is also a little easier when you're a little older. I was a ladder climber early on in my career. I'm older now, and in enterprise orgs, there are plenty of seasoned people. It's not obvious that you should be hankering after a title if you've otherwise established yourself. This may bend differently in startups or hyper-growing orgs.
- phibz 6y agoTurning down the promotion is certainly an option. I tried this and it ended up getting me laid off. Don't be surprised it this just forces their hand.
- adit20 6y agoThanks. You mean to say they laid you off despite your turning down the promotion?. Sorry to hear that. Any idea why?