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Ok so everyone is happy with your performance except your manager. Unfortunately they're the gateway between you and promotion at most companies. So whatever yo

Ok so everyone is happy with your performance except your manager. Unfortunately they're the gateway between you and promotion at most companies. So whatever you're doing that you consider to be successful doesn't match their expectations. That's what you need to fix. Have they been sending signals that they want you to do x, but you think that y is more impactful? The fact that they seem evasive could just be down to the fact that it's hard for most people to give direct feedback. The fact that you're killing it on "crud APIs" and they aren't impressed could be their way of giving feedback. If they aren't happy with that, ask them what else you should be spending your time on instead. If they aren't seeing you as taking a lead role because there are already seniors on a project, find a project without a senior and take ownership. People are always sending signals, they just might not be clear. The fact that you're so quick to dismiss them as bullshit here tells me that you're not picking up on them. In any case it's worth initiating a conversation with them and asking directly what you can do to meet their expectations. And then follow up on that. I've seen so many cases where an IC thinks they're crushing it in ways that just don't matter to their manager and then wonder why they aren't being recognised.

nine_zeros 6y ago
Are you trying to tell me that I should ignore 9 months of discussing this, writing down "specifics" and them assigning me to work that clearly wouldn't lead me to a promotion as per themselves?
- sokoloff 6y ago
  If you’re not happy, change jobs. Their job is to advance company goals, hopefully that’s aligned with their best engineers growing as well, but someone has to CRUD their CRUD APIs and that someone was you on this project. It’s fair to ask what the promotion path/chances are (as you’re doing) and if those answers are not compatible with what you want, you change jobs. Their main job is not to give you work that will lead to your next promotion.
  - nine_zeros 6y ago
    Cool. In that case, they can come and say that instead of waiting yeah? Why are they "working on it" for 9 months and wasting everyone's time? It's one thing to be direct and say that it's not possible for [insert reason]. It's another to be misleading.
    - sokoloff 6y ago
      If you’re progressing from “just out of college” to the level one above that of “basically competent engineer” (which in some companies is a different level and in others not), you have a case to make that you’re getting jerked around or there’s miscommunication at some link in the chain. That’s a promotion where the company goals and your goals are perfectly aligned and you only have to show increasing technical competence and no crippling deficits elsewhere. In many ways, it’s like getting from promoted from grade 3 to grade 4 in school. Do all the grade N work and you’ll progress to grade N+1. If you’re making the case to go from a mid-level IC to a senior level, promotion is rarely about “nine_zeros hit all goals at a lower level” or “nine_zeros shipped at-level quality code on time at the direction of eleven_zeros who is at the higher level that nine wants to become”. That’s what full performance at your current level looks like. Performance at the higher level job is more about leading the project (or a big part of it), taking business strategy and turning it into your team’s technical goals and promotion into that level is supported by initial glimmers of evidence of doing that work, not (only) by strong performance at your current level.
      - nine_zeros 6y ago
        You haven't answered my question. What's stopping the manager from saying [insert text from sokoloff] right off the bat? Why make me do other "specifics" and then renege? I suspect it's incompetence in management but I'm happy to hear how you would defend such behavior.
        sokoloff 6y ago
        I’m not defending their behavior, because I don’t even know what their what their behavior actually is. I’ve heard a small snapshot of it from not them. I’m trying to help paint a picture of how the promotion process works in a lot of companies, especially for promotions other than the first one. I see it all the time in my own company. People, especially the talented and high-achieving types, seem to think promotions work one way (likely because they actually have worked that way all through their life up until that point) and are genuinely confused when they are faced with the first time they work under a different model. “What do you mean I’m not being promoted?! I passed all the tests assigned to me in single-variable algebra!” That would never happen in school, but if it did, no one would explain “yes, but there was a teacher there providing guidance.” “What do you mean I’m not being promoted to SWE3?! I demonstrated 9 months of mastery at SWE2 and hit all the goals assigned to me!” “Yes, but there was an SWE3 guiding you on that project.” High achieving SWE2s often think that’s as ridiculous as the algebra example, while most managers and tenured SWE3s see them as obviously different. It’s entirely possible that they’re screwing you over. When you ask for specifics, they offer, and you accept “better delivery” as an answer, effective communication did not happen. The specifics you reported above are exactly not specific. For all I know, your opinion of your work is higher than theirs and they’re maliciously trying to keep you grinding away as long as possible. Equally for all I know, they think there’s a couple things you need to shore up to be ready for the next level and you aren’t listening hard enough because you’re so focused on the prize that you’re debating them on every point they raise rather than reflecting on the 10-40% of what they say that’s dead right. Equally for all I know, there’s a policy in the company that is blocking a promotion at your amount of tenure in role or something else. The only thing I’m 100% sure is among you, your manager, and me, I’m the one who knows the absolute least about the situation.

nine_zeros 6y ago

Are you trying to tell me that I should ignore 9 months of discussing this, writing down "specifics" and them assigning me to work that clearly wouldn't lead me to a promotion as per themselves?

sokoloff 6y ago
If you’re not happy, change jobs. Their job is to advance company goals, hopefully that’s aligned with their best engineers growing as well, but someone has to CRUD their CRUD APIs and that someone was you on this project. It’s fair to ask what the promotion path/chances are (as you’re doing) and if those answers are not compatible with what you want, you change jobs. Their main job is not to give you work that will lead to your next promotion.
- nine_zeros 6y ago
  Cool. In that case, they can come and say that instead of waiting yeah? Why are they "working on it" for 9 months and wasting everyone's time? It's one thing to be direct and say that it's not possible for [insert reason]. It's another to be misleading.
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    If you’re progressing from “just out of college” to the level one above that of “basically competent engineer” (which in some companies is a different level and in others not), you have a case to make that you’re getting jerked around or there’s miscommunication at some link in the chain. That’s a promotion where the company goals and your goals are perfectly aligned and you only have to show increasing technical competence and no crippling deficits elsewhere. In many ways, it’s like getting from promoted from grade 3 to grade 4 in school. Do all the grade N work and you’ll progress to grade N+1. If you’re making the case to go from a mid-level IC to a senior level, promotion is rarely about “nine_zeros hit all goals at a lower level” or “nine_zeros shipped at-level quality code on time at the direction of eleven_zeros who is at the higher level that nine wants to become”. That’s what full performance at your current level looks like. Performance at the higher level job is more about leading the project (or a big part of it), taking business strategy and turning it into your team’s technical goals and promotion into that level is supported by initial glimmers of evidence of doing that work, not (only) by strong performance at your current level.
    - nine_zeros 6y ago
      You haven't answered my question. What's stopping the manager from saying [insert text from sokoloff] right off the bat? Why make me do other "specifics" and then renege? I suspect it's incompetence in management but I'm happy to hear how you would defend such behavior.
      - sokoloff 6y ago
        I’m not defending their behavior, because I don’t even know what their what their behavior actually is. I’ve heard a small snapshot of it from not them. I’m trying to help paint a picture of how the promotion process works in a lot of companies, especially for promotions other than the first one. I see it all the time in my own company. People, especially the talented and high-achieving types, seem to think promotions work one way (likely because they actually have worked that way all through their life up until that point) and are genuinely confused when they are faced with the first time they work under a different model. “What do you mean I’m not being promoted?! I passed all the tests assigned to me in single-variable algebra!” That would never happen in school, but if it did, no one would explain “yes, but there was a teacher there providing guidance.” “What do you mean I’m not being promoted to SWE3?! I demonstrated 9 months of mastery at SWE2 and hit all the goals assigned to me!” “Yes, but there was an SWE3 guiding you on that project.” High achieving SWE2s often think that’s as ridiculous as the algebra example, while most managers and tenured SWE3s see them as obviously different. It’s entirely possible that they’re screwing you over. When you ask for specifics, they offer, and you accept “better delivery” as an answer, effective communication did not happen. The specifics you reported above are exactly not specific. For all I know, your opinion of your work is higher than theirs and they’re maliciously trying to keep you grinding away as long as possible. Equally for all I know, they think there’s a couple things you need to shore up to be ready for the next level and you aren’t listening hard enough because you’re so focused on the prize that you’re debating them on every point they raise rather than reflecting on the 10-40% of what they say that’s dead right. Equally for all I know, there’s a policy in the company that is blocking a promotion at your amount of tenure in role or something else. The only thing I’m 100% sure is among you, your manager, and me, I’m the one who knows the absolute least about the situation.