It is very context dependent. I am assuming here you mean how to sell your work in your current organization, not in the context of getting a new job. And I am

It is very context dependent. I am assuming here you mean how to sell your work in your current organization, not in the context of getting a new job. And I am assuming you mean as an individual contributor, and as an engineer (e.g. not as a manager or in non engineering roles). My advice, in the context of large organization (i.e. more than 50-100 engineers): 1. regularly discuss about expectations for next level/grade with your manager. Number one mistake I see are people talking about this 2 weeks before the evaluation period. Do not wait for evaluation period. 2. make it easy for your manager: ask him the information he needs, ask him who needs to understand your accomplishment, etc. Again, do not wait for evaluation period to start those discussions. 3. In the long term (your whole career), good outcomes and getting better at your job matters. But in the short/mid term (within your current job), self promotion matters. In a large organization, just doing good work is not enough, for the following reasons 1. your promotion will depend on people who are not intimate with your accomplishment anymore. 2. the definition of "good work" is very context dependent: depends on your org, depends on the time, etc. What does your company value ? E.g. in most companies, the closer you are to what the execs value, the easier it is to explain what you do. Money is the obvious one, but that's not the only one. In some organizations, doing something with no business impact but very technically challenging can be rewarded. In other companies, this is not rewarded at all. 3. bonus and promotion budget: the more senior the role, the more it becomes a 0 sum game: for you to be promoted, somebody will not be. There is always a budget, people will fight for it. 4. as companies grow, there tends to be more standard processes on promotion. In practice, such systems will always reduce the variance. PG explained this well http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html The above is why in practice, you need your manager's help to understand what is valued and when. Good managers will know what is needed for you to be promoted to next level, and will help you building such a case. my 2 cents, as a director-level manager, managing around 50-60 people and having been a manager for 5-6 years now, after ~ 12 years as IC in quite technical roles