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In big tech, I have found the following to be critical for engineers.: TLDR: Team selection is 70% of it. 1. Find team with high turnover, overall low tenure.
by ldjkfkdsjnv 3y ago
In big tech, I have found the following to be critical for engineers.:
TLDR: Team selection is 70% of it.
1. Find team with high turnover, overall low tenure. Avoid high tenure teams at literally all costs. The politics will be high, and there will be a line to get promoted. Try to figure out if someone is being primed to be promoted. Do not join the team if this is the case.
2. Further filter for teams that are somewhat business critical, legacy tech, and are failing all of the time.
3. Unfortunately, this one is very important. Find management that looks like you, was educated like you, and overall is very receptive to you on first interaction. DO NOT DOWNPLAY this. People at FAANG promote based on natural affinity.
4. Understand the parameters to get promoted, notify your manager of your intentions. DO NOT TRY TO INNOVATE. Hit all deadlines right on time or before. NEVER take on extra projects before hitting the deadline, removing all extra work, only ever work on tracked tasks with documented high profile outcomes.
5. Do this for 2-4 years, if you havent got promoted by then, leave.
- mlhpdx 3y ago> Avoid high tenure teams at literally all costs. So avoid working with people that can teach you things? That’s not a great plan. If not for my role as a fresh out of college QA person working in a team of 6 deeply expert, very senior folks (with essentially zero turnover) I would absolutely not be where I am today.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 3y agoIf you want to get promoted, go where there is a low bar
- mlhpdx 3y agoIs that a conclusion grown by thinking of promotions as a win/lose against your peers? That’s never been my experience. I was less capable and valuable than my peers in my first role but was promoted quickly and repeatedly by learning quickly from them.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 3y agoI'm talking about senior level promotions, where the compensation is exceeding 400-500k a year. Not fresh grad roles
- mlhpdx 3y agoI’ve looked for the same in executive roles as well (though I’m not really interested in a promotion at this point). It always makes sense to work with people to learn from and respect.
- sam_bristow 3y agoJoining a team with short tenure and high turnover is high risk. Often there are very good reasons noone sticks around and you'll just end up burned out.
- agos 3y agoAlso when your manager keeps changing (as it happens with high turnover) it’s really difficult to make a good promotion case