> You have to prove having worked at L+1 while still at L to get promoted to L+1. Yes, and this line of thinking has spread to many orgs. And as you point out

> You have to prove having worked at L+1 while still at L to get promoted to L+1. Yes, and this line of thinking has spread to many orgs. And as you point out people tend to just move elsewhere instead. The length of the observation window is one thing, and more fundamentally employees are asked to work above their pay grade in hope for it to be noticed/recognized, which is never a fun thing to do. Then comes the responsibility problem: If a dev want to become a manager, there's no way to let them deal with HR, write performance reviews and do 1 on 1s including private information as a trial. They need the actual role inked in their contract, have people treat them as a manager. They can't be doing it as a role playing exercice. A probation period could work, but I think it would be pretty awkward to have them step down after 3 months.