3 ms·

I’ve managed a few people who have come to the same conclusion as you did there, and had a mixed success rate there. It’s not about not asking questions, it’s

I’ve managed a few people who have come to the same conclusion as you did there, and had a mixed success rate there. It’s not about not asking questions, it’s about knowing which questions are appropriate to ask, and if you don’t know the answer to that it’s my job to guide you to finding it out. I’ve never held back on a promotion because someone asked too many questions, but I have recommended we don’t promote because they’re asking questions that they should be answering themselves. The gauge of skill is “do you know what you don’t know”, basically.

windward 2y ago
In big tech these overly-granular, arbitrary systems are designed specifically to avoid this kind of variance in promotability from how managers infer the rules. If they're designed badly, you have to lie to get your example through the pipeline. >It’s not about not asking questions If the spec says 'doesn't ask questions', it is!
- maccard 2y ago
  > If they're designed badly, you have to lie to get your example through the pipeline. Agreed > If the spec says 'doesn't ask questions', it is! It's not. At anywhere I've ever worked, it's about meeting enough of the criteria and your manager coming to bat for you. If the spec says don't ask questions and your manager backs you, you're getting promoted. If the spec says you must make 3 widgets a day and you make 4 widgets a day more than anyone else, but your manager won't back you, you're not getting the promotion. If your manager is a rule stickler, follow the rules. If they value breaking the process, then break the process. But dogmatically pointing to the rules, and saying "but the rules say this" is unlikely to get you very far. To quote Geoffrey Rush - "They're more like guidelines"
  - windward 2y ago
    I'm glad for you. I'm paraphrasing a previous employer's guidelines.

windward 2y ago

In big tech these overly-granular, arbitrary systems are designed specifically to avoid this kind of variance in promotability from how managers infer the rules. If they're designed badly, you have to lie to get your example through the pipeline. >It’s not about not asking questions If the spec says 'doesn't ask questions', it is!

maccard 2y ago
> If they're designed badly, you have to lie to get your example through the pipeline. Agreed > If the spec says 'doesn't ask questions', it is! It's not. At anywhere I've ever worked, it's about meeting enough of the criteria and your manager coming to bat for you. If the spec says don't ask questions and your manager backs you, you're getting promoted. If the spec says you must make 3 widgets a day and you make 4 widgets a day more than anyone else, but your manager won't back you, you're not getting the promotion. If your manager is a rule stickler, follow the rules. If they value breaking the process, then break the process. But dogmatically pointing to the rules, and saying "but the rules say this" is unlikely to get you very far. To quote Geoffrey Rush - "They're more like guidelines"
- windward 2y ago
  I'm glad for you. I'm paraphrasing a previous employer's guidelines.