5 ms·

Ask HN: How many times you got promoted in your professional career so far?

9 points by giis 11y ago

I've been working for 10 years, I was never promoted. Just wanted to check about you :)

atsaloli 11y ago
About five times in 16 years as a sysadmin.
Jemaclus 11y ago
I've been promoted about once every 2-3 years, depending on where I was working, but I've also been pretty vocal about career advancement and aggressive in going after the things I want. I may or may not be an outlier here. Take my advice with a grain of salt. :) For me, the trick is to make my desire for promotion clear to The Powers That Be. I went to my boss, and I set a goal. "In 3 years, I'd like your job. What do I do?" If she's a good boss (like mine was), she'll help you put together a plan to get to that point. If she won't help, and you really want that position, then it might be time to leave and find a new job where you might have a more amenable boss. As a manager, many of my developers are perfectly happy to just code all day long. I've asked them about career goals, and they'll say things like "I want to learn a new language" instead of "I want a promotion." I think the default mindset for managers is to assume that their employees do not want promotions, so if you want one, you should definitely mention it at your next 1:1 with your boss. You want to phrase it less as "I want a promotion" and more of "I've decided on a long-term career goal as X position in Y years. What do you recommend I do to get there? I would appreciate any opportunities you can give me that move me toward that goal." Good managers will love that kind of thing and move heaven and earth to help you out. It might take 2 years to get that particular position, but small changes along the way can make a huge difference. (And by "long-term goal" I mean 3-5 years, so 2 years is good progress.) There's also the issue of what is the definition of a promotion? Are you talking about going from "Junior Software Engineer" to "Senior Software Engineer"? That kind of promotion is generally just a title change, maybe with some increased responsibility, but not really a different job. IMO, the jump from Senior -> Lead or Engineer -> Manager is a bigger change. Are you getting raises? If you're getting raises, and your responsibilities are mostly the same, then I'd say those don't really count as promotions. If you're getting raises AND more responsibility, then you're getting promotions, even if your title hasn't changed in 10 years. (Also, it never hurts to ask for a better title -- titles are free!)
- giis 11y ago
  Thanks for the response. Every 2-3 years? that's great! :) I get raises and title change when I change the company(3 companies so far). As you mentioned about career goal I'm more like 'I want to learn a new skill' kind of person. I hoped that if you do some very challenging/complex work, you will be recognized & rewarded for it. But sadly that's not the case (at-least in my country) :( I think it also comes with one's personality, I consider myself as quite introvert. So most often I feel management use that as excuse. (eg: You are not interactive, not talking much others etc etc)
  - Jemaclus 11y ago
    I don't think being an introvert is a problem, necessarily. Some jobs require people skills (managers, etc), but I also consider myself an introvert, albeit one with people skills. There are different kinds of responsibility, though. You can take more project-based responsibility and be more of a tech lead rather than a people manager. Really, as long as you're learning and growing, and as long as you're getting raises, and as long as you're happy, then don't worry too much about promotions. :)
    - giis 11y ago
      Yes that's true. I forgot about promotions. Learning and getting paid market salary is fine with me. I believe, If they tell some-one as promoted and cut their salary by 10% ..then no-one will ever want to be get promoted :)
api 11y ago
I've never been or witnessed anyone get promoted except by job transfer, and have thought for quite some time that "the promotion is dead." I've only seen very small raises, usually cost of living adjustment type things, and everything I've seen has confirmed that the lateral move is the only route to advancement in the software industry. Of course others here have different stories, so YMMV. It may depend on where you're working and in what kinds of companies.
- lgunsch 11y ago
  I have had a similar experience, and also met many people with similar experiences. I have had exactly 2 advancements in my 5 year career. One was a cost of living increase (actuallyl slightly less then that), but only after I complained numerous times. The second was when I switched companies to a new position.
gsector 11y ago
Consulting - Once in 3 years. Once every two years is pretty common early on in consulting.
kleer001 11y ago
Once, but I hated it, back to the grunge and trenches for me. Meetings every other day until 2pm? The same meeting 4 times with slightly different groups of people? Having to tell people they need to work overtime? No thanks.

9 points by giis 11y ago

I've been working for 10 years, I was never promoted. Just wanted to check about you :)

atsaloli 11y ago

About five times in 16 years as a sysadmin.

Jemaclus 11y ago

I've been promoted about once every 2-3 years, depending on where I was working, but I've also been pretty vocal about career advancement and aggressive in going after the things I want. I may or may not be an outlier here. Take my advice with a grain of salt. :) For me, the trick is to make my desire for promotion clear to The Powers That Be. I went to my boss, and I set a goal. "In 3 years, I'd like your job. What do I do?" If she's a good boss (like mine was), she'll help you put together a plan to get to that point. If she won't help, and you really want that position, then it might be time to leave and find a new job where you might have a more amenable boss. As a manager, many of my developers are perfectly happy to just code all day long. I've asked them about career goals, and they'll say things like "I want to learn a new language" instead of "I want a promotion." I think the default mindset for managers is to assume that their employees do not want promotions, so if you want one, you should definitely mention it at your next 1:1 with your boss. You want to phrase it less as "I want a promotion" and more of "I've decided on a long-term career goal as X position in Y years. What do you recommend I do to get there? I would appreciate any opportunities you can give me that move me toward that goal." Good managers will love that kind of thing and move heaven and earth to help you out. It might take 2 years to get that particular position, but small changes along the way can make a huge difference. (And by "long-term goal" I mean 3-5 years, so 2 years is good progress.) There's also the issue of what is the definition of a promotion? Are you talking about going from "Junior Software Engineer" to "Senior Software Engineer"? That kind of promotion is generally just a title change, maybe with some increased responsibility, but not really a different job. IMO, the jump from Senior -> Lead or Engineer -> Manager is a bigger change. Are you getting raises? If you're getting raises, and your responsibilities are mostly the same, then I'd say those don't really count as promotions. If you're getting raises AND more responsibility, then you're getting promotions, even if your title hasn't changed in 10 years. (Also, it never hurts to ask for a better title -- titles are free!)

giis 11y ago
Thanks for the response. Every 2-3 years? that's great! :) I get raises and title change when I change the company(3 companies so far). As you mentioned about career goal I'm more like 'I want to learn a new skill' kind of person. I hoped that if you do some very challenging/complex work, you will be recognized & rewarded for it. But sadly that's not the case (at-least in my country) :( I think it also comes with one's personality, I consider myself as quite introvert. So most often I feel management use that as excuse. (eg: You are not interactive, not talking much others etc etc)
- Jemaclus 11y ago
  I don't think being an introvert is a problem, necessarily. Some jobs require people skills (managers, etc), but I also consider myself an introvert, albeit one with people skills. There are different kinds of responsibility, though. You can take more project-based responsibility and be more of a tech lead rather than a people manager. Really, as long as you're learning and growing, and as long as you're getting raises, and as long as you're happy, then don't worry too much about promotions. :)
  - giis 11y ago
    Yes that's true. I forgot about promotions. Learning and getting paid market salary is fine with me. I believe, If they tell some-one as promoted and cut their salary by 10% ..then no-one will ever want to be get promoted :)

api 11y ago

I've never been or witnessed anyone get promoted except by job transfer, and have thought for quite some time that "the promotion is dead." I've only seen very small raises, usually cost of living adjustment type things, and everything I've seen has confirmed that the lateral move is the only route to advancement in the software industry. Of course others here have different stories, so YMMV. It may depend on where you're working and in what kinds of companies.

lgunsch 11y ago
I have had a similar experience, and also met many people with similar experiences. I have had exactly 2 advancements in my 5 year career. One was a cost of living increase (actuallyl slightly less then that), but only after I complained numerous times. The second was when I switched companies to a new position.

gsector 11y ago

Consulting - Once in 3 years. Once every two years is pretty common early on in consulting.

kleer001 11y ago

Once, but I hated it, back to the grunge and trenches for me. Meetings every other day until 2pm? The same meeting 4 times with slightly different groups of people? Having to tell people they need to work overtime? No thanks.