In this series, I'll answer common questions about promotions in tech companies, drawing from my experience at multiple companies especially at Meta where we had a well-structured system in place. Excited to share my insights!
Before we start, one main misconception is assuming that promotion works the same in all companies. Every company (especially big tech) has its own set of values and mission, which means that the performance review process for each company is defined in a completely different way. In this series, I will share some examples and also list some ways for which you can navigate the process relevant to your company.
The first question I get is: When shall I start thinking about promotions?
My answer is always, as soon as possible if you really want to.
(Counter/Meta) I have seen a lot of people in tech where promotions are not that important to them. Looking at Meta for example, it’s totally normal for a lot of engineers to decide with their manager that they are fine with the level they are in and they don’t seek promotions. This applies for senior levels and above(IC5+) that are dealt with as terminal levels, i.e. you can stay there without being promoted and keep your job. If you are an IC4 at Facebook for example, you cannot stay for a number of years without getting promoted or hitting “red-zone” meaning that your performance reviews will be dealt with as a senior engineer, i.e. you are being treated as a IC5 even though you are (and being paid) as an IC4.
The reason why I ask people to do this it gives you a very good signal about many things:
How your career progression in the company will look like
If a company doesn't have a clear promotion strategy, it can be difficult for employees to get promoted because the process is not structured. This can also mean that the company has a flat hierarchy, as was my experience at Yelp a few years ago. However, this can also be a good sign. In big tech companies, there are clear levels for engineers and management, and a clear path from one level to the next.
You will also get a good signal about the feedback culture in the company:
This is quite important for many reasons. One reason is that it can be difficult to understand how performance and teams work in a new company, and feedback can be crucial, especially in the first few months. Feedback can also be helpful when you need to have tough conversations or when working with difficult teams (more on this later).
It will set your expectations for how your career in the company will look. If you receive random and unclear answers when asking about expectations and promotions in your first few meetings, it means that your progress will be very ad-hoc in the company. If you receive a clear set of expectations, it will open up new opportunities for you, whether you want to progress to the next level or pivot to a different domain within the company.
Aligning your career and project early on with getting promoted.
The easiest way to get promoted is when your project work already meets the requirements needed for the promotion.
Let's assume we have Engineer X. This engineer demonstrates strong engineering excellence, good communication skills, and interpersonal abilities. They have done a lot of work on the infrastructure side that has had a positive impact. The engineer has also shown that they are able to help junior members with their onboarding and career goals.
However, to be promoted to tech-lead, we couldn't find any evidence from their work that they can handle cross-functional teamwork or lead projects with a scope exceeding beyond their immediate teams. If there were projects that required these skills, they might have been promoted. If Engineer X had discussed this expectation early with their manager, they could have aligned with the manager and sought out opportunities to demonstrate these skills, which could have led to a promotion.
Because “you are not going to be promoted just by chance”
While this looks very intuitive, a lot of people misunderstand that unless you make it:
Clear that you agree with your manager about your promotion goals and timelines.
Understand the exact action items you need to work on to achieve that.
Promotion is unlikely to happen. I never saw anyone in my experience of any company who got promoted by coincidence, luck or pure chance. They were aligned with their manager on that, working on it for a specific timeline.
That's it for the first article of this series! In the next article, I'll be explaining performance review cycles, having career discussions with your manager, and building projects based on the conversations you're having with your managers and peers. Keep an eye out and don't miss it!