The Seniority Roller Coaster and Down-Leveling in Tech

Post by MattGaiser » Wed, Sep 01, 2021, 9:56 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #97

nostrademons wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also alignment with upper executives is pretty critical. Pay careful attention to what they say at All-Hands and which teams they're spending their time with, and try to get on those teams. Try to be in the room when major decisions are made; understand the thought process that went into these decisions. If you can simulate your VP's thought process and predict what they're going to value next, you're at a huge advan…

Try to be ahead of that - figure out what project they will care about next and be the leader of that one. Sometimes you need to risk a couple years on an unknown project before it breaks out to get the attention. Just be careful, it is a risk: if it works you are aren't just on it, you are the leader of it, but if it fails you are the leader of a project they never cared about. An even better way to figure out what…

Post by mring33621 » Wed, Sep 01, 2021, 10:01 PM UTC

morei wrote: post #126

aix1 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There do exist those rare creatures who manage to get promoted to, and beyond, L6 as ICs. I've been trying figure out how they do it, but can't say I've been making much progress. (I'm Staff myself, but would not have got here without management responsibilities.)

It's rare, but possible. Known of v high level example that is just incredibly disciplined about how they spend their time (e.g. "I did this, but was slowed significantly by poor code over that. Estimate about 30% time loss. I'm going to spend N weeks more in this area, so it's worth me spending 3.5 days fixing that code, but no more. I think I can fix it in about 2 days, so I will fix it. If I can't see the end of t…

Post by yibg » Wed, Sep 01, 2021, 10:46 PM UTC

nkingsy wrote: post #5

I got down leveled when I moved to big tech. Spent two years completely remaking the product I was tasked to work on, while the two other engineers on my team, both a level above me, cheered me on and didn’t do much. I turned our product from a total waste about to be cancelled into a promising tech with some momentum, but I spent all my time coding instead of writing about coding, and I likely won’t get promoted aga…

Post by dharmab » Wed, Sep 01, 2021, 10:55 PM UTC

aix1 wrote: post #111

nostrademons wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that at Big Tech companies, almost all code is written by L3/L4 (the untitled "Software Engineers") and the few L5s ("Senior") that enjoy coding. L6-L8 ("Staff" through "Principal") are the political levels, where EQ is more important than IQ, your job is as much wrangling/convincing/selling/negotiating with other people as writing code. Most L6-L8 engineers are managers, but even those who are ICs spend the maj…

There do exist those rare creatures who manage to get promoted to, and beyond, L6 as ICs. I've been trying figure out how they do it, but can't say I've been making much progress. (I'm Staff myself, but would not have got here without management responsibilities.)

Post by khazhoux » Wed, Sep 01, 2021, 11:36 PM UTC

jt2190 wrote: post #17

lennoff wrote: post #8

I think the key takeaway is to never believe when someone says "Don't worry, you'll get promoted in no time".

This. Before accepting any offer, put all promises into writing. Attach milestones, even if you just make them up, i.e. salary will increase when company receives next funding round. Send this to the employer. If they balk you know know they were just telling you what you wanted to hear. Be wary.