Should you go for promo?
In tech companies, promos are often based on peer feedback (e.g. at Google, Databricks etc.). One very interesting consequence of this process is that one can attempt going for promo without their manager’s support. More interestingly, it’s actually possible to get promoted in these cases! I was on a promo committee where one of these cases was successful.
This doesn’t mean that you should always go for promo at every cycle though – you would be wasting everybody’s time (your manager who has to write a rationale for your promo, your peers who have to write your feedback and the committee who has to weigh in on your case).
With that being said, if you have a reasonable chance, you should give it a serious try:
- Going for promo is time consuming like mentioned above, so if you want to try, you should seriously do the work. The only thing worse than going for promo is going for promo again.
- Whatever the outcome is, you would get more feedback on your performance than during a normal cycle (since more eyes are on your packet). This is especially true if your promo isn’t granted – feedback in this case has to be precise and actionable.
- You can end up being promoted – which is nice :)
Regardless of the promo outcome and whether you are going for promo, you should use every perf cycle to take the opportunity to reflect on your performance, on your gaps and the next steps you want to take (if you are interested in growing and eventually getting promoted). This active process is required, especially as you reach senior level – the most common mistake for a senior engineer to become staff is for them to just do a lot of senior level work.
If you are senior enough to sit on a promo committee, I would also highly recommend it – it’s useful for you to calibrate with managers as an IC and become a better mentor for your peers/team.