| The questions in the article are decent. This one 'what steps would I need to take to get my next promotion?' - this is probably not the right way to ask the question. The implication is that 'promotion' is kind of like progress you'd see in school, i.e. you get to stage 1, then 2 then 3 with increasing responsibility, experience and comp. But reality is not like that, the company is interested in creating products, services, making money, and almost all organisations are pyramids in terms of operational structure. This means that 'promotion' beyond just the lowest levels inherently competitive. Obviously it's political and nobody likes that part, but the reality is 'to get promoted to manager you need to be better than 80% of your peers and to director better than 98% of your peers' and what 'better' means is very subjective, and notably, not everyone gets promoted. Also, instead of asking about the 'benefit to you' i.e. 'promotion' you might want to put it in terms of the value you can provide, and soften the question a bit by asking about 'career progress' etc. and avoiding the word 'promotion'. It's a fair thing to ask about, but it's delicate. |
In large organizations, typically, promotions come from proving you are working at a given level. It's not a competition at all.
Promotion also doesn't mean "becoming the manager"- I mean promotion to a higher level as an individual contributor. Junior Dev, Senior Dev, Staff Dev, etc.
And the question was very well received when I asked it.