
Ask HN: Selling your successes on engineering teams at large companies - throwaway638
I&#x27;m at a FAANG company in an IC engineering role. I am paid well for my work, and like what I do.  But I hit a ceiling and was rejected for a promotion. This process gave me feedback on where I need to grow to get promoted in the &quot;next quarter.&quot; It is also an opportunity to pause and figure out what I want out of my career.<p>The promotion wouldn&#x27;t change my work, but it&#x27;s a validation of some successes.<p>One negative data point was low git commits. I work in an ambiguous space with a new product.  I spend much time understanding the problem, org, and dependencies before I write code. Everything is decentralized and little is documented. The code solves for a well defined problem and doesn&#x27;t need a lot of refactoring after launch. I also break down complicated problems into designs for smaller projects that other SDE&#x27;s on the team can run with.  The low commits are a reflection of this.<p>From leadership books I&#x27;ve read like Good to Great, making space for others to grow and be successful is a key element of long-term success of a company. I have no regrets about taking on this mindset in my work, and have seen some peers I mentored get promoted. It feels good to see my teammates grow and our product mature. But I&#x27;m not getting the same support from my management chain.<p>How do you &quot;sell&quot; your successes with management and peers who are focused on micro details like commit history?  I&#x27;m feeling discouraged about staying on my current team. &quot;Next quarter&quot; promotion is not guaranteed.  My career is my responsibility but it feels like I&#x27;ve outgrown what my team can offer me, and I have a fear that this &quot;stagnation&quot; is now tagged to me, and communicated to peers and managers who were involved in my promotion evaluation.<p>Appreciate any advice from folks who&#x27;ve gone through similar situations and bounced back stronger.
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brutus1213
No risk, no reward. Internalize that.

I heard a story that that before Stan Lee had his success, he was ready to
quit. He thought he'd take crazy risks since he was on his way out anyways.
Well .. I did the same. Took some massive career risk, reach out to execs to
show them my work, kept promoting my most impactful (and non-conformative)
tech ideas. One of the executives who took me under his wing said I should
just act 2-3 levels above my current level. I did it.. ended up getting a
series of massive promotions without asking for them. Ended up doing this
without leaving my org too.

You seem like a nice big brother/big sister dev. I'd love to have someone like
you to work with. I have been there where I supported others and got zero
recognition for it. It sucks. Key lesson from me .. no risk, no reward. Best
of luck.

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throwaway638
Thanks, this is encouraging. I've been focused on "checking the boxes" for the
next level. No reason to artificially limit myself or slow down.

I'm going to focus on at least 2 levels up no matter if I stay or leave. That
will give me more growth and make sure the right boxes are checked come the
next promo review cycle.

I never liked working to check boxes but it's a necessary evil of big
companies I guess.

