My manager is not promoting me. What should I do? Advice from an eng manager at Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft.

Swift Kraken

Swift Kraken (the author’s handle on interviewing.io; he asked to remain anonymous for this post) has held engineering management roles at Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. His passion lies in the art of assembling exceptional teams dedicated to crafting outstanding products. The views expressed here are his own and do not represent those of his current or past employers.

Throughout my engineering career, I have encountered the question: How can I grow myself to get promoted? I’ve been an engineering manager at Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. I’ve been in many promotion reviews, and here is my advice on what it takes to get a promotion.

There are three core criteria required to get a promotion:

1. Readiness: Are you ready for the promotion? Have you been consistently operating at the next level for a sufficient period of time?
2. Perception of readiness in the organization: Perception matters equally to actual performance — it is important that your organization perceive you to be performing at the next level.
3. Business need: Let’s assume that there is a clear business need for a higher-level person in the team; otherwise, a promotion won’t take place regardless of your readiness.

This post will focus on evaluating Employee Readiness, and, in a future post I will address the Perception of Readiness.

Understanding your readiness for the next step in your career is vital. Not getting promoted or missing an opportunity can be frustrating when you’re actually prepared but aren’t actively pushing for advancement. Let me share two examples from my past experience, with names changed for privacy.

Meet Sam, a skilled engineer who could solve complex problems with elegant code. He joined my team feeling frustrated that his previous manager failed to give him the promotion he believed he deserved. Over time, I noticed that Sam focused solely on technical aspects, neglecting how his solutions impacted end-users. In our infrastructure team, responsible for building APIs for internal customers, Sam’s proposals often led to prolonged discussions and missed deadlines. While he saw success in delivering APIs, the organization valued adoption as a key indicator. I coached him to take ownership and understand that just writing APIs wasn’t enough — he needed to create solutions that aligned with organizational goals.

Next, let’s meet Sara, a friend and a seasoned backend engineer proficient in Java and cloud technologies such as AWS and Azure. She excelled in optimizing backend solutions, showcasing meticulous problem-solving skills. Sara’s expertise lay in crafting efficient and scalable server-side architectures. She led a small project team and mentored junior engineers. She always stayed at the forefront of backend development trends and brought innovative ideas for the team. She was already performing as Staff engineer, but despite her skills, she remained at the same level for a long time. She had self-doubt, and she never asked for the promotion she deserved. I encouraged her to evaluate herself, and we worked together to boost her confidence. It didn’t take long for her to secure the promotion.

It’s essential to note that not all managers proactively work on helping their employees get promotions; sometimes, you will need to clearly voice your aspirations because louder individuals might overshadow your achievements. In both cases, a clear understanding of readiness for the next level empowered these engineers to take the necessary steps and achieve their career goals.

I’ve put together two brief quizzes to assess your preparedness for the next career level: one for aspiring Senior Engineers and one for aspiring Staff Engineers. These quizzes aim to pinpoint areas where you might need skill development. Disclaimer: Every project, team, and company is unique. These quizzes serve as a general evaluation and may not account for the specific nuance present in each individual situation.

Quiz: Are you ready to be promoted to Senior Software Engineer?
Quiz: Are you ready to be promoted to Staff Software Engineer?

Thanks to Vivek, Medha, Aline and Liz for their meticulous proofreading and valuable suggestions in this post! In my next post, we will discuss how to evaluate the perception of your readiness in the organization and provide some tips to improve it.

Want to know if you’re ready to interview at the Senior or Staff level? Do anonymous mock interviews with Senior, Staff, or Principal engineers from FAANG and other top companies, and see exactly where you stack up.

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