The myth of promotion project

“I asked my manager when I can be promoted to senior engineer they said I need to complete a project that is scoped for senior level. How do I get to work on a promotion project…”, we often heard this statement from engineers. “But I just completed my promotion project, my manager still told me I need to demonstrate more leadership skills …”, here is another frustrated engineer. I want to take this chance to demystify the infamous “promotion project”, hopefully help folks get right perspectives on their career growth journeys. Is “promotion project” a real thing? Yes or No. Indeed Amazon’s promotion process for software engineers needs to evaluate the technical competencies and leadership principles of the candidates at the next level, which usually means the candidates need to demonstrate the required technical and soft skills, through delivering projects with the expected scope, complexity and impact. Scope is width, how many integration points a project has with its dependencies. Complexity is depth, how challenging and novel the problem needs to be solved by the project. Impact is the difference the project’s delivered results makes on customer’s experience - who is delighted, in what way? So when a candidate is ready for the next level challenge, it is common to assign them a project that gives the candidate the time and space to demonstrate the expected skills. In this sense, “promotion project” is real. But a well done promotion is a holistic view of the candidate’s 1. Delivered results 2. Technical qualities 3. Leadership principles or soft skills 4. Growth trajectory Promotion is a positive feedback to a candidate’s growth. It is not just a simple reward to a candidate who delivered project X. Some qualities need longer time or multiple projects to manifest. In another word, simply getting project X delivered may not be enough for a promotion to senior engineer, even though the scope, complexity and impact of project X are all right sized at the senior engineer level. We need to ask: 1. Are stakeholders timely communicated? Are the communications clear and concise? 2. How is the operational readiness of the project launch? Are the logs, metrics, alarms and dashboards well planned and insightful? 3. How does the candidate handle unexpected setbacks and obstacles? … We are not asking for perfection. We understand we are all human, flawed in our own ways. But we want the candidate to be promoted to have well rounded evaluations on their readiness for the next level. Just like hiring, promotion comes with its risks, we want to identify red flags earlier, for the growth of the candidate, the benefit of the company and our customers. So in this sense, there is no “ONE project” whose result will make or break a promotion. The “promotion project” is just “icing on the cake”, we need to evaluate the whole cake. https://lnkd.in/gNbUaJQj