Ask HN: How to navigate career plateau?

4 pointsthrowaway2011255y ago2 comments

I have been in industry for 9 years now but I feel like I have hit a career plateau. I have worked at multiple FAANGs (currently in one) and startups.

I have been stuck at SDE-2/E4/L4 (a level above new grad in BigCos) level for around 5 years now. I want to be more of a leader but I do not know how. I am also rather sensitive/introverted so not a typical leader like personality.

Can anyone relate? Have you personally navigated something like this, or seen someone do it?

2 comments

commonturtle5y ago

I also struggled with this transition a bit so here are some of the things I learned that help me get to L5:

1/ The key thing for getting to L5 is to take on large problems (usually 3-6 month long efforts), figure out how to solve them, and ship them successfully. You can do this by leading a small group of people (2-4 engs), but also by working as an individual, so I don't think leadership skills in that sense are required for L5.

2/ Usually managers are quite good at coaching for this transition (things get harder going from L5 => L6 and further on). Try to find a team that is seeing some growth and with a manager you enjoy talking to. Managers with some experience (2-3 years) are better at figuring out what gaps you need to fill to get promoted.

3/ Also try to figure out what type of team you will be successful in. For introverted people often product teams are not a great fit as they require tons of coordination to ship anything: you might have to work with a designer, a content strategist, a product manager, and a data scientist for a typical L5-scope project. Infrastructure / backend teams can offer better opportunities for people who want to grow as individual contributors. I know many senior engineers (L6+) in infra teams who aren't tech leads leading large teams -- they are simply strong engineers who can solve complex problems on their own.

bobrenjc935y ago

I work at one of the FAANGs and was promoted twice within two years. I've been plateauing since, and can definitely relate.

Regarding strategy to get out of the plateau, I think you really have to play to your strengths. Most high leveled people I've found to be lacking in certain areas, but almost all of them are exceptional in at least one area.

Try to think through what strengths you have and see if you can double down on them:

Are you really good at writing a lot of code and shipping things? Perhaps your archetype is a coding machine, and you should find ways to write even more code (without comprimising quality).

Are you really good at collaborating with all sorts of different personality types? Perhaps your archetype is a cross functional engineering leader that can lead complex cross team initiatives.

Find what you're good at. Double down on that and promotions will happen naturally.

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