If youre working individually there is an upper limit on how much you can accomplish since there are only 24 hours in a day some of which must be devoted to eating, sleeping, and other bodily functions. Salesmanship is extremely important. They don't get defensive if their ideas are revealed to have flaws but rather delight in being able to move to a better solution. Are you sure you know what your boss wants? And you know something? My work affected hundreds of developers in our org. Microsoft is a Technology Giant and has been the biggest Technology Company in recent years. You can each help each other.I've gone from 59 to 65 so far, but maybe what worked for me won't work for you. It operates through the following business segments: Productivity and Business Processes,. Good luck with that. The scope and situations have become more and more challenging over time. We definitely need a new thread, things are starting to happen indeed.Our 120+ person org has just been broken up due to lack of budget. The good thing in most teams here is that if you persist, you will get there. I have seen and known many of my own peers who don't get promoted because of potential but the number of people you know in the leadership team. agree with positive suggestions here. Tech savvy yet entrepreneurship minded hence able to see things from . How you perform in interview is going to matter on whether you get proper mapping or not. similar to maybe how EY says senior manager is Director (pwc, kpmg) equivalent. That figures. The team that gave me the Dev Lead title made a bet on me, and they were not disappointed, since I worked hard to prove myself at that title (despite having to wait a little longer for a level promotion). 6 years ago I developed what I have been supporting since. 63's and 64's own a huge piece of getting the RIGHT work done CORRECTLY. Therefore, you are an HR manager. It's a knife fight to 63. Alternately, you can increase the scope of your own job and justify an increased level.So the only real question is, what do you need to do differently at the higher level? the answer is simple - take on more. With wide-eyed wonder he asked WHAT? I said whatever the @#$% your manager most needs you to do!6. Levels 57 and 58 are reserved for non-permanent employees and Levels 59 and 60 are reserved for New Graduates. I myself am a L62 on the cusp of a midyear promo after 18 months. Obviously, this is advice that you may not apply during the current hiring freeze, but keep it on your mind for the future.- At times the focus on the level may not be the most important strategy in the long term. Someone that 20 years ago made something as complex as Notepad may today be a VP, whereas if you make Notepad today you may not even get a pat on the back. I thought what I did was valuable but in the end, it wasn't.The Microsoft up or out policy is the prime directive. Less than a year is fast, but not unheard of. "The hardest point for me to bear is that I am young, capable of doing so much more, and absolutely dying to do more. One of my august colleges uses the analogy of a trapeze artist. This is something that should happen on an ongoing basis.Unfortunately, it doesnt happen, and that is what frustrates a lot of people.Saying that you dont know what exactly an L63 is, but will know one when you see him is a big cop-out. So no time like the present to practice where you can. Mgmt, MSFT levels: CEO > VP > Partner(Director) > Principal > Sr. Eng > Eng 2 > Eng 1. You are now 20% closer to promotion just by a day of work :). Email@ elliereinker@gmail.com | Call@ 330-554-0249. Its nice to see constructive advice and stories from everyone.I'm in the 61 bucket and currently struggling with my team for many months. For instance, software development engineers generally come in at Level 59,. Your commitments should already provide you with milestones to set as your goals. Microsoft's '08 Mistakes: The Software Giant's Three Errors http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/121908-microsofts-08-mistakes-the-software.html?hpg1=bnJust three? Bowl Leader. Thanks for keeping this focused. I've been at Microsoft six years.I've never spent one second honestly thinking about my career or how to get a promotion or anything like that. Most Directors are 63 and the occasional 64. They didn't want to plateau, but that is just where they were given MS talent pool. You have to strive to get the KEY to the boss's heart and brain. "There is no greater de-motivator than a reward system that is perceived to be unfair. Think about why they're able to do that.-jcr. At this point, the financial crisis and everything, wouldnt it be more interesting to try and predict what KT and Steve will do once they recieve the rest of year forecast mid december? These are sole individual personal points-of-view and the posts and comments by the participants in no way represent the official point-of-view of Microsoft or any other organization. Exceptional Director, hardworking, reliable, efficient, a team player, flexible to work 24 hours shift rota, prioritise my workload at all time, managing customers and team, managing safely, ability to carry out Risk Assessments and how to manage such Risks to minimal, excellent report written skills, excellent communicate skills both verbal and written forms including presentation using . You want to test more cases than he does, you want to build something that draws users to what you're doing more than to his.Having part of the bonus be for how the team succeeded relative to the other teams might focus competition towards the competition and not exclusively on co-workers.Add up the review scores of each team member and rank teams. There are so many reasons why things didn't happen in a given review cycle. Add your salary anonymously in less than 60 seconds and continue exploring all the data. Second, the perspective of a different team helps you generalize about best practices and what works and doesn't work. The PM team loved having my technical expertise freely available, and I actually really like designing features too.Anyway, two simple things, but I think what Mini said about not doing this IN ORDER to get promoted is key. Needless to say that not many will admit this fact. At the beginning of each FY, I always asked, "I want to get Exceeded this year. Is that a req. Barring extraordindary circumstances each year you will get the "welcome to our group" evaluation.Don't forget the aunts and uncles. You can wait 24 months to gain all the credibilty & visibilty & trust again that needs to intersect precisely with your new leaderships ability to argue you on the stack proficiently. There are definitely projects you can work on with your manager to increase your visibility, but if things don't happen right away just keep at it.Your manager should be able to give you fairly specific feedback on where you stand in your skip-level's eyes. It is my observation that the most common place we see disillusioned learners in the product groups at MS is at level 62. >> You forgot "never ask for a promotion".This is better written as "Ask what specific things you are lacking in, which are preventing you from being promoted to the next level". It works like this: Senior (L64,63) - works on tactical efforts, writes code or works on projects autonomously, collaborates with others L63 takes a bit longer but is also fast. Owning big features, knowledge about code base, ability to help your peers - irrelevant. I think getting promoted elsewhere is not as tough as getting promoted in CTS-GTSC. YES, life is unfair.At the end, mastering 'soft skills' will help anyone: even someone at 59. Given that quite a few Microsofties are going to find themselves locked into their current group for a while, the ability to succeed by swinging on the vines to a new group is going to be rare. Founded in 1969 by Dr. Bish Agrawal, ABC Consultants is the pioneer of organized recruitment services in India. To know the real title you have to use headtrax and look for the Standard Title of the position. If you get caught in a review and someone hits a fastball by you and you stumble, the people above you suddenly have fears that you might stumble when they and you are in front of the person who controls their careers. Don't give up.I'd appreciate it if you'd do a similar post on the 65 to 65 transition. Keep my word. They make decisions that affect both their department and the company, making their role crucial in the pursuit of the company's goals. You try that in subs (who actually generate the revenue, HQ typically dont) - but the question is - do they dare push such a thing in the US? Feedback is not detailed or actionable. So yes, Mini's list should get you to 63 anywhere. People who get stuck at the plateau are often referred to as disillusioned learners. But it is also clear that there are places at Microsoft where these skills are not required until higher.I have a 62 test somehow make it to dev with mediocre dev skills, social skills limited to indifference or hostility, who managed to delegate most of the hard work to a smart kid hired to work with him and he made it to 63. Starting to reach out and grab some of what you would be doing with a bigger scope/higher level.An earlier poster said it. :)Then, over the next 2 years, I learned the magic of 65: it's not just about playing *well* with others, it's about making every team you work with great and helping them do their best work. IBM pulled themselves out of their decline by focusing on their customers. Now the setup team for most products has more than 6 devs. If you are within striking distance of level 63 in the next few years, then consider yourself VERY fortunate. Repeat. This past year I had what I thought was an outstanding year, was given a 20%, but not promoted to L63. You can bet that if I went back today I would be a _very_ different person.The only thing I would add is that at any level, you need to not only know that your manager believes you should be promoted and will fight for you, you need to believe that your manager _can make it happen_. You are employed by Microsoft's shareholders. And to your boss. Right now I am 56. Mini, as good as your writeup is, there is too much emphasis on this level promo business in MS, and I have seen my fair share of people that have been burnt by it. No matter how good you are, you will peak at some point and Microsoft will get rid of you. What worked well and what really horked things up for you? For many in our sub, MCS seems to be the place of incompetent managers and just a pitstop to somewhere else. Strong operations professional with a Master's Degree focused in Project Management from Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto . You may not need them to get from 59->60, but if you're good at them, it'll make your rise much quicker. "I wonder whyMicrosoft: Citi Cuts Ests, Target On PC Slowdown. The only thing you learn is your bucket, and roughly where in the bucket you fit based on your numbers. Thanx for it. Your boss should already have about a year-long plan about who on the team is getting promoted when - it's essential for team promotion budget planning. That is, an S-shaped curve that is relatively flat at the bottom (slow start), then becomes very steep (steep acceleration), then becomes relatively flat again (plateau). I've been struggling with the elusive 59 -> 60 move for quite some time. I think it's important to be very up-front andto use a clichetransparents with your manager regarding your next steps and prospects for promotion. Find a way to make or save them money. I think that a compentent dev not a superstar, who follows your advice should make it to 63. The position entails teaching an introductory physics sequence, upper-level physics courses, and related labs. Unless you plan to stay in the same org the rest of the time at MS. Whether your manager is hardcore or touchy-feely, you need a bulldog to promote you or you ain't goin' nowhere. Make them successful at their job. I'm hiring 6 good MSFT developer/consultants. If you have potential and luck then you can achieve promotion velocity of one level every 18 months.Finally, heres my advice for who aspire for L62->L63 jump: Look around. Some can even challenge you and give you the tough love and direction you need. Do it nicely. Ultimately humans make decisions either by heart or brain. There were times when I was promoted more slowly than I probably could have been, but I am very happy with where I am now, and I am still growing. I have also always looked for those problems (opportunities). The microsoft people have already decided you're not a good 'fit'. Only one can emerge, and not everyone can be a senior simultaneously. Regarding the comment about the ability to own a room - This is a very good self-calibration technique. I think there's only one thing I would add, from the perspective of having been promoted from L59 to L64 in a 6-year period in one org (I left MS in 2006).Sometimes things within an org will turn to complete crap, and either there's not an option to leave or you may not want to. My management tells me that this is normal and 2 years is "aggressive", but this is getting frustrating for me. When it comes to where you actually rank and what you get paid that part is all that matters. as many others posters said: if you are worry too much about promotion chances are you will keep worrying. VPs may well number in the hundreds at a huge place . Most of them are not. The soft skills definitely matter. This way I can be in a better position to show that I am a "absolutely!" No managers seems to want to talk to the previous managers for promo stuff and each wants at least 12 mos of time to think to observer.
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