Most gravitate to safe work that's in their comfort zone or work they enjoy. All of us have been asked to move to India by our parent company. And, ironically, some titles make your manager automatically have to adjust your level after a certain time, in order to comply with certainly HR guidelines.- Buy your principal a coffee, hear everything, and dont follow everything. I have some colleagues now stuck with a career that they dont really want because they move up too much. then do you know what more you need to do? It's a very rare thing that you'll find a manager who gives you the kind of actionable feedback you need to succeed without doing a whole lot of sleuthing and groundwork of your own to fill in the blanks. Your commitments should already provide you with milestones to set as your goals. This is certainly the course that I took. Apple's about to ship Snow Leopard with no new features. I suggest understanding why it is "No" first, truthfully accepting the point-of-view as pissed off as it may make you, and then having a self-directed action-plan to get on track. Mgmt, MSFT levels: CEO > VP > Partner(Director) > Principal > Sr. Eng > Eng 2 > Eng 1. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. Think about it. By contrast, most directors don't have their own budgets, but need approvals from their VP to do just about anything. How bad is this? Microsoft's senior positions start at level 63, according to the crowdsourced tech compensation website Levels.fyi. 1. My likely response would be "congratulations! So honestly, what is your boss's answer about if you'll reach L63? Boeing, Go to company page Your Recently Promoted L63 Peers: let's say you have at least one peer that in the past year or so has been promoted to L63. Take responsibility for defining the component in front of you -- is it really the right thing for the product/team? Satya Nadella. What advice do you have to pass on? Third, working on that weakness DAILY (but not exclusively) until they overcome it. a Data Scientist 1. 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. Will they reach L63? Be nice, and clear in your communications. This 360 review is confidential and you dont have to share it with your mgr unless you chose to do so. A past co-worker of mine had the same thing done to him and now there are two devs doing what he did by himself.I guess Microsoft has its reasons. So dont try to be joker just to get attention.Now of course, this is all just the theory. 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. Moved to a role where I could see headroom and also where I could set specific commits and accountabilities with the GM, which I then exceeded and moved to L63 in '04. 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. Within the comments, I hope to elicit advice that follows up on what I start here, and maybe even contradicts it. Here are the key facts about senior director resumes to help you get the job: The average senior director resume is 776 words long The average senior director resume is 1.7 pages long based on 450 words per page. Could be principal engineer, principal engineering manager, could even be director depending on the org. I've been hearing some stealth layoffs around the SQL and BOSG groups, around 70+ people were given 6(?) I suspect the former because there's no point in a manager telling you that you got promoted when you didn't. At Microsoft, the levels start at 59 and go beyond 80. Browse all Microsoft salaries . But, if you have the possibility of finding a position that you will really enjoy, where your goals and those of Microsoft are fairly close, then your long-term potential will be higher. Sometimes i laugh when i read the armchair CEO's on this thread - there is a lot of criticism of Steve, but 99% of our brains would absolutely pop if we had to confront the complexity of decisions he makes in one day. You must ask for a promotion when you think you are ready. 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. I asked them direct questions about what I needed to do to get the next promotion. The conclusion: its price today! That manager was (in my and many others' opinions) an incompetent, non-technical "manager" who was incapable of recognizing people's talent and contributions. However, I think this is the first point where we see a non-trivial number of folks plateau. That clarity may not always result in a promotion on the exact timeline you envision but if you're honest with yourself and have a good manager it really helps.I'm a 13 year Microsoft employee who lived through the bad old days of crappy managers. How many has Live hired this year and OneCare gets cut? Excuses and griping and bemoaning aren't the stuff that L63 contributors are made of. Be very careful, because some people may tell you about this or that great thing they did, and only mention that they are (or were) married to this General Manager, or that they have been in the team since it was only 2 people, and the other person today is a VP. Here are some things from my perspective.1. If you are in office, you will have lots of experience promoting people up to 62 but after that it's a rare event. Who da'Punk I left eight years after that when I realized that L66 wasn't going to happen for me.The bottom line: If your boss isn't pushing for you, get them on your side or leave the group. This is a good list. We have to reduce billions of dollars of cost. Get a free, personalized salary estimate based on today's job market. You can work hard and grind it out. Just like a lot of folks have a fetish to be managers even when it is against their natures.Having said this, consider which is better: a) Rushing through the levels and to be stuck in 64 for ages (to be Kim'd is especially painful here) - think Sarah Palin orb) Going through the levels at a healthy pace, getting far deep into the salary ranges that will assure higher pay when the new levels come. and is willing to take a chance on someone whose interview indicates they are ready for next level. The person who puts you up for promotion and has promotion conversations with your skip level. If you dont know what exactly an L63 is, how are you able to make promotion discussions in the review meetings?Managers become so defensive when asked what we should be doing to advance. The key thing is finding the right team and manager, along with the comments you made. I've also worked for great managers, and worked with great people on my team. I know some managers will tell you that HR doesnt want promotions during internal transfers. L6 =64-65. You want to be more efficient, smarter than him. Calibrations are like a brick wall, even in regard to comments made about you. Me? There is an over lap in all levels when you move across companies with m:n map. There's this sort of nebulous "first you have to perform at level current+1 for a year, then you'll get promoted. Might as well fire those guys. My queries on any specific guidance would get no response or the response that youre a 62 and you should be able to figure it out. This helps us sort answers on the page. on this one. An Australian graduate with over 23 years of experience in the IT industry covering various business natures and sizes across startups and large corporations taking on roles from full-stack development in both open source and Microsoft technology stack to architecture design and strategic roles such as Technical Director/CTO. Shock and awe awaits. I've been at the same level for 3.5 years (since I joined MSFT), and while I spent three of those in a group where almost noone at all got promoted (a group which has since essentially dissolved), I'm concerned that my level stagnation reflects poorly on me, even though I've been the major contributor on products that have earned 10x my total compensation package for MSFT. Let's compare answers answer is: your boss. Get yourself a formal or informal mentor who is already doing what you want to be doing. This can play a bigger role even than how many times you broke the build, caused a bug, etc. I breezed to L63 and shortly after to L64 within a year. Levels are a bit easier to achieve in MCS. Ah, dude, my boss is in the way of my promotion. Chief Executive Officer and Director. Grammar nitpicking is fine when it's accurate. "Ain't seen nothing yet" is a more popular variant of the same due to a song with that title and refrain. 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 . That is why to get to L65 a VP level person must know your work and be able to recall your name without help. All the money making groups cut 10% of the work force. 4. I'm interested in reading your perspective and what advice you'd give to someone new to the company looking at a career path similar to your own. It's a $1,000-per-minute conversation - you should always have those. Shock and awe awaits [sic].Four errors in grammar and punctuation in a post of just 14 words? About Top-performing Senior Director in Digital Strategy & Commercial Development, with 25 years success in top-tier business across new Tech, data and digital in many sectors driving strategy,. It is possible to get promoted out of a desire to be promoted. Most are management types whose only skill is sucking up. L66 would be Principal or Sr Director. because I have never seen the above formula fail with me in many years or people I know (a sample set of hundreds of person-years), I would agree, right now, level is deflated, 64, and 65 are real barriers, and salary level expand as well. When I was an IC, it was tough technical problems or simply critical problems that no one else wanted. Great Post! The second was threat (I have a serious offer outside the company that I am taking). I'm an SDE, so a large part of my time in the product cycle is spent fixing bugs. > What if you and your manager are at the same level L62. Some were also not very sexy/fun problem but they were all critical to ship. Are you ok with what you hear? Some considerations, based on my own career:- The best way to get to level 63 is moving around, and getting promotions as you move. Unless you're an asshat, in which case see mini's comment about slapping yourself around and listening to what other's think about you.And in those huge orgs with all the noise it is really easy for folks to rest and *ahem* vest, so you are overlooked by default.The key as mini and others have stated is finding the tech and team you love and everything flows from there (because you will be so excited you will go home and work another 4 hours every night examining customer feedback, competitive products, etc. I definitely want to read more soon.Sincerely yoursSteave Markson. I myself am a L62 on the cusp of a midyear promo after 18 months. Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Titles are important, and dont let anyone make you believe otherwise. If youve been at Level 62 longer than about 3 years MS may not be the best fit for you and you should probably be considering other options.kc. I've changed jobs but came back to the group that's been the most supportive. as many others posters said: if you are worry too much about promotion chances are you will keep worrying. Good managers: In general, good managers realize that they need to sell their team's accomplishments. The current distribution is simply pathetic.. About 1/2 the team is staying, the other half is going to a number of different teams within the larger org. Senior directors are tenured members of an organization who are considered part of the leadership or executive team, in which they represent their department or division. Then do it.Yeah yeah, that's an oversimplification. As for my own history, successful strategies have followed 3 major buckets:From 59 --> 62 (I started as a 10 in the old system) I simply kicked ass and took no prisoners. Is there any way to get to 63 w/o leaving and coming back? Will <> reach Level 63 during their career? It's a knife fight to 63. I would love to be above 60much less 63. Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. When someone else is waiting on you for something, don't be the reason they can't get their shit done.4. That's awesome. That didnt happen by chance alone. I moved around 3 teams before I found one where I really enjoyed the technology and the people, and here I've flourished.So forget all the whining about politics and crap. When it comes to where you actually rank and what you get paid that part is all that matters. Absolutely not Definitely yes 3 1 David Lean Worked at Microsoft (company) (1990-2009) Upvoted by Jack Schofield , Computer journalist who has covered Microsoft for 35 years. Full stop. "Your Recently Promoted L63 Peers"? Will a team that needs exactly the skills and interests that you have pass on you because of some HR guideline? The average salary for a Senior Director is $170,707 per year in United States, which is 65% lower than the average Microsoft salary of $500,742 per year for this job. Of course I ensure my manager and skip-level are aware of my contribution as a mentor, but I figure that as long as I'm in front of the wave, the best way for me to advance is to move the wave forward. Real HR managers from Microsoft would have just three [sic]s in a post of that length. I am a troll. Otherwise, you start getting limited reviews and your compensation goes down.Obviously there was no advice in this post, but I thought it was an interesting observation, and perhaps the company can learn something from this viewpoint. You're selling it in no less than eight different SKUs, (including the upgrades) and your marketing message is deliberately obfuscated to convince the customers to go for the most expensive one. Do a search for people in those groups in NYC area and check their status to see who is hiring. I am a [sic] HR manager. You're in competition with everyone else in your org in your CSP. Really inspiring. I'm currently level 66 and started at level 59 (equivalent in old levels) 12 years ago. Don't obsess over what is in front of you. Chairman of the Board, Microsoft Corporation. I spend a lot of my time these days working with partner teams to help them solve their own problems or create wins for their teams even if it only peripherally touches my area.