Well, it took far longer than it should have but I did it! I have officially been promoted to L64 or the exact same title, or Sr. Sr. Dev, or Sr SWE II. The variations are endless. Not principal. This is the last promotion you really need to get at Microsoft. From this point forward I could just live in this cozy little title collect my pay checks and then one day just die… err retire.
I’ve wanted this bump for quite a while. I didn’t realize it at the time but reporting to Steph significantly held back my career. If you look at my ratings, they were very consistent >100 for my review cycles. Then when Steph became my manager, they dropped to 100, and even one great 80 to kick off my transition to my new team. Let’s be honest, she tried to get me fired right before I left Office Engineering. So, join my new team, first year was bad (see relic of the past from above) but then I got a 140! First >100 in 5 years. Then back to 100 again, to be honest not sure how that happened. Then this year 120 + Promo! So it took about 3 years on my current team to justify the promo. It sort of make sense going from 80 to 140 is reasonable, but promos require consistency. The 100 was a frustrating rating since my boss said he was putting me up for a promo that year. C’est la vie. This is A LOT of inside baseball…
Anywho, what is bothering me is now that I have it, I guess I just sort of feel nothing. Kate thinks it’s because it was inner band so no title changes and thus no recognition. I sort of think it’s tied to how I feel like I am not where I should be in my career, though the counter point to that is I don’t know where I should be in my career. Should I be a principal making big decisions, making big dollars, but having all the responsibility. Or should my job be challenging but pleasant. Should I be able to take copious amounts of time off and still make a good living. That also seems great. Maybe I am just tired? Being a dad is hard, having a new kid coming is also hard / scary. Being the sole provider is stressful. Writing big checks for things is stressful. Maybe life is just too complicated?
I need to take a step back though, and remind myself if you make almost 300k a year your money problems can’t actually be that bad. If you can take 8 weeks off in a year, and then get a bonus 3m of paternity leave the following year things aren’t that bad. If you own a house that is 5br in Seattle proper with a good walking score things can’t be that bad. Hey, maybe things are that bad and you should just stop comparing yourself to others? Good talk Alex… good talk. Anyway, enjoy your promotion gift of taking yourself to Herb Farm!