Three Tips for Career Growth

Working Title — How Promotions really happen

When I started working at Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) back in 2000, I started as a paid intern while in my last year of college. Over the course of the next 16 years I moved through the ranks from junior developer to senior then over to management and eventually into a leadership role as a vice president overseeing video playback on digital platforms.

Because of my background, I have always felt an affinity for others starting off their careers and looking to move up the ranks. I had often heard that in order to really get promoted one had to leave the company and come back — presumably with a newly acquired expanse of knowledge and experience.

I never agreed with this thinking. Maybe it’s my fundamental belief in fairness that told me it should be possible for one to be rewarded for their dedication to a company.

However, I will agree that I have seen that it is definitely a viable option for career growth to move around every 3–5 years.

1 — Make Yourself Mobile

One particular pitfall I have heard repeated as sound advice is to “make yourself indispensable” but in my experience this is unfortunately wrong.

in my experience this is unfortunately wrong

Perhaps if you want to stay in the same role and be very stable this is reasonable. If you want to move forward, that is flat out bad advice.

Instead you should strive toward being good at what you do and work on making others good as well. Train those around you. Create a successor.

You don’t want an opportunity to come along and you not to be available to take it because the hole you’d leave would be too vast. It could be your own team spirit not holding you back from hurting your coworkers, or those in management above you trying to avoid this problem.

2 — Drive Your Growth

Another piece of advice I’ve often heard is lacking not because it’s wrong but because it’s insufficient and not practical. You get promoted when “you’re doing the job already” has some grains of truth but how do you do that?

Instead strive to acquire new skills and new experiences.

I often see software developers interested in learning a new language or technology. This is never a bad thing but your career will likely not be dependent on this. If you already know 3 languages, adding a 4th will not make a major difference.

I like to point out to technical folks that “have no desire in management” that high level technical roles also require good communication skills. It doesn’t matter if an architect has the best idea in the room if she can’t communicate it clearly and convincingly.

It doesn’t matter if an architect has the best idea in the room if she can’t communicate it clearly and convincingly.

One strategy I advocate for here is having an honest conversation with your manager on where you’d like to go with your career and turn them into your advocate. You don’t need to ask them for promotions — you need to ask them for opportunities to add experiences to your resume. Let you run that project. Meet that client. Design that system.

3 — Do Interviews

There are lots of benefits to doing interviews and few downsides — especially if you have an open conversation with your current manager about your career ambitions.

The idea here is: interview for the type of job you want. Who knows — you might get it.

However there are other benefits as well.

First, you don’t want to wait for the perfect job and a fully formed portfolio before you do any interviews. You’ll be rusty and come in cold. Like anything else gaining a little experience here will make you more comfortable and therefore confident when you really do want to deliver for the perfect role.

Second, when you do an interview you will learn exactly what skills and experiences you’ll need to get that role. If they ask “Have you ever run a project before?” and you haven’t then you’ll know exactly what you need to put under your belt before the next one. If they ask about vendor management or conflict resolution or if you are comfortable giving presentations… these are all great things for you to then go and learn or ask your current boss to help you get that experience (See #2).

If you put all 3 of these tips into practice you will make steady measured progress toward career advancement. You’re not waiting for the magical day with your boss calls you into her office and gives you a promotion. You are taking your career and your growth into your own hands and moving forward.

Once you’ve done this, promotions are not a question of “if” but of “when”.