The Y Path: Falling into the Technical Trap
The Y Path: Falling into the Technical Trap
You were taught to want a promotion and not to be happy. Here’s why you should rethink the norm.
You won't level up just by doing what you already do better. This can be the case when moving from junior to senior engineer because, at this stage, you're mainly increasing your bag of expectations inside your team. But after the senior level, you might leave some responsibilities behind and get different ones. Your expectations change a lot, and maybe you don’t want it.
There's nothing wrong about seeking a promotion. But understanding why and where you are getting yourself in is crucial to avoid frustration. In this text, I'll share what you need to know before spending your energy on trying to level up and help you see if it is exactly what you want.
🛣️ The Y Career Path
🔓Unveil the Myth
❓ Understand Your Reasons
🏢 Seeking Power
🌟 Build a Reputation
🤹♀️ Find New Challenges
🪙 Increase Compensation
🧱 Acknowledging Painful Obstacles
📈 You Don’t Define Priorities
🤷♀️ Uncertainty Is the New Normal
💬 Dealing With Long Feedback Cycles
🛣️ The Y Career Path
Becoming a manager was the only way to level up years ago. People who wanted to stay technical had no option. It was the norm to see bad managers who were previously outstanding engineers. It was clear that a good engineer didn't make a good manager. And the Y career path came to solve the issue. Now, individual contributors can stay technical, get promotions, and increase their earnings. Even if there are many nuances across different companies, the roles of staff and principal engineers are not so close to the previous ones.
The problem with management positions continues to happen in a different context. We do have bad staff and principal engineers who were exceptional senior engineers. The point isn't that they are still learning. So, what is the matter? The scope and responsibilities change drastically.
🔓Unveil the Myth
Growing is not about being in a specific role. It means more than promotion. It is moving towards where you want to be, considering your own values and definition of success. In a world where competition is key, and people usually compare themselves to others, the mindset is just one — if you have a higher position, you are more successful. It is a myth. Success is different for every single person. It is about fulfillment. And it can be found on the next level or not.
❓ Understand Your Reasons
Understanding why you want a promotion will give you enough information to make a conscious decision and then create a strategy to help you get there, whether you discover your goal is a promotion or not.
🏢 Seeking Power
You might feel uncomfortable just by reading the word power because there is a lot of stigma around it. But it isn't necessarily a bad thing. It provides a practical means for achieving goals by leading people's effort and productivity. Don’t forget that authority comes from your title, and power is primarily a result of your competence and credibility. Power with authority is weak, and it is just what you get by leveling up. Instead, influencing people without using authority will be a change-maker towards your success, no matter your role or company.
🌟 Build a Reputation
Do you think people will respect or recognize you by your title? You might be right at first glance, but as they know you, it tends to be the other way around. They will see your position as legitimate if they see you as competent and trustworthy. Otherwise, if it is just a title, behind the scenes, your reputation will be far from what you expect. If it is a reputation that you want, you need to be more visible. Start soon! You don't need to wait for a promotion. Your work is your best CV.
🤹♀️ Find New Challenges
It might be a good reason to aim for a promotion if you are interested in the challenges of the next-level position. Make sure you know what the next level looks like. Ask your manager to help you identify if you're a match and, if not, what’s missing. Talk with people who are already in this position. After understanding the responsibilities and challenges of that role, ask yourself what you would and wouldn't like to do and what you can be flexible with. Then, identify what you must leave behind and how comfortable you are with it. Finally, ask yourself if those are the challenges you were expecting.
🪙 Increase Compensation
Of course, everyone wants to have a good salary and live comfortably. Let's say you have already reached this point. Is compensation the most important thing still? Remember, while promotions come with more money and occasionally other perks, those things do not necessarily fulfill you.
🧱 Acknowledging Painful Obstacles
Many people get stuck and frustrated when they arrive at the staff level, even more at the principal. The constraints to making things happen are hard, and many good ideas never become reality. Even if you understand the problem well and propose solutions, it will only bring value if you get them done. And this is what will be expected from you.
📈 You Don’t Define Priorities
You often don't belong to a product team; you're working cross-team, which means you must “fight” with more than one product backlog to push technical initiatives. Your time is limited, and the problems you will face are bigger than a pull request. So, forget about doing things on your own. You’ll depend on others even more.
🤷♀️ Uncertainty Is the New Normal
Your responsibilities become more abstract the higher you go, and expectations get shady. You will lead, even if not in a formal leadership position. People won’t tell you what to do. You must figure it out by yourself.
Many people lack the skills or don't like to work with uncertainty. But as you level up, uncertainty grows, and figuring out a path becomes part of your daily work life.
💬 Dealing With Long Feedback Cycles
If you love the engineering life of coding, opening a PR, deploying, and seeing the results in production, you might consider carefully the decision to get a promotion. This kind of activity, which results in a shot feedback cycle, might still happen, but not so often. You will be involved in bigger and more complex initiatives that will take a lot of time from you, mostly aligning and documenting stuff.
Watch what you want.
Before seeking promotions, be highly self-aware and discover what fulfills you. Things you enjoy can be outside the scope of the new role. And things you don't like can become one of your main responsibilities, decreasing your overall happiness. Spending most of your time doing something that makes you feel miserable would be your worst decision.
🔖 Related Content You Might Like
Why Influence Without Authority Is a Vital Skill for Anyone by
. It is a text about being effective and making people voluntarily listen to you and be excited about it, with or without positional authority.
That's all for today! 🎉
If you want a promotion and are not getting it, my next text will explore why it might be happening and provide some insights into how to change it.
I like getting feedback and connecting with people. Feel free to reach out – I'd love to hear from you! If you have suggestions for future content, they are also welcome.
See you next time 👋