Should You Stay In Your Current Job or Move For A Promotion?There are a lot of pros and cons when trying to weigh up if you should stay in your current role or look for a new one, for example when looking for a promotion, or a pay increase.
Hey folks, this is Ryan with another edition of The Software Engineering Times. I write for today's and tomorrow's software leaders. You can subscribe for free and get weekly issues straight to your inbox. Paid subscribers get full access to all past articles, personally curated resources, templates, special offers, 10% off mentoring, and access to a private community. There are typically two ways to get promoted:
It’s unlikely that everyone will always be one or the other. The truth is that your career will be a mix of both: some internal promotions here and there, with a mix of external move-ups scattered in. Let’s take my career as an example; I have worked in software engineering for ~15 years, with ~5 of those in management. I have had a mixture of internal and external promotions. For all of the external promotions, it was a mixture of backing myself when others wouldn’t and deep thought of the pros and cons.
After going through a few external promotions, I have taken my fair share of time to think about the pros and cons of internal vs external promotions. In this post, we will go through those, helping you decide which option might be best for your career goals. Benefits of an Internal PromotionFamiliarity You’re already immersed in the culture, have established relationships with your team, and know the systems. This makes it easier to hit the ground running in a new role. You are aware of the ins and outs, the landscape and discovering the landscape of a new role will be drastically reduced in this area vs a new role. Existing relationships and visibility Working with managers and colleagues who know your strengths and contributions can smooth the promotion process. You’ve already built a foundation of trust and reliability. You will have worked damn hard getting the visibility for yourself which has shown your capability at the next role, and that will carry forward with you. Track record Your previous contributions and achievements within the company speak for themselves. An internal promotion allows you to continue expanding on those accomplishments. You are starting from a solid base of achievements here and not starting at zero, trying to build that foundation in your track record. Challenges of an Internal PromotionExisting perceptions Managers and colleagues may already have fixed ideas about your role and capabilities, making it harder to prove that you’re ready for the next level. For example, in a previous role, I sent an update about a project that didn’t contain the level of detail the CTO wanted (who was three levels above me at the time), and no matter what I did, I could never shake that. Money While internal promotions often come with pay increases, these may be more modest than what you could negotiate in an external offer. Negotiating a substantial raise can be more challenging if you stay within the same company, it’s not unusual to be met with the attitude: ‘This is what you are getting’. This is how it has been in my experience. Promotion cycles and It’s Not Guaranteed Some companies only offer promotions during specific review periods, which can be frustrating if you’re ready for a new challenge now. I have seen it before where someone was passed up for a promotion with feedback that, in my opinion, was a nitpick, and they had to wait another year for the promotion cycle to come around. It was no shock when this top performer left the company. Benefits of an External PromotionFresh start Starting at a new company brings a fresh perspective and new challenges, which can be invigorating and help you learn quickly. Sometimes, it’s nice to get away from those inherent biases internally and start on fresh ground. A chance to go again. The grass isn’t always greener, but you never know until you take a look. Salary Companies are often more flexible in negotiating offers for new hires, which can mean a larger salary increase than what’s typical for internal promotions. Whereas when getting an internal promotion, it can often be the case that you get given a raise, and that’s the end of the conversation, externally, it’s much more common to negotiate. Targeted search When looking externally, you can seek out a specific role or company that aligns with your career goals, culture preferences, and growth ambitions. For example, when I left working in finance as a software engineer, I wanted to try something that was the opposite of that, so I went to work for a company which builds software for charities. Diversify experience and network Moving to a new company allows you to diversify your experiences and expand your professional network, which can be valuable throughout your career. Some of my greatest opportunities have come from people I never would have met. Challenges of an External PromotionUnfamiliar There are a few parts to this. Firstly, you will have to re-establish relationships and the trust which inherently comes with those. It will be a cultural adjustment; all the good and bad things about the last company which you got used to might not be the case anymore, so it will be an extra mental load getting used to the cultural nuances and adapting to a new environment. Impact starts at 0 When getting promoted internally, you would have built a list and timeline of achievements and business value that you delivered. At a new company, this will start at 0. This can be both daunting and refreshing. Not realised expectations Hopefully, the interview process will be good, and the pre-onboarding process will be solid, giving you an insight into the expectations of your role. However, there is no process good enough to fully prepare you for the true expectations of the role, which are realised once you dissect the culture, your boss, and your team. *Stuff* to Consider When Deciding
Final ThoughtsIn your career, you will get promoted internally within an organisation and also you will get promoted externally via another company giving you a chance. The chances are that you will spend many years working as a software engineer, so don’t be too hard on yourself. Give yourself a chance. Your value and ability are your story to tell. This newsletter recently hit 5,400 subscribers, that’s so wild. Please like this (click the heart button) and subscribe. It keeps me motivated and gives me heaps of help. Just quickly, whilst I have you:
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