Ask HN: Promoted, but Career Path Derailed
32 comments
·January 30, 2025canterburry
Every leader has their "go to" people.
You want to be one of those "go to" people! They are put on the most challenging assignments, the most exciting opportunities, more often promoted, protected from above, last to let go and frequently asked to follow that leader to new assignments at new companies usually with higher titles and better comp.
It seems to me you have been spotted by your Sr. Director and given an opportunity to prove yourself as you did in your prior team. It's a logical move to take a high performer from one team, and try to prop up an underperforming team. It's about what's good for the company.
If this fails, you won't necessarily be blamed, but you'll have lost an opportunity to really stand out amongst any other engineer at your level and earn the status of your Sr. Director's "go to" person.
Your value is in being a versatile, competent "can do anything, anywhere and happy to do it" type of resource who can be thrown into the biggest messes and come out looking good.
v3xro
To weight in with what most likely is an unpopular opinion here on HN - but you also have to consider your job satisfaction and stress factors before and after the potential move - sometimes it is best to shift orgs entirely and continue doing what you like doing rather than be forced to take on new challenges (that might or might not be intractable).
canterburry
Well, sounded to me like OP wanted a career. What I described leads to a career.
ChrisMarshallNY
It really depends on the type of person you are.
Not everyone is up for that (yes, it can be quite stressful). For those that can deal with it, it can be a lot of fun. I'm a good fixer, but not really into the chaos that fixers often deal with.
I know folks that are consultants, exactly so they won't be tied down to one task.
GianFabien
Reads like you are in a (very?) large org. Reorgs and politics are par for the course.
You got a promotion into an area where you have a chance to prove your chops by improving on things. Get this right and you'll be in line for more promotions.
Being "the expert" in a specialized domain is often a career limiting thing. Broadening your areas of success is generally better for your long term career.
Probably best to wait until the new director settles in before pitching your proposals. In the meantime, take a look at how you can further improve how the management views your contributions and the value you produce.
bayindirh
Similarly, I think sometimes being displaced to somewhere less comfortable is a good thing in a career. I had this a couple of times, one turned out not ideally, but the other ones (which are smaller, but still tosses me from place to place) proved to be better in the long run.
I prefer to be a T shaped person, but having a broader top doesn't harm the process of going deep. In retrospective, I found that having a broader knowledge provided the paths and fuel to dig deeper the part I care about the most.
slippy
"At first, the senior director didn't outright tell me I couldn't stay in the old domain, but made it very clear it was in my best interest to move to the new domain, where there wasn't a staff+ engineer."
Do you think this was good advice? You took their advice, even if it seemed a bitter pill at the time. They were most certainly part of the process for your promotion.
It feels like this senior director is in your corner. I'd schedule a 1:1 with a simple agenda of "looking for advice".
Definitely start with a compliment. "I remember that you advised me to move to X, Y time ago, and you were right that it was great for my career and promotion."
Be clear and specific about your desires - "I miss working on X technology. I was wondering if you have any visibility into any 2025 Q2, Q3, H2 projects or opportunities related to X technology that I might be able to [contribute to or transition to]." Sometimes you can be 50/50 to try something out or dip your toe in the water if you are attached to the success of something else. It's important that you be clear and specific. Maybe you could do this via email - it depends on if you are introverted or extroverted.
I once had an EM go back to Principal IC in an area that he loved. He's still working on it.
Good luck!
duke_sam
You’ve been given the chance to show that your previous success wasn’t just a function of the domain you were in and team you were on.
Taking a flailing org and being visibly a part of turning them around will open a lot of doors in your current company. Notably those open doors won’t really translate if you switch jobs. If you switch jobs you’ll have to rebuild the trust that senior middle-management have in you.
At the end of the day if you want to find a small niche and stay in it then senior staff+ is likely not for you unless your technical area is in demand and very complex.
sverhagen
Am I the only one worried on the poster's behalf that their entire office is gonna know about this post, first thing in the morning?
Or are they playing some 3D chess, and that was the plan all along?
Not that they are saying inherently bad things about the company, but the various doubts they express may not be seen as a strength (not that I wholeheartedly subscribe to that view).
lnsru
Don’t approach the new director as someone with an issue. Nobody likes problematic cases. Enjoy your promotion and keep good reputation.
You don’t control anything, you’re a figure in power game of directors and senior directors. They will think and you will deliver and get stocks and salary for that. Your happiness is secondary thing as I experienced first hand couple years ago. You should think how far are you ready to go for your compensation. Eventually your happiness, satisfaction and high salary can’t be combined. Which one will you choose?
bell-cot
I'd guess that management is hoping that you've got some Right Stuff, to lift your new team's performance out of the basement.
But what about the "two experts are already prominent as leaders" on your new team? Were they there when that team was building its "we are crap" reputation? Are they technical experts, who aren't really capital-L leadership material? Are there personality clashes, and maybe those guys need to be separated? Or, given the fired director, might management be looking to put a fresh set of trusted eyes (you) into the situation, to let 'em know what the problems on that team are?
postexitus
If everybody wanted to work on the easy problems / already successful products / coolest new tech, we wouldn't be able to run any companies at all. If you are as good as you think you are, you should be able to take this unsuccessful team, turn it around and make it a winning story that will propel you even higher in your org+career.
2030ai
True but a bit unfair here? Sounds like there is a speciality the OP wants to build. I assume they believe that getting more experience in that is benefitial and maybe they have a plan.
I think gift horse and mouth applies as well: Promotions like that are not easy to get especially to stay as an IC (ish) role. But there is a tactical and perhaps comfort zone aspect to wanting to stay put.
The 6x stock is another curve ball for us would be advisors! If that is RSU maybe they are on a million comp and then the question is what is least likely to get me fired so I can retire in 5.
jjallen
I would consider cashing in your stock if the company’s stock 6xed and is likely at a local or global maximum.
mst
Possible middle ground if you can't immediately get what you're hoping for: Explain to the new Director that in the medium term you'd still like to be able to also work with the prior domain, and try to negotiate roughly "if I can fix this team to the point where it doesn't need me, then I get moved to cross-domain work."
This has obvious risks of them not coming through once you achieve the first part, but if this team is as screwed as you describe and management are confident in you being able to unfuck it - and of needing somebody at your level of competence to do so - then it might turn out to be a net positive route for you, your career, the team, and the company.
Also might be easier to sell to the new boss, and a deadline for them to actually deliver on that promise if you can get it made of "when said stock vests" would fit your being willing to leave then and their being aware you've passed the vesting deadline for a decent chunk of options will probably give you a stronger position from which to press them to deliver at that point.
(of course there's lots of details here you know and I don't and I'm still on my first pot of coffee, but hopefully the general shape of the idea provides some inspiration that fits the full situation)
motoboi
You have right here a very helpful hint of your internal state: “One is that I really don't like being in charge of my own destiny”
The way I see it, you already know that, hence this Freudian slip.
In my opinion, doing _only_ what we love, understand and care about is the path to depression.
You maybe anxious because you are being called to step out of your comfort zone?
philipwhiuk
> In my opinion, doing _only_ what we love, understand and care about is the path to depression.
I would argue being forced to do stuff you don't care about is a much quicker path.
sfjailbird
Definitely tell the new director what you want, and firmly, without threatening to quit over it - leave that unsaid. If you are really valued, s/he will try to accomodate you. If not, then you know where you stand and then it's time to put up or shut up.
I have never found any value in merely airing my feeling. Just say what you want, that is much easier for a boss to deal with.
Maybe "derailed" is a strong word. But here's my situation:
There was a re-org last quarter. My team was working on a specific domain managing a stack. There was another close-by team working in that same domain managing a different stack. They hadn't been one team from the get-go due to political interpersonal reasons. My director got fired for bad performance, and the other team's product launch failed (under a different director, both under the same senior director).
The other team took over my team's stack and manages both stacks now. The other team had a senior staff engineer, and I (then a staff engineer) was displaced. I was moved to a different domain and promoted to senior staff engineer, onto a team that was historically seen as badly underperforming, and was a huge contributing factor in my director getting fired. I have experience in both domains, but my knowledge, experience, and interest prefer my old domain, in the team I was displaced out of. At first, the senior director didn't outright tell me I couldn't stay in the old domain, but made it very clear it was in my best interest to move to the new domain, where there wasn't a staff+ engineer. I've been reassured my performance is great and I feel my work on the last team was appreciated across the org and I established a good reputation, but it's upsetting that I'm not able to continue to work on my specialty.
I've been feeling lots of things. One is that I really don't like being in charge of my own destiny with this kind of thing. I've left a company due to a bad reorg before largely because I wasn't in control. I don't want my career and life to evolve by happenstance. Another is sadness at the loss of prominence in the company, since I have to re-orient myself on this new team, where two experts are already prominent as leaders. Another is just the fact that I don't enjoy this domain as much and don't find it as interesting, especially as the work in my previous team is getting into my specialization just this year after I've left. Another is that I'm bothered by the lack of continuity in the large projects I had worked on. It pains me to leave so much in a half-finished state.
A new director is starting in two weeks. I don't know how much or whether to surface these issues to him. I'm hoping I could start to report directly to him to be able to work on cross-org initiatives, including things related to my other domain, which has certain points of intersection between the domains.
I'm not willing to leave the company because its stock 6x'ed last year. I'm looking for other options and advice on either what actions to take to change the situation in ways that'll make me happier and more satisfied at work, or thoughts that'll help address the feelings about this.
Thank you.