The Happy Engineer | Career Success for Engineering Leadership
Aug 31, 2026 · 23 min · 9 segments
Most engineering managers waiting on a director promotion aren't underperforming. They're in the wrong conversation — one of three. Find out which one your boss thinks you're in →…
The problem is most people think about climbing the career ladder where each rung represents the next level role.
mastery of that level yes there are lateral moves that may occur before the next promotion but you look at this as each rung being a level of the job hierarchy and the truth is that inside each of these levels there are actually three distinct phases that you need to pass through And if you don't understand that, then you can get trapped in one of these earlier phases, one or two, and never make it to phase three where you're actually ready for the promotion, not in your own eyes, but in the eyes of your leader, which is extremely important.
It's about a partnership with the decision makers who are going to control your destiny of getting to that next level role.
The problem is most people think about climbing the career ladder where each rung represents the next level role.
mastery of that level yes there are lateral moves that may occur before the next promotion but you look at this as each rung being a level of the job hierarchy and the truth is that inside each of these levels there are actually three distinct phases that you need to pass through And if you don't understand that, then you can get trapped in one of these earlier phases, one or two, and never make it to phase three where you're actually ready for the promotion, not in your own eyes, but in the eyes of your leader, which is extremely important.
It's about a partnership with the decision makers who are going to control your destiny of getting to that next level role.
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