How I Convinced My Manager to Support My Promotion to Senior

And the power of self-advocacy

Manager: “Congratulations, your promotion to senior has been approved”.
Me: “Wow, that’s so awesome! Thank you so much for your support, I know it was a long shot”

When my manager told me my promotion to Senior Software Engineer got approved, I almost couldn’t believe it. It had been a year since my previous promotion from Eng 1 to Eng 2 and it was extremely rare to get promoted to senior in only one year.

Normally, the more senior you get, the more time it takes to get promoted. Also, promotions are planned endeavors. Not in my case.

This article tells the story of how I learned the power of self-advocacy and how I used the principle in my last article “Show, don’t tell” to influence my manager to support my promotion.

---

📢 Announcement

3 weeks left to register for the 4th cohort of “Impact through Influence in Engineering Teams”. Join students from Google, Amazon & more in learning the mindsets, frameworks, and tools you need to influence without authority and become an influential figure at work.

---

Story Time