My First Promo Rejection, a Blessing in Disguise
How getting rejected taught me one of the most important lessons of my career
My Rejection Story
Manager: I’m sorry to tell you, but the promo committee results came back and your promotion was declined.
Me: Oh wow, that’s unfortunate. Did they say why?Manager: Yes, their feedback was to work on more impactful projects. It seemed to them that your work so far didn’t meet the bar for impact for Eng 2.
Manager: But don’t worry, we’ll find more impactful work for you to try again next cycle.
Me: Okay….
I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I was an Eng 1 at Google, having just learned that my first promotion attempt, after two years in the role, was rejected.
It’s hard to articulate what I felt then.
You see, I joined Google as a new grad. Besides a few internships, my industry experience was limited. I was not only new to the job but also to the country, having moved from Romania to California for Google. To say I had to figure out a lot on my own would be an understatement.
Getting an offer from Google in 2011 came somewhat as a surprise. I say somewhat because despite finishing top 3% of my university, I never thought I was good enough for Google. Also, there was no LeetCode back then.
I accepted the offer—it seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—but so did my loud impostor syndrome, which decided to tag along.
Fast forward to my promotion rejection day; it was not only sad and extremely disappointing but also fueled my impostor syndrome. Perhaps I wasn’t good enough after all…
I remember also feeling quite confused. This rejection made no sense.
I had operated under the assumption that doing the work my manager assigned, which was deemed impactful according to our team's priorities, was sufficient. I delivered all tasks to the best of my abilities, never dropped the ball on anything, and even handled issues beyond my normal scope. I did everything I was asked!
This article isn’t to complain about how promotions were decided at Google, or about my manager at that time. Actually, I’m not complaining at all; this rejection taught me one of the most critical lessons of my career.
Just doing what I’m told won’t guarantee a promotion
After reflecting on my experience and trying to understand why it happened, I realized one important thing:
Just doing what I’m told won’t guarantee a promotion.
To advance my career, I needed to rethink my approach and take more control over the process, relying less on my manager.
Is it unfortunate and perhaps unfair? Debatable, leaning towards yes.
Am I grateful for this early lesson? Absolutely—1000%.
Did it serve me well? Without a doubt.
Taking this lesson to heart, my promotion to Eng 1 happened 6 months later, and to senior a year after that. Overall it took me 2.5 years to get from Eng 1 to Eng 2, and 1 year from Eng 2 to senior.
So what did I do differently?
I independently researched what’s expected at the next level
I reached out for advice from other senior folks in the org and unintentionally found a mentor
I switched to a new team that was just forming where I got the opportunity to significantly increase
Disclaimer: the decision to switch teams was made after careful consideration; in general chaging teams is a dissadvantage, stay tuned for an upcoming discussion on this topic in a future article
I initiated a career/promo talk with my new manager right away
I asked for a larger scope project that I could deliver end to end and tried to work on fewer snack tasks
I started relying less on my manager and self-managed more
I asked more questions to make sure my work has significant business impact
Essentially, I became the driver of my career growth.
Conclusion
Navigating careers is a complex journey, filled with many variables.
The requirements and strategies for getting promoted change with each level. What gets you to mid-level won’t necessarily get you to senior and beyond. And let’s not overlook the role of luck.
One thing remains constant: if you don’t care about your career growth, nobody else will.
Until next time,
Your Caring Techie
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Insightful article! Would love to hear more on this part: "I asked more questions to make sure my work has significant business impact." If you could share what type of questions to ask to understand the business impact, that would be quite helpful :)
So simple and so important! Many good engineers get stuck because they wait for others to tell what they should do. Or they think they can get a promotion by doing the same things they already do. Thanks for sharing your experience ❤️