My First Promo Rejection, a Blessing in Disguise

How getting rejected taught me one of the most important lessons of my career

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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?