Oldest and (still) best advice I've gotten is move around a lot; no two teams' cultures or needs are the same, so you have something to offer wherever you look. Anyone know how to handle constant Re-orgs. "Next, I believe this post will most likely be useful for those who entered MS as intern/college hires. For others, the picture will not be so clear and they may place more weight on perceptions or a set of isolated incidents. There is an over lap in all levels when you move across companies with m:n map. I agree with some comments that level make no difference. As a member of the Microsoft UK Senior Leadership Team, Olaf leads Microsoft's retail and consumer goods . It's hard for L63. That is one aspect where they are forced to build fake relationships with directors and GMs to get promoted and unfortunately those who maintain good relatiship with them get promoted. You forgot "never ask for a promotion".Forgive my cluelessness, but: Why not?MSS. I think your comments on level 63 were interesting. Own your brand. I think you should play some games while searching for you L63 promotions. I spent 5 years on level 61. Browse all Microsoft salaries . 5. I have seen and known many of my own peers who don't get promoted because of potential but the number of people you know in the leadership team. That is why to get to L65 a VP level person must know your work and be able to recall your name without help. One, we bill customers higher for higher levels and we call everyone 'highly experienced' or even an 'architect'. Ah, dude, my boss is in the way of my promotion. You're cursed for life.2. Propose a new one and spend a day in implementing it. So dont try to be joker just to get attention.Now of course, this is all just the theory. I have staff that are lvl 60 and get paid as much as folks that are lvl 62. at Why are we doing x and not y? We've negotiated thousands of offers and regularly achieve $30k+ (sometimes $300k+) increases. Yet, I know that a friend just got one. Understand not just what needs to happen, but WHY. All of my experience is in the product development groups at MS (dev/test/pm) so my observations may not apply elsewhere. They will have thought this out. It doesnt matter if the system is fair or not. There may be multiple reasons for pay differences - one of which is a small number of salaries submitted per job. the higher you go, the bigger deal this is - at least to where i have gotten.Finally, not everybody will be good in every role. However good your manager is, she or he is still a human with insecurities and ego. Satya Nadella. abbott diabetes care customer service; sasha obama playing drums; silverstone woodlands camping tips; dagannoth mother osrs; how do i check my reader digest subscription; martin moreno leaves fluffy; abc12 obituaries flint, michigan . These turtles gets promoted eventually just based on time spent at MS and because they werent doing anything wrong even though they dont really meet CSP criteria. Senior Director, Industry Advisor Life Sciences Salesforce Aug. 2020-Heute2 Jahre 8 Monate Zrich, Switzerland Building Go To Market Strategies; growing and driving industry thought leadership. I also don't know if this is the first step towards a lay-off, but for now, it seems we'll have jobs for a few more months.Ugh, not good, not good at all. So most new hires at MS are L63 by default and they obviously don't have to work at it :).Yes, L64->L65 transition is REALLY big deal but directly joining MS at L65 as new FTE is not a big deal and there are usually ample of open positions. similar to maybe how EY says senior manager is Director (pwc, kpmg) equivalent. That manager was (in my and many others' opinions) an incompetent, non-technical "manager" who was incapable of recognizing people's talent and contributions. Lots of terrible mid level managers at MS. To the person from MCS who said it was easy to get to 64 in MCS - MCSinTheFieldI agree with you there, you can get to a L64 in MCS but try to ever transfer to another org as a L64. Unless you're an asshat, in which case see mini's comment about slapping yourself around and listening to what other's think about you.And in those huge orgs with all the noise it is really easy for folks to rest and *ahem* vest, so you are overlooked by default.The key as mini and others have stated is finding the tech and team you love and everything flows from there (because you will be so excited you will go home and work another 4 hours every night examining customer feedback, competitive products, etc. I got involved in features up front, by spending time getting to know the PM team. The second was threat (I have a serious offer outside the company that I am taking). As long as that's the case, I doubt anything would change.The method that this is done is troubling also. Join the Levels.fyi community to chat with employees at Microsoft and other tech companies. Eventually, their team will remove itself from his control through internal transfers to teams with better managers, and the asshole ends up getting canned in a re-org if he doesn't see the writing on the wall and use his Apple resume entry to jump to some other company.The fact that you praise someone for "junk yard dog mode" shows me that Microsoft has a fundamentally broken corporate culture, and that you are part of the problem.-jcr, Think of the guy in the other companyI don't like where this is goingThat is the guy to beat.No, No, NO!Think of the customer, not the competition! The estimated base pay is $243,438 per year. Or at least, more transparent feedback was communicated so you had a real idea of where your career was heading. You have to be extremely faithful to your management while at the same time carefuly growing your broad influence to your manager's piers. The scope imcreases, the risk increases and the visbility increases. See next bullet. Seriously - if you wave a competitor's offer in my face what have you told me? What advice do you need? My boss even made mistakes. a Data Scientist 1. I've lucked out a bit by working on a key project for our group and division, although a lot of that was due to my own contributions. -- Business Transformation Executive with demonstrated experience in managing and implementing large transformation programs through all levels of the organization in order to build growth, grab new market opportunities or reduce costs.<br><br>- Building on Solid experience in Functional roles (Sales, Marketing, Delivery Operations) to drive those programs <br>- Sales Oriented Business . Do it nicely. There are so many reasons why things didn't happen in a given review cycle. The larger the team I work on the more I am bombarded with meetings and brown bags so someone can attempt to become the expert on design patterns, code coverage, or feature X. And your manager will not hate you for thinking about switching -- if you are a great employee to begin with, he will just want to keep you around. We discussed progress at least once a month. Some were also not very sexy/fun problem but they were all critical to ship. Then they start pinging the manager on why and putting pressure on them to do something, move them up or out. Go and restart in another org and dig through their historical biz and people stability during your informationals. That didnt happen by chance alone. I guess they are fallible humans too. Should I trust my manager or is this just one more of his demonstrations of poor management skills? But above L62 the talent is intense and that is good. Wonderful. Mini could you please confirm or deny this. Any tips will be greatly helpful. VPs may well number in the hundreds at a huge place . I basically just hoped that hard work would get me ahead. also work is good only when it leads to results that typically means team's success. That is the guy to beat. Many senior people, even VPs read this blog. .css-1odorsr{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;font-weight:700;}.css-1ln5qhx{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;font-weight:700;}.css-1dmvvgc{margin:0;color:#0060b9;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;font-weight:700;}Get your salary negotiated .css-1npej63{-webkit-user-select:none;-moz-user-select:none;-ms-user-select:none;user-select:none;width:1em;height:1em;display:inline-block;fill:currentColor;-webkit-flex-shrink:0;-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;-webkit-transition:fill 200ms cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) 0ms;transition:fill 200ms cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) 0ms;font-size:1.25rem;margin-left:-4px;}or your resume reviewed by the real experts - recruiters who do it daily. I made sure I was the fastest, most efficient, and best bug fixer. And a knife-fight for L65 (some other day). I take a creative approach to accelerating business transformation as a . 6 years ago I developed what I have been supporting since. Related Searches:All Senior Director Salaries|All Microsoft Salaries. L65 took four years. I made sure I was the guy you wanted to call when the server crashed in the lab with a crazy callstack and no repro.Second, OWN the features. Write it down in a team-culture career section you keep in OneNote (start that section now if you don't have it). The estimated base pay is $243,438 per year. Skip-levels will not tolerate people who are not team players.Finally if your manager is new or at your level, the strategy is the same. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He himself is principal for quite sometime. This way I can be in a better position to show that I am a "absolutely!" A Senior Director gets a basic salary package of $190,000, which gets as high . L63 is very much an important milestone, and in tough-hiring times like these the following question has never been more important: "Will <> reach Level 63 during their career?". It varies greatly from manager to skip.The hardest point for me to bear is that I am young, capable of doing so much more, and absolutely dying to do more. Tips for getting them on your side:1) Ask for Exceeded. The estimated total pay for a Senior Director at Microsoft is $500,742 per year. Barring extraordindary circumstances each year you will get the "welcome to our group" evaluation.Don't forget the aunts and uncles. But, if you have the possibility of finding a position that you will really enjoy, where your goals and those of Microsoft are fairly close, then your long-term potential will be higher. Bottom line is this: It's very easy to find imperfections. If you can make the argument about the job - and you're in a position of strength, obviously harder now than in years past, you can make the case. Promotion budgets of 65 and above has been kept intact.Where did you hear this? Both job switches came from conversations I had with former co-workers or former directors. Find the right team and manager.2. Any idea on when is this going to change? That is the guy to beat. Microsoft senior leadership team under Satya Nadella Tech Here are the most important execs at Microsoft under Satya Nadella Jordan Novet @jordannovet Key Points Microsoft's executive team. Senior Director Global Supply Chain Management transformation Supply Chain Operations SA Juli 2022-Heute9 Monate Lausanne Metropolitan Area Principal Consultant for an international. You want to be more efficient, smarter than him. L66 is Principal band. You have to enjoy it, or else it'll come across as insincere, and you'll do a half assed job. Don't discount the power of a mgmt chain that believes in you. Embrace whatever people are saying are your flaws. Advice from anyone at Microsoft for 10+ years is great to hear, but hard to follow. did this post dieNo, the Mini-Electronic Brain did. So one big part is do good work, but another is don't do bad work.I think it's a very good idea to ask for a promotion. Nowadays, having been there and moved up, I would highly prefer someone that already succeeded as a Lead at Microsoft than a star individual contributor. i asked him if he knew the absolute most important thing for him to do to get promoted. At the beginning of each FY, I always asked, "I want to get Exceeded this year. Avoid long-winded multi-point e-mails, boil down your points as succinctly and efficiently as possible. This is hard for your manager -- he probably doesn't have a clear idea of what it will take to make the case. You're in competition with everyone else in your org in your CSP. If he thought you were trouble already, though, telling him you are thinking about leaving is like asking for a ticket out of there.7. After all, they are thinking through if you will be a good peer and will be easy to work with (and make their lives better in some way). Your analysis is very true, specially the part about owning the room and be regarded as the domain expert. Think Locally: remember three years back when we talked about the book Corporate Confidential? The way to succeed here is to find out how you make you, and your manager, and his/her leads, succeed as a team. Sorry for going dark for so long. But coming back is a HUGE IF, since I can't see ever going back the that cesspool of stupid. I started at 59 and just got promoted to 63 a couple months ago. And the place where MS has the most non-contributing overheads is Redmond. Salesmanship is extremely important. How? My likely response would be "congratulations! It takes a little time to get on your skip-level manager's radar. There is no better investment at Microsoft for tuning your career. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS & HIGHLIGHTS OF QUALIFICATIONS Over 20+ years of experience working in large-scale real-time corporate environments Able to communicate concepts and details to clients, development team and testing team Excellent organization and communication skills, both written and verbal: clear and concise Knowledge of computer development software across multiple platforms . I know devs who got there without doing anything substantial but their manager was nice and there was no competition.In short, Level 63 to me is not important and I really dont respect 63s unless they I've interacted with them.Level 65+ is another story and are devs who have the stuff almost always.- Someone at Level 62. In the beginning, I volunteered for these tough areas that no one else wanted and over time, my brand became the fix it guy. When it comes to where you actually rank and what you get paid that part is all that matters. What now? And to your boss. Help make it more accurate by adding yours. Microsoft It makes a difference in your relationship. Worked my ass off and finally get recognized as Snr contributor. At the end of the day its about $$ and in reality levels mean nothing if your getting paid crap. Establish SD/VSTF branching steering committee and send out monthly report. By contrast, most directors don't have their own budgets, but need approvals from their VP to do just about anything. Rather nice site you've got here. If you're going into that comfort zone of complaining about politics and butt-kissing and favorites, do me this favor: hold your right palm up, nice and flat like you're about to be sworn in to testify in a trial, and now extend your right arm out nice and wide, and then quickly swing your right arm around the front of you in a nice arc that ends with the flat of your right hand quickly connecting to the left side of your face for a hard, resounding slap. That clarity may not always result in a promotion on the exact timeline you envision but if you're honest with yourself and have a good manager it really helps.I'm a 13 year Microsoft employee who lived through the bad old days of crappy managers. Owning big features, knowledge about code base, ability to help your peers - irrelevant. Promotion budgets of 65 and above has been kept intact.Promotion and raise budgets are going to be quite tight everywhere, not just at MS. Tech corporation VPs are execs in the have-own-budget sense, and are usually the first position on the ladder that has this kind of control. given that the resource is static. Tech savvy yet entrepreneurship minded hence able to see things from . By then I had already already set up several clients as in independent consultant, so I declined to stay. I take some of the blame for not managing my career more directly, but no one should be offered a promotion when they leave--if they are valuable, let them know before hand! If it is "Absolutely!" Right now I am 56. After all, if you think you are already ready, and your manager doesn't, there is probably some way you can improve that you don't understand -- this is something you want to figure out.6. But that will only be one more indicator that you are not ready to "face" your obstacles. It's a matter of human nature for most people not to want someone else to pass them up. Had I only known this info when I started at Microsoft. That means, know what people think about you and what they don't. But that's kind of the point -- simplify your approach. Of course everyone wants to be promoted every review, so don't bother asking right after your last promotion.What matters most is that you are doing what your manager thinks deserves to get you promoted. I left eight years after that when I realized that L66 wasn't going to happen for me.The bottom line: If your boss isn't pushing for you, get them on your side or leave the group. It sounds fishy. If only your manager knows you then it is unlikely (at least on paper) that you will move beyond L62. I'm not looking for any off-topic comments let alone woe-be-me comments - remember that slap thing? I came from .NET (no longer there), and there were plenty of Senior IC PMs and Devs.Are you in Test, Marketing or Documentation? Do you think I can find a way to do almost as well and stay here, in this job I enjoy?" You will make your management look good and the levels will come. It's a knife fight to 63. The microsoft people have already decided you're not a good 'fit'. Repeat. Mini: Great topic! During that time I had two good to great managers. These two lines really serve to summarize the incoherent blithering that was jcr's post.Whoa, really? A broad perspective matters.3) This is all about stack rank. You can each help each other.I've gone from 59 to 65 so far, but maybe what worked for me won't work for you. Really inspiring. RIF in the SQL team? We need to grow out of this bad legacy syndrome that we still have. All of us have been asked to move to India by our parent company. ?I work in MSN and we still have no way to know the levels of our peers. "Now that the Annual review is approaching"You're probably too late already. How do levels compare? Does anyone know what the typical salary increase, measured in percentage, is for going from 62 to 63? All you have to do is look at the level distribution, there is a large dropoff in positions at 65. The last thing I would ever think about is what my boss thinks of me; I just don't care. In this testing times what will motivate the mgr to put you ahead of him/hers? Senior Director Levels at Microsoft 63 Senior Manager SDE Lead 64 Principal EM Principal Director of Engineering 65 Show 7 More Levels United States Average Total Compensation $515,638 Base Salary $243,377 Stock Grant (/yr) $194,043 Bonus $78,217 Get Paid, Not Played But that doesn't really help you compete when you don't know what everyone else is doing, particularily if you think you're doing well.Further, it's hard to get specific advice on how to get promoted, due to said black wall. As for my own history, successful strategies have followed 3 major buckets:From 59 --> 62 (I started as a 10 in the old system) I simply kicked ass and took no prisoners. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Physics and a strong commitment to undergraduate education. Apple's about to ship Snow Leopard with no new features. Senior Account Executive | Director | Sales & Marketing. I used to work in the OneCare team. There certainly doesn't seem to be any shortage of people wanting in. I am a troll. How long can someone stay at the same level before they get blacklisted? Ready? Real HR managers from Microsoft would have just three [sic]s in a post of that length. Otherwise, you start getting limited reviews and your compensation goes down.Obviously there was no advice in this post, but I thought it was an interesting observation, and perhaps the company can learn something from this viewpoint. Its a natural consequence of the learning curve. Sometimes the answer is, "well, we'll see" and other times the answer is, "if they'd only stop doing X and start doing Y on a sustained basis, I could see it". Maybe." Ugh, not good, not good at all.>Finance is cutting 10% of work force. But the people in the team are below 65. Whether your manager is hardcore or touchy-feely, you need a bulldog to promote you or you ain't goin' nowhere. First, they are moving *to* something that they think fits them better -- and bringing an enthusiasm for the new position to go with the better fit. Think of the guy in the other company, the guy who is building something that competes with you, with your team. Former is work of many years and long nights and proven track record while later is basically your ability to bullshit through 6 interviews. I think there's only one thing I would add, from the perspective of having been promoted from L59 to L64 in a 6-year period in one org (I left MS in 2006).Sometimes things within an org will turn to complete crap, and either there's not an option to leave or you may not want to. I've been a 62 for too long by Microsoft standards. Vendors are also having it bad. But power plays are at work and I get smacked when I try and take on extra work.So my question to the more experienced is this - how does one get the attention of management when they are focused on their own problems, their favorite underlings (of which I am not one), and when there is not enough work to go around? an ex-manager used to tell me, if the org needs him to sweep the floor, he would ensure that he would be the best sweeper in the world (no offense to my janitor friends, just an expression). You are employed by Microsoft's shareholders. He won't answer your questions on what is going on or you get vague answers.All of this in most cases is probably directives from HR. Impossible. If I'm going to be late delivering something, give folks advance notice.3. Perhaps someone can explain to me how you get successfully promoted without your boss's support. (this is never a bad idea anyway) Then, if you are doing as good a job as he, he will want you as a peer in level, if not, then he can help you grow. Is it easier to level up in smaller groups (v1 product)? I've been hearing some stealth layoffs around the SQL and BOSG groups, around 70+ people were given 6(?) While I was pleased with the attention, I was also rather upset. Did you triangulate the feedback? Copyright 2008-2023, Glassdoor, Inc. "Glassdoor" and logo are registered trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc. At 63, he has to be the one who tells me what the next thing for the product should be. This can play a bigger role even than how many times you broke the build, caused a bug, etc. But power plays are at work and I get smacked when I try and take on extra work.So my question to the more experienced is this - how does one get the attention of management when they are focused on their own problems, their favorite underlings (of which I am not one), and when there is not enough work to go around?"1. No one wants an employee who is staying for the money -- and you don't want to be that employee, either. Averages based on self-reported salaries. Like any organization MS has its own unique culture and cannot possibly be all things for all people. Heck, we would be lucky if many can do even that well. People who get stuck at the plateau are often referred to as disillusioned learners. Great post Mini. What if you and your manager are at the same level L62. This number represents the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users.