Maybe." Unless you know for sure that your boss's answer is an immediate "Absolutely!" Staff Software Engineer, Google Cloud Platforms, Senior Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure, Principal Engineer, Developer Platform Systems, Senior Software Engineer, Mobile (Android), AR. Its a bit like the famous phrase about the definition of obscenity. There may be multiple reasons for pay differences - one of which is a small number of salaries submitted per job. 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). The Job titles for this position are: Software Development Engineer SDE Your best bet is to help your boss get a promotion. Microsoft Corp. engages in the development and support of software, services, devices, and solutions. VPs may well number in the hundreds at a huge place . If you think you will follow the management career path then get in such role as early as possible. I am a [sic] HR manager. Rather nice site you've got here. Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Don't just take a L63+ role because of the level. Its UI is fundamentally incoherent, showing probably the worst case of design-by-committee since the control room at Three Mile Island. If I ever do decide to come back to MSFT, I will do so as a level 68+ and nothing less. Third, working on that weakness DAILY (but not exclusively) until they overcome it. You're cursed for life.2. Don't be the roadblock. It's a good time to flip back through that. He said this year he could only make strategic promotions, which sounded like promotions of people above 65. Despite the fact you may be totally right, you can inadvertently be viewed as a negative person.Although your bosses are probably aware of the problems, they might be overwhelmed by the scope of the situation, and start getting annoyed at you for being the person always reminding them about the flaws. I've been hearing some stealth layoffs around the SQL and BOSG groups, around 70+ people were given 6(?) Youre hanging onto the bar swing back and forth feeling pretty secure. The Senior Director provides leadership, establishes operational objectives, policies, procedures and works plans and oversee the program to ensure maximum profitability through efficient service delivery, effective client management, and strategic allocation of resources. Maybe one boss likes to see a lot of code written, and another settles for less code, but fewer bugs. Paradigm Shift: In order to achieve the next level of competence to some extent you need to temporarily let go of some of your hard gained skills in order to make the leap and try some new things. I've seen some extremely senior developers propose solutions to problems, but be totally unconvincing. 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. Be prepared for every possible question, scenario, disaster, etc. I have seen people turn it around. 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. If you are not at the top of your stack rank for your level, you will not get the promo. keep in mind mentors are not one size fit's all. Greg Armand - Sales Director Canadian OEM and Strategic - LinkedIn I also agree with the promotion-on-transfer point. So once again, a big part of your job is learning how to become a ninja at firguring out what your management wants from you -- even when they haven't articulated it in any kind of measurable way -- and then doing it. Here are the key facts about senior director resumes to help you get the job: The average senior director resume is 776 words long The average senior director resume is 1.7 pages long based on 450 words per page. Like another poster, I was a 64 who hit the "65 wall" after 10 years at MS. (Summarized: Don't ever let your boss be frightened that you'll make him/her look bad. I also agree with the requests to have a discussion related to 65+.Anyway, I have seen a very healthy discussion going on here, and most of the thoughts I wanted to share have been mentioned. L7 equals L64 or L65. I would lay some level of accountability with management as well, though. You will make your management look good and the levels will come. Your analysis is very true, specially the part about owning the room and be regarded as the domain expert. Don't do this point blank and for no apparent reason, but your manager has to be aware that at all times you're working towards your next promo, be aware of your results, be aware of the things you need to do to get there, and make YOU and HIS MANAGER aware of those things. This makes it very easy to feel underleveled, because the 6 people that started 3 weeks before you might take up the 2 promotion spots available per year for 3 years (numbers all made up).You also, at least in my experience, aren't really given feedback on when you're performing at a level that *could* be promoted. About Top-performing Senior Director in Digital Strategy & Commercial Development, with 25 years success in top-tier business across new Tech, data and digital in many sectors driving strategy,. Senior finance leader with several years of experience as a member of executive teams within large Australian blue chip and global multi-national companies with broad and diverse background and wide-ranging experience. If you have a good manager he/she will ensure the relevant peers know all about it. Do you know why? You can bet that if I went back today I would be a _very_ different person.The only thing I would add is that at any level, you need to not only know that your manager believes you should be promoted and will fight for you, you need to believe that your manager _can make it happen_. Why? .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. Know Your Worth. Its usually comes down to do it and be unhappy or leave. You don't get your money by snatching it out of Google or Apple's hands, you get it by convincing your customers to hand it to you.Do you want to know why Vista is such an unmitigated disaster? ceo/vp/director/manager/lead etc. Every spec coming to this team had my feedback in it. >> Grammar nitpicking is fine when it's accurate.Wow, those sic[s] really are all [sic]s, and you went out of your way to refute them with invalid proofs and an assumed air of infallibility.Obviously you are a manager of HR managers soon to be promoted to GM. You are now 20% closer to promotion just by a day of work :). How do you get the right job/work that will make the impact. Then follow Mini's advice and you should be all set. I'm interested in hearing your stories of success, mentorship, and turning a career that was off-path back on-track. 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. Success breeds Success: I remember reading an article about an extensive study to determine the best predictor of a stocks price tomorrow. If it is, awesome -- go do it, drive it to completion. if they'd only stop doing X and start doing Y on a sustained basis, I could see it Microsoft: Citi Cuts Ests, Target On PC Slowdown. How do you get the right job/work that will make the impact. Join the Levels.fyi community to chat with employees at Microsoft and other tech companies. For example, when I joined MS in 1990 there were 6 devs working on the first version of Word for Windows. There are the clear execptions and I think you can see this more on the engineering side than sales and marketing.One other piece of advice - be mindful of the impression you make on your bosses peers and others in senior levels of the organizations. How? 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. The position entails teaching an introductory physics sequence, upper-level physics courses, and related labs. It's a $1,000-per-minute conversation - you should always have those. Help Your Manager (and your team) Be Successful: No one has more influence over whether you get promoted than your immediate mgr. Dont compete with them. This is so that they can convert those positions to other discipline.i've seen this happening to at least 2 teams so far. Your Team: you have to be able to understand why the L63s and L64s are where they are. I haven't seen one single person getting hired below L63 in my group during last year. Specifically, what did they accomplish, and what contributions do you see them doing to justify their promotion? Wonderful. Flip on the klaxons! Find out if you have a positive trajectory in the stack ranking. check the ego out, ensure that people around you (the whole team is successful), create the best results possible and your promotion wont be far away. The skills are different, and part of the failure of this company is exactly due to losing star individual contributors that become mediocre leads, in all disciplines. Great post. But the clarity I have through the rear view mirror is staggering -- I was defining myself by what a bunch of poorly skilled managers thought, in a company that hadn't moved it's stock price in seven years. So yes, Mini's list should get you to 63 anywhere. As a member of the Microsoft UK Senior Leadership Team, Olaf leads Microsoft's retail and consumer goods . Google, Go to company page I am a troll. Some are good at all. Because, except on the rare occasion, Microsoft and your team isn't going to change. What are other groups doing? Microsoft Senior Director Salaries | Glassdoor Continuously revisit those and discuss with your manager. I thought what I did was valuable but in the end, it wasn't.The Microsoft up or out policy is the prime directive. Contributed and exceeded in two roles - getting G-Star, then moved to another team with clear headroom and again, exceeded all commits and moved to L64. :)Then, over the next 2 years, I learned the magic of 65: it's not just about playing *well* with others, it's about making every team you work with great and helping them do their best work. 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. He/she and you should know exactly what you need to do to get to the next level. Kudos to you for posting it. Amazon, Go to company page Own your brand. Embrace whatever people are saying are your flaws. Worked my ass off and finally get recognized as Snr contributor. Rob Nelson - Senior Director of Inside Sales - LinkedIn Don't discount the power of a mgmt chain that believes in you. Taking the easy escape out like that, you are more likely to get into the same situation at other companies. That's the wall you need to talk about, but the discussion would be very different than the L63 bump.And after 5+ years at L64, I finally just left. Know when your market worth changes with our verified salaries newsletter, See exactly how much your competitors pay. Julien Belin - Senior Director Global Supply Chain - LinkedIn So if you want a promotion and don't get it: drop everything you are doing now and start working on your promotion, i.e. Entry level (4,718) Associate (1,976) Mid-Senior level (40,085) You've told me you're not willing to have the hard career conversation with me and/or that you're not willing to do what I told you needed to be done when we had that conversation. These posts are provided "as-is" with no warranties and confer no rights. Seek out local critique before you approach people above you. The job is the same, just the levelling differs. If you know higher leveled people in another org, ask them to poke holes in your proposals. Isn't morale over the holidays going to be just wonderful? If it is "Absolutely!" 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. Directors are usually senior principals (level 66, 67) or at Partner level. don't make enemies), change jobs about once every 3-4 years, and do your job reasonably wellfor a decade. I'm interested in reading your perspective and what advice you'd give to someone new to the company looking at a career path similar to your own. Have you honed in on what aspects of this brand are most important in the calibration discussions and know how you'll show you're a rockstar in these areas? Framed on my former VP's wall:"High-level guys are low-level guys that don't whine.". I am happy to be an L63, trying to get to L64 so I can relate.How I got here (I started as an industry hire 61 about 5 years ago):1. But my manager is communicating to me that it is very hard and I am likely to show patience for another year or two.I do not know how to confirm this without looking like whining. You dont have the same experience or abilities to perform in a core STB senior level role. Are all management titles and the name used to call then in different orgs can change. Entry level (428) Associate (378) Mid-Senior level (3,385) Director (2,581) Done . I think talking about level just confuses people as beyond US there is a different level system!L63 in the US is Senior (Level 60 in most of the other countries), well, moving to Senior is not such a big thing if you have experience, with more than 10 years in the industry I was hired at this level, now Senior II is just a matter of continuing contributing but the different comes to Principal (or lead), here is where you need to shine in order to succeed.Recommendation: Work not only towards your commitments but your managers as well As a former L65 (left MSFT about two months ago) I can say you are right on when it comes to understanding where your boss stands. And in your answer, there's a kicker follow-up: not only what you need to do to justify being promoted to L63, but to succeed in comparison to your L63 + L64 peers. Even if you don't leave, make no mistake, I'll be building a backfill slate for your role just in case. Senior Account Executive | Director | Sales & Marketing. The key thing is finding the right team and manager, along with the comments you made. Shock and awe awaits. My first year I thought for sure I would sit at L61 for another year, but to my surprise I was promoted to L62 without even a full FY under my belt. The general consensus is why get rid of someone who is happy doing their job and can do it better than anyone else. I breezed to L63 and shortly after to L64 within a year. I've been at 59 for going on four years now, and was told by my manager over 2 years ago that I was totally ready and qualified for promotion to L60, but that "there wasn't enough budget" (yeah right), and this was in *Office* (a group which is clearly strapped for cash, I guess). on this one. Thanx for it. I am a HR manager. You will never get your promotion on a silver platter. Granted, you have to live in the greater NYC area, but it's a great place to be. The way to succeed here is to find out how you make you, and your manager, and his/her leads, succeed as a team. If you are within striking distance of level 63 in the next few years, then consider yourself VERY fortunate. It's probably true that there's more to the story and that they actually have important skills that matter. Does anyone know what the typical salary increase, measured in percentage, is for going from 62 to 63? In the beginning, I volunteered for these tough areas that no one else wanted and over time, my brand became the fix it guy. An accomplished and proven Director / Tech & Business Principal / Programme Manager / Business Partner / Service Delivery Manager with a wide-ranging skillset, experienced in leading teams to success. No, never: now, going back to that <> question above: if your boss is answering "No, never" then this is a red-alert moment for you. So no time like the present to practice where you can. 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. Got two promotions - still level 60If you really got promoted twice then you would have advanced 2 levels.Either you didn't actually get promoted, or someone told you lies. I spend a long time a 61 about 4.5 years mostly because I changed groups alot. This way I can be in a better position to show that I am a "absolutely!" Get yourself a formal or informal mentor who is already doing what you want to be doing. Understand that promos aren't an exact formula. Your own work is part of the goal. If youre working individually there is an upper limit on how much you can accomplish since there are only 24 hours in a day some of which must be devoted to eating, sleeping, and other bodily functions. According to Glassdoor, senior software engineers at Google can earn $172,818 as their average base pay, along with average cash bonuses of $30,921, stock bonuses of $104,769, and some other cash incentives for a total of $201,000. How do you ensure there is no conflict of interest. This way you have a more clear understanding of the seniority of that particular position and if you search for a group manager you will see the seniority distribution. You forgot "never ask for a promotion".Forgive my cluelessness, but: Why not?MSS. These guys are typically outcome of recent hiring sprees. How long do people usually sit at L62 in MCS? Harder for L64. The soft skills definitely matter. However L64 takes some time and L65 is very difficult. It's a struggle even to get a solid Level 59 promoted to 60 because of budget and under-levelling of devs in 60-61 range. Are you ok with what you hear? I've been told HR looks for employees that have been at their level too long. Director can be applied to L65 or L66. Expertise in the following areas: Product Marketing Consistently created groundbreaking, customer-focused value . You may be one of those who diligently turn over every single rock to look at problems within the org. Copyright 2008-2023, Glassdoor, Inc. "Glassdoor" and logo are registered trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc. This employer has claimed their Employer Profile and is engaged in the Glassdoor community. Make them successful at their job. But anyway, EOF for that angle. I'm an SDE, so a large part of my time in the product cycle is spent fixing bugs. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Physics and a strong commitment to undergraduate education. The microsoft people have already decided you're not a good 'fit'. 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 have staff that are lvl 60 and get paid as much as folks that are lvl 62. During that time I had two good to great managers. If they can, pay attention: They don't even know the area as well as your superiors, and you need to spend more time covering your bases. While I lost a few people who drove great results in that level, overall it was good for their career and also MS over time. Add your salary anonymously in less than 60 seconds and continue exploring all the data. Over 20 years of experience in professional services including, architecture, corporate real estate, and integrated facility management, operating at a global and regional level. I'm a Level 64 in Office and I agree that the Level Compression puts a crimp in promotion velocity in Office. I suspect they'll make it someone's job to fix it, because it is widely held as a good idea in the company right now. During the start-up boom, I considered leaving. Levels at Microsoft - Blind See next bullet. Thrive on it! I definitely want to read more soon.Sincerely yoursSteave Markson. My queries on any specific guidance would get no response or the response that youre a 62 and you should be able to figure it out. 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. Fourth, repeat ad infinitum. After that I got 3 levels in 3 years and now at level 64. I have known some that do what is barely enough for "achieve" just because it is safe. Leaked Microsoft Data Shows Reported Pay for Software - Insider Wish I this post and comments laminated about 10 years ago after I wasn't going to get rich off stock.My comment to add is to those who are put into situations of continual reorgs and want to achieve the 'Senior'. Here is a nice place to start :-)http://guestgame.com/. I saw several far more technically skilled people in the group who deserved this that were passed over. The funding for our project stopped and our vendor team of 28 people have been asked to leave immediately. By persist, I do not mean being happy to be at the same <63 level for 3+ years for exmaple. If you're not there yet and your boss was asked that question by your skip-level-boss, what is your boss's answer? 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! Why are we doing x and not y? It going to be more about survival in the current business climate. In my group that's the really tough one. You might be too smart or have ideas that come from somewhere outside of Redmond which makes you very dangerous and not Microsoft material. @No! You may see lots of other people being jerks around you, but trust me, people remember when you are the nice, dependable, smart one.5. Today's top 83,000+ Senior Director jobs in United States. Once you identify those things scream about it by sending email with problem and solution and offer leadership to eliminate that imperfection. The people around you can help with that. I had an expectation to become principal this year. Its performance is compromised by your pandering to the RIAA and MPAA. You can be a genius of blinding brilliance, but if you come from a boring product team, you "don't have much potential". The estimated base pay is $243,438 per year. Levels 57 and 58 are reserved for non-permanent employees and Levels 59 and 60 are reserved for New Graduates. Why does the company reward and keep these numbskull managers that hold people back? Duuuude, your boss is the way to your promotion. When she finally left the company four years ago things improved greatly. Sign up on LinkedIn and join the Microsoft Employees or ex-MSFT employees groups and then you'll see them posted. When it comes to where you actually rank and what you get paid that part is all that matters. For context, I have always been "exceeded" or "high achieved", If you want to dig a bit more around job titles which gives you an idea of someones level or the dispersion of a team, remember that the title you see in Outlook is not the real title, its just the address book title. I'm not even thinking about level 63 at this point. ;) I have one thing to add that might help some. I was always righteously indignant when I encountered asshats and incompetence and I would rail against the losers to anyone who would listen, and then I would do whatever it took to drive my agenda through to completion.I focused 100% on producing vast quantities of superior quality work -- which endeared me to my management chain and opened up a crap-ton of doors at those early levels. It doesn't matter what you want - you aren't the one deciding when you get promoted. 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. I've been 3.5 years at 62 and re-orged every year in mobile.Any ideas on how to carry greats results of one role into another through a re-org. This is where I agree with Mini regarding taking MSFT back to the good ol' lean, mean, and efficient company we enjoyed. Up to that point the "what" you accomplish can get you pretty far and you get some wiggly room on the how. "I'm in the 61 bucket and currently struggling with my team for many months. 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>I am a partner.