How does one climb any corporate/work ladder?

[kamuimac]

When do you have time to live your life if you constantly work?

living ones life means different things for different people - some will be happy with small house and loving family, 10 + years old car and vacation once a year in their country - while others wont be happy unless they get huge villa with swimming pool and many acres of land and new model of porche , and 4-5 weeks of vacation while traveling world when others work very hard to sponsor it to them .

both of those models are equaly viable just the other one requires much more to get.

[Lenonis]

Disclaimer -- I didn't read all 8 pages of posts.

The question you asked is actually fairly complicated. If you are going to climb the ladder within a company you need to basically be really good at what you do, take any opportunity to get exposure to higher level people in the company, and be sure you are keeping your education and credentials at a level that is appropriate for what you are doing. Be social, be polite, and know when to make waves and when to sit down and shut up.

When you are talking climbing the ladder in general, many opportunities will come with leaving companies and moving around. This ends up being nearly 100% about who you know. More and more companies bring people in for interviews based on recommendation, not resume. One of the best career moves you can make early on is get noticed by an executive and follow them as the move companies.

And, my personal advice -- give up any aspirations of being a CEO at a Fortune 500 company. That requires lottery like luck unless you were born into the right family, have the right connections, or somehow get accepted into the club on your own. It's not nearly as success driven as other senior leadership levels.

[Lenonis]

I mean, lets not use any excusess for our own faults or lack of character. That cannot be replaced with diplomas.

You can meet businessmen anywhere.

Diplomas are the ticket to entry. Your skills are what get you on the ride you want.

Unless you know people or have other ins, if you lack any secondary education you won't be considered for an executive role. You need the education to check the required boxes to be considered -- then your other skills land you the job.

[meheez]

Oh the human struggle, so many unknowns and subjectivity.

[Lenonis]

But so long as you're competent, there's no reason you can't be a senior manager or director when you're 40 piling in 250k a year.

As someone who has worked his entire career in Fortune 500 environments this statement is off.

Senior Manager don't make 250k a year. Directors MIGHT but usually only if they have significant experience. Maybe if you have a good year you bonus at a director level can top you off at that salary.

Anyway -- breaking six figures in your 30s with a good education and solid performance is a well attainable goal. Breaking 250k in your 40s is doable but would likely require a couple lucky breaks. Jobs are a pyramid -- the higher you are the less there are which means you have to be in the right place at the right time knowing the right people to get that job.

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- Suck up and be politically correct, never directly and openly disagree with the people currently in power and always attack the people they attack.

I couldn't disagree more. Speaking up at the right time is what gets you noticed, and doing it in a constructive way can advance your career faster than blending into the shadows and being one of the faceless many.

- Jump positions/divisions/teams instead of expecting to climb a position you are currently in. So much more money jumping jobs then performance raises in your current job.

Jumping companies gets you the big raises. Jumping teams within a company often has the same policy driven raise limits than a vertical raise would. I would say seek opportunity everywhere -- both vertically, horizontally, and outside the company -- but don't jump ship too quickly. That'll be a black mark if you can't stay somewhere longer than a year.

- Lie. But don't get to crazy about them. Telling the truth, everyone knows, but no one wants to hear gets you labeled a trouble maker

Eh, being tactful and knowing when someone is willing to listen is far better advice than telling people to lie all the time. Being caught in a lie, no matter how small, can be career limiting. "No honey that dress doesn't make you look far" is about as far as I'd go when it comes to lying in a corporate environment.

- Learn other people's jobs. you are better when you know your job and the 3 associated to your job. Makes you valuable.

Yup. In general the more skills you have not only make you more valuable, but shows you can learn, which is a big asset.

- Learn to Bluff. Nothing scares management more then a great employee getting ready to leave, and they don't need to know you are not really ready to leave.

Terrible advice. Crying wolf about leaving will only mark you as someone who is disengaged and ready to leave. Why would they put someone on a promotion track if they talk about leaving the company every two years? That being said, it can be a tool of last resort if you are unhappy -- but you should be ready to leave and not have it be an idle threat.

- Dirt, always listen for it always have it ready. Going to your bosses boss and knowing all the dirt on him, can be negotiation points to get you eventually into his job....will also protect your job when needed.

Also terrible advice. Don't blackmail people at work. That's the quickest way to be labelled a troublemaker and get shown the door or be refused any promotion opportunity.

Climbing the corporate ladder believe it or not is more like mafia movies then one would think. Its more games played, then actual performance.

Ridiculous. It's not shady deals and blackmailing. What awful advice. It's about networking, socializing, and proving you can handle the job. Not sure what experience you have but it absolutely isn't typical in corporations.

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Also, it is probably worth pointing out that the consideration for promotion at the entry level through to director level are generally achievement based. Put in your time, do good work, impress the bosses and you'll get promoted.

Once you hit Director and VP and above it really starts becoming about who you know and who will pull strings and vouch for you. You have to have a strong network and for god's sake never ever ever ever ever burn any bridges. No matter how much you hate the other person.

[tehealadin]

Get good at sucking dick, and maybe eating ass. Oh, I'm sorry, brown nose, and network.

[usiris]

and this is beautifuly proving that "climbing the ladder" concept is pointless - its all about nepotism and knowing right people - i bet there were 20-30 people wanting this promotion inside the company yet they took complete outsider - you - and put in because you know VP not any of seasoned people who worked their butts off for the company .

I went through the same process as anyone else would have.

I demonstrated my skills before I was hired; I was a contractor for 3 months. If my work was shit, they had every right not to hire me.

There was no "promotion", it was a completely new position where the team wanted a specific skill set that others in the department didn't have and the department that did, didn't want to provide them.

I had three offers at the time. One from Target, United Health and Health Partners. I originally went with Health Partners because of the contract thing above and that there was no guarantee of a job, but changed my mind.

Also, it is probably worth pointing out that the consideration for promotion at the entry level through to director level are generally achievement based. Put in your time, do good work, impress the bosses and you'll get promoted.

Once you hit Director and VP and above it really starts becoming about who you know and who will pull strings and vouch for you. You have to have a strong network and for god's sake never ever ever ever ever burn any bridges. No matter how much you hate the other person.

This.

To pull from Google on what it means to be in each category of engineer:

Level 2/3 - Software Engineer: Entry level engineers. Need to be individual contributors. Typically involves, gaining command of all core Google technologies. Need to be able to start developing and production-izing low to moderate complexity modules by working as part of a team.

Level 4 - Senior Software Engineer: Reasonable command of Google technologies. Shows comfort with owning reasonably high complexity modules. May be a tech lead of a small team/project. Be able to mentor engineers in the team, giving technical guidance, code reviews, and ultimately be able to take responsibility of delivering small projects end-to-end on production.

Level 5 - Staff Engineer / Level 6 - Senior Staff Engineer: From these levels, Google's coveted levels start. Staff engineers and above comprise, say just about 10% of all of Google engineering. A Staff/Senior Staff Engineer is one with a reputation of being able to work on complex Google software. They may lead complex initiatives and technically lead teams towards implementing and productionizing them. Typically staff engineers are seen to be very strong individual contributors who also set the bar for a team for technical excellence and delivery. Starting now, roles also become fairly visionary in that, engineers may come up with ideas to expand their projects and may also have a reasonable free-hand in developing and executing on them (or in rarer cases, even brand new ideas for Google products). The difference between 'staff' and 'senior staff' may be just about the impact/complexity scale of the project.

Level 7- Principal Engineer / Level 8 - Distinguished Engineer: These are much higher impact roles. Such engineers have owned and delivered on very large mission-critical projects for Google (Think significant search engine/ads optimizations that have in a verifiable way, impacted Google positively). They are responsible for initiating, driving, technically designing, implementing and productionizing high impact ideas at Google with the help of teams if needed.

Level 9 - Google Fellow / Level 10 - Senior Google Fellow (added in '13): The most coveted engineering role at Google. These are publicly known names of a handful of people who have built an excellent reputation for being the top technology visionaries at Google, having built very renowned products/ideas at Google and have in tremendous ways influenced the success of Google. Think Jeff Dean.