senior director microsoft level senior director microsoft level

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. my recommendation is you take the offer if you've gone this far. Levels 57 and 58 are reserved for non-permanent employees and Levels 59 and 60 are reserved for New Graduates. This is obviously difficult to manage. I moved around 3 teams before I found one where I really enjoyed the technology and the people, and here I've flourished.So forget all the whining about politics and crap. No one wants an employee who is staying for the money -- and you don't want to be that employee, either. MSFT | Microsoft Corp. Company Profile & Executives - WSJ The team that gave me the Dev Lead title made a bet on me, and they were not disappointed, since I worked hard to prove myself at that title (despite having to wait a little longer for a level promotion). Any idea on when is this going to change? Do you know why? Know when your market worth changes with our verified salaries newsletter, See exactly how much your competitors pay. This is usually how teams start to rot from the inside. If youre not displaying them at the current level why would your manager expect that youll suddenly start to display them at the next level?2. I have staff that are lvl 60 and get paid as much as folks that are lvl 62. Ask yourself: what fraction of your job do you actually enjoy? The soft skills definitely matter. Finally, take heart and dont become too discouraged if this is taking a little longer than it seems like it should. If you find yourself in this spot - get a good external mentor to help you manage through it if you don't feel you can have this conversation with your manager.4. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. So I cultivate relationships with my manager's peers; their support helps tremendously. Any tips will be greatly helpful. The last thing I would ever think about is what my boss thinks of me; I just don't care. How do you ensure there is no conflict of interest. Finally make sure you note how things were improved in your and other groups by your new strategy in commitments review. Also, the way you achieve your commitments does affect the perception and recognition of your efforts. We are all flawed, and you are lucky if people are telling you something that you can do something about. There may be multiple reasons for pay differences - one of which is a small number of salaries submitted per job. If you're off-path, you can turn it around. 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. Make them successful at their job. Amy Hood. Doesn't matter 60 or 65, if you find the key to your boss, next level is in your pocket. First let's set the expectations right for this quarter and possibly the next: The budgets for promos are shrunk almost everywhere. I'm now off the meds, not seeing the psychiatrist, and living happily.Working at MS was both the best time in my life and the worst time. I hope Mini returns from his vacation soon :(The Windows division has a large number of people that were promoted to "Senior" PM/Test/Dev in the past year. Typically if you can accomplish only 5 such improvements, it would be hard for your manager not to consider you for next step. And in my experience they are *eager* to get your skills and your lower level payroll expense! Email@ elliereinker@gmail.com | Call@ 330-554-0249. I /like/ OneCare. 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. Establish SD/VSTF branching steering committee and send out monthly report. I suspect the former because there's no point in a manager telling you that you got promoted when you didn't. I am going through some finanical hardships and is getting the level changed is the only way for a salary increase? The estimated base pay is $243,438 per year. 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. Think about why they're able to do that.-jcr. If only your manager knows you then it is unlikely (at least on paper) that you will move beyond L62. Granted, you have to live in the greater NYC area, but it's a great place to be. Then I would get emails rating my abilities in these areas that I had no input into it and any replies rebutting it would go unanswered. During that time I had two good to great managers. YES, there are people who've been promoted due to politics. But if you can collaborate with others you can help accomplish much more than youll ever be able to accomplish individually. So far, I haven't been successful. Babatunde Hamzat Ashogbon - Founder/Owner/Director/Senior Project If you job simply doesn't scale to that next level - and many don't / can't - then you need to build rapport with your manager to have a focused career discussion about what roles are around to get you there and how you could land in one.2. What does that look like in your mind? We definitely need a new thread, things are starting to happen indeed.Our 120+ person org has just been broken up due to lack of budget. Should I trust my manager or is this just one more of his demonstrations of poor management skills? Take it because it plays to your strengths. It's probably true that there's more to the story and that they actually have important skills that matter. In spite of it, I've been promoted 8 times in 12 years. Mini -- you left out the most important option, which I took. Senior->principal->partner are the level bands, 63/64->65/66/67, 68/69/70. People who get stuck at the plateau are often referred to as disillusioned learners. If so, then you're going to have a hard time finding senior IC spots anywhere. From my perspective (L67) here's what you need to nail:1. I think that the whole culture of the stack rank + fighting for scraps for their directs + a lack of visibility and input on what will justify a promotion is what scares of managers from engaging with their employees regarding career growth.Note, that I am not saying that I want a guarantee one way or the other. "We have a stable and relatively easy job, and as long as we achieve, we will not get fired." then do you know what more you need to do? By contrast high performers have a fairly accurate self assessment, but are slightly self critical of themselves as well as others. You may not need them to get from 59->60, but if you're good at them, it'll make your rise much quicker. With this article at OpenGenus, you must have the complete idea of various job levels at Microsoft. Why cannot we have our address title reflect our level as everybody else in the company?Maybe because you are so overleveled (maybe not you personally, but MSN as whole), your bosses doesn't want rest of the company to make ruckus about that injustice (I have seen people moving from SDE II in Windows to MSN and getting promotion-on-transfer to SENIOR SDE, and they were not even hard-core devs). Any suggestions on how to focus on this. Flip on the klaxons! Does anyone know what the typical salary increase, measured in percentage, is for going from 62 to 63? HC-freeze is already in motion, as is serioius savings in all FSC/COS - only thing still not explored is layoffs. For me, it will take some serious job switching to get there. That's why Microsoft is pissing away the monopoly that you inherited from IBM. Can any reader in Corp Sales Excellence(SMS&P) privide guidance on how to grow from 63 to 64 in that group. I dont know why this is the case. you want to complete A and A requires 10 devs. Our entire unit was let go but we were moved to different groups in the org. Is this a normal situation and should I not be worried?MCS has different pressures regarding levels. Here are some things from my perspective.1. Many 62s (and 63s) make substantially more than 64s. Stop fighting which is where mapped. 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). It's because you were playing catch-up to Apple, and playing Machiavellian games with the media companies instead of working on the issues that your customers were complaining about.When will MS learn this lesson? Don't be afraid to talk to your skip level manager regularly in such a situation, not to get promoted but because he can better help you grow.4. It was then that things ground to a halt. The average entry-level engineer or program manager will have a total compensation of $125,665. And I'm going to tell you right now, I'm 99.9% sure what needs to change is you. Agree with all the comments that this is a great post, and was just as true 5 years ago as it is now.My story, which might help the college kids: I began my career at MS out of college as a 10/59, rocketed to 62 - and then sat.I left in 2002 and started building a career at other places, and can now look back at when I left, slap my hand on my head, and say of course I wasn't promoted - I did nothing to build a positive, defensible relationship with my skip-level mgr, and my real influence outside of my individual team was nonexistent. Then follow Mini's advice and you should be all set. It's what you can offer, not what you want out of it that most teams are looking for. I've been hearing some stealth layoffs around the SQL and BOSG groups, around 70+ people were given 6(?) We have to reduce billions of dollars of cost. Here are some thoughts from a L62-er who truly wants to accept whats keeping me from getting to 63 and work on it. 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. Do a great job and you are likely to revise their expectations for the following cycle. 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. And to your boss. Would they give you the level if you were not already a Microsoft employee? By doing this they are short circuiting the feedback loop and thereby preventing themselves from improving. 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'm at 62, have been for lo, these many years. I am not saying the manager is trying to sabotage, but when push comes to shove will you get the impactful project. My manager and I had a plan to influenc that person and it worked. I think one of the things that is frustrating is how opaque the promotion system really is. Levels are all about perception.I know devs who are underlevelled and devs who are over-levelled. I work in MSN and we still have no way to know the levels of our peers. Feedback is not detailed or actionable. When I was an IC, it was tough technical problems or simply critical problems that no one else wanted. To go to L60 as an IC you need to show leadership in your group, proactivity in taking new challenges which affect the success of the group, and be a SME on your tech area (if in a tech role).L61 = M1 of a medium sized team or an IC role which influences the results of a v-team significantlyL62 = M2 or M1 of a large team, or a lead role for a large cross-group initiative (e.g. 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. A mentor helps tremendously. This means there are 24 distinct job levels at Microsoft. Biggest key for me was knowing when to leave a bad management situation and team. Cathriona Hallahan - Independent Non-Executive Member - LinkedIn The first levels came quickly with some sticking around 64 and 65 (half my career).I have always taken on and fixed problem areas that no one else wants to take on. Less than a year is fast, but not unheard of. Here is a nice place to start :-)http://guestgame.com/. It is possible to get promoted out of a desire to be promoted. Next, make sure your manager values your contributions and surpass their expectations, making yourself invaluable and not immediately replaceable. The second was threat (I have a serious offer outside the company that I am taking). I sat there at L64 for 5+ years. My boss even made mistakes. Because, except on the rare occasion, Microsoft and your team isn't going to change.But, Mini, isn't your 'raison d'etre' just the opposite? You'd do well to read it again:Success in business comes from serving your customers, not about beating your competition. 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. for 63 promo within a more clear timeline. ask around for a good mentor or go to our internal mentor site to be matched with a mentor http://mentor/Mentor/user/mymentoring.asp. L63 takes a bit longer but is also fast. A past co-worker of mine had the same thing done to him and now there are two devs doing what he did by himself.I guess Microsoft has its reasons. 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. At the beginning of each FY, I always asked, "I want to get Exceeded this year. Be very careful, because some people may tell you about this or that great thing they did, and only mention that they are (or were) married to this General Manager, or that they have been in the team since it was only 2 people, and the other person today is a VP. 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. Find a way to make or save them money. Microsoft Salary. You must emphasize the goal of understanding how to improve, not just tagging a higher paycheck. How about a thread on the current hiring/moving freeze, or on surviving the New Ice Age? I got to point where I resented my manager so much I could barely talk to him. I know some managers will tell you that HR doesnt want promotions during internal transfers. Your commitments should already provide you with milestones to set as your goals. Don't discount the power of a mgmt chain that believes in you. Thrive on it! At Microsoft, the levels start at 59 and go beyond 80. And to your skip level. Apple's about to ship Snow Leopard with no new features. So I guess I know what it takes go get to level 63. Its difficult to transfer to a new position because at a high level, what group is going to take you on to a new position you have no experience in. If you send a brownbag invitation to your VP level group then you know your VP is getting it. Directors are usually senior principals (level 66, 67) or at Partner level. What is the average promotion velocity for non-technical fields? So, for those of you who are in orgs where it's 'easy' to get to L63 or L64 - think about transferring out BEFORE you get too high a level and paint yourself into a corner. Look closely, and you'll probably find that this person is working symbiotically with someone else who masters those skills while lacking others.YES, there are people who've been promoted because they've simply "been there" for a long time. You want to test more cases than he does, you want to build something that draws users to what you're doing more than to his.You're never competing with your manager. James Chelliah - APAC Head of Finance | Executive Director - LinkedIn I heard that promotion budgets are significantly reduced at below 65 level. 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. Like many technology companies, Microsoft uses levels to indicate seniority for employees, including engineers. Visiting Assistant Professor of Phyiscs in Notre Dame, IN for Saint 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! If you are level 64 and above, your relationship with your GM or VP or above.2) Your visibility to the GM or VP. I think that everyone has a bad year or 2 and you should not get worried about spending a lot of years in one level unless you have been on the same team for a long time.So my advice is1. Taking on the toughest hardest problems does line up well with something everyone has talked about on this post - that is - make your managers look good. Andy Winskill - Digital Transformation | Senior Director - LinkedIn Isn't morale over the holidays going to be just wonderful? After that, I was given a team that was in trouble quality wise 6 months before shipping. It's a lot better than folks being ambivalent about your success or failure, right? Greg Armand - Sales Director Canadian OEM and Strategic - LinkedIn If you were in the running your manager would have told you / asked for ammunition by now. Microsoft Software Engineering Manager salary levels ranges from 63 (SDE Lead) upto 80 (Corporate VP), with 80 (Corporate VP) level earning average salary of $4851k along with $3675k worth of stock options. Vendors are also having it bad. Don't waste it. Great post Mini. I was in a group that was reorging constantly and there were frequent management changes, so it took all of the political skill I'd developed over the years to focus my GM on giving me that fucking promotion. Find out if you have a positive trajectory in the stack ranking. "Sad but true. This is all well and good, but in 9years I've never worked in a group with a Senior IC (Windows, IE, .NET), though some architects. The way to get to a higher level is to increase the scope of your contributions.In our group (somewhere in STB), L63 seems to begin with having at least 2 reports. Leadership: pro-active leadership that convinces team members of the future direction and even helps to . On the subject of switching teams: It's completely possible to move up by being really good exactly where you are, in most cases. Punit Bhatia - Director - Sales - Apar Innosys Pte ltd | LinkedIn The only thing you learn is your bucket, and roughly where in the bucket you fit based on your numbers. 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 Here are my thoughts on the Level 62 to Level 63 transition in the product groups: 1. Eng, Go to company page +1 on the level balancing difference in subs.As someone who has transferred employees to/from corp/sub both directions and has promoted a bunch of folk, the corp level for a role is 2 numbers higher than the equivalent sub one. New shiny brain up and working now. .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'm not looking for any off-topic comments let alone woe-be-me comments - remember that slap thing? for people, who might claim that they do all this and still cant progress.. dude, either you are in wrong group or you have not introspected / taken feedback well or you are missing the whole thing by a mile. FY08 review: "limited". 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. Title doesn't matter, that's a job description. I know devs who got in at the wrong level and paying the price because they didnt negotiate their level correctly when they joined. What worked for me was to go to my manager and say: "I would like to stay here, at Microsoft, working for you. Getting constant feedback throughout is valuable as you can re-align and re-adjust in an agile way so that you are not shocked at review time that you have completely missed that promotion. 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. If you're saying "Ah, dude, my boss is in the way of my promotion" then all I have to say is "Duuuude, your boss is the way to your promotion." IBM pulled themselves out of their decline by focusing on their customers. I want them productive and about career success at Microsoft, especially your thoughts about achieving L63. :)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. I'm a level 62 dev trying to get to 63. My work affected hundreds of developers in our org. Your own work is part of the goal. Nobody will be shy of firing you if you make a big mess. If they see flaws you have flaws. . Levels are different outside the US. Most of them are not. At 63, he has to be the one who tells me what the next thing for the product should be. 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. Losing focus of your target next career level will leave you with nothing but regret and wasted time, sometimes years. Being constantly re-orged is bad. If it isn't, well don't waste everyone's time building the wrong thing.When you think of it this way, you'll anticipate what your manager needs, you'll anticipate what your skip-level needs, and you'll be doing what they need even before they know they need it. When I gave notice, my PUM was in my office within an hour showing me stock levels at 65 and 66, willing to restructure my position pretty much to my liking. Thoughts? If so I wish them good luck - as oppose to the US, these regions have laborlaws which makes it very hard for a company with Microsofts margin to lay people off. Your Team: you have to be able to understand why the L63s and L64s are where they are. SoI'll repeat it again. That's awesome. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Most Directors are 63 and the occasional 64. They have commitments to grow their employees. My likely response would be "congratulations! They want you to succeed, they want the team to succeed. Not so at L63. My manager told me a while ago that I was about to get one. I think it's safe to say that I "own" the group of people under L63 in my group, but I usually take that as an opportunity for mentorship as opposed to an opportunity to poach someone else's cool project. It can help you identify blind spots which may be holding you back.7. Executive Officers - Stories It is true you can always do that, go to Google, go to ABC, or whatever. Entry level (428) Associate (378) Mid-Senior level (3,385) Director (2,581) Done . EQ/IQ and Collaboration. Being irreplaceble is bad because you spend more times on coding/fixing bugs and there is less time to work on your visibility. I am not saying the manager is trying to sabotage, but when push comes to shove will you get the impactful project. Thats why L64->L65 transition is so hard. I know we have had some huge improvements in the last few years in that regard, but we are really still way far behind, and I as a male employee, I know that very well, and I have seen many instances of female super stars de-emphasized in favor of a less-achieving, less-talented male team member. Up until L63, you can pretty continue to be promoted based on raw talent to get things done smartly and efficiently. Don't obsess over what is in front of you. 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 . "a HR manager" is acceptable if HR is meant to convey a spoken "a human resources manager" rather than a spoken "an aich arr manager".haven't should have an apostrophe, yes. Bottom line: Dont be shy of asking for promotions during internal transfers. This is a great topic! Key member of the senior management team contributing to the formulation of the company's future direction and supporting tactical initiatives Drive the annual budget process, monthly. Seniority Levels in the Workplace: Types and What They Mean kc. We had a strategic plan for getting me the visibility with the higher-ups that I needed.My promotion to Level 65 during the last annual review period was clearly the hardest. (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. If you have an itching to talk about something else, please go here: But Mini, I Want To Talk About Posted by Know when your market worth changes with our verified salaries newsletter, See exactly how much your competitors pay. I had an expectation to become principal this year. Staff Software Engineer, Google Cloud Platforms, Senior Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure, Principal Engineer, Developer Platform Systems, Senior Software Engineer, Mobile (Android), AR. >> You forgot "never ask for a promotion".That's the absolute worst advice one can give to a Microsoft employee, IMO. What is up with the gold star awards? If you find a boss who likes the kind of work you can do, follow him/her wherever they go. IMHO. Lots of groundwork, considerable drama and leverage but eventually it got done. SAP, Go to company page I want to share some of my thoughts about succeeding at Microsoft and reaching Level 63, the Senior contributor level at Microsoft. I sympathize with folks who feel they have been shafted however to quote a cliched saying: the common factor between you and all your problems is you. The problem is you can't tell if you've done something to piss him off or if he's doing it because he has to. You dont have the same experience or abilities to perform in a core STB senior level role. That is a great post Mini. I basically lost 5 years of growth due to a bad manager and my own unwillingness to own my career. Both job switches came from conversations I had with former co-workers or former directors.