If youre not doing a great job at your current level youre not even going to be considered for the next level. The soft skills definitely matter. What does that look like in your mind? Obviously a key word in my advice was explicitly. In MCS, soft skills are often more important than hard skills since you work with customers (often angry ones), sales (often under pressure and looking for someone to blame). I've also worked for great managers, and worked with great people on my team. Microsoft Director level role - Level 66 - what should I expect from COMP sideYOE-15Current TC- 235k, Go to company page How you perform in interview is going to matter on whether you get proper mapping or not. Is that a req. If you think you will follow the management career path then get in such role as early as possible. I was probably at risk of topping out at level 62 or 63 at one point but worked hard to change my brand and good things happened as a result. That's the easy way out. Much longer if new leadership comes from outside MS. Don't perform flawlessly to the above 70+ pieces of feedback only to see the churn above you. 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. The technical and management ladder in Microsoft is highly competitive and is highly regarded in the Industry. This is the first year I have spent more than 2 years at a level (L61) and still not gotten a promotion. That's not going to change in six months (which I learned). Any idea on when is this going to change? You will never get your promotion on a silver platter. 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? Owning big features, knowledge about code base, ability to help your peers - irrelevant. Great Post! Microsoft Director level role - Level 66 - what should I expect from COMP sideYOE-15Current TC- 235k Microsoft Jobs and Salary Information | Ladders. Popping out of the pack in peer reviews may take some time so you have to be diligent, consistent and never give up. Then follow Mini's advice and you should be all set. Doesn't matter 60 or 65, if you find the key to your boss, next level is in your pocket. Here is a nice place to start :-)http://guestgame.com/. Proficient in product delivery, business & cost transformation, supplier management, client relationships and growth opportunities Working extensively at senior board level to deliver high value . Got two promotions - still level 60. They literally lived in GM's office for half a year to get the promo from L64 to L65.3. They took credit for work done by others (#2 helps).Seriously, they only way to separate the wheat from the chaff in this company is to allow to interview without notifying the manager. clinical research associate entry level jobs near me; new laws for first time violent offenders in louisiana. I've been told HR looks for employees that have been at their level too long. Your response is private Was this worth your time? Harder for L64. 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. If you are working at Microsoft, plan well to climb up the job ladder. Are you ok with what you hear? How long do people usually sit at L62 in MCS? And if you have a manager who thinks that way, then your manager is a doofus who will never help anyone succeed. After that, I was given a team that was in trouble quality wise 6 months before shipping. I'm sure others here will clarify.And apparently we will all know more in January. 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! I am a troll. It's also a well-known fact that there is a disparity in levels between Office and now Sinofsky's Windows and the rest of the company, especially below 65 level.Can anyone elaborate on that? Thus promotions are easy to L62 - if you don't make 62 quickly, there is something wrong. Staff Software Engineer, Google Cloud Platforms, Senior Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure, Principal Engineer, Developer Platform Systems, Senior Software Engineer, Mobile (Android), AR. He is a very, very smart guy.For many people, what made them successful as a level 62 IC will kill them as a level 62 manager. You broke the trust cycle so don't expect anything else. And as my experience shows, many teams do not even staff a senior. If they see flaws you have flaws. They want you to succeed, they want the team to succeed. Who cut and paste buggy shit all over the codebase and don't know some of the things that a good L62 should know. 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 want to be more efficient, smarter than him. 3. Yes, "soft skills" count.I'm pleased that someone said it.There are a collection of skills that are difficult to quantify that are absolute necessities to succeeding at higher levels. Just pick one Job id, prepare for it and then go for internal. I am offered a job at L65 and job offer has a title Director on it! 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. Only one can emerge, and not everyone can be a senior simultaneously. Few others are long time softies who have been doing average to good job for very long time (3-7 years) without getting any promos. Ultimately, I decided to leave the company. Chairman of the Board, Microsoft Corporation. Former is work of many years and long nights and proven track record while later is basically your ability to bullshit through 6 interviews. Get yourself a formal or informal mentor who is already doing what you want to be doing. Nobody will be shy of firing you if you make a big mess. Wow. It doesnt matter if the system is fair or not. This employer has claimed their Employer Profile and is engaged in the Glassdoor community. The "how" now has broader impact. Microsoft is so unique (and not in a good way) that you need to have blogs like this and focus on managing your career inside the hobbesian nightmare, rather than making good and cool software. Microsoft Salary. "Ain't seen nothing yet" is a more popular variant of the same due to a song with that title and refrain. Thanks.Sorry mini -- I meant the content of the comment I referenced, not the content of your original post (which I'm in violent agreement with). We have covered both technical and management track at Microsoft. 5. Regarding the comment about the ability to own a room - This is a very good self-calibration technique. Finally make sure you note how things were improved in your and other groups by your new strategy in commitments review. .css-1uhsr4o{margin-right:8px;}Get Paid, Not Played. given that the resource is static. Your manager has to know that either you get promoted sometime soon or you will go and get promoted somewhere else. for L63? If you're not there yet and your boss was asked that question by your skip-level-boss, what is your boss's answer? Next, make sure your manager values your contributions and surpass their expectations, making yourself invaluable and not immediately replaceable. If you find a boss who likes the kind of work you can do, follow him/her wherever they go. Thats why L64->L65 transition is so hard. Would they give you the level if you were not already a Microsoft employee? I'm now past my time that I can recruit away from MSFT after leaving some time ago. My rent contract was renewed in September and I have to find another person or risk loosing a 1000 bucks, Mini,Asshole managers aren't unknown at Apple, but when they appear, it doesn't take long before the rest of the organization figures them out and isolates them. I thought changing groups would help me get promoted faster however all it did was make me resart from ground zero with each group. Microsoft - Director, Level 65 at Microsoft | Glassdoor The level of scrutiny by my management chain creasedup to the point where leader of our group4 levels above me in the management chain had to approve the promotion. L68 is partner, or you may see GM. great post. This past year I had what I thought was an outstanding year, was given a 20%, but not promoted to L63. Full stop. Entry level (428) Associate (378) Mid-Senior level (3,385) Director (2,581) Done . but I have to disagree with this statement.While it is true that it is difficult for managers to say what *exactly* an employee should do to get to the next level, it *should not* be impossible to list what experiences/qualities/results will qualify him to be a *strong* candidate for promotion to the next level.And this should not be that difficult - it is just a matter of syncing up with the peer leads, and dev manager, and discussing what their perception of an L63 is vs l62. And your list of bullet points on qualities of a 63-er is pretty much the short list I have boiled it down to. Thats a very helpful answer. This is certainly the course that I took. My experience is a constant melee of *every* single person trying to influence cross-group. Mini-Microsoft, Mini-Microsoft, lean-and-mean! We need to grow out of this bad legacy syndrome that we still have. Of course not. Senior leadership team - Microsoft UK Do it nicely. So most new hires at MS are L63 by default and they obviously don't have to work at it :).I actually find the content of this post to be superficial, fairly naive and not reflective of my experience having moved through the ranks from 59 to >65.I would not give most of this advice to our campus hires as any kind of roadmap. Then do it.Yeah yeah, that's an oversimplification. Moved to a role where I could see headroom and also where I could set specific commits and accountabilities with the GM, which I then exceeded and moved to L63 in '04. You may not need them to get from 59->60, but if you're good at them, it'll make your rise much quicker. What to do?The remaining is either a) absorb into other org (say A)b) if A doesn't need testers, then VP will instruct them to find another position in 6 weeks. Staff Software Engineer, Google Cloud Platforms, Senior Staff Software Engineer, Infrastructure, Principal Engineer, Developer Platform Systems, Senior Software Engineer, Mobile (Android), AR. 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. When it comes to where you actually rank and what you get paid that part is all that matters. 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. One could easily sack 4000 heads at HQ and R&D nor revenue would take a hit. If you do not market yourself well, even if you are a superstar here at MSFT, your achievements might just go unrecognized (or they might be selectively recognized). I also agree with the promotion-on-transfer point. For technical and management track, the job level start from 57 and continues till 80. 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. Levels 57 and 58 are reserved for non-permanent employees and Levels 59 and 60 are reserved for New Graduates. Levels.fyi gives different levels for Microsoft v amazon depending on pm or dev. Levels are a bit easier to achieve in MCS. Don't be the roadblock. Once they successfully cross the chasm theyll start over on the typical S-shaped learning curve at the new level again. Founded in 1969 by Dr. Bish Agrawal, ABC Consultants is the pioneer of organized recruitment services in India. Ahmed Muhsin - Senior Director of Sales - NEXT50 | LinkedIn It going to be more about survival in the current business climate. If the answer is regularly a 'yes', then this clearly is an indication that you are ready. 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. 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. Find a way to make or save them money. To the guy you said:I'd like to hear some more experiences from MCS. Calibrations are like a brick wall, even in regard to comments made about you. It turns out that typically your immediate manager has little control, it's all decided at higher levels. That is a great post Mini. And I appreciate you screening out the non-productive whining posts. As a member of the Microsoft UK Senior Leadership Team, Olaf leads Microsoft's retail and consumer goods . The "Most Likely Range" represents values that exist within the 25th and 75th percentile of all pay data available for this role. We discussed progress at least once a month. Your commitments should already provide you with milestones to set as your goals. Maybe." Visiting Assistant Professor of Phyiscs in Notre Dame, IN for Saint Microsoft Senior Director Software Engineering Manager Compensation Ive seen many people who didnt quite fit at MS go off and be very successful at other companies, starting their own biz, changing careers, by finding a better fit for themselves. Most of our ways of doing things have so many imperfections that you would not have any trouble to find obvious thing to improve in obvious ways. L62 is supposed is own the room of L60s, L65 own the room of L63s, and so on. Because when it comes time to roll people out of the team (as teams do from time to time) this "No, never" a marker that is used to help figure out who - at I and II CSP levels - is either on-track or out. Get a free, personalized salary estimate based on today's job market. And how do you represent yourself as a leader and influencer when you are in a room with 6 other people vying for the exact same thing? .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. If you think of it as "How can I do better than my manager?" In this testing times what will motivate the mgr to put you ahead of him/hers? 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. How do you get the right job/work that will make the impact. However, I think this is the first point where we see a non-trivial number of folks plateau. Absolutely. You first have to be truthful with what direction you're going in and where you actually are trying to head. Browse all Microsoft Software Engineering Manager salaries Frequently asked questions As a L64 I find getting to 65 quite a wall. EQ/IQ and Collaboration. The estimated total pay for a Senior Director at Microsoft is $500,742 per year. 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. But anyway, EOF for that angle. 63's and 64's own a huge piece of getting the RIGHT work done CORRECTLY. I made it to L63 in a year (I was probably under leveled when I arrived). What Microsoft employees earn: breaking down salaries for the company's Leaked Salary Spreadsheet Reveals Microsoft Employee Earnings for a Bottom line: Dont be shy of asking for promotions during internal transfers. 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. If you send a brownbag invitation to your VP level group then you know your VP is getting it. B.Sc in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, M.Sc in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Designing and implementing Software and Hardware Systems, Benchmarking and validating Software and Hardware Systems, Developing innovative solutions and publish papers and patents, Managing teams and keep track of progress, Predicting market trends, identifying market risks, Identifying future opportunities, preparing company roadmap. The only thing you learn is your bucket, and roughly where in the bucket you fit based on your numbers. They are trying to get attention from upper levels more harder then you. Third, working on that weakness DAILY (but not exclusively) until they overcome it. 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. @No! For example, some are principal individual contributors that just stayed for too long in a group and became essential, but now want to move on and cannot do that, either because their skills are obsolete or because they simply cannot go to a new startup team at such high level without any management responsibility, and they are untested managers. Titles are important, and dont let anyone make you believe otherwise. 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. My manager told me a while ago that I was about to get one. My likely response would be "congratulations! Leadership, for instance. 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. Chief Executive Officer and Director. Will a team that needs exactly the skills and interests that you have pass on you because of some HR guideline? Do not accept promises, or you will be already disappointed with your new team as soon as some promises dont materialize (and believe me: you will lose your patience long before some promises materialize). The average entry-level engineer or program manager will have a total compensation of $125,665. And when the time comes, putting you up for a promotion to L63 is the first time your boss will be challenged by your skip-level and by your Aunt and Uncles (your boss's peers) about one of your promotions. It's not easy. What I've learned is be very, very specific on your commits and accountabilites. That figures. In my org the cut is 70% on promos. I was an asshole, but I was better than my peers at getting shit done -- I was a PM in DevDiv at the time. Feedback is not detailed or actionable. Get FREE domain for 1st year and build your brand new site. I thought what I did was valuable but in the end, it wasn't.The Microsoft up or out policy is the prime directive. MS is a carrot and stick culture with some heavy emphasis on stick. If you get caught in a review and someone hits a fastball by you and you stumble, the people above you suddenly have fears that you might stumble when they and you are in front of the person who controls their careers. Like another poster, I was a 64 who hit the "65 wall" after 10 years at MS. In this article, we have explained the Job levels at Microsoft which starts at SDE and goes up to Technical Fellow. 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. Why cannot we have our address title reflect our level as everybody else in the company? Its usually comes down to do it and be unhappy or leave. 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. 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. If you are within striking distance of level 63 in the next few years, then consider yourself VERY fortunate. My management tells me that this is normal and 2 years is "aggressive", but this is getting frustrating for me. I'm an SDE, so a large part of my time in the product cycle is spent fixing bugs. It's a knife fight to 63. .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. For technical and management track, the job level start from 57 and continues till 80. Don't make promises to follow up on things and then let them drop. Every spec coming to this team had my feedback in it. However good your manager is, she or he is still a human with insecurities and ego. ;) I have one thing to add that might help some. >> 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. Microsoft hiring Senior Director for Land Development EMEA in Dublin If you're off-path, you can turn it around. Embrace whatever people are saying are your flaws. All the money making groups cut 10% of the work force. Do a brownbag for your VP level group, record it and send out the link to everyone.