Winter is coming. Recession is here. ChatGPT is coming for all of our junior level jobs.
Here's some practical advice and steps on executing then landing a senior role by leveling up your skills and impact that should be relevant for engineers, product managers, designers, and most operators in general!
TL;DR framework on getting from junior to senior:
Start doing the job you want to get promoted to.
Don't be a task-taker. Be curious, proactive, and solution oriented.
Master your craft. Then become a doer, not a talker.
Communicate effectively for you and your team. Celebrate wins.
Build and improve your team's "operating system".
Build trust and manage upwards.
The easiest way to get to senior: just start doing that job. Seriously. Don't ask for permission from your manager, your peers, or others. If you take on parts of the next role, execute, add value to your team, and prove you're already performing at that level, it'll be hard to build a case to not promote you.
If you're not sure what exactly to do, hunt your manager down and get your role's leveling guide. Get aligned with your manager on exactly which competencies you need to develop or prove, what projects that will map to those competencies, and ship them.
Not sure what a leveling framework is? Here's an overview.
Your team doesn't have a leveling framework? Even better. Work with your manager on drafting one for bonus points.
The best operators are genuinely curious about what they work on. Whenever projects come your way, don't be afraid to ask "stupid" questions, recommend solutions, proactively take the lead without being asked, then ship creative and effective solutions. Rinse and repeat.
Julie Zhuo on being brave, curious, and asking dumb questions:
Worrying about asking dumb questions or saying the wrong thing leads us to bite our tongues. But managers usually think most highly of reports who proactively ask questions and share their perspectives. You have far more to gain than lose in using your voice.
Jason Lemkin on early actions of the best employees:
The best employees their first week point out something that could be done better. And ask if they could own it / fix it / improve it. Like almost always.
Ian McAllister on focusing on learning and impact as leading inputs into growth:
Career tip: Don’t confuse career development with promotion. Career development happens by focusing maniacally on learning and maximizing your impact for the company. Promotion is a lagging indicator of that growth, but shouldn’t be what you focus on every hour, every day.
Scott Belsky on going rogue:
the best designers i've worked with go rogue at least 10% of the time in every project, and that's how the product ends up better than anyone expected.
The bare minimum of getting to the next level is inspiring confidence in yourself, your team, and your manager that you can reliably complete what you set out to do. Be methodical about mastering your craft. Do the boring things extremely well. Differentiate from others by gradually expanding your skills.
Sam Altman on how to succeed:
the way to succeed is to do the boring things extremely well
You're going to have to execute if you want to up level. Most people won't try:
Everyone wants to quit something, build something, be something, do something. Most people won’t. How many things have we wanted? How many opportunities have we craved? How many broken things have we wanted to fix? And how many of those have we shrunk from. Hid from. Or, excused away. We’re not alone. Most people won’t. But every once in a while someone puts themselves out there. Makes the leap. Faces rejection or failure or worse. And comes out the other side. Better. Changed. Bolder. Most people won’t. Which means those that do change everything.
Scott Belsky on creating magic by expanding your skills:
a lot of the magic i’ve observed in teams over the years happens when the talent stack is collapsed - when a designer also codes, when an engineer has a growth hack skill set, when a product leader is great at copy.
Be a doer, not a talker. Regardless of the task, doers just get it done right. If they can't figure it out, no drama or excuses are made until they figure it out and get results. If you do this long enough, your team will ask you to step up. Let your actions and results do the talking for you.
Julie Zhuo on executing on your time commitments:
Bad execution: Saying "X will be done by Y date" means the person listening will do mental math (+30% or x2) to get a realistic estimate. Good execution: Saying "X will be done by Y date" is a commitment and the person listening will actually believe you.
Brad Feld on leaders being doers:
This person is a leader. They simply went out and did shit. They made it happen. They followed up. They did things that had a potential positive impact on my world. They didn’t ask me for more, but offered up plenty, which makes me want to do more for them.
Senior operators keep their teams, managers, and stakeholders aware of whatever is critical that is happening across projects. This includes what you and your team are working on, what's blocking progress, any changes to launch timelines, and wins. Celebrating wins is crucial for improving team morale and getting visibility from your leadership team on who is executing.
Julie Zhuo on good communication execution:
Bad execution: The full map of what's happening across the team only exists in fragments across different people's minds. Good execution: Everyone shares the same picture of what's happening because an up-to-date map is consistently maintained and distributed.
Lenny Rachitsky on over-communicating:
Over-communicate: Regularly share what you’re doing, what you plan to do, and what you’ve done with your manager. It’s nearly impossible to over-communicate. I suggest sending a simple weekly “State of The Me” email to your boss with (1) your current priorities, (2) things on your mind, and (3) blockers you need help with.
Jacob Espinoza on wins:
Celebrate your team's wins, especially the small ones.
Create value then be sure to take credit for your work. Don't be over-aggressive or obnoxious here but visibility and promoting you and your team's work does impact how you're evaluated. If your teammates do something incredible, shout them out directly and genuinely!
Self-promotion matters for evaluations:
Interviewer ratings and action recommendations were more positive in the combination condition, followed by the self-promotion condition, the ingratiation condition, and the neutral condition.
Senior operators and managers scale their impact AND visibility by improving the performance of themselves and their teams. Think of your team as a system that requires constant fine-tuning.
The key levers to fine-tune your team's operating system that you should lead:
Retros: Identify root cause issues through retros using the Five Whys framework, ship changes, then never let your team make the same mistakes twice.
Documentation: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Anything repeatedly done should be either automated using tools or documented then trained so that others can jump in.
Give feedback: delivering feedback improves performance and builds trust + transparency. Feedback is a gift. Ask to receive it and give it frequently.
Onboarding: onboarding new teammates is ~2-4 weeks of time converted into years of support + trust shared. Invest in documentation, tools, and time here - it's infinitely more painful and costly to find new teammates than investing the time onboarding them well.
Julie Zhuo on driving team improvement:
Bad execution: Teams behave like one-dimensional characters, constantly erring in the same ways. Good execution: Teams only make the same mistake once. Their disciplined practice of post-mortems lead to constant improvement.
Master class notes from Matt Mochary, CEO coach for many founders, on giving and receiving feedback, which is critical for improving team performance and building trust in your peers and managers:
Matt Mochary's notes on giving and receiving feedback + full curriculum overall on being an effective executive!
Ryan Caldbeck on being the welcome party:
Be the welcome party- There is data that the first 14 days of someone joining a new team are vital for long-term success. Offer to be part of the welcome party. Don’t do it in political way - do it in a 5th grade “I want to help make the new kid feel comfortable” way.
AngelList sharing new employee reading list:
I do the onboarding for all new AngelList team members. Part of it is asking them to read the following (many candidates have read these before they even come in for an interview).
Your manager is your key advocate for getting to senior, so figure out the right systems to make their life easier when interacting with you. Execute on what you commit to, over-communicate along the way, and hold them accountable when they're not delivering on supporting you.
Ian McAllister on working with execs:
Tip for working with execs: Tell them what you'll do, giving them the option to respond. Don't ask them what to do, forcing them to respond.
Lenny Rachitksy on managing upwards:
Do great work: The better you do -> the more your manager will trust you -> the more freedom and influence you will have. If you feel micro-managed, and others around you don’t, it’s likely because you aren’t performing well. Do great work, and life will get better.
Over-communicate: Regularly share what you’re doing, what you plan to do, and what you’ve done with your manager. It’s nearly impossible to over-communicate. I suggest sending a simple weekly “State of The Me” email to your boss with (1) your current priorities, (2) things on your mind, and (3) blockers you need help with.
Set expectations: When taking on work, set realistic expectations around time, resources needed, and quality. Your performance will be judged based on how it compared to your manager’s expectations. Be ambitious, but also be realistic.
Prioritize and communicate: When asked to take on additional work, particularly last minutes prioritize it amongst your existing priorities and share your updated priorities with your manager. Ask them if they disagree, adjust if so.
Julie Zhuo on management trust killers (things to be cognizant of and hold them accountable to not do):
Follow-through Fail: overpromising/underdelivering "You're on track for a promo!" (but it doesn't happen) "Let's talk your career goals next time" but the next chat is about some immediate task Antidote: Apologize and rework a plan as soon as you know expectations won't be met.
Flip-flopper: their desires change as often as socks Pushing for "quality" one week, and "speed" the next week. Asking for 'blue-sky ideas' but then rejecting any that might fail Antidote: publicly set goals / priorities every X period. Don't change until the period is over.
I hope you’ve found these resources helpful and good luck on your journey! This post will be continuously updated as new learnings and material come on. If you have recommendations, please reach out!
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