I understand that promotions are hard at Cisco. I understand that the current situation is not the best time either. But, in the interest of career development, how do I get promoted from NCE level to Tech - lead position? I am here in the midwest and have been with CISCO for 7 years. Just like everyone I can put in all the hard work needed but want to know if there is a piece I am missing in the puzzle.
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good luck with that, I worked for 20 years, only got a promo by leaving and coming back for higher position, and only people i saw get promos where the one pet s— up for the occasional promo that got handed down, but guess what, once their boss got found out and got LR, they got bounced soon after. I know guys that have worked 15 years, same grade and only got one pay raise, but they do nothing so dont care.
In my experience, there's usually only one Tech Lead per team. You either have to wait for them to get LR'd, disgruntled and leave Cisco, or they find an opportunity to switch teams to get a promotion. Likewise, you can look for Tech Lead openings on other teams and jump ship internally yourself if you don't want to wait for a Tech Lead spot to open on your team.
Promotions usually happen by switching teams or someone departs your team and has to be backfilled.
Not all technical leaders are technical some get the title as a form of promotion to not pass the manager who can be a friend or relative.