Assuming an individual is a strong or high performer: is it realistic to expect promotions from grade 12 to grade 13? This is for an architect type role.
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Good replies here. Thank you for all who posted intelligence answers.
Apparently what’s between your legs is just or more important as what is between your ears..
I know of one grade 12 that is basically a world expert, writes standards, is consulted on product decisions and design, workshops with all our top customers, has even written a couple of technical books, consummate professional - and still stuck at grade 12. I know anybody else would snap him up in a second at 2 grades higher. I really don’t know why he’s still here, he should have been grade 13 over 5 years back.
I really don’t know what you have to do to get there. Getting another job seems to work - I’ve seen a couple do this and get a rushed promotion. Minority points seem to help, at least recently.
Hate to say it, but the last two folks are correct. Forget 12 to 13. Go elsewhere where you'll be more appreciated, better paid, have a better quality of life and not be forever worried about LRs. Unless you end up at AWS of course...
Short answer is : No
If you’ve got the talent to get promoted at Cisco, you’re better off leaving.
My former director once told my group something that rang true to me: that there were two factors that came into play when considering whether to promote someone.
1) Does the person have the qualifications? In Cisco-speak, were they already performing the work expected of a person at the next higher grade level? and
2) Does the BU or group NEED someone operating at the higher job grade? A worker at Grade 13 will be expected to have highly visible impact on an organization's work. The span of influence is HUGE. Does the group or organization need a person (or another person) operating that level? Sometimes, the answer is no.
The second is the factor that tends to get less attention during promotion discussions.
To go to a 13 from a 12 in a technical role there is a process and it is not something that happens over night or in 1-2 years. It takes Director/Sr Director sponsorship to get into that path, then it takes VP level approval to move into it. Being a high performer but not having a large sphere of influence is a ki---r there. Unfortunately, a lot of 12s shouldn't be 12s given that they are only one technology domain saavy. A lot also do nothing to help grow the business. Not that they aren't technically astute. It's that the bar for a large amount of 12s was very low. Also, some 12s may have been great initially but have made zero strides in their career over the course of a few years. Hate to say it but those types are graded against other 12s, not 6/8/10s. If you are a 12 and think you are tops compared to others on the team you may want to rethink that because you may not be when compared to your 12 peers (read this as lower performer and a LR candidate). This is the reality of it.
Historically, no. Tons of principals have been promoted lately (grade 89, 13 equiv, director level), so there is potential focus on senior technical talent. More gated with reviews etc, and always very budget and business need focused.