Growth Takes Time
What you can do today if your career stalls
Welcome back to Path to Staff! If you’ve been here for a while, I often share tools for accelerating your growth. But as I reflect on my journey, I realized a key lesson: real growth takes time.
I get this question all the time: “How do I get to Staff Engineer quickly? How do I level up fast?” The idea of jumping from junior to staff in a few years sounds exciting (and I did it myself!), but there are also real reasons why you shouldn’t rush.
In today’s job market, promotions are both slower and rarer. Companies have the upper hand now, and employees are staying longer than before. When companies conduct layoffs, their internal talent pool shrinks, and now you’re competing with even stronger candidates (assuming you weren’t laid off).
It’s tough to feel stuck. Some days, I do too. But as I’ve reflected more over the past few years, I’ll share why growing too fast can work against you, and what you can do today if you feel like growth has stalled.
Why fast growth might work against you
Fast growth isn’t always positive. Here are a few reasons why:
You might not be ready for the increased pressure. We often hear about lagging promotions and roll our eyes. But in reality, if you jump from Senior to Staff within six months, the increased expectations arrive immediately, and you might not be ready for them yet.
What I also wished someone had told me earlier: the rollercoaster ride gets more intense at every level with higher highs and lower lows. And you need to be emotionally mature enough to handle these inflection points.
Easy goals feel less meaningful. It sounds cliché, but it’s true: the harder the goal, the sweeter the reward. When you level up too quickly, it can feel too easy. This also sets an even shorter and faster expectation to achieve your next goal.
Now, on the other hand, if you take too long to achieve the goal, you’ll feel like you’re stuck. (More on this in the “What you can do” section.)
Colleagues may treat you differently because of your age. As much as this is frowned upon in companies, this still happens. You will meet colleagues who assume you didn’t earn it or that you’re “too young” to be at that level.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do besides finding teams and leaders who value your impact. Look for signs of this by (1) examining current teams – are they mostly folks who deliver impact, and (2) understanding leadership backgrounds – do these leaders have a history of supporting and promoting younger but impactful engineers? Talk to engineers who have worked closely with them.
What you can do if growth is slow
If you’ve been stuck at your level for a while, you’ve probably considered whether it’s worth staying or leaving.
After transitioning through a few companies, I can safely say that no choice is perfect. Here are a few tips to help you through this process:
1. Understand where you are in your career.
What level are you at? What has your trajectory been? If you are early in your career (fresh grad or mid-level), there is usually a lot more room to grow. If you are Senior or Staff, it can be completely fine to stay at that level for a while. Many people stall at Staff+, and that is normal. Most importantly, are you OK with that?
How long have you been at your current level? Understand how long it usually takes for most engineers to progress from your level to the next. Figuring out the distribution is also important (e.g., 1% are Staff engineers, etc.).
Where do you want to be in 1, 3, and 5 years? Do a simple career audit and figure out your future. Are you on the right trajectory? Is it time for a course correction?
2. Sharpen the skills that matter.
Regardless of where you are, keep investing in skills that will serve you in the long run.
Communication. Learn to read and write well. This shows up in design docs, emails, strategy documents, and even how you think. Authors like Deb Liu and Ami Vora talk about this all the time. These skills transfer across companies and even outside work.
Soft skills. Learn how to prioritize, listen, and communicate clearly in meetings. If you are up for it, practice public speaking. I have written about how to grow these soft skills here.
Technical skills. Learn to code well. Whether you are an IC or a manager, this is still your bread and butter. Stay current by building side projects and trying new tools and technologies. Figure out what the industry needs in case you get laid off or choose to leave your company.
3. Find a sustainable pace for yourself.
Love the 40+ year journey. A career is a marathon. Take time to reflect on what you actually enjoy pursuing. While external levels and recognition help you understand your journey, you are defined by much more than these levels.
Understand what makes you happy. What energizes you? What keeps you going even when work is hard? What have you found yourself diving into on the side?
Be honest with yourself. Be honest about what the work demands from you and whether that matches what you want. Is the pace reasonable for you? Does it align with the rest of your life? If not, is it time to move on?
TL;DR
Fast growth might work against you. It could bring unwanted pressure, and your next goal might be exponentially harder to achieve.
If growth feels slow, take time to understand your current career trajectory.
Utilize this slow time to sharpen important skills, such as communication, soft skills, and technical expertise.
Find a sustainable pace that you’ll enjoy. Figure out what drives you, and leverage that for your journey.
Love this!