I have been an Advisor/Senior Advisor for 15+ years. I’m realizing that the 20-somethings are mostly at the same level. I’m guessing promotions aren’t available in this economy.
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@kx Depends on where you are. If you're in midrange support, you are totally hosed if you want a promotion. One of our perennial top performers went 8 years without being promoted. He moved to a different org as an I6 and was promoted several times over the next year.
Started as an I7 4 years ago, now an I10 after hard work and working on larger projects. I hear alot of people complaining about no promotions, but if you actually do the work its possible. I went from $125k to $300k and a 5% to 25% bonus in the last 4 years just being a good employee and taking on responsibilities above my grade.
I work primarily with a SA and occasionally a Consultant when SA is away on PTO. There is a big difference in knowledge, maturity and general corporate experience. SA is still challenged with presenting and speaking in larger meetings. I guess what I’m trying to say is…it’s not about time spent in role. You don’t get to move up simply because you’ve been in role for x amount of years.
Welcome to the club, 20 years here and not a single promotion. At Dell, most “promotions” are really just lateral moves. When I first joined, I was full of ambition, but after seeing how chaotic and political career progression is, I scaled those ambitions back. I’ve watched people move up the ladder, not always the deserving ones, and some even jump four grades in under two years simply because they have the right connections. Senior VPs often bring in newcomers who have no real understanding of the product, which is incredibly frustrating. I was hired for what I know, not who I know. At Dell, meritocracy is nothing more than a buzzword, an illusion meant to keep people motivated while the system itself ignores true merit.On a positive note, I’ve landed a new job , and it’s not at Dell. Things at Dell have been going downhill, and it’s clear they’ll get worse before they improve. So, I’m moving on.
This is the Dell way! Welcome
@az 100% , anyone that thinks otherwise is just completely out of touch with how the company works. It's (unfortunately) very political and if you want to get ahead you need to know how to play the game and you need to know the right people to advocate for you.
If your manager doesn't have enough pull and/or if you don't get along with your manager well enough, you're not going to get any big salary jumps or promotions. If your manager doesn't have a good relationship with the ones next in line, you're not going to get any either.
This grade thing at Dell is a joke. Why even have it.
I was SA for 8 yrs working position after I10 that left, last 3 yrs before my leaving I heard only excuses and gaslighting why I cant get promotion like hiring freeze, budget, VP not being in favor and so on. Once I found a new opportunity i left and showed them middle finger. Do the same, have some dignity...
@aq I disagree. Promotions are rewards 100%. I'd say that promotions are not "automatic" simply because you've been there for say, 18 months though. You still gotta prove yourself but, the way I see it is if i'm an i7 then I will do i7 level work. Why should I go "above and beyond" and do i8 level work when promotions simply are not a thing at Dell right now?
@a6 Not entirely true. It heavily depends on your orgs budget more often than not... MOST managers promote via extra REQS, and not out of their merit increase "bucket" because, if a manager has say 30-40k (or whatever it is) to spread around to their team for raises, promoting someone would take at least 50% of that away and go to ONE person.
So like, if an i6 promotion to an i7 is worth idk, 10-20k then of the 50k that manager has to spend on raises for a team of 20 is reduced by 15k; leaving them with a LOT less money. Which means everyone gets a smaller raise because ONE person was promoted.
At the end of the day, if your manager doesn’t advocate for you then it’ll make it much more challenging for that promotion to come your way. It’s not just about performance, it’s about kissing up enough to have the right advocates in the room when those decisions are made to stand up for you unfortunately. With the flattening taking place these days in all orgs, it’s only going to get harder to get those promotions moving forward too. Then you have to ask yourself why the company is the way it is today and well you just have to understand how “leadership” got to where they are…
I was originally supposed to be brought on as an advisor back when I started, however because Covid began creeping in at that time, they put all of us contractors as an i6/senior analyst. Which su-ked but I was OK with because I was unemployeed at the time and a job is a job.
6 years later, I'm still an i6 despite my manager doing his best to promote me and another dude for the last 5 years. It was always an excuse for the execs - no budget, economy su-ks, covid, bla bla bla...
This past January I was asked to fill out an application for a "new" role - advisor - and a week later, my manager is told "nvm, we don't actually have the budget for promotions this year."
During our 1x1 I brought it up and he basically said that Dell is more likely to promote overseas folks versus US people simply because it's a "bigger bang for the buck." AKA it's cheaper. He also said that he doesn't really foresee promotions in the US anytime soon. He's a great guy and I KNOW he fought for a few of us for promotions for YEARS but, no cigar... He brought promotions up a few time's a year during 1x1's in fact.
I think it's pathetic that dell is refusing to promote in the US - for the most part - however, for the 6 years I've been here, my raises have been insane. 9% my first year, 6% second year, 4.5% third, 3.8% fourth, 12% fifth, and a measly 4.8% this year.
So essentially I've upped my salary from when I started by 40% or so.
Again, promotions are not rewards, they become available out of necessity. If your team can be successful with the grade levels they have (based on the work descriptions) then there is no promotion. If your team needs to hire a level higher based on skill needs (again, go back to work description) and they would open a req for it, then there is a chance for promotion. The other thing is that promotions are at an an org level, so you are going up against every other person who wants that jump. Your leader will then argue your case against others, with other leaders and they will decide who gets it. Fact is, you can be the best person on your team, but ranked last out of all the promo candidates.
If you want to make i9+ your tongue has to get a lot browner.
The recruiter that hired me promised a promotion after 2 years. Been 8 years and I have had exactly one opportunity for a promotion that was given to someone less qualified than me. He used the promotion to negotiate higher pay with another company and left. You'd think that would mean another opportunity for be but management never filled the vacancy.
It took me a while to work my way to consultant. It's a matter of the level of your team and how your leadership views your performance. The people viewed as good performers will move up steadily 1-2 years per level.
Most college graduates can easily make the jump to advisor/senior advisor within 3-4 years of graduating.
Consultant is most people's terminal level, most can make it to i9, a lot will never make it to i10.