Why isn't anyone talking about this amazing new team and all the wonderful revenue it will bring in? Where's the business case? Are there secret people somewhere in R&D working on video game analytics solutions ...?
Why are the people on that precious little team all principals when employees who have worked here for 10+ years can't get even promoted to principal when they've earned it? Hmmmmm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5v5DOEF45E
Clearly.
@2mrh
That's not what this site is for, and the things you wrote are super sh!tty - get a life or at least some therapy - you're clearly bitter and angry.
This site is a great creative writing outlet. My writing here is fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is purely coincidental.
@2qet
What are the names of your favorite NC State buildings?
Also, are you saying that you're only being creative about the reason there exist upper management with no direct reports? Or is there a more truthful basis for your tale with the NCSU professor?
Sorry, I can't provide any clues.
When you look at the ranks of leadership, ask yourself "Why is that person in that role? What is so special about them and their experience?" If you can't find a reasonable answer, you invent one to reconcile the cognitive dissonance.
Look up Alison Eastwood on IMDB.com. She's the daughter of Clint Eastwood. Her bio contains this factoid:
"Dropped a bombshell in 2011 when she told The Sunday Times her dad has eight children by six different women. Although Clint has long been rumored to have unacknowledged children with various women, this was an unprecedented statement."
Clint is a rich and powerful guy. Clint's been very busy over the decades. The birth years of his listed offspring range from 1954 to 1996. Many of his kids work in the "family" business. Clint's situation probably isn't unique to rich and powerful men who have connections and all.
On another note, have you ever driven around NCSU and noticed the building names? Several match the last names of prominent employees. It's an interesting coincidence, isn't it? Why are folks with those last names in those positions? Skill and merit. That has to be the answer.
@2mpr+1rKyD9Wd
Are you a Senior Director now?
@2mpr
Clue or initials please!
My mommy was a professor at NC State. After several sessions of hot and heavy Statistical Consulting, I came about. It's been a big secret for a long time. But after mommy spent some time in court, I never had to worry about my future again. Daddy's company would handle it from now on. I have an important job, and tons of support.
My career has been long and prosperous career. Regardless of my odd triangulating behavior, taking others ideas, and flirting with my subordinates, I continue to rise. It must be due to my political acumen and hard work; it surely isn't due to connections or strange bedfellows and such.
When working on Development projects, I'm real easy to get along with. When Developers have competing ideas on implementing a function from a particular menu, I tell them "both ways are fine!". They're puzzled at first, but their bosses really love me because I'm so nice. It works out well, and the promotions keep coming. Other, sensible and qualified candidates come and go, but I continue to be promoted. Next stop, VP! Life is so good! I love SAS!
It's allowed because SAS is a poorly managed operation with no accountability. It would not occur elsewhere.
There are many directors and senior directors and managers and senior managers who have no direct reports. It's mind-boggling and I'll never understand how or why it's allowed.
This pet division seemed to spring up around the time Microsoft acquired Activision last year for 68.7B
seems true everywhere to be fair. but at a company in decline, seems even more true.
Why does SAS keep having Senior Director with just one direct report? It was/is bad enough when Director had/has just one or two direct reports....
Too many middle management layers.
"career progression isn't a measure of what you know, or what you've done, but who you know. "
This is true in some or even a lot of cases. There are a few that truly deserve the Principal titles but not all of them. A lot of time if the managers like them or they are friends with the managers they will get promoted over someone else. Not everything is fair and above board. That's just how it is at SAS.
A lot of Principals do not know more or do more than Seniors and cannot even lead but they got promoted to Principals anyway. These days if you are Principals you are at risk of getting the layoffs. So it's better to stay at Seniors and not get chopped especially if Principals can't do the work that a Senior or lesser person in tittle can do.
WC = water closet. A polite term for toilet in the old time days. Yeah I know. OK boomer.
The Photographer's money losing Pet Project is dead.
Long live the Photographer's money losing Pet Project!
@ryf
Not following - what do the initials W.C. coincide with?
Initials of Mr. Senior Director Head of Games are W.C. Coincidence? Maybe.
Yes, a hot dog stand is my speed. I must have been a terrible employee; I simply got what I deserved. Just like all those Testers.
"I would describe it as "wacky" and "madcap" and they talked about a million words per minute."
The quoted words above invoked a flash back to the sappy photographer. Thanks for the chuckles!!!
@xhd+1rKyD9Wd you are exactly right, hear hear!
Thanks. I appreciate the way you attempted to deflect legitimate criticism of how promotion at SAS is managed, and which the OP personally observed, by suggesting that the problem is reducible to my "ridiculous generalisation".
I can name four, maybe five, people at SAS who are Principal and who are legitimately capable of doing "all the things" HR now requires a Principal to do before being promoted to Principal, and all of them are long past due for promotion to Distinguished. I'm betting you are not one of them. The only way that it's possible to be promoted to Principal now is to support senior management intent or "vision" regardless of technical merit. And that very idea is a contradiction of the independence and technical competence that Principals are supposed to demonstrate.
@qxg+1rKyD9Wd Some people should clearly not work at data analytics companies…
Hot dog stand might be your speed.
@qxg+1rKyD9Wd Fantastic question! You completely proved your point. Well done.
How many of the Senior Directors who can't manage hot dog stands "deserve it"?
“ SAS: career progression isn't a measure of what you know, or what you've done, but who you know. Especially now.”
Bless your heart. What a ridiculous generalisation. Way to tell all the qualified principal, distinguished, etc that they don’t deserve it.
Are there some that don’t? Of course. Are there many who do? Of course.
But you be you.
"several people in my part of the company who have worked hard for years were told this week they would not be promoted. that there were attempts but the promotions were denied."
Bless your heart. The "several people ... who have worked hard for years" are learning one of the most important lessons they will ever learn at SAS: career progression isn't a measure of what you know, or what you've done, but who you know. Especially now.
+@msy+1rKyD9Wd
all fair points that exist in all large enterprises. when your employer is dealing with the weird sh-i-t of years past and the various declining revenue/adoption/legacy issues, it surely becomes more challenging to carefully address those points.
OP commenting here, I'm a male and am nowhere near Principal dev but yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence. ;)
several people in my part of the company who have worked hard for years were told this week they would not be promoted. that there were attempts but the promotions were denied. so there are unhappy people due to there being no actual career path for them and I can't blame them. epic games is one of the places a few are considering jumping ship to.
yes many people over the years were promoted who shouldn't have been. but that shouldn't be the reason that deserving people can't advance at all. the company has gone out of its way to try to attract younger employees, but young people expect to advance. like it or not they expect it. if there are no promotions for years the young people will leave to work at a place that will support their growth and advancement.
It was an acquisition which is very common for people to get senior titles based on compensation requirements alone.
As to why they were acquired, your guess is as good as mine. Why it wasn't talked about more publicly is also strange.
Epic Games is down the street. Other studios such as UbiSoft may be local. Perhaps it's a new Montessori product attempting to scrounge some revenue from those places.
The head of Analytics at one of those places is a former long-term SAS employee.
Your meeting describes many meetings at SAS. The conversations flow like a superball chucked at the wall. The talk bounces back and forth, random and unconnected.
What are the initials of the "Head of Games" Sr. Director?
Easy fix OP - people at SAS who think they qualify for Principal and aren't getting it should go apply for that title elsewhere. I know of one case where someone succeeded at that.
Bottom line is that for years SAS based promotions on years of service and not skill. They should've corrected that long ago, but better late than never.
The person who typed this is a principal with a target on her back.
Until relatively recently, "Principal" has been a normal career progression promotion for many people. There's been a lot of historical revisionism at SAS over the past few years, as HR figured out how to deny promotions to people who otherwise deserved them and which would have been routine in the past, but most managers saw Principal as the highest "normal" career level, and Distinguished as the only prestige level.
As I said, that all changed when HR decided to cut salaries for long-term employees as a way to reduce expenses. HR invented a few new prestige levels which are similarly unattainable, but tried to make a case that management should review their principals to determine if they're really working at the level of a principal. Can they really independently work on complex projects, lead small teams, all the things? The answer is that most of them cannot, and have never had to do any of that. As I said, Principal was seen by many managers as a normal career progression promotion, so just what you promoted people to when they had been at SAS long enough and couldn't get a raise without being promoted. It was never clear what managers were supposed to do about that, but over the past several years we were encouraged to be honest in our assessment, and feed that to HR.
That became the basis for some of the layoffs we've seen recently. IIRC all of the employees laid off in August were Principals. Most of the remaining Principals are either terrified they're on the list or afraid to rock the boat for fear their manager will decide they're not really working at the level of a Principal either, unless they're protected.
So that's where the "Have you picked apart those peoples careers and decided they aren’t worthy" question comes from. Of course, "they" aren't. Most of the Principals at SAS would never have been promoted to Principal under the current HR "guidelines". And there's no need to get upset about it. It's just the way it was when SAS was the only game in town and sitting on fat bags of cash from licenses and renewals at the end of every year. But it's not that way now. And recent HR actions have been driven by the way things are now.
I sat in on a meeting with that group, it was the most bizarre meeting of my career to date. I would describe it as "wacky" and "madcap" and they talked about a million words per minute.
Whether the group will bring value to SAS is above my pay grade, I cannot speak to that or their qualifications. (they were all nice and seemed very smart). Just that it was an odd meeting to me.
I see 5 people in that organization if we are looking in the same place.
Head of Games (catchy title, sr director, 1 direct report)
I don't see any principals?
WTF are you talking about?
Do “people” have to talk about every new initiative. Do you expect every initiative to immediately be successful.
Have you asked BH what the business plan is? If not then maybe stop ramble whining here and go ask him? I’m sure he’ll be happy to give you an earful on it.
“ Why are the people on that precious little team all principals when employees who have worked here for 10+ years can't get even promoted to principal when they've earned it? Hmmmmm”
What does one thing have to do with the other? Have you picked apart those peoples careers and decided they aren’t worthy or do not actually know and just like to spout sh-t? Hmmmmm
I think its a DEI showcase.