In the tech world, some older folks think young employees are gunning for promotions faster, but that's not really the deal. They're just comparing themselves with peers in different units and locations doing the same job. Job titles and roles just ain't what they used to be. What a role meant a few years ago doesn't carry the same weight today.
Looking back at my 20 years with Fidelity, things have really changed. When I started, only two out of a hundred folks in my unit were directors. Fast forward to today, and we've got 30 of them in the same unit. It's a bit of a mess globally because if one region starts promoting, it puts the heat on others to do the same. If India bumps up their squad leads, chapter leads, and architects to G7, no matter how good they are, it pushes other regions to follow suit sooner or later. It's like a domino effect.
In the US, pay is tied to the grade, and sometimes, good people get promoted just to keep them around or hire them. Directors used to handle big responsibilities 20 years ago, but now those responsibilities have moved up to the SVP level.
One interesting shift is that now even folks with just 5 years of experience and solid skills are getting bumped up to Principal/G6 positions. Back in the day, that level of responsibility was more for seasoned Senior Software Engineers with 15 to 20 years under their belts.
Promotions handed out to some women just to jazz up Abby's diversity report? Eventually, you gotta promote folks for the right reasons too.
And before you know it, you've got a bunch of titles, and they've lost their original meaning.
The recurring issue here is the company's habit of bringing in external consulting firms that suggest solutions like Agile and the Grade system without grasping the unique aspects of the company, its talent pool, and the cultural differences across locations. Unfortunately, these recommendations often fall flat, leading to failures that management attempts to downplay.
The second challenge lies in the absence of strong enterprise leadership that can set a limit on the number of grades a unit can have and define roles at a centralized level. Granting excessive autonomy to all units and locations has, in turn, led to the misuse and abuse of the system.