How can you tell if you're ready for a promotion in Computer Engineering?

I'm ready for promotion—I've mastered skills, exceeded expectations, shown leadership by taking initiative in projects. Effective communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders, independent problem-solving, and adaptability to new technologies. Actively pursue continuous learning with relevant certifications. Positive feedback from peers and supervisors highlights my contributions. Mentor junior team members, align work with company goals. Confident in managing projects, meeting deadlines, and effective leadership.

Performing a thorough self-evaluation of your current skillsets with established benchmarks/expectations at the next/desired level is a good first step. An objective assessment yields indicators of readiness across broader categorization. Coding/technology, collaboration, system design and architecture, leading/mentoring/coaching junior engineers, cross functional collaboration with product, ux designers, doc writers etc, ability to impact both technical and. product roadmap, exhibiting your companies core values are some categories often seen across employers

Assess technical skills and see how you can explain it to non technical person. If you are able to simplify and explain technical thing smoothly to non technical person then you are ready for promotion

By giving performance & maintaining a well cultured civilized relationship with the fellow Team mates. By approaching the Boss, for details. Thank you

Demonstrating impact is easier said than done, however its a crucial part of ensuring that you are giving yourself credit where you deserve. Align with the product leaders on business objectives at the onset. In addition, brainstorm with your team to establish meaningful engineering metrics that align well with business objectives. At the completion of the project and at regular intervals (months, quarters) check-in with product counterparts to understand how the business results matched up to the objectives the team set out to achieve. Similarly for engineering metrics, track and report them adequately

This should be your first step, not your fourth. Seek out your organization's job leveling matrix and assess your skills and impact against your desired job level. If one doesn't exist, ask for specific requirements that must be met for promotion. Then accumulate and document evidence demonstrating how you meet the requirements. If there are areas where you don't meet the criteria, create an action plan for developing those skills. Taking a data-driven approach will bolster your case for promotion and reduces wiggle room when dealing with leadership that struggle to set clear expectations.

In my opinion seeking feedback works hand in hand with establishing meaningful relationships at work. The ones who value the relationship the most will often give you the most concrete, actionable and honest feedback either via formal mechanisms or more informally. Look out for such feedback. At the same time know what feedback to not take too seriously. While you should always assume positive intent, its sometimes difficult to cope with feedback that's a one off and there might be more to it than you'd ever find out. However, if you notice a pattern or repeated feedback it is suggestive that you might have to take a deeper look to address it.

The role of the manager in this process is equally vital. For hard skills, such as programming, a manager should provide tools like a skill matrix and a tech roadmap. These resources help identify areas for improvement. The manager can then suggest training materials and involve you in company initiatives that enhance these skills. Soft skills development, like communication and leadership, can be more nuanced. Managers can facilitate growth in these areas by providing learning opportunities to participate in technical meetups, lead presentations, or share knowledge with junior developers or other teams. Setting and reviewing quarterly goals with your manager can lay the groundwork for promotion discussions to naturally emerge.

The toughest thing you need to excel at, as per the current level to definitely get promoted is handling more ambiguity than being thrown at you. You don't just need to have answers to the questions being asked, you also need to know the questions that may be asked and be prepared for them. Promotions in general happen when you do something out of your role consistently. While in Computer Engineering, that something is specifically "Problem Solving", in which the key thing is handling ambiguity to a level which is unimaginable in your current role.

So much about your promotion…isn’t about you…but your company. Even if you hit the bar for the next level, does a position exist for you at that next level? Early in one’s career (e.g. programming), there is a linearity to it that is fairly predictable and relatively easy to achieve (e.g. produce more high quality code, become independent, lead small groups of folks). Things move from tactical to increasingly more strategic. Is there actually a place for you occupy that strategic role? When companies were always hiring, the opportunities for advancement and leadership were expanding, leading to a belief that it would always be so. You may hit the bar, but you still might not be able to move up. So then how do you want to grow?