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Vera
4 things to practise

Doing senior work is necessary and not sufficient.

Evidence, visibility, the promo panel, and the compensation conversation after.

Most people who miss promotion did the work and could not make the case.

What this actually involves

Promotion to senior is decided by a rubric read by people who mostly did not watch you work, which means the gap is usually between what you did and what you can evidence. The other common failure is altitude: describing excellent execution when the panel is listening for judgment and influence. And once it lands, there is a compensation conversation that most engineers handle by naming a number and immediately apologising for it.

The sequence

Roughly in order, though nothing here blocks anything else — start with whichever is next for you.

  1. Six months out
    Read your company's level rubric properlyNot the summary — the actual criteria. Most people first read it a week before submitting, at which point the year's evidence is already fixed.You do this one. Vera isn’t involved.
  2. Ongoing
    Senior Software Engineer Interview PrepPractise telling your project stories at senior altitude. If they come out as execution narratives, you will be downlevelled regardless of the work.Practise this ↗
  3. Ongoing
    Difficult Workplace Conversation PracticeAsk your manager directly where you fall short. That conversation is uncomfortable, avoided, and worth more than another quarter of guessing.Practise this ↗
  4. Panel prep
    Internal Promotion Interview PrepMaking the case explicitly to people who know you is a specific skill. Shorthand only works if the room already agrees.Practise this ↗
  5. After the decision
    Salary Negotiation PracticeA promotion and the raise attached to it are separate conversations, and the second one is where engineers reliably leave money behind.Practise this ↗

Common questions

How far ahead should I start?

Two cycles rather than one. The evidence accumulates over months, and the rubric tells you which work to take on.

What if my manager will not commit?

Ask what specifically is missing and what evidence would settle it. A vague answer is itself information about how the cycle will go.

Should I interview elsewhere as leverage?

Some people do. It is a real strategy with real risk, and worth deciding deliberately rather than in the moment.

Other goals

Step Up Into ManagementThe conversations, the interview, and the first difficult thing you will have to say.Land a Software Engineering RoleScreens, system design, behavioral rounds, and the take-home review.Move Abroad for WorkSponsorship questions, interviewing in a second language, and arriving with no one to talk to.

Not practising doesn’t save you anything.

The ticket, the evening, the weeks of applying — all of it is spent before anyone says a word. The practice is the only cheap part, and the only part that changes how the rest goes.

Start with step one

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