How long do I have to perform at the E5 Level to get promoted?
I spoke to my manager about putting a promo packet up this half for an E5 promotion. I didn't rush into this. I've watched Taro's E5 promo crash course, have listened to my manager's feedback and consistently improved myself each time.
Now I feel ready. The Staff Engineer (TL) I work with has also vouched for me and said on the engineering excellence axis I'm performing way better than the other E5s on the team and he's not concerned about the other axes either. I've shared this with my manager. I've been performing at this level for about 2-3 months now and will continue to do so for another 2 months before perf season.
For some additional context, I joined Meta in Feb as an E4 and was aiming to get to E5 in 1 year. I know this seems aggressive, but that's because Meta down leveled me.
My manager said that I need to continue doing this for another half. Is this usually the case? Maybe I set my expectations too high by reading Alex's Linkedin Posts about mentoring engineers to E5 so quick :)
FYI on the internal career pages it says "1-2 quarters (or more)" which could mean absolutely anything
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Mid-Level Software Engineer [E4] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta_logo.png%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Db5f837b1-c74f-4e2f-848b-1599f05624c5&w=48&q=75){kind=logo}
Discussion
(3 comments)- 111 days agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Promotions are indeed lagging, but there's no hard and fast rule around how long you need to wait. This is a judgment call by you and your manager.
I have one very practical suggestion: pitch to your manager that you at least attempt the promotion in this cycle, just to get the feedback. There's no cost to you to at least try the promotion, so you just need to convince your manager that it's worth their time (and political will).
- Worst case, you get rejected and get valuable feedback
- Best case, you land the promotion!
At the very least, the feedback will be helpful to set expectations and prepare for the next cycle.
- 0
11 days agoEngineer @ RobinhoodPromos are lagging, so you need to generally perform at slightly above average for your next level for 9 -12 months. This is so that perf can confirm that this level is your operating baseline & your performance is not due to 1-off circumstances.
- 0
11 days agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroThe promotion to E5 is lagging by minimum 6 months. So if you want to get promoted in the winter cycle you will need to have been functioning as a full E5 starting 4 months ago in July, just 5 months after you joined. That is super hard as 4 months in is still the later end of onboarding.
A caveat here that differentiates your situation from those of my mentees is that you're working in the "year of efficiency" Meta and you joined the company as E4, not as E3 (E4s who joined Meta all the way at E3 will get promoted faster to E5 due to more momentum). The bar is higher all around and promotions are tighter. I imagine E5 is a 9 month lagging promotion now, maybe even 12 (hopefully not 12 though, that seems too brutal with up-or-out).
I think the only way you would get promoted in this winter cycle is if you were functioning at E5 EE+/GE- for almost all of H2. The most talented engineer I've ever worked with was like that (E3 -> E4 in 1 half, E4 -> E5 in 1 half), so I know it's possible, but that's a 1 in 500 case for Meta engineers.
If you get EE/EE+ this half, you are on a good pace to get promoted in 2025 H1. That is still quite fast, a little under 1.5 years.
