How can I make sure that I always get full credit for my work and am properly leveled?

Question

I have some doubt around my ability to capitalize on my work and opportunities to get the recognition and credit I deserve. How can I make sure that I’m doing this properly, so I’m properly leveled and promoted over time?

Here are some of the things I’m doing to achieve this:

I have a couple of Google docs that I share with my manager where things are tracked (e.g. accomplishment by month, what’s gone well/poorly, etc).
I have another doc is what’s required for promotion, split up into sections with objectives.

For additional context, I’m working on a big refactoring effort to move the company’s Perl codebase to Java. Is there anything I can specifically do there to get the maximum amount of points?

Alex Chiou · Accepted Answer

You're already on a good path by having the 2 core docs with your manager: A promotion plan with expectations and a running accomplishment doc. The core idea here is to always leave a paper trail. Make your wins as well documented as possible. Back when I was at Meta, I would write regular update posts on every project I was leading to make sure that all my accomplishments were properly logged while ensuring alignment among stakeholders. When it comes to the refactor, try to connect it to tangible positive outcomes. The basic layer is developer experience: Making a block of code smaller/cleaner to read/easier to work with in general allows developers to ship code building on that refactored block faster. The ideal layer is connecting the refactoring work to business impact like user experience. If a code is less reliable in Perl (e.g. crashes more) compared to Java, the refactoring benefits can be concretely connected to better business outcomes. Be a good person and build deep relationships with your peers, so they'll leave stellar peer feedback for you come performance review season.

How can I make sure that I always get full credit for my work and am properly leveled?

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