Career Advice About Microsoft

Promotions are lagging, which means you must perform at the next level consistently. Generally that means you should be above target for at least 2 Connect cycles. For senior and principal level promotions, you must be handling the responsibilities of the higer level for 1-2 years.

The higher your level, the more approvals you need for your promotion:

• Up to L62 (high Mid-Level Engineer): The direct manager approves
• L62 to L64 (up to Senior Engineer): The skip manager approves (L67, or Group Engineering Manager)
• L65+ (Principal Engineer+): Need to demonstrate cross-org impact, and the VP (or CVP) must approve

Unfortunately, it's harder to get promoted on a team with many talented people. There are limited spots available for promotion, and it's generally harder to get promoted on a team which has many high-performers.