Corporations pay what they feel they must for the skills they think they need most.
To get paid the most, you must figure out what skills they think they need and optimize demonstrating them.
Now, this is only if maximizing your pay is your main goal.
Many other goals (e.g. work/life balance, pursuing what you love, practicing your craft) are valid. So is leaving the corporate world to work for yourself.
However, most people work corporate jobs and want more money, so it benefits you to at least know the recipe.
Most corporations have job classifications, titles, and pay ranges. While you can perform well and earn a raise, all the big gains come from moving up through those levels.
The worst-paid Principal Engineer or Director will make more than the best paid entry level engineer. The faster you rise through the level structure, the more you will make.
The level structure is also somewhat transferable between companies. This happens through titles. You get some title and then another company is willing to consider you for different jobs (with more pay) than before you had that title.
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Different companies value different mixes of hard and soft skills. They have cultures. This means they value what is done (e.g. the hard skills like programming or law) and how you do it (e.g. how you work with others, your ethics, etc.).
You can figure out what they value by looking at what they say and seeing who they promote / reward.
Note: you always have a choice to switch companies. If this mix of skills and culture is not what you want to do or who you want to be, that is perfectly fine. Just understand that you will not maximize your pay by staying somewhere and refusing to play their game. I like ice hockey. If I stay on a volleyball team and am unhappy that I sit on the bench, exactly who is responsible for that?
2) How to "show it"
Whatever collection of traits your chosen company values, you need to learn them and get good at them. You must ask for, earn, or otherwise get opportunities to demonstrate them (read my popular post The Magic Loop: A framework for rapid career growth on how to do this well). And then, you need to make sure your demonstration of those skills is visible.
Key advice: "Send frequent small progress updates." Many people fall into the trap of "I won't say anything about this until it is all done and I can make a big announcement." This will bite you. Advertising teaches us that the impression count (the number of times you see the ad) matters. So as a rule of thumb, any time you vaguely wonder if you should share something, DO IT.
Many people will feel this is manipulative or political, but you do not need to step on others or blow your own horn to succeed. What does not work is the opposite I often see, which is "quietly work hard and wait to be noticed” — why is this true? While unfair, to change this at the root we have to change our underlying culture:
Look at most politicians - our most visible leaders - many, if not most, are loud. We associate leadership with visibility and talking. A big form of news is the talk show and the interview.
Companies can do some things to mitigate this larger culture...But we live in a big-screen, media personality-driven world. Thus, being the face and voice in that media matters.
People always want to talk about bad bosses, biases, politics, favoritism, etc. Yes. All true. Not the topic here today. This is about what you CAN do. If you show what the company values and the company does not respond, go somewhere that does.
On the pace of growth and time frames
Pace of growth varies. For example, it is possible to promote yourself to CEO tomorrow: find your own company. Of course, many things are hidden in what I call "simple." But:
Fastest way up - start your own thing, and succeed.
Faster if it works out - join a high-growth company/startup and grow with them.
"Safer" and requiring less broad skills (move up as an expert in a discipline, not as a broad CEO or GM) - corporate roles.
While ranges vary, most people make Senior Manager 10 to 15 years into a career. Then it is "about" five years per level.
So if we say a Senior Manager is 35, then Director at 40, VP at 45, SVP and 50, shot at the CEO chair, 55.
From what I see, this is very roughly right. However, there is enormous variability. Some people take on the CEO role at 60+. Others, usually unicorn founders, are CEOs of enormous companies in their 30s.
If you are interested in leadership development courses, explore my courses:
Additional ideas worth considering from my LinkedIn audience:
If you do not learn how to talk about what you did, why it was hard, and why it matters, you will not be able to make your work visible. And while a great manager will help and make this easier, if you want control over your career, you must develop the skills to make your value clear (otherwise people will assume your value).
Company fit matters. The workplace you choose must value what you do best so your skills can shine.
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Great read! I define culture as "how things get done at a company" - which comes down to, as you said, what skills are valued. I also think that small updates, if done with authenticity and real enthusiasm, can avoid the pitfall of coming across as political. A future article on how to maintain genuineness in the journey of career growth would be great.
This a great! Hard to find anyone talking about this not on Blind. Can we define “wealth” in this context because the tiers of companies play a significant part in generating wealth. Maybe a break down on company tiers and comp packages that lead to wealth generation if you’re successful in navigating to leadership role.
Great read! I define culture as "how things get done at a company" - which comes down to, as you said, what skills are valued. I also think that small updates, if done with authenticity and real enthusiasm, can avoid the pitfall of coming across as political. A future article on how to maintain genuineness in the journey of career growth would be great.
This a great! Hard to find anyone talking about this not on Blind. Can we define “wealth” in this context because the tiers of companies play a significant part in generating wealth. Maybe a break down on company tiers and comp packages that lead to wealth generation if you’re successful in navigating to leadership role.