Depends. Are you at a "terminal" level in terms of your career progression? 
  
 Terminal levels are where companies (normally bigger ones) do not have compulsory expectations from you to grow further. Your impact at these levels is good enough for them for perpetuity. Essentially, you can stay happy and keep with happy with a "Meets Expectations" at terminal levels forever. 
  
 At many big-tech companies, senior levels are the earliest terminal levels. Extending this logic -  Staff, principal levels are also terminal.

Software Developer

Completely agreed. On one hand companies promote/want good WLB for employees and on the other hand push you to work extra hours for promotion! Isn't that diabolical. Leads to so much stress and burnout

Software Engineer

Can I stop pretending that I am extraordinary employee for the company and I can turn around things in no time.  Can I peacefully enjoy the time the appraisal cycle and plan for the exit? Happy to ...

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

Can I stop pretending that I am extraordinary employee for the company and I can turn around things in no time. 
Can I peacefully enjoy the time the appraisal cycle and plan for the exit?
Happy to be the employee whose rating says “satisfactory work done”

What if there is no promotion for me

Sales Manager

What if there is no promotion for me- Grapevine

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

What would you do if you have a couple of high performers in your team and they eat up most of the appraisal budget with you getting sidelined everytime.

Getting sidelined in appraisals

Data engineer

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

I have been working in my company for over 4 years now, each time it's time for Appraisals I am told the company cannot go beyond 7%.
But I have progressed in my role through the years and I have delivered excellent growth results this year when the context has been dull. I am super frustrated it could end up with being handed a 7% increment and of course a football to take home, especially after my meeting with my manager. 
It's getting to me now!

I feel I am being played!

If the company is really decathlon then it is meant to be played xdd jk 😂😂

Category Marketing

We've seen stories and videos of employees receiving appraisals from their managers. (Of course, more of hatred)

Now, as a manager, how did you prepare yourself to share such feedbacks, both positive and negative. Did your team respect you less or more after appraisals?

There'd be employees who deserve more but due to higher management restrictions, they're unable to get the deserving number. How do you prepare in such situations?

How were positive appraisals delivered?

Share your experiences from your professional journey.

As a manager, how do you share appraisal feedback?

Growth Manager

Hi Grapeviners

Recently got a hike of mere 2%, even after working day and night and delivering projects on time.

I was hoping for a good hike and a promo. Some politics from business and HR really screwed my case. 

Should i talk to:
1. HR: Raise the issue and tell them that i'm unhappy and make it official
2. Talk to Manager, now that genie is the out of the box, I don't think they can do much

How do you end up dealing with a situation like this?

Unhappy with the hike i got

How to deal with situations where you have given your best and contributed a lot to the project/Organisation (which is tangible) but the efforts don't get reflected in your performance appraisals and promotions due to office politics? 
You don't get promoted because the boss's favourite needs to be promoted despite sub-par performance.
Shifting the job isn't an option for a few years considering responsibilities, lack of good paying jobs in finance and the Organisation is really good.

How do you deal with bad performance reviews?

Chartered Accountant

Most startup’s are not founded with great altruistic purpose to elevate human condition. Most startup’s are founded where founders know they can make money or earn status points through little schemes of leveraging their network of investors. 

Most of them know they can earn more income by just raising some money from friends or VCs. Build a small tech tool and burn through money trying to acquire and retain customers. All this while hiring 100s of employees selling false narratives. 

What bugs me the most isn’t the thousands of people getting laid off, salary corrections or bankruptcies, it is the mafiaesque organisation built to “create wealth for some by exploitation of countless others” 

Most startup founders use brute force of content and media coupled with ignorance of people to perpetuate this cycle. 

It’s the virtue signalling and holier than thou attitude of most founders and VCs justifying all their mindless brutality in the name of strategy and growth which destroys aspirations and outcomes for the many. It’s more relevant in India because of large scale ignorance about money and large scale trust on educated individuals with the right college tags! 

If you have seen sopranos, most founders are like Anthony soprano - summarily violent, manipulative and ruthless behaviour primarily driven by selfish greed but juxtaposed with moments of vulnerability and struggle justifying his action with a facade of providing for his family. 

*Replace Anthony soprano with your founder/ceo name* 


1. VSS was playing fast and lose with rbi regulations resulting in stock crash and layoffs 
2. Byju’s systematically destroyed his own company and wealth of his employees just to ensure he retains majority control 
3. Ashneer G and his wife manipulated company books
4. Zerodha founders cheated in chess match or lied about their system failures which lost a lot of capital

PS: I refer to most founders because there are few exceptions who don’t fit into this narrative.

Startup founders are mafia bosses!

Incredibly myopic and pessimistic view. I'd suggest trying to be a founder yourself once before judging them. 
  
 Not every startup needs to elevate human condition, plus you still need money to make that happen. 
  
 Most founders don't actually earn much compared to jobs they could've had in companies. All you see is the flashy idiots like Kunal Shah and Byju. Not the bootstrapper shutting down their 10th project for xyz reasons. Because no one likes talking about their failures, and no one listens to people who fail. Only those who succeed.  
  
 You have a problem with the human condition buddy, not founders. Humans can be real shitty given the right kind of conditions. Everyone's fallible, even you.  
  
 If you think you can be a better founder than some of the names you mentioned, then you're only indulging in holier than thou behaviour, which you allegedly hate about founders.  
  
 I do agree with some of the things you said, but much of it is way off.

Generalist

Consultant

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

I am working in Consulting post MBA - it is a mix of PM, Product Strategy, Implementation projects.

I can work on industries and multiple offerings so learning is widespread but a slow upward curve.
Pay is good considering my previous experience and peers. Work life balance is also decent.

But, they are not giving promotions in my team because of some stupid leadership decisions. I will have to wait for next 6 months.

So I am in dilemma if I should stay or switch.
If you were in a similar situation, how did you make your decision?

No promotions - should I switch?

I work at a small startup that was acquired by a large corporate, primarily via high level contacts of the founders rather than technical due diligence. Founders and employees cash out big FAANG-level payslips without bothering about any actual work or revenue.

Being in my late 20s, I believe that our energetic youth should be spent on doing something that we are proud of, when we look back on our younger days. Imagine yourself in your 60s, and your grandchildren look up to and ask you about your life. I would definitely get depressed if I had to tell them that I did nothing of significance, just collected my salary.

In this context, I have been telling a few of my close colleagues how we can learn specific tech stacks which are in demand, in interesting domains that we can shift to, if applying to other companies. However, recently I came to know that some of these colleagues have shared screenshots of my conversations with management and claimed that I am violating company policy by apparently encouraging people to apply elsewhere.

Didn't see it playing out like this, so it's a shocker for me. Going forward, what would you suggest? Keep my mouth shut and be company policy-wise correct with people to avoid such backstabbers? Or should I continue to be honest and just change company myself?

Honest advice or political correctness?

I'm the top performer in my team but keep getting passed over for promotion. At what point do you confront management or just move on?

Is it okay to be average at work?
I feel I have always been very competitive in my life and it has always drained me out. When I got job I thought finally I am done with this rat race. But no, everyday I have to push so much in order to prove myself in my job which gets very overwhelming and disturbs my work life balance.
I want to ask people with experience is it okay to be an average employee?

Being average at job

Another year around and last year was dry with literally 0 percent hike. My salary not been increased for past two years and this year my hopes are going down. The PMS cycle was supposed to be on May 1st. We were supposed to get manager ratings. When I checked  it wasnt even case and they dont even communicate of such a delay. They just keep it closed doors and this is what I see as transparency. Already I have many exits voluntarily. When I was demanded for work day and night. they said company will reward people meritocritic and now when I turn them back and ask they arent even interested with sharing date on when the appraisal would come. What should I do I feel being cheated after 2 years of working day and night? Any news or this is going to be one another year of their sick promises and betrayals?

Am I being fooled @Yubi?

I am in a tricky situation with no hopes for promotion soon. Already spent a good 7-9 years of my career here. I want to take a break and rethink, maybe do an MBA or CFA Not sure whether I need a break or am being frustrated and lazy. Not sure if I will pick back that momentum I had in my initial career time.

Also an opportunity has come knocking at the door, for a completely new field when I was mentally preparing myself to disengage from work. What to do, ??

I know it's my decision, but a 3rd person speaking honestly would help me a lot! - Need some good advice!

Life or No life

Senior Consultant

I am working as SDE 1 in a good Indian startup. It's getting toxic day by day. Late night workings like 3AM and working on weekends is normalised like anything. Since I am new to IT ( no sort of politics never) and have almost 2.5 Years of experience, I am facing issues in getting credits. Last appraisal cycle in January, I was nominated for promotion but wasn't given to me, reason: you have not worked with architect and he was making decisions. In that case, architect should have been distributed tasks to us. 

one SDE3 is leading one of the projects ( not a big one ) and manager/architect is not much interested and never join any standup or retro, I have contributed immensely to that. Now since it is completely driven by sde 3 , he takes updates from us and show his work infront of seniors and director + announces like his work and seldom we get thank you in threads. Like if you did one function or wrote complete flow, for both thank you. Because of all these reasons, my work is not getting recognised. There is no one in team to help in this. 

Whenever a manager or Architect show cases some features or release, it's pretty evident that his team has done it but when a sde 3 does it, it is not the same. It conveys the message all or 90% work is done by him. 

I would like to take some suggestions from my seniors and fellow mates here. 

Hierarchy - sde 1-2-3-4-EM
I can't leave or switch right now due to some critical persona reasons.

Need help !! Toxicity at workplace

Good Indian startup is an oxymoron statement

Analyst

I find myself in a rather perplexing situation at work and could use some impartial advice. Currently, I am employed at an Indian e-commerce firm where I have put in a lot of hard work. However, during the recent annual cycle, I was not promoted, and my salary hike was disappointingly meager (CCTC 14.5LPA). Naturally, I expressed my concerns to my manager, who advised me to wait until the mid-cycle as my promotion case would be reconsidered then.

In the meantime, I actively sought out new opportunities, and I have received an enticing offer from a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) firm with a significantly higher compensation of 24LPA. This is substantially more than what I'm currently earning, but less than my expected CTC that is around 28-30LPA.

The confusion lies in the fact that my current firm has now initiated the promotion feedback process, and it's possible that I may get the promotion soon. I'm now torn between two choices: do I stay at my current job, potentially get the promotion, and then reconsider switching, or do I seize the opportunity at the CPG firm with the better financial package?

I understand that both options have their pros and cons, but I'm finding it challenging to make a decision on my own. Any advice or insights you could provide would be immensely helpful in guiding me through this tough decision-making process.


YoE: 4.1 Years
Domain: Analytics 

Thank you in advance for your understanding and support.

NEED ADVICE ON JOB OFFER DILEMMA!!

Assistant Manager

Im working in EY for three years now with same role. I didnt have promotion and this year they put me in PiP with no hike expected. Shall i stay in this company or resign? Will it be a problem for me if i join a new MNC about explaining why i was promoted for 3 years?

What shall i even do?

Welcome to Confessions's Private Community

I got offered a management role, but I hate the idea of giving up hands-on work. Is moving up always the right move?

I love coding, but the next step up is all meetings and spreadsheets. Am I crazy for considering turning down a promotion?

The Promotion Predicament

Looking for genuine and non diplomatic answers since it will be anonymous. It is upto you to reveal the name of the company you resigned from.

Lets discuss!!! I will go first -

I quit my last organisation (a famous UPI company) in 2020 because, they still are in old technology. No cloud computing, no kubernates, no terraform. Their entire baremetal infra are in 2 DCs (Mumbai and Bangalore). Leadership ideas are outdated. I was very much bored and looking for a change.

Why did you resign?

Amount of effort i put and the salary i got was not proportional. 14 hrs to get 30k salary as a fresher. I had understood that I deserve better - thus i moved to get better pay and better wlb (which I got in swiggy)

Founder

DevOps Engineer

Without a job in hand and now I am fucking scared that no one will hire me.

Fuck this shit.

Guys, I did it! I quit my toxic boss.

I was told during covid that they will cut my salary in KPMG because they are doing it for all employees who are contractors.  
 I said fck it and left the job.  Got an opportunity with ey within next 1 month. Always have faith in your degree, your skillsets and your capabilities.

What if there is no promotion for me

Discover More

Software Engineers on

by Isaiah Taye

American Express

Getting sidelined in appraisals

Office Gossip on

by Blair Lee

Decathlon

I feel I am being played!

Office Gossip on

by Karilyn Gabriel

CARS24

As a manager, how do you share appraisal feedback?

Office Gossip on

by Matilda Dean

Dunzo

Unhappy with the hike i got

Misc on

by Dezi Lee

Stealth

How do you deal with bad performance reviews?

Indian Startups on

by Isaiah Carmden

Others

Startup founders are mafia bosses!

Business Roles on

by Kalan Olive

Stealth

No promotions - should I switch?

Software Engineers on

by Kendall Lee

Student

Honest advice or political correctness?

Indian Startups on

by Dezi Taye

Housing.com

I'm the top performer in my team but keep getting passed over for promotion. At what point do you confront management or just move on?

Software Engineers on

by Jordon Olive

Urban Company

Being average at job

Indian Startups on

by Coy Carmden

Yubi

Am I being fooled @Yubi?

Big 4 on

by Jordon Everett

EY

Life or No life

Indian Startups on

by Matilda Taye

Meesho

Need help !! Toxicity at workplace

Business Roles on

by Kendall Olive

Stealth

NEED ADVICE ON JOB OFFER DILEMMA!!

Big 4 on

by Coy Lee

EY

What shall i even do?

Confessions on

by Kendall Lee

Toshiba

The Promotion Predicament

Software Engineers on

by Coy Lee

Paytm

Why did you resign?

Misc on

by Karilyn Carmden

Fmcg

Guys, I did it! I quit my toxic boss.