This is something I really didn’t understand when I started my career, and I realized I just got lucky with my managers for looking out for me.
I still kind of don’t get how managers don’t assume their staff want to promote upward (at least as a default), but I respect that I am also not a manager and don’t know the amount of things they need to juggle.
Think (some) single parents with kids, (some) people doing elderly care for their parent(s), people who have decided the work/life tradeoff isn't worth it, etc. Almost every team has at least one person who wants to interact as little as possible and have a decent salary, and in return, turns out quality code and meets expectations to the letter, then logs off.
There is also a very fine line to walk with an employee who wants to get to the next level for salary/prestige/ego, but isn't willing to push themselves or improve, and constant conversations of "hey, if you want level N+1 you need to be more involved in code reviews and be better at meeting your commitments (or estimating those commitments)". It's not fair to try to hold a level N to a level N+1 standard in the name of "career development", and there is a point where it's not worth your (or the employees) time and stress to "pull" them up to the next level.
Yeah, I guess it’s tricky. As a new parent I had essentially told my manager I wanted to put the brakes on career progression for one year, and he was very receptive. So I understand that perspective a bit.
ya. i want maybe 1 more level and then that's it. max stress/responsibility I'm willing to accept.
even that I'm not sure about, if my TC wasn't tanking right now i might not even want that level
There’s also a few other tougher scenarios.
- they might not know you’re doing parts of their job.
- they might know of problems but fail to let their manager know.
- they might not know your career aspirations.
- they might know someone is problematic on the team.
- they might not know they get in the way more than they help.
- etc