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Growth as a Product Designer
Hacking growth trajectories in tech companies
Career growth in the best tech companies is a struggle for most product designers. But it is most sought after by both early and experienced product designers. Unfortunately, in my experience working as a product designer, I have met some design managers that never invested in my career, others that didn’t care about it and only cared whether I had completed all of my work on time, and some who didn’t know how to strike a conversation with the executive stakeholder team about possible promotions in their group. So, how do we, as designers hack our way into creating a career ladder path? Of course, depending upon the maturity of your organization, the answer will vary. Still, you must generally be prepared to talk to multiple stakeholders, ask many questions, present your work's impact, and possibly develop a design career map/levels.
#1 Not getting the opportunity to display potential.
Suppose you are at an Associate Product Designer level and want to progress towards a Product Designer level. In that case, you’ll need to perform specific tasks/rituals/duties to display your potential to your peers and direct reporting manager. In most cases, we would either hear this as a response, “But I don’t get a chance to do it,” or “I don’t have enough time to do more.”