Measure what you control
Titles and salaries are handed out by other people, on their schedules, for reasons that often have little to do with you. Useful milestones are things you can actually do: a skill someone will pay for, a project you ran from start to finish, a person you managed well, a reputation that extends beyond your own team. Set those as your markers and the titles tend to follow.
Early to mid twenties
The job of your first few years is to learn how work works. That means finishing what you start, asking for feedback before the annual review, and being the person who does not need reminding. Reasonable markers by about twenty-six are these.
- You have held one job for at least eighteen months and left, or stayed, on good terms.
- You have one skill that is demonstrably better than that of most of your peers.
- You have worked for at least one boss you learned from, which is worth more than a slightly higher salary.
- You have negotiated pay once, even badly.
Late twenties to early thirties
This is the stretch for choosing a specialty and getting known for it. Research on lifetime earnings finds that for most workers the bulk of real pay growth comes in the first decade or so of a career, so the moves you make here carry unusual weight. Changing employers is the most reliable way to reset pay to the market rate, and a move every three to five years reads as ambition at this stage. Aim to have led a project, to have mentored someone junior, and to know perhaps fifty people in your field who would return your call.
Mid to late thirties
By now a fork appears between managing people and going deeper as an individual expert. Both are legitimate, and drifting into management because it was the only promotion offered is a common mistake. The markers here are judgment and leverage: you are trusted with decisions that lack a clear answer, and your work multiplies through other people or through systems you built.
The annual check
Once a year, ask yourself three things in writing: what you can do now that you could not do twelve months ago, what the market pays for your role, and whether you would want your boss's job. Eighteen months without learning anything new is the signal to move.
Tip Keep a running file of accomplishments with dates and numbers, updated monthly. It writes your next résumé, your raise request and your self-review.
