I have been chasing the SDE-3 promotion from last one year. It was denied in the year end review cycle in December.
In this cycle (Jan - June), I have ticked almost all the checkpoints as per the firm's SDE-3 competency matrix and I have a good amount of documentation around it as well which I have submitted to my manager.
I want to let my manager and skip (Director) know that I will leave if I am not promoted in this cycle as I don't think there are any negative data points against me.
Any suggestions about how should I subtly carry out this conversation?
This is a great question and a tough conversation to have.
Some good news for you: I've seen a coworker do this before and it work. I'd imagine some of the feedback you'll get is that you shouldn't do this at all, which might be true but I can say anecdotally it has worked at least once π.
I haven't personally tried, and it would probably be a good idea to get advice from an engineering manager, but this is my take:
I hope this helps and best of luck with what route you end up going with!
Good question - I'm all for holding folks accountable. As others have mentioned, I would be very careful about delivering an ultimatum (i.e. "If you don't do this, I am out"):
It's great that you have a career matrix to work off of and have ample documentation - It's also important to make sure that your manager is aligned with you on that and also believes this is all sufficient (mainly from your 1 on 1 meetings). Here's some good resources around how to do that:
Any suggestions about how should I subtly carry out this conversation?
This conversation should be anything but subtle: It should be quite direct. Make it clear that this promotion is very important to you, and you've done all this legwork to earn it. However, you should also be polite, understanding, and open to feedback - Don't just go charging in stating that everything is unfair. It's also important to remember that the poor state of the tech economy makes it much harder for engineering leadership to get the necessary budget for things like promotions and raises. I recommend my Effective Communication series to help with this: Alex's Guide To Effective Communication
Best of luck!
I would suggest having a clear communication with your manager about when he/she thinks you'd be ready for a promotion and what are the gaps (if any) and how can they be addressed. If the manager thinks that there are no gaps and that you're ready for promotion, you can mention that you would lose motivation if you are not promoted this time since you've been working hard for it. I am sure your manager would get the hint from that. You can be more direct with your manager if you already have an offer from another company but I am guessing you don't have enough time for that.