How should I plan my mid-year promo and team switch with PSC in mind?

Question

My manager and I have been working toward a mid-year promo to E4, but it's uncertain whether it will go through. I’m also thinking about switching teams after the promo. Since results won’t be announced until August, I’d likely only be able to switch teams in September, which makes me worry about having limited time to ramp up before end-of-year PSC. Given the Feb layoffs this year were mostly based on a single PSC cycle, I’m concerned that I might not perform strongly enough on the new team to have a solid H2 PSC packet and could be at risk in the next round of layoffs. Another consideration: my current team doesn’t use native Android, and I’m hoping to move to a team that does — so I’m expecting a learning curve there. Given all that, would it make more sense for me to consider switching teams early next year instead so I have more time to ramp up by PSC? That said, the E4 -> E5 clock starts ticking as soon as I get promoted to E4, so should I aim for a year-end promo instead?

Rahul Pandey · Accepted Answer

The E4 -> E4 clock is 33 months for the up-or-out policy, so I wouldn't consider that for the team switch.

could be at risk in the next round of layoffs

Do you have any reason to know when the next round of layoffs will be? Or even if there will be another round of layoffs? Without having some evidence of this, I wouldn't make a decision based on this.

Instead, make a decision based on finding a team with exciting work and a good manager. Once you find that, make the switch ASAP and don't worry about the externalities that you can't control. The more important thing is to go somewhere that you'll get support, and trust your teammates, manager (and Taro!) to ensure you can ramp up quickly.

How should I plan my mid-year promo and team switch with PSC in mind?

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