In an earlier post on observing and reflecting on my own abilities, I wrote about regularly checking where you stand across different skills, finding the areas where you have a real edge, and building on them. In my post on performance reviews at US tech companies, I also mentioned that reviews usually cover a few big dimensions. For engineers, they are Impact, Engineering, Direction, and People.

Why Impact Matters So Much

Impact accounts for a large share of a performance review, and strong impact is highly correlated with a strong rating. Put simply, if you want a good review and a promotion, you need projects with real impact. But how do you land those bigger-impact projects? The answer depends on where you are in your tenure and what your team needs.

When You Are New: Do the Work in Front of You, and Do It Well

When you first join a company or a team, you have no track record yet. That is not the time to be picky. Take whatever work is assigned to you, do it as well as you possibly can, and slowly build a reputation, so that your results earn you increasingly important work. When I start a new job or a new team, I often ask my manager and teammates in our 1:1s what is causing them the most pain, or where an extra pair of hands is urgently needed. Doing that urgent, needed work is how I gradually build my record.

After a While: Take Initiative, From Complaining to Proposing

Once you have been around for a while and have results to point to, you will get more chances at important projects. People may also start coming to you with questions because you are the expert on something. At that point, on top of continuing to build your impact, you should take initiative: look for problems and try things without waiting to be assigned.

A senior engineering manager once shared a story with me. Early in his career, his work required collaborating with other teams inside the company and with people outside it, and he kept getting blocked. In his 1:1s, he would complain to his manager about the other people. Then one day, his manager replied: “You have been complaining to me for two months, and I still have not heard you propose a single possible cause or solution.” He was a little embarrassed, but something clicked. Even when you want your manager’s help, you first need to understand the problem better yourself, think through the likely causes, and propose possible ways to solve it.

Opportunities Can Be Created

Opportunities often have to be created. I frequently hear senior engineers and leaders encourage us to talk more with people on other teams and, in those conversations, uncover pain points no one is addressing. Many high-impact projects begin exactly this way: in the sparks between teams, when someone identifies and frames an unmet need. If you are the person who discovers and frames the problem and proposes a strong solution, leadership is often willing to let you lead the new effort. In effect, you have created a large-impact project for yourself.

At the Right Moment, Take a Calculated Risk

At the right moment, take a slightly risky leap. Say a leadership role opens up on a new cross-org project, and you honestly feel your ability is not quite there yet. The world does not wait until we are fully ready before putting opportunities in front of us. If you really want it, step up and make your case to your manager, backed by your track record. Even if the leap fails, you learn. If it succeeds, you gain experience and a visible result. After all, you own your career. If you don’t speak for yourself, no one will. I wrote more about this theme in my post on the career path of Asian professionals in the US.

Changing Jobs: Run Into an Opportunity, Not Away From a Problem

Finally, Silicon Valley and the US tech industry offer software engineers a lot of opportunities. Experienced engineers get plenty of recruiter messages on LinkedIn every week. There is a Chinese saying that the moon looks rounder abroad; in English, the grass is greener on the other side. From the outside, many opportunities look better, and it is tempting to keep chasing the next one. But job hopping only looks easy. If we do not address our own issues, we will run into the same difficulties in the new place. As you gain experience, truly good opportunities become scarcer, and the bar for making a move rises. When you consider an opportunity, make sure you are running into an opportunity, not running away from a problem. Do not change jobs to escape a problem you are facing, because in the new place, the old problem will show up again.

Closing: Stay Focused on Your Own Ability and Growth

We care about our impact, but impact follows ability. Pursue the right opportunities and execute them well, and the impact will follow. So stay focused on your own ability and growth.

That is my two cents. Whether you are an engineer or not, what are your own ways of growing your impact at a company? Feel free to share in the comments.

This post was originally published on my former blog, 「半路出家軟體工程師在矽谷」, on November 25, 2020. The blog is now offline, and the text is preserved via the Wayback Machine. It has been lightly edited for this site.