u/Think_Application_99

Feeling stuck in my career. Promotion got derailed due to constant manager changes. Looking for advice.

I'm feeling lost and demotivated. Lately, it feels like no matter how much effort I put in, nothing changes.

I'm currently an Software Engineer  in India, and my goal has been to get promoted internally. Over the last two years, I've had three manager changes, and I feel the lack of continuity has completely derailed my growth.

Here's how it played out:

• Year 1: Worked under Manager A for about a year. My annual review was average - not bad, not great. He gave me clear growth areas.
• I took that feedback seriously, improved on every point, took on more ownership, and documented my impact throughout the year.
• Next 6 months: Moved to Manager B after Manager A got promoted.
• Final 3 months before appraisal: Due to another reorg, I ended up reporting back to Manager A.

The appraisal was the most disappointing part. Despite all the improvements I'd made, my manager had essentially reused the previous year's feedback with a GPT rephrase. It barely reflected the work I'd done over the past year. When I brought it up, he gave a vague explanation and later edited the review. Four months after the appraisal, he left for another company. Looking back, I can't help but feel he had already checked out, and my growth simply wasn't a priority.

To make things worse, no one on my team got promoted this cycle, so I still don't know whether it was an organizational decision or something else.

My biggest frustration is that my work had very little visibility. Every time I built momentum, a manager change reset everything. It has made me question my own ability, even though I know I delivered good work.

After that, I decided to test the external market, hoping it would value my experience more than my current organization did. I applied for senior roles, reached out to hiring managers on LinkedIn, and got a few interviews, but no offers. One hiring manager (who previously worked at my current company) told me they typically expect candidates to already be one level higher in their current organization before considering them for similar roles. That was a tough pill to swallow.

It feels like a catch-22:

• I can't get promoted internally because of circumstances largely outside my control.
• I can't move externally because I don't already have that promotion.

There haven't been many positive changes in my personal life either, so overall it feels like life has been stagnant.

I know patience is important, but this phase has really tested me. I'm trying not to let these experiences define my self-worth, but it's difficult when years of effort don't seem to translate into progress.

For those who've been in a similar situation:

• What would you do differently?
• Would you keep pushing for an internal promotion or focus entirely on switching companies?
• How do you stay motivated when your work goes unnoticed?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar and eventually turned things around.

I find these two things about SpaceX (or perhaps xAI) confusing:

A. They are saying they will rent out data center capacity to competitors like Anthropic and Google for compute.

B. They have purchased Cursor for $60 billion.

These seem contradictory. Their own model has little to no market presence, yet they are acquiring a coding tool and planning to market it across enterprises ( the same enterprises that are currently paying competitors) . At the same time, they are hosting those competitors.

I find that to be a contradiction.

Is Musk pulling off a much bigger con, or is there a strategic rationale that I'm missing?

 I am a SWE 2 at a FAANG company with 5 years of experience, and I'm trying to build my career in fast-growing startups.

When I came across Databricks openings, especially the ones in Singapore about a month ago (for a Senior SWE role requiring 5+ YOE), I thought it would be the same in India. Much to my surprise, I found that the requirements in India were often 6+ and sometimes even 8+ years of experience.

I found this weird and thought I'd post it here. Companies shouldn't discriminate against talent based on geography. It felt discouraging to apply.

https://preview.redd.it/w6z61wef1m5h1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=4eafc48d22903ec030f968f94328cee361826704

Data image attached where i did my home work comparing senior roles w.r.t country

 I am a SWE 2 at a FAANG company with 5 years of experience, and I'm trying to build my career in fast-growing startups.

When I came across Databricks openings, especially the ones in Singapore about a month ago (for a Senior SWE role requiring 5+ YOE), I thought it would be the same in India. Much to my surprise, I found that the requirements in India were often 6+ and sometimes even 8+ years of experience.

I found this weird and thought I'd post it here. Companies shouldn't discriminate against talent based on geography. It felt discouraging to apply.

Data added as comments : where i did my home work comparing senior roles w.r.t country

 I am a SWE 2 at a FAANG company with 5 years of experience, and I'm trying to build my career in fast-growing startups.

When I came across Databricks openings, especially the ones in Singapore about a month ago (for a Senior SWE role requiring 5+ YOE), I thought it would be the same in India. Much to my surprise, I found that the requirements in India were often 6+ and sometimes even 8+ years of experience.

I found this weird and thought I'd post it here. Companies shouldn't discriminate against talent based on geography. It felt discouraging to apply.

https://preview.redd.it/w6z61wef1m5h1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=4eafc48d22903ec030f968f94328cee361826704

Data image attached where i did my home work comparing senior roles w.r.t country

I am a SWE 2 at a FAANG company with 5 years of experience, and I'm trying to build my career in fast-growing startups.

When I came across Databricks openings, especially the ones in Singapore about a month ago (for a Senior SWE role requiring 5+ YOE), I thought it would be the same in India. Much to my surprise, I found that the requirements in India were often 6+ and sometimes even 8+ years of experience.

https://preview.redd.it/dw0jvl9c0m5h1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=b00be977b32850b8d67455fd467095f0ed02d10f

I found this weird and thought I'd post it here. Companies shouldn't discriminate against talent based on geography. It felt discouraging to apply.

Data image attached where i did my home work comparing senior roles w.r.t country

https://preview.redd.it/dsy395700m5h1.png?width=3150&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b40fe936be5c636f2d281b319b07591983cd35c

Why does this infinite while loop happen to me 😭

Step 1: Get underleveled once.
Step 2: Try to break it via hard work.
Step 3: Ask for promo → “Years at current level not enough.”
Step 4: Add frequent manager changes + calibration politics DLC.
Step 5: Try switching companies.
Step 6: “Next level requires Level X in previous org. You are X-1 or even X-2.”
Step 7: Repeat with bonus difficulty if you roll a non-supportive manager.

At this point, career growth feels less like meritocracy and more like a distributed deadlock.

while(alive) {
    work_harder();
    ask_for_promo();
    get_recalibrated();
    gain_character_development();
}

# Sorry for non coders in the page , i am trying to explain my pain with while loop and feel it Pure talent and hard work matter, but they don’t always scale by themselves at work.

Visibility, sponsorship, mentorship, timing, and a supportive manager can change the whole trajectory.

Feeling a bit bad about it today, but also learning the system the hard way.

any Ideas to overcome this help me ???