To survive and thrive in the U.S. tech corporate workplace – part 2
A guide for junior developers in consulting, immigrants, subcontractors, and mentors
I left IBM Consulting three weeks ago to begin my law school education. I am writing a brief series on what I learned there. The behemoth of a company was an intimate study of governance, management, authority and jurisdiction, statutes and regulations– what law is about.
I also write about what law school is like. Here is a recap of my first week. I’ll be writing about how I’m financing law school, careers in law, and more.
If you’re looking for resources on applying to law school, I have links to my cycle recap, how to write a diversity statement, scholarship essays, and a comparison of NYU and Cornell.
As always, I love to hear from you at allisoninwonderland@substack.com.
It’s not easy to be a developer in consulting. In part 1 of this guide, I explained how the temporary nature of projects can inhibit developers from growing. My tips included:
Feeling out the length and stage of a project before you join
Asking for work and not being content simply earning a salary
I ran human resources for hundreds of consultants at one of IBM’s largest banking clients for a year, including vetting resumes, setting up and priming interviews, negotiating raises, firing people, hiring people, setting up new projects, and trying to mitigate wage theft. I know the trajectories of the most desired software engineers in the market: IBM consultants who mastered the game and friends from Princeton who are at Google, Amazon, Microsoft, mid-sized startups, etc.
In this part of the guide, I focus on how to find mentors and allies– to upskill and to exercise influence within your company– and to figure out who writes your paycheck.
Table of contents
“Gig” – PART 1
– Consulting is temporary work, but longevity is better
– Always feel out the length of the project
– TL;DR
Upskilling – PART 1
– Don’t expect you’ll be positioned to learn
– Don’t be content simply earning a salary
– Ask for work
– Learn to identify what you don’t know
Mentors and allies – in this article (PART 2)
– Brush shoulders with people you admire; don’t be afraid of “watercooler talk”
– Find a new coach if yours is absent
– Look for people who will take you under their wing
– Look for people with influence
– Always capture feedback, even if in a Word document for the time being
– Establish a reputation, including in email etiquette
Who writes your paycheck – in this article (PART 2)
– It’s not the end client, so work with your staffing agency to find the right players
– Be detailed and concrete when asking for a raise
– Always ask for money; ask every 6 to 12 months if you’re a subcontractor
Mentors and allies
Finding a good mentor can be the difference between learning how to write a service or just writing terraform. A good mentor will teach you how to engineer a beautiful system, not just correct your code. This assumes, of course, that you have the inquisitiveness to search for answers. As I wrote in my last post, when confusion strikes, recognize that you lack knowledge and seek to learn what you don’t know. A good mentor cannot make up for the desire to be spoon-fed.
Mentors teach substance, but sometimes they lead by example. I see people make the mistake of assuming that they need common ground in order to interact with people they look up to. They won’t schedule time with a Partner because they don’t share a project. They feel compelled to come up with ‘questions’ or ‘substance’ to talk about. If you admire someone, you should try to brush shoulders with them– “watercooler” talk. Watercooler talk has no agenda, it is simply about sharing where you are at the moment. I’ve learned so much from my Partners who just explained to me what they were working on at the moment.
I noticed that some of my dear Chinese comrades can struggle with this relationship-building aspect. We’re all loners when we’re not among our people. Succeeding in the American workplace is not just about ‘doing your job,’ it is also about building relationships. Don’t tune out discussions about personal matters. Listen into conversations that go beyond the immediate task at hand. Speak up and contribute to seemingly irrelevant conversations like how your weekend was.
If your assigned “coach” – the designated person who should be providing mentorship – is absent, then find another one immediately. Because you may not share a project with your coach, it can feel like their involvement in your life doesn’t matter. That is wrong. Your assigned “coach” is probably the one who writes your recommendation for promotion and raises. If they are absent, then they are not the kind of person who will advocate for you.
You should surround yourself with mentors and allies. Look for people who are naturally prone to take people under their wing. These people take pride in helping people. Sometimes they are hotheads or big shots– but they make clear they work as a team. “Let’s do a good job,” they might say in an account-level or team-level meeting.
Look for people with influence. The Partner exercises authority over the entire client account and has the foresight to know of unannounced new projects. He is likely assisted by a junior consultant (that was me!). Introduce yourself to these people. Make your aspirations clear: You’re looking for mentors who can make you a better engineer. You want to be a technical SME and an architect. Pop your head in regularly, sending a message like, “I am enjoying my work on x” or “I am looking to be challenged more.”
My husband related a sorrowful story about a promising young developer who was let go during budget cuts because none of his mentors gave him high ratings in performance reviews. They also didn’t give him any challenging work where he’d be able to demonstrate more. Identifying his potential, my husband put in a word to transition him to his own team, but it was too late.
By the way, always capture feedback, especially if someone offers it because they were impressed. An Associate Partner said, “Can I write something for you? You’re really effective at your job,” and I said, “No need” because at the time I didn’t know about asking for feedback outside of promotion cycles. Even if you don’t know what the official feedback software is, have that person write the feedback down and send it to you. You can send it back to them when it comes time to enter it into the system. I later asked her for this feedback, but it was several months down the line and her passion had died.
Establish a reputation. You never know where your allies will come from. A peer may be promoted. A Partner may speak of you to your coach. You may be considered for an opportunity behind the scenes. Without my knowledge, my coach solicited an off-cycle performance bonus for me.
She was an awesome coach. I found my mentors because their reputations preceded them. “He’s really great,” crowed the person who introduced me to my first role, referencing one of my Partners. I have openly spoken to my peers about which Partners or managers I think are worth sticking close to.
Email etiquette also contributes to reputation. Much of our communication is in writing now. This poses different challenges to non-native English speakers than in verbal communication– mainly, you have more time to draft, but you can’t take it back. When you write, run your emails through a grammar-correction tool like Grammarly. Always greet the audience with respect, and always end with a sincere farewell, like “Thank you,” or your name. When you make an affirmation, say “Sounds good,” “I will do that,” “Thank you,” “Sounds like a plan,” “I’ll see you then,” rather than “Sure.” “Sure” is a bit too casual.
Who writes your paycheck?
For full-time employees, your assigned coach or manager advocates for your raise and promotion. This is why, if your coach is absent, you must ask to be assigned to a new one. I was blessed with a wonderful coach who helped me navigate my first-year raise. She not only helped me negotiate the highest raise possible, she also found me an off-cycle performance bonus.
For the subcontractor, navigating the system can be quite tricky. It requires wading through layers of contracting agencies and piecing together schismatic processes. For instance, one of our IVR developers was beloved by the end client, but his staffing agency reminded him that IBM was also his client. As his Partner remarked to me, “I keep reminding him you guys need to love him too.” After all, IBM decided the hourly rate that was paid out to his agency. ‘You guys’ was not just in reference to the IBM team he worked with, but a separate IBM team that handled his paycheck (myself and the Partners). The agency’s hiring managers are your ally in the paycheck process; they build relationships with the IBM hiring manager and know the players.
In order to get a raise for a subcontractor, I first sought approval from my Partner, then a talent manager reviewed the ‘amount’ of the raise, and then I had to persuade Chief Financial Officers in a live meeting. I shed light on the difficulty of the process not to dissuade you from asking for money, but to emphasize why you need to be detailed and concrete when asking for more money, writing it down like a business proposal so that the person who truly has the power to effect your raise can advocate for you.
Don’t think of yourself so highly to think that others are paying attention to how hard you work. Remind them again and again. IBMers– your assigned coach might not be on your project and witness your day-to-day performance. Subcontractors– I just explained how the person writing the paycheck is not your working team. There simply isn’t as much performance accountability in consulting as in an in-house firm. If you are a hard worker, you have to list what you’ve done well when you ask for more money.
Ask for money. In U.S. corporate culture, asking for raises tends to indicate ambition, which is looked on favorably. Subcontractors– there’s no structure for performance raises, so plan to ask for a raise every 6-12 months. Back when I received requests for raises from subcontractors, I oversaw over a hundred subcontractors. I didn’t know if good performers were being left out when I made my requests to the finance board. I could only advocate for those who asked.
I took my own advice and completely unabashedly asked for money after my first year of working. Knowing the range for year-one performance raises, I Slacked the hiring manager directly and asked for 7% more than the top rung and gave my reasoning (I was a top performer, and it was a crazy inflation year). I received 1% more than the top rung, so I emailed him again requesting more money and showing a competing offer. I CC'd my coach. The hiring manager vouched I had received the highest raise he could give me and that his hands were tied, but I believe my insistence is one reason my coach thought of me when the off-cycle performance bonus came available.
Good luck and remember that I love to hear from you at allisoninwonderland@substack.com.