> you likely didn't work at a FAANG or similar company
I do work at a FAANG company. I'm very much familiar with the promo process, as an individual, as a manager and as a peer reviewer.
Managers cannot unilaterally promote a report, but they have an influential role in helping shape the packet, in getting the right reviews from sufficiently senior employees and in trailing performance reviews. The managers also read the ladder description, not just the committees, and make sure the packets contain "evidence" of all the key points. Nothing broken here, just rigmarole that people on all sides need to follow.
You can choose to believe that the committees can do a good job of ranking applicants, but a large part of this is down to how good the packet itself is.
I should state that nothing is wrong here in my opinion. There's no managerial conspiracy or role inflation. My point is that being a Jedi-like "Staff-plus" engineer is not at all necessary to reach the level.
I do work at a FAANG company. I'm very much familiar with the promo process, as an individual, as a manager and as a peer reviewer.
Managers cannot unilaterally promote a report, but they have an influential role in helping shape the packet, in getting the right reviews from sufficiently senior employees and in trailing performance reviews. The managers also read the ladder description, not just the committees, and make sure the packets contain "evidence" of all the key points. Nothing broken here, just rigmarole that people on all sides need to follow.
You can choose to believe that the committees can do a good job of ranking applicants, but a large part of this is down to how good the packet itself is.
I should state that nothing is wrong here in my opinion. There's no managerial conspiracy or role inflation. My point is that being a Jedi-like "Staff-plus" engineer is not at all necessary to reach the level.