Job pays decent but feel too junior

Fuzzy_Lookup

15 years ago I became a Data Analyst making £17k which was the lowest paid job I applied for, but it took it to get my foot in the door. A year later I had my appraisal and was told I'd exceeded my objectives, I was brilliant at my job and had lots of potential. I was rewarded with a promotion to Senior Data Analyst and a pay rise to £18k.

Needless to say I didn't stick around for too much longer at that salary and took a Junior Data Analyst job that required some experience at £25k. Again I was told I was brilliant at my job and as soon as I was eligible for promotion I became a Senior Data Analyst and then in the next promotion window I became an Analytics Manager.

I broke the £40k barrier by taking an individual contributor role. At my last company it was rife with politics so being a manager didn't interest me and I was as high up as you could get as an analyst with no managerial responsibilities. In the end though I was going stale and knew the only way to get my mojo back was elsewhere.

One thing all my jobs to this point had in common was that there was none of my managers were analysts themselves so it was always up to me to decide what to do and how to do it.

2 years ago I was interviewing for 2 jobs, both paying £65k. One was a Data Analyst and the other a Data Director. I decided to take the Data Analyst one partly because I don't know where I would have gone beyond the Data Director job whereas the Data Analyst one should at least give me a ladder to climb. 

It's a smallish company with around 50 employees. The company says they like to promote from within and the first promotion window after I joined saw maybe half the company get promoted, but not me. I wasn't expecting it that early on, but now the promotion window has come around again my manager is telling me I'm not ready to become a Senior Data Analyst.

After doing this for 15 years and being senior for the bulk of that I find that hard to take. It's clear as mud as to what I need to do in order to be ready. The main difference between him and previous managers is he has an analytics background and is more inclined to give me guidance, which is useful but not something I really need given the number of years I've had to work without any. At the same time though he's almost using that against me for my promotion prospects.

I can't say I'm enjoying my job and have started looking, but am seeing more senior positions for less money e.g. Principal Data Analyst for £50k.

Obviously I'd rather me in this situation than go back to being a Senior Data Analyst on £18k like I was all those years ago. 

I'm at a loss what to do really. Do I continue to push for this promotion or do I accept it's not happening and move elsewhere? or should I just be thankful I'm on a decent salary without the responsibility that comes with more senior positions and just get on with it?

DullGreyGuy

Personally... I ignore the job title. I've been a consultant, senior consultant, project manager, senior project manager, lead project manager, programme manager, senior programme manager, delivery manager, senior delivery manager, project director and a few weird job titles too.

In every single one of those roles I delivered projects and in 90% of them I was the most senior person on the project on a day to day basis. I'm a contractor so have a day rate rather than salary but there has never been a strong correlation between title and pay... I've moved from being a Senior Programme manager with one client to £50/day more to be a Project Manager with the next client.

Personally what matters to me, in no particular order, is 1) the monies and 2) what the work I will actually be doing is... there is a correlation between them as some projects you just know are going to be problematic and so you'd want more monies even if the job title is lower.

If you want the promo internally then you need to sit down with the boss, identify the gaps and then put in place a development plan to close them. Sometimes with these things we are blind to our own limitations, sometimes the work you're given just hasn't given you an opportunity to showcase your other skills and at times seniority doesn't mean more technical knowledge but potentially stakeholder or man management and other softer skills.

Marcon

Fuzzy_Lookup said:

15 years ago I became a Data Analyst making £17k which was the lowest paid job I applied for, but it took it to get my foot in the door. A year later I had my appraisal and was told I'd exceeded my objectives, I was brilliant at my job and had lots of potential. I was rewarded with a promotion to Senior Data Analyst and a pay rise to £18k.

Needless to say I didn't stick around for too much longer at that salary and took a Junior Data Analyst job that required some experience at £25k. Again I was told I was brilliant at my job and as soon as I was eligible for promotion I became a Senior Data Analyst and then in the next promotion window I became an Analytics Manager.

I broke the £40k barrier by taking an individual contributor role. At my last company it was rife with politics so being a manager didn't interest me and I was as high up as you could get as an analyst with no managerial responsibilities. In the end though I was going stale and knew the only way to get my mojo back was elsewhere.

One thing all my jobs to this point had in common was that there was none of my managers were analysts themselves so it was always up to me to decide what to do and how to do it.

2 years ago I was interviewing for 2 jobs, both paying £65k. One was a Data Analyst and the other a Data Director. I decided to take the Data Analyst one partly because I don't know where I would have gone beyond the Data Director job whereas the Data Analyst one should at least give me a ladder to climb. 

It's a smallish company with around 50 employees. The company says they like to promote from within and the first promotion window after I joined saw maybe half the company get promoted, but not me. I wasn't expecting it that early on, but now the promotion window has come around again my manager is telling me I'm not ready to become a Senior Data Analyst.

After doing this for 15 years and being senior for the bulk of that I find that hard to take. It's clear as mud as to what I need to do in order to be ready. The main difference between him and previous managers is he has an analytics background and is more inclined to give me guidance, which is useful but not something I really need given the number of years I've had to work without any. At the same time though he's almost using that against me for my promotion prospects.

I can't say I'm enjoying my job and have started looking, but am seeing more senior positions for less money e.g. Principal Data Analyst for £50k.

Obviously I'd rather me in this situation than go back to being a Senior Data Analyst on £18k like I was all those years ago. 

I'm at a loss what to do really. Do I continue to push for this promotion or do I accept it's not happening and move elsewhere? or should I just be thankful I'm on a decent salary without the responsibility that comes with more senior positions and just get on with it?

You're the only one who can make that decision. Ask your manager what you'd need to achieve/learn(!) before you are ready to become a Senior Data Analyst. If you don't like the answer, that might help your decision process - just don't get too hung up on job titles. Salaries speak louder than words!

gm0

Particularly because you have already had the "Senior" title before. It matters not.  The upward trajectory of pay is what future potential employers will see. Not other people's version of word games as a substitute for actual reward.  What you can do and have done not what you were called.

Title inflation is a big corporate fobbing off game to manage retention spikes at certain durations.  Ah don't leave until you make "senior X" it's just round the next bend at 5 years typically.   So pay it no particular mind unless a promotion is relevant to your next move as a title+pay platform for it.  It really doesn't sound like that is true for you.  Just move to places which offer you enough pay progression (or rough parity) for the interesting problems and acceptable colleagues.  You have a positive narrative of moving around for that.

So play the objectives game with the boss on demonstrated capabilities and skills, metrics/outcomes demonstrated and yes them providing adequate opportunities to tick them off over time.  With a company of 50 there are usually places to add value (more to do than people to do it) which don't fit in a neat little job description box for analytics.  So do that.  Or don't  But if you don't - promotion as a route to pay uplift may well continue to prove elusive if others do. And sucess of your nifty fifty enterprise will also constrain overall what can happen anyway.

The fact you don't much like guidance and were not offered it prior by know nothing technical managers doesn't tell us that you don't need it.  The manager's analytics background may be a little obsolete knowledge proving dangerous now as you look at them baffled by their hopeless irrelevant interventions.  Or indeed not.  Your skills breadth self learned habits and skills maintenance may be truly excellent or could there be gaps ? 

The world is full of terrible analytics systems built by people with a high opinion of their own slightly too narrow maths or IT skills who fail to appreciate or "know what they don't know".  Managers and practitioners both.  A common failing is to mentally categorise the bits you don't understand or particularly love or do as unimportant or simple.

Why not learn how to manage upwards where a manager (apparently) has some level of a shared technical or information modeling skill.  It sounds like it is a new experience for you.  Done right - reviewing technical approaches or specific gnarly problems - being respectful of time - will either engage them intellectually and improve their view of your expertise - or they will swiftly back right off and the unwanted guidance will diminish. Winner.

Fuzzy_Lookup

He's never questioned my ability to do my job, but it's the whole going above and beyond which he says I'm going in the right direction but need to do more of it. Makes it very open ended, I can give numerous examples of where I've gone above and beyond but there's always going to be potential to do more of it no matter what I do.

The fact it's going to be at least a year before I get promoted makes me think what's the point. I find it hard to motivate myself when I don't see any reward, whether it's pay or recognition. It's very boring too which doesn't help.

What this job has done though is brought to light how little progress I've made in my career the last few years. I would guess 80% of employees are younger than me including my boss, but I'm in one of the more junior positions.