You Need an Advocate
Photo by: Céline Cao
Disclaimer: As usual, all blogs, and especially ones about my career, are my own thoughts, and not representative of my employer.
Undergrad Internships
Five years ago, I took an internship that I would have never thought would so drastically shape my career. It brought many firsts for me — it was my first software development role, it was where I first learned and refined my public speaking, etc. One thing I learned, however, I didn’t realize was important until many years later, when I graduated and started working full time. And it was this one subtle point my manager at the time made:
You need an advocate.
He explained that this is how you can become known, how your “brand” is marketed to people who matter the most. An advocate is someone who has a seat at “the table” (i.e., influence and connections in higher-up positions), recognizes your work and talent, and helps get you promoted. He also mentioned that this isn’t necessarily someone who gives you tasks (colloquially called “manager”), but rather, it could be anyone with a louder voice than you. By having an advocate, you get exposure, recognition, and future opportunities (including promotions).
Of course, at the time, I didn’t think much of it, and just decided to put it in the back of my brain. It just seemed irrelevant since my internships were always very short (four months).
Starting Full-Time Work
Fast-forward to just over two years ago: having accepted an offer from a large tech company, I met my manager over a video call for some basic introductions prior to starting work. During that call, my new manager went off on a mini spiel about how she had a plan for me to hit the ground running, and for me to get promoted like all the other engineers she had promoted in the past few years. I was immediately taken aback — “Wow! Where do you find a manager like this who is ready to go and excited for me to get promoted, even though I haven’t even started work?!”
Three months in, I got a bunch of praise from my manager for releasing production-ready code faster than she had when she first started — and all I could think was, “Thanks, but it wasn’t that hard.” 😅 Three months after that, having finished another notable project, she started saying, “We should talk about your promotion” in our one-on-ones. At that point, I was shocked, because I still felt a long way from understanding all the intricacies of our team’s product, and definitely not ready to take on the expanded responsibilities of a mid-level engineer. Given my rapid progress, however, she encouraged me and developed a plan and a series of projects that would help me cross the line for a promotion.
From there I started multiple projects which had ambiguous scopes and loosely defined success criteria. As they took shape, the possibility of an earlier-than-usual promotion did as well. However, I was not without hindrances during the process (I’ll come back to this specific point, since there’s a lesson to be had) — I was often randomized to address various campaigns or quick fixes, hearing from my manager, “Hey, can you do me a favour? Can you take this on since others have their hands tied?”
The challenge I experienced wasn’t necessarily the randomization, but the rippling effects and delays caused to my original projects, leading me to hand off some work that was precisely laid out for my quick promotion. On top of that, some of the unexpected work I was given often also had an ambiguous scope — everything seemed like a time sink! There’d be times when I felt overwhelmed and pressured to deliver all my projects despite the delays, wanting to please our customers and hoping to make good impressions. I even ran into some tense situations where I was delivering findings to highly senior coworkers — everything I said was scrutinized, and better yet, those people would likely have been part of my promotion review board. Talk about stressful!
Nevertheless, I trudged on, delivering whatever was deemed priority by my manager. And whenever I finished projects, or felt overwhelmed/frustrated by new requests, or just confused about what the path towards promotion was, my manager readily commended my work and shared about how her senior managers were already responding positively to the work I delivered; she heard my frustrations and helped me address disruptive requests or condensed timelines; she helped me see the larger impact of my work when I couldn’t and reminded me of it whenever all I could remember was, “Everything is terrible”; and she adapted my future projects and kept my path towards promotion bright. In all of this, she provided continual encouragement.
When it came time for my promotion to be reviewed, she drafted narrative upon narrative of my accomplishments, which swayed the vote for my promotion. I later got a glimpse of them, and all I could think was, “Wow, I did all of that?” Until then, I had only been able to see the difficult and less-than-ideal parts of my projects. Yet she encouraged me: “Yes, that was all you. You deserve it, and I don’t expect any strong resistance when it gets reviewed.” A few weeks later, I passed the review board with flying colours!
Lessons Learned
I also have some practical advice when it comes to navigating your career. Of course, this comes from someone who is early on in their career, but I’ve seen similar patterns in those succeeding in the middle and late stages as well.
- Acknowledge the humanness at work. Even in the age of AI, work isn’t merely orchestrating agents, but orchestrating massive campaigns across people and teams. Because we’re human, we’ve got varying perspectives, priorities, goals, and even emotions. And sometimes, these things cause disruptions (e.g., having your promotion delayed). The human, relational aspect is completely beyond your control (after all, you can’t control how others act, speak, etc.). However, you do have control over how you respond. It’s okay to feel emotions (e.g., disappointment, frustration, etc.), but it is never a license to lash out at others. At the end of the day, everyone is trying their best to do what they’re tasked with, so you should consider how to make others’ lives easier, while still making sure your concerns and voice are heard.
- Optimize your one-on-ones. Your manager shouldn’t merely be a task delegator. So one-on-one discussions shouldn’t always be about providing project updates, but rather, they’re also meant for planning your career growth. Your manager can help plan projects for you to help achieve that next level when you ask questions such as, “What would I have to do for you to promote me to the next level? What would I have to do to get an excellent performance rating this next cycle?” Getting specific answers is crucial for direction. Without them, you’ll end up on autopilot and stagnate in your growth.
- Ask for regular feedback. Pair this with career planning and you’ll have a good understanding of your progress and know what to work on next.
- Collect data points. No one will collect the evidence of your work, except for you. By recording your accomplishments, you’ll develop a strong case for promotion. Having clear evidence makes discussions of career growth a lot easier.
- Find an advocate at work. Ideally, this should be your manager! They should be looking out for you, trying to grow you, and planning with you for your growth. Of course, there is no such thing as a perfect manager, and they themselves can become overwhelmed, but if you aren’t experiencing this, start and steer the conversation so you have an advocate.
You Need an Advocate in Other Realms!
I can’t help but think of the parallels between having an advocate for you at work, and an advocate for you before God! The analogy isn’t exactly one-to-one, but allow me to explain:
The first essential truth is that we cannot advocate for ourselves before God because we are sinful. God is holy — that is, He is blameless, faultless, and unblemished in moral purity. On the other hand, we’ve rebelled against God, insisting on our immorality, and thereby transgressing against Him. It then follows that any attempt at making things right by our own selves (i.e., advocating for yourself) is futile and ineffective. This is because our attempts are stained with our sin and imperfection — and God cannot accept imperfection, lest He contradict His divinity, perfection, and holiness. As it says in Isaiah regarding our sinfulness and the insufficiency of our work before the most holy God:
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6a, ESV)
This puts us in a bind — how can we be in right standing before God when our own ability is lacking? We still need pure, clean, holy, and upright merit. How do we obtain such merit? This is where the necessity of Jesus comes in. Namely, His work and His advocacy.
Firstly, Jesus’ work was meritorious. Because of His perfection, obedience to God, and holiness, His sacrifice on the cross is sufficient to cover the demerits of all sinners. His work holds weight before God, because He is perfect.
Secondly, because of Jesus’ advocating work, His merit is substituted for the demerits of all sinners who are trusting in His complete work on the cross.
Consider, in particular, Jesus’ advocating work:
but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:24–25, ESV)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15–16, ESV)
In my experiences with my manager at work, I could without fail be heard and comforted whenever frustrated or overwhelmed, be reminded of the sufficient and accomplished work whenever I was accused of my failures (accusations by both myself and others), and be encouraged and strengthened to continue on, trusting in the plans and path established!
Jesus does these exact things, but all the more, because He works on the eternal plane of life, and the things at stake are infinitely greater in importance than mere promotions at work!
If we need an advocate for us in our workplaces, how much more do we need an advocate for us before God? That is why I boldly proclaim: turn away from your sins, trust in Jesus’ all-sufficient meritorious work, and you will be saved!
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9–10, ESV)
Acknowledgements and Thanksgiving
I’ve been super blessed by God to work at a great job on an awesome team with wonderful teammates — we don’t work in an easy domain, but I’m thankful for the support of everyone on my team (you know who you are)! And of course, I wouldn’t have made it this far without your support and advocacy, Hetal. Thank you so much for how you’ve invested in, supported, and challenged me!
Additional Reading
I’m purposefully keeping this blog short, but still wanted to mention a few other relevant Bible passages regarding Jesus’ advocacy (priestly) ministry. Consider the following passages on your own time!