Junior Software Engineers, use the Availability Bias to get your next promotion

Everyone starts off as a junior engineer. However, after some time you get comfortable, build your experience, and start significantly contributing to the company.

I was in this situation. In addition to working as a developer, I was involved with hiring, onboarding, mentoring, and team management. It was understood among my peers, that I was due for a promotion.

During my performance review, my manager refused to promote me.

He cited one mistake I made and anchored my whole review around it. Because of the one mistake, he felt I wasn’t ready to be promoted.

So what did I do? I took advantage of the Availability Bias.

The Availability Bias tell us

People make decisions based on information that is most readily available, rather than most representative.

After my manager refused to promote me, I created a document highlighting everything I do for the company. In our following one-on-one, I presented this document to my manager.

All of a sudden, my manager was comparing my one mistake to a plethora of positive examples of my work. Overwhelmed with readily available positive information(the Availability Bias), my manager was compelled to repeal his decision and promote me.

Life isn’t fair, but that doesn’t mean suffering is inevitable.

The “decision-makers” in our lives are human and they make mistakes. Sometimes, things don’t go our way and we don’t get what we want.

As people, we can get upset, angry, vent, or we can take initiative and vouch for ourselves. Also, understanding the Availability Bias doesn’t hurt ;)

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