One-on-one meetings with your manager are one of the most valuable tools you have for career growth, problem-solving, and unlocking new opportunities. So if you\u2019re only using them to provide status updates, you\u2019re leaving a lot on the table.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t fully realize this potential until I mentioned in a one-on-one that I was interested in mentorship and growing my leadership skills. Not long after, I was asked to co-lead a project with an intern to build an internal tool that helped surface enterprise configuration details. This gave me the opportunity to take technical ownership on a project while mentoring someone in a real-world context\u2014both of which pushed me outside my comfort zone in the best way. That experience made it clear: When used intentionally, one-on-ones can open doors you didn\u2019t even know were there.<\/p>\n
Many engineers treat one-on-ones as a low-stakes standup: reporting work, mentioning blockers, and getting general feedback. While that can be useful, it barely scratches the surface of what these meetings can accomplish. Instead, think of them as a system design review for your role\u2014a time to debug challenges, optimize your workflow, and align on long-term career goals.<\/p>\n
A well-structured one-on-one meeting with your manager isn\u2019t just a check-in, it\u2019s an opportunity to shape your work environment and career trajectory. You wouldn\u2019t build a system without evaluating its constraints, dependencies, and long-term maintainability. Why approach your career any differently?<\/p>\n
Start by shifting your mindset: These meetings are not status updates. Your manager already sees your pull requests, sprint velocity, and planning docs. Instead, use this time to highlight what matters<\/em>\u2014what you\u2019ve shipped, the value it\u2019s delivered, and where the friction is.<\/p>\n You can also use this space to validate decisions and gather context. If you\u2019re weighing different paths forward, don\u2019t just ask for approval\u2014frame the conversation in terms of trade-offs:<\/p>\n \u201cHere are the pros and cons of refactoring this service now versus later. How does this align with our broader business goals?\u201d<\/p>\n Treat your manager like a decision-making API: Feed in the relevant signals, surface what\u2019s unclear, and work together on an informed response.<\/p>\n One-on-one meetings are a great time to discuss your long-term career growth\u2014even if you\u2019re not actively seeking a promotion.<\/strong> Instead of waiting until promotion season, start having these conversations early to build clarity, direction, and momentum over time.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re more than a year away from seeking a promotion, start talking to your manager about:<\/p>\n Where am I already meeting expectations?<\/em> If you\u2019re approaching the next level or considering going up for promotion soon, try focusing the conversation on:<\/p>\n What kind of work would demonstrate readiness for the next level?<\/em> By treating growth as an iterative process rather than an all-or-nothing milestone, you can continuously improve and course-correct based on early feedback.<\/p>\n A useful framework for structuring these discussions is the Three Circles of Impact:<\/p>\n Individual Contributions<\/strong> \u2013 The direct value of your work. If you\u2019re not sure how to show impact across all three, your one-on-one is a great place to explore it. The key is surfacing your goals early so your manager can help guide you toward the kinds of work that will stretch your skills and broaden your influence.<\/p>\n The more you shape your contributions around these areas, the clearer your readiness for growth becomes\u2014and the easier it is for your manager to advocate on your behalf.<\/p>\n Managers don\u2019t have full visibility into your day-to-day experience, so one-on-ones are the right time to highlight persistent blockers and unclear expectations.<\/p>\n For instance, I once brought up a latency issue I was chasing down. The endpoint\u2019s performance was slightly above our service level objective (SLO) target, and I had already spent a good chunk of time optimizing it. But in that conversation, my manager offered a different lens:<\/p>\n \u201cAre we optimizing for the right thing? We control the SLO. If the extra latency is due to how the system is designed (and if users aren\u2019t impacted) maybe the right move is to revisit the threshold instead of squeezing more performance out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n That single conversation saved me hours and helped me reframe the problem entirely. Sometimes, the fix isn\u2019t in your code\u2014it\u2019s in how you\u2019re measuring success.<\/p>\n Your one-on-ones will become far more effective\u2014and lead to real growth\u2014when you treat them as time to think strategically, not just check in. Reframing these meetings around your goals, your environment, and your long-term development puts you in a much stronger position to advocate for yourself and your work.<\/p>\n Start thinking about your career progression earlier than feels natural. Come prepared. Bring in what\u2019s going well, what\u2019s stuck, and where you want to grow. And remember: your manager can\u2019t fix what they don\u2019t know about, and they can\u2019t support your goals if you never share them.<\/p>\n If this shift feels unfamiliar, you\u2019re not alone. The Engineer\u2019s Survival Guide<\/em> helped me reframe my thinking around one-on-ones.<\/p>\n Here are a few ideas that stuck with me:<\/p>\n Your manager isn\u2019t a mind reader. The earlier you see one-on-ones as a tool for impact and growth, the more value you\u2019ll get from them.<\/p>\n The post How engineers can use one-on-ones with their manager to accelerate career growth<\/a> appeared first on The GitHub Blog<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One-on-one meetings with your manager are one of the most valuable tools you have for career growth, problem-solving, and unlocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-github-engineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rssfeedtelegrambot.bnaya.co.il\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Use one-on-ones for career versioning (even before you\u2019re \u201cready\u201d)<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n
\nWhere should I focus on strengthening my skills?<\/em> <\/p>\n
\nAre there specific opportunities I can take on to grow my scope or visibility?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nCollaboration<\/strong> \u2013 How you work with and support others across the team.
\nEnabling Others<\/strong> \u2013 Mentorship, knowledge sharing, or improving systems and tooling for your peers.<\/p>\nYour manager can\u2019t debug what they don\u2019t see<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n
Make your one-on-ones work for you<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n
\nYou can\u2019t expect guidance if you don\u2019t come with a direction.
\nYour growth is a shared effort, but it starts with you.<\/p>\n