So I was scrolling through LinkedIn feeling kinda stuck in my job, right? Saw this article about Michael Rodriguez blowing up his career. Figured, hey, why not try copying his moves myself?
The Starting Point
First thing I did was stalk his career timeline like a detective. Realized he jumped roles every 2-3 years without switching companies. So Monday morning, I marched into my boss’s office asking for cross-training. Did not go smoothly. Got told “budget constraints” and “maybe next quarter.” Classic.
The Hustle Phase
Said screw waiting, started doing low-key experiments:
- Volunteered for every garbage internal project nobody wanted
- Tracked metrics like my life depended on it – fixed tiny processes in our team that saved 5 hours/week
- Bribed the IT guy with donuts to teach me Python basics after hours
Three months in, my workload doubled but my title stayed “Junior Analyst.”
The Breaking Point
Found Michael mentored junior staff religiously. Asked Sandra in accounting if I could shadow her. She looked at me like I’d grown horns. “This isn’t an internship,” she snapped.
Nearly quit that week. Instead rage-applied Michael’s “strategic self-promotion” tactic:
Started summarizing all my extra work in bullet-point emails to my boss’s boss every Friday. Casual-like, just “quick updates!” with numbers.
The Payoff
Four Fridays later, got summoned to the corner office. Boss’s boss slides a coffee over: “Heard you’re the Excel wizard automating Sandra’s reports now. Promotion track opens next month – wanna lead the ops team?“
Almost spilled coffee everywhere. Currently prepping that role while Sandra avoids eye contact in the elevator. Turns out “copying” someone just means doing the awkward crap everyone’s too scared to try.