This episode looks at why career growth in technology rarely happens by accident, and what people working in tech can actually do to take control of their own progression.

Ben sits down with Jeremy Burns, VP of Platform Engineering at Hawke and author of Earn More Move Up, to dig into the mechanics that decide who gets promoted, who gets paid more, and who quietly stalls. The conversation centres on a simple hierarchy that Jeremy uses for almost every career decision: customer, company, team, self. Reverse that order and your career suffers. Get it the right way round and the rewards follow naturally because you are creating real value for the business.

They also unpack the unwritten contract every employment relationship lives inside, the difference between endorsing and adjusting feedback, and why pay rises and promotions are a lagging indicator of work you did six to nine months ago. Jeremy explains why walking into a performance review with a beautiful self-pitch document is almost always too late, and what to do instead. Ben adds the leadership view from his time managing budgets at Microsoft, including the moment a manager sits down with their final pot of cash and realises someone has been quietly invisible all year.

The final section is about knowing when to leave. Jeremy uses the boat metaphor to talk about staying, accepting your boat, or moving on. Ben shares the eighteen months of planning that sat behind his decision to leave Microsoft and start Elevated You. The throughline is the same idea Jeremy returns to throughout: be first to your own rescue.

About the guest: Jeremy Burns is VP of Platform Engineering at Hawke, host of the Build Your Edge podcast, and author of Earn More Move Up. He started in marketing, taught himself to code, and worked through development and management into senior technology leadership over a long career. His view sits at the rare intersection of having been on both sides of the performance review table.

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Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/eMHTNE-3

YouTube: https://lnkd.in/esq9jDs2

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Connect with Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts

Connect with Jeremy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyburns/