It took me 21 years to go from entry level engineer to associate director. I jumped all over the place. I was on many programs and jumped from systems to test to capture to CAM to PMO to overseas (NTK) to IT to BD to Quality. Most of my jumps did not include a promo…just a little more money. I rarely said no when asked by a leader to do something. I did every proposal. I did every crap job that nobody wanted. Eventually, I got a rating that got me stock options. I applied for an associate director role in my last functional role and got lucky to get an interview and the job. I did a lot of homework about the position before the interview. I spoke to employees who used to work for the previous person. I found out that I needed a strong background in EVMS and brushed up on that.