If you don't have a college degree, your best shot at a big promotion is actually when your company is in total chaos.
SSRN · March 13, 2026 · 6305159
Why it matters
Standard management theory suggests that clear job descriptions and stable operations help people advance. This study found the opposite: in tech companies, extreme 'developmental uncertainty' forces low-status workers and high-status professionals to collaborate closely, allowing those without credentials to learn high-level skills. Once the company stabilizes and automates its processes, this window of opportunity closes, and status boundaries harden again.
From the abstract
Organizations struggle to develop professional talent while workers without credentials struggle to obtain it-a structural mismatch with consequences for firms, workers, and the economy. Nonprofessionals increasingly work alongside professionals in technology development, but prior work is pessimistic about implications for skill development: status boundaries are defended, knowledge is hoarded, and inclusion efforts tend toward extraction rather than development. We theorize a striking exceptio