Time for your annual review! As a new engineer, it may be understandable to think that your merits and promotions will be based on your work alone. Makes sense. That’s how it worked in school, and seems like an objective way to attain your worth to the company. The reality is, how much you are liked could influence your position within the company more than how well you can engineer. Surprised? You are not alone, many people get out of academia thinking that getting a good grade at work is just a matter of doing the homework (finishing a task), passing a tests (meeting project deadline), or showing up to office hours (working those extra hours). Now, don’t get me wrong, missing deadlines and not being proficient at your job will hurt, but so will getting on your boss’s nerves (the person who approves your promotion) or making another team member look bad (the person giving peer reviews).   Making Friends As you progress in your career, it will become more important to be liked, …