The Art of the Escalation

Early in my career, I thought escalating a ticket was admitting defeat. I’d spend hours digging into problems way above my pay grade, convinced that if I just tried harder, I’d crack it.

Now I know better. A well-timed escalation is an act of care — for the customer who deserves a faster resolution, and for yourself. There’s no medal for burning out over a database migration issue you were never trained to handle.

The trick is in how you escalate. Don’t just throw the ticket over the wall. Document everything you’ve tried, include your hypothesis, and suggest next steps. The engineering team will thank you, and you’ll learn from seeing how they resolve it.

Escalation isn’t giving up. It’s collaboration.