Hey y'all.

I currently work at a tech company in the Bay Area making 140k as a SDE2. Over the last 2 years I've work heavily on data visualization and taken leadership on many projects. From organizing meetings, going over the design with designers, talking to other teams, etc. I AM the go to person for multiple parts of our platform. People don't touch the code without talking to me first.

I've been asking my manager every other 1 on 1 "Sooo... about that promotion?" and he keeps telling me to wait. After our 1 on 1 mid review I had great marks. Nothing bad to note. So even after that, he tells me to "wait".

Is it wrong for me not to believe that time matters when it comes to a promotion?

Like, why do I nee exactly 421 days, 6 hours, and 12 minutes of doing the same work to get a promotion when you already trust me and value my work NOW? I want the salary bump and the title change for myself.

I'm at a crossroad. Whether to play this ring around the rosy until the end of the year to see if I get the promotion, or to start sending out job applications. Help?