Why was Data never promoted?

[Mojochi]

so apparently the exam isn't contingent on rank.

I'm almost sure it isn't. In Disaster, Lt. Monroe is in command, & Lt. Jr. Grd. Laforge took command at Minos. I'm assuming they & Data have all taken the exam to qualify them for it.

I also have to assume it's just much easier for science & Medical division blue suits to get promoted to commander than it is for other career tracks. Beverly Crusher, Deanna Troi, Nella Daren, & Bruce Maddox are all commanders that head up their own departments, & as I said earlier, I don't think any gold suits that are department heads hold the rank, & red suits probably only get the rank once they are worthy of a command post of some kind

 

[Grendelsbayne]

The same reason Riker outranks him apparently, merit in his specific field or track. Riker was still an ensign only 2 or 3 years out of the academy, when Data got promoted to Lt. Cmdr. Maybe it's just harder to get promoted to commander in a gold suit than it is in a blue or a red one. Bear in mind, I could be wrong, but I don't think we've ever seen anybody do it. Most gold shirt department heads are Lt. Cmdrs. So what must you do to go up from there? It might be something of a ceiling for them

Or being promoted to Cmdr. is usually a sign that you're moving to the command track, so they switch your uniform color to red. With scientists and medical professionals being the typical exception.

 

[Mojochi]

Or being promoted to Cmdr. is usually a sign that you're moving to the command track, so they switch your uniform color to red. With scientists and medical professionals being the typical exception.

It's a reasonable conclusion. It's what happened to Worf on his move to DS9, & he really didn't change his specialty all that much. He went from security, & tactical to strategic operations, all of which is just your standard warrior stuff

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

That’s a good point. Since we haven’t seen yellow shirts get promoted to Commander, maybe there are weird prerequisites like working on a space station for a period of time or something of that nature?

Have any of the other series promoted yellow shirts to commander?

Scotty was made Commander as ChEng & Second Officer, and later "Captain of Engineering" with the option to wear Command White or Operations Gold (Engineering & Helm), and Toddman made it to Vice Admiral (in either Intelligence or Security).

 

[Santaman]

They never installed Captain.com so that is why Data was never promoted.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

Scotty was made Commander as ChEng & Second Officer, and later "Captain of Engineering" with the option to wear Command White or Operations Gold (Engineering & Helm), and Toddman made it to Vice Admiral (in either Intelligence or Security).

But no major characters in the 24th century?

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Scotty actually makes it even more believable that most people just switch uniform colors. He was chief engineer and second officer all the way back in TOS. He was a highly capable and decorated officer and a captain already in ST III. Yet he never commanded his own ship. Why would that be, unless he was the rare officer who didn't want his own command in the first place, who deliberately rejected the command track?

 

[Timo]

It just doesn't seem all that likely that rank would be relevant to the holding of a specific position within a Starfleet sub-hierarchy, because there are so many different ones. That is, being Commander should not be relevant to whether one's a department head or CO or meek subordinate, because one can be Commander aboard a giant starship or a teeny weeny outpost.

Julian "Junior Grade" Bashir headed the Medical Department just fine at his low rank. His classmate Lense may have held a much humbler position aboard the big Lexington at the same rank. And even a starship of fixed size may represent different levels of prestige at different stages of her service life. All of Pike's department heads were Lieutenants; Kirk's ultimately ranged from Lieutenant to Captain.

But different officers do have different skill sets, and gaining those after graduation is an obvious option. When one gains a skill set, getting a reward such as a promotion or a reassignment may be in order - what sort of a promotion or reassignment is obviously dependent on the starting rank and position, though.

Starfleet is nothing if not flexible. Which is why I don't raise eyebrows at Data's or Troi's or Kim's career or rank progress if they themselves don't.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SpyOne]

The same reason Riker outranks him apparently, merit in his specific field or track. Riker was still an ensign only 2 or 3 years out of the academy, when Data got promoted to Lt. Cmdr. Maybe it's just harder to get promoted to commander in a gold suit than it is in a blue or a red one. Bear in mind, I could be wrong, but I don't think we've ever seen anybody do it. Most gold shirt department heads are Lt. Cmdrs. So what must you do to go up from there? It might be something of a ceiling for them

Now that you mention it, it does seem kind of odd that we've never seen a Commander in yellow.
Of course, we don't know exactly what wearing yellow means. I have some pretty good speculations, but that's all they are.

I mean, some dialogue on DS9 strongly suggests that Worf was not previously on a Command track, so we can guess that he wore red in the first season if TNG because all Conn officers wear red, and he really was always a goldshirt.
But Geordi was always in red in flashbacks. Maybe that's because he was always assigned to Conn even on previous ships, but maybe that's because Geordi was a Command Division officer.
So what does it mean when he changes to gold? Does it mean he has changed divisions, or does it just mean he's in Engineering now?
(I seem to remember some of the Chief Engineers from the first season wore red, but my inability to verify this causes doubt.)
In short, does the fact that Data wears gold mean he's in Operations and not Command, or could he be a Command Officer wearing gold because he's assigned to Operations?

Could the answer to why Data didn't get promoted be as simple as "Operations people get promoted more slowly, and rarely rise above Lieutenant Commander."

 

[SpyOne]

About that Bridge Officer Test that Troi had to take:

There seems to be a lot of confusion anout this, with some people thinking it was a test to get promoted to Commander and some thinking nobody below commander had taken it.

It seemed pretty clear to me: you couldn't get promoted to Commander unless you had taken that test, and that was the only box on the checklist in Troi's file that hadn't been checked off.
Yes, people going for Command probably take it in the Academy. Heck, we saw Wesley face a similar test just to get into the Academy.
Worf must have taken it, since we see him commanding the bridge in Data's Day.
But Troi didn't need to take it and she didn't take it, until she decided she wanted to become a full Commander and that was the last thing she needed.

Like if you go to college but aren't really trying to graduate. You've been there for years, you have plenty of credits, and then one day you realize that if you take and pass calculus you will have fulfilled a major and can graduate. You could have taken calculus at any time, even as a freshman, but it happens to be the last undone thing on your list.

It isn't that you have to pass that test to become a Commander, it's that to become a Commander you have to have passed that test.

I think I only made that less clear.

 

[Timo]

It seemed pretty clear to me: you couldn't get promoted to Commander unless you had taken that test

But apparently you could - or Pulaski could at least. So we'd need somebody in the episode actually saying you can't. And we don't quite hear anybody say that.

In the teaser, Crusher speaks of this bridge watches thing, and doing things she doesn't really have to do, and Troi then asks why she wanted to do the extra work of getting the rank (yes, rank, specifically) of Commander even when this wasn't needed for being a CMO. But nothing in the dialogue ties the bridge watches to the Commander rank. All we learn is that some/most MDs don't bother to work their way up to full Commander and, apparently, that the promotion doesn't come to them automatically with service years or whatnot. (Or then it does, but only to older folks like Pulaski or McCoy. But I would assume all these three full Commanders in blue had indeed worked their asses off and been rewarded with, among other things, the promotion.)

Troi then decides she might like to "stretch herself a bit", too. And chooses to get the bridge watches clearance, for whatever reason. I mean, it's what Crusher did, too - even if it is never said to be what gained Crusher her Commander rank. It's just a way to stretch. And stretching gets rewarded.

But Troi didn't need to take it and she didn't take it, until she decided she wanted to become a full Commander and that was the last thing she needed.

Or then she wanted to do two things, with one incidentally also giving her the other. She told Riker why she wanted to gain this limited form of command clearance - she had been forced to command, and had become interested. She didn't tell why she wanted to become Commander - but the audience had already heard the discussion with Crusher, and could surmise Troi was a bit jealous there.

We never face the scenario where Troi would want the rank but not the command clearance. So we at most hear half the story of how this thing works.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[SpyOne]

But apparently you could - or Pulaski could at least.

I'm guessing you are basing that off Pulaski's line "I'm not a Bridge Officer, ...."

I don't think she meant she wasn't qualified to command a watch, she meant that her job (and field of expertise) was in sickbay and not astrophysics (or whatever). Sort of an homage to "I'm a doctor, not a ...")

Now, I can't think of a single piece of evidence that Pulaski had any command training.
But I can't absolutely say that she didn't.
And I can see that someday being CO of a Starfleet Hospital might be one of her ambitions.

The bit between Troi and Crusher about "not needing the rank" bothered me quite a bit, too.
Remember that before Julian Bashir we'd not seen a Doctor who wasn't at least a full Lieutenant (I think they'd all been commanders, but maybe not.)
And the Nurses are all at least Ensigns.
How many Doctors and Nurses do you think the CMO of a Galaxy Class ship is in charge of?
I'm guessing at least six MDs, probably more like ten, and about a dozen Nurses. The floorplans show a veritable hospital, with multiple operating rooms, and that staffing is pretty similar to a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (the real ones, though the fictional ones too).
And the CO of that unit would be a Lieutenant Colonel, which would be a Commander in Starfleet.

To be CMO on a Galaxy Class, yes you do need to be a Commander.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

But no major characters in the 24th century?

Not canonically. Although Geordi (as Second Officer on the E-E) and Tuvok (as Titan's Second Officer) were both promoted to the rank in TrekLit. Actually IIRC Geordi briefly became Acting Captain of Challenger before it's loss and bartered a demotion back to Commander (and the post of Second Officer) to avoid taking a perment CO's billet on the Musgrave.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

The bit between Troi and Crusher about "not needing the rank" bothered me quite a bit, too.
Remember that before Julian Bashir we'd not seen a Doctor who wasn't at least a full Lieutenant (I think they'd all been commanders, but maybe not.)
And the Nurses are all at least Ensigns.
How many Doctors and Nurses do you think the CMO of a Galaxy Class ship is in charge of?

Inconclusive.

However, at least some broad assumptions can be made based on the episode Remember Me:

CRUSHER: I'll be a little more comprehensive than that, Chief. Doctor Crusher to Doctor Hill. Respond, please. Doctor Selar, your present location? Computer, current whereabouts of Doctors Hill and Selar.
COMPUTER: There is no Doctor Hill or Doctor Selar aboard the Enterprise.

[now in "Ready room"]
CRUSHER: Doctors Hill and Selar, and four other members of my medical staff have all vanished. All record of their ever having been on the Enterprise has been excised from the computer's memory.
PICARD: Did they come aboard with Doctor Quaice?
CRUSHER: No. They've been on board for months. But my two duty nurses don't remember them. Their families don't even remember them.


Suggests that the E-D has at least three doctors (including Crusher herself), two nurses and four other members of staff (either nurses or medical technicians by implication).


[now in "Bridge"]
PICARD: Has something else happened?
CRUSHER: Sickbay is totally empty. Apparently I no longer have any staff.
RIKER: And that surprises you, Doctor?
CRUSHER: Surprises me? I'll say it surprises me. There should be at least four members of my staff on duty at all times.

Assuming Sickbay follows the same 3-shift rotation as the Bridge, then this would require a minimum of 12-13 personnel (depending on whether the CMO counts as part of the 'four' or not.

Given that The Drumhead establishes that there multiple enlisted technicians in the department, and they are less likely to be flexible than doctors or nurses then IMO the most likely ratio is 1 doctor (not Crusher/Pulaski), 1 nurse and 2 medical technicians per shift. A non-canon source (I can't recall which) suggested a CMO, four staff physicians, eight nurses and twelve medical technicians for a total of twenty-five (of which thirteen would be officers)

 

[TribbleFeeder]

Scotty actually makes it even more believable that most people just switch uniform colors.

They kind of make a joke about the uniiform colors in the Trials and Tribbleations episode in DS9, something about them not doing it the same way as they did back then. I think in the 23rd century it was a little more arbitrary.

 

[Mojochi]

@SpyOne I always saw Troi's exam as simply a bridge officer exam. I mean Bruce Maddox is a commander, & he doesn't even work on a starship, let alone do bridge duty.

I think that she got a standard type rank bump from where she'd been, as an additional recognition of further duty qualifications, which just so happened to land her at commander, not because the only way to become a commander is to take it.. If she'd been a lieutenant, she'd have maybe gotten a bump to Lt. Cmdr. It might also be how many junior officers move up to lieutenant or junior grade etc...

As for Data, I'm not positive that this is so, but I've always assumed that Data isn't just in Operations, but just like all the other senior staff, that is a department that he is the head of, but for some unknown reason, just like Troi isn't known as Chief Counselor, Data isn't called Chief of Operations

Clearly Data is qualified in command, which is why he can take watch just like Bev, & be the 3rd officer, but it might be possible that he currently runs a department that maybe holds him at his rank, just like Geordi & Worf do. He's never kept that uniform any time he gets reassigned as XO, which means he may have vacated a position, one that is then occupied by another person who also maxxes out at Lt. Cmdr.

This all really is conjecture though... Trying to make sense of what we've seen

 

[Steven P Bastien]

It's the same reason that Chewie never got a medal.

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

As for Data, I'm not positive that this is so, but I've always assumed that Data isn't just in Operations, but just like all the other senior staff, that is a department that he is the head of, but for some unknown reason, just like Troi isn't known as Chief Counselor, Data isn't called Chief of Operations

I've always considered he was officially Chief of Operations, did I get that wrong ? ? It's pretty clear from what his duties are like.

 

[Farscape One]

Data was Operations Officer and Second Officer, in dialogue. Hinted he was also Science Officer, given the various things he has done on away missions and in charting missions.

Chief of Operations is a little different, since it was O'Brien's title in DS9. For a station, it would be hard to be called a Chief Engineer, since he would also delegate a lot of starship repairs to his staff... I base this on starships having Chief Engineers.

I could be wrong, though.

 

[Mojochi]

I've always considered he was officially Chief of Operations, did I get that wrong ? ? It's pretty clear from what his duties are like.

I always took it that way too, & it wouldn't be the same kind of job as O'Brien's on a DS9 type space station, imho. He would be in charge of shipwide duties... Not security, or engineering... You know, its operations lol

All those people shuffling around cargo & shuttle bays, or transporter rooms etc... Someone would likely be over them