What does 'raise the bar' mean in tech companies?

'Raise the bar' means to set higher standards for quality, performance, or hiring. Tech companies use this phrase when they want teams to do better work or hire stronger candidates.

What is a 'bar raiser' at Amazon?

At Amazon, a 'bar raiser' is a specially trained interviewer who joins hiring panels. The bar raiser's job is to make sure new hires are better than 50% of current employees in that role—literally raising the bar for hiring.

Is 'raise the bar' formal or casual?

'Raise the bar' works in both formal and casual settings. You can use it in standups, Slack messages, performance reviews, or executive presentations.

What's the difference between 'raise the bar' and 'up the ante'?

'Raise the bar' focuses on quality and standards. 'Up the ante' often implies more risk, competition, or stakes—like betting more in a poker game. Both mean increasing expectations.

Can I say 'rise the bar' instead of 'raise the bar'?

No. 'Rise' is incorrect here. 'Raise' is a transitive verb (you raise something). 'Rise' is intransitive (something rises by itself). The phrase is always 'raise the bar.'

How do I use 'raise the bar' in a sentence about code quality?

You can say: 'These new code review guidelines will raise the bar for quality' or 'Our new testing requirements are designed to raise the bar on reliability.'

Raise the Bar Meaning in Tech | Business English Idioms

Commonness	4/5
Versatility	4/5
Formality	CasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ Written	SpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ Diplomatic	DirectDiplomaticNeutral
Region	US and UK

Say it like this

✓We really need to raise the bar on code quality this quarter.

✓This candidate would definitely raise the bar for the team.

✓Let's raise the bar and aim for 99.9% uptime.

✓Our competitors are raising the bar—we need to keep up.

✓The new design system has really raised the bar for our UI.

Real examples

Standup

"Yesterday's release raised the bar for our deployment speed—let's keep it up."

Slack message

"Hey team, the new test coverage requirements are meant to raise the bar on quality."

GitHub PR

"This refactor raises the bar for how we handle error logging."

Jira ticket

"Acceptance criteria: This feature should raise the bar for user onboarding experience."

Retrospective

"I think we raised the bar this sprint—our velocity and quality both improved."

Sprint planning

"For Q3, leadership wants us to raise the bar on security practices."

Pair programming

"Nice pattern here—this really raises the bar for how we structure services."

Don't say this

✕We need to rise the bar.

✓We need to raise the bar.— 'Raise' is the correct verb. 'Rise' means to go up by itself, but 'raise' means to lift something.

✕Let's raise a bar for testing.

✓Let's raise the bar for testing.— The phrase always uses 'the bar' (definite article), not 'a bar'.

✕She raised the bar very high.

✓She raised the bar.— 'Raise the bar' already means to set higher standards—adding 'very high' is redundant.

Other forms

base form

raise the bar

"We want to raise the bar this quarter."

past tense

raised the bar

"The new hire really raised the bar."

present participle

raising the bar

"They're raising the bar on documentation."

noun phrase

bar-raiser

"Amazon calls certain interviewers 'bar raisers.'"

Often used with

raise the bar onFollowed by the area you're improving: 'raise the bar on quality'

raise the bar forFollowed by the team or group: 'raise the bar for everyone'

really raise the barAdds emphasis: 'This really raises the bar.'

continue to raise the barUsed for ongoing improvement over time

help raise the barDescribes someone contributing to higher standards

Similar words

set a higher standardMore formal and literal, same meaning

up the anteSimilar but often implies more risk or competition

push boundariesFocuses more on innovation than standards

elevate expectationsMore formal, often used in leadership contexts

step it upMore casual, often used as encouragement

Opposites

lower the barcut cornerssettle for lessmaintain the status quocoast

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Choose the most natural sentence

1. Which sounds most natural?

We must rise the bar on testing.We must raise the bar on testing.We must raise a bar on testing.

Fill in the blank

2. The engineering team has really _____ the bar this quarter with their documentation.

Find the error

3. Our new security protocols will rise the bar for the whole company.

rise → raiseprotocols → protocolwhole → all

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite using 'raise the bar': 'We need to have higher quality standards for code reviews.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "raise the bar" in a standup this week?

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