The success of Peter the Great’s state reform is largely due to the fact that the monarch created an effective system to encourage zealous service of his subjects for the good of the Fatherland. Through military service, people could radically improve their social status. The author considers the «case» of the middle-class nobleman N. A. Senyavin, who began service as a sailor and ordinary gunner and managed to become a rear Admiral under Peter the Great (1721), then Vice-Admiral of the Russian Navy (1727), and the “case” of the serf P. G. Golovkov, who managed to become a nobleman, to reach the rank of army Lieutenant (1712). The beginning of the career growth of both soldiers was their feat of capturing a Swedish warship in the Baltic sea on October 12, 1706. However, Senyavin entered the military elite of Russia, but Golovkov remained among the many low-ranking officers. The author shows that under Peter the Great there was a system of restrictions that prevented most people who did not belong to the nobility at the beginning of their career from reaching high officer ranks in the army and Navy.