Due to my inability to ignore bad processes and my wanting to get paid more, over the last couple years I've been moving from a 100% design role to a part-design, part staffing manager. I now assign fellow designers in my engineering sub-department to the projects our company is hired for. I have very little input in what projects we take on, but from my position I can read their budgets and expected hours for various client submissions, I then take this info and try to balance the work between my coworkers. In the past 6 months we've been completely overwhelmed with work, too many hours of work to do for our team. Thankfully, our project managers and clients have had project deadlines slip but the projections always show a ton of work upcoming and many coworkers are working unpaid overtime. I've been advocating for hiring more designers, and in the last month have become very explicit in voicing this need, but, I think, worry about economic recession has kept management from posting a job opportunity online.
Does anyone have an idea or opinion that can help me? Am I selling out by leaving my design only role?
I am considering looking for a new job, I'm very in demand as there are few electrical engineers in my field. I'm also considering applying to grad schools in Europe, cheaper and more relevant to my specific goals, but my undergrad GPA was pretty bad. I worry that I'm running from my life though, and I could have an opportunity here to positively change my firm's culture?
Don't worry what anyone says here, do what you have to do. Some of these people have rich parents or never held a job before.
I personally will never hop into a supervision role, too much work and stress. In my work place, work culture is fixed to forever be incompetent, lazy or stupid. But that's also fine, fuck this job and everyone in my workplace, I don't care if it runs well. Also, all your coworkers are engineers 4/5 times theyre chuds fuck them.
Also sometimes its like this, if you dont take a good paying job that is evil, someone else will it might as well be you instead.
Most of the engineering team is reactionary but luckily the analytical skills needed for the job does allow more ideological flexibility than the traditional conservative. They are receptive to some empirical evidence.