It feels incredible. With the organization for 10+ years, in the role for 6+ years. I got passed over for a promotion I was overqualified for because my shithead boss, with his beautiful mind, calculated that promoting me would mean twice the paperwork (having to fill my old position). Who cares that it would have meant a 20% raise and increased stability to me. Not to mention all the attendant exploitation in a anti-labor / zero social safety net state normalizing a continuous stacking of projects and responsibilities on people.... because "where are they gonna go?" The answer might surprise you!
To be fair, I have been feeling the unstable vibes here for a few years and been casually putting out applications for other jobs. Like maybe once every month or so, when some new fresh idiocy drives me to tweak and submit my resume somewhere.
Not even 4 weeks after my application was ignored, I got offered a job in a strong union state in the public sector. And not just offered, they said after the panel interview that I blew the competition away. The way my bosses and overseers have treated me here, alongside the limited bites in applications over the year, was starting to wear me down that I started wondering if maybe they had a point.... like maybe I'm not that valuable. So it feels nice to have someone interview me, look over my body of work/portfolio, and say, "Wow, yes please!" Not to mention, there's a real future for me in terms of formal professional development, job grade advancement, and time-in-position compensation bumps. Because, there's a union in a pro-union state! All shit my previous employer had foreclosed on, because no union and anti-union state.
Anyway, suffice to say, I took it and they are being super chill about remote-until-relocation, offering to help etc. I put in my official notice to my boss 24 hours ago (no response lmao) and workfriends/collaborators who are all sad to see me go, super happy for me, or some combo of both. They all get it.
I am doing what I can for the people I work with to cover their asses with their own bosses, but I know >80% of the plates I've been spinning are going to come crashing down over the 6 months after I'm gone. I tried for years to have get the bosses to support cross-training and redundancy, even under the principle of "what if I die in a car accident?" but they ignored me. One of the reasons I am going so far away from this organization is so the bosses will have no social capital to fuck with me at my new place of employment and try to backchannel / pull strings to get me to keep those things maintained once the angry emails and calls start coming in from stakeholders. Hell, I'm not even telling them where I'm going. They can ask their subordinates if they want to know. LOL
Anyway peeps. I know the job search is the worst, but I had a good story and wanted to share.
everybody is talking about quiet quitters, but some of us are out here keeping Quitting Classic alive.
Yeah moving out in order to move up has become the new normal. Glad you found an employer who recognizes your skills, and hell yes on becoming a union man. Make sure to reach out to the local where you’ll be working, find out what their meeting schedule is like and what additional benefits they offer.
I definitely will! I have been in the non-recognized union at my current workplace, still trying to gain enough members and support to even try for a vote. They are doing good things and growing slowly, but all the casual antipathy towards it by people drove me nuts.
i looked up the bare minimum for official separation on good terms in order to get the most payout of accrued time off and other benefits, etc.
i did once hear a story about a guy who just totally vanished and never responded to calls or emails, and it took the organization like 6 weeks to file the paperwork for abandoned position once they realized he had started a job elsewhere. but that was a LONG time ago, and i think they figured out how to tighten it up since. also, he had a particularly disengaged boss, obviously. kind of a legend among us though. our own miniature version of that dude in spain who no showed for 6 years and kept getting paid.
I've got mad respect for the people I've known who did that. They've got us so whipped that we're scared to give them the same lack of courtesy that they give us.
, I'm not even telling them where I'm going. They can ask their subordinates if they want to know. LOL
Iconic
Fuck 'em
Employers are dumb as hell for not trying listening to experienced workers, and they're especially dumb for not even trying to retain them. It sucks for everyone else who's going to be inconvenienced by your leaving, but the structure of the system makes that inevitable. Bosses seem incapable of the bus factor, and I think it's a major reason why organizations become less efficient and more chaotic over time.
backchannel / pull strings to get me to keep those things maintained once the angry emails and calls start coming in
You could charge them for this. Personally, in this situation I would charge at least 4x what ever my old salary was.
honestly, i just want out. i have done side gig / contract work before and have had to fire clients for being shitty (failure to pay in a reasonable timeframe, etc). and knowing the administrative dysfunction behind the scenes, they would be an extremely shitty client. i have seen them repeatedly dick around external contractors. i am quite eager to be completely separated from them professionally.
my company offered buyouts for people to leave again. they did it like 6-7 years ago and it sucked from all of the brain drain and few back-filling especially in the IT orgs. it creates some opportunity for people like me since that means that I become ever so slightly more precious but I know my status is contingent on my ever-increasing output and the whims of my bosses mediated by the fluctuations in the stock price
congrats comrade! when my wife quit her job we celebrated at a hibachi place and got cheers from everyone at the table, even more than those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries.
this post gives me life
