Hey r/antiwork! Figured now that I'm a few months in to my new job I would tell my story. It's not the usual story, I worked in a pretty nice tech startup company, but wanted to share because not only people dealing with minimum wage bullshit can benefit from our philosophy. #KnowYourWorth.
My first job out of college (BA in Computer Science) was as a web designer for a tech startup in Santa Monica. I was lucky enough to have some good timing when I applied and the company had jsut closed a huge round of funding so their hiring was going gangbusters. This was in 2018. I came on at 45k/year, not great for LA cost of living, but with the benefits and perks it was enough, and the position had great upward mobility.
Fast forward 10 months and I applied and was promoted to Team Lead (half designer, half manager). And bumped up to 55k. Still not great for LA, but I learned a lot and had some good friends that I was able to live with to save on insane LA rent.
Now here's where things start to get sketchy. As a team lead I was responsible for delivering performance reviews to all my direct reports (4 initially) and there was a pretty consistent through line of the company massively undervalueing design, even though it was the primary thing that our clients saw in terms of our product. Design was top 3 for every client and MAYBE in the top 10 internally in terms of budget and priority. Every time I gave a performance review my designers would ask about this, ask about a raise, point out how every other department was financially prioritized. I completely agreed but because of my not-fully-managet status I was not the decision maker. Eventually it got the point where I now had 8 direct reports, and I was saying the exact same thing to my manager and department head as my designers were saying to me. We actually lost 2 amazing Sr designers because of salary, and management was basically like “huh, wonder why they left” and acted totally baffled.
When covid hit we had a round of layoffs, but my team was untouched – so clearly they understood we were important. They did decide to make the company fully remote, but this opened the door to even lower starting salaries since they were “no longer hiring only in the LA market”. We started bringing on people from Alabama, rural Illinois, North Carolina and paying them garbage (up to 10k under the previous starting rates).
As the pandemic began to wind down (in theory) there was naturally discussion about going back to the office. My team made it very clear that they would pretty much all quit immediately if the team was not fully remote, and I agreed. Management actually listened here, but at this point I was making 65k with 8 direct reports and basicslly maintaining our entire design platform myself, with the help af a few amazingly talented Sr designers.
Eventually I hit my wits end and sent my boss (who had been very supportive) a long and thoughtful email essentially saying that I was drowning under both the number of direct reports and the meager salary I was getting paid for 50+ hour work weeks. I let him know, with examples, that I could find a similar position for 80-90k pretty easily but that I wanted to stay on because I liked my team, and I liked the work for the most part. I gave him a month to have answer or at least to open a conversation about it with Management and HR.
1 months dragged into 3 and the work and calls from my team for fair financial treatment only grew. Finally I gave gim an ultimatum “end of the month or I'm out”. Eventually he did come back to me and say that he had opened a conversation about it with HR and would do everything he could to see that I was taken care of, but I don't really think he ever believed I would leave, I had been with the company almost 4 years at this point.
While I was waiting for him to talk with HR, I got a offer via LinkedIn for an almost identical position at a startup that had jsut been acquired by a huge FinTech company. The salary was nearly double and the position had 3 direct reports instead of 8. When my boss finally came back to me, he was very proud of the offer he was able to send me (75k + a larger bonus 'based on the companies quarterly profits') but it was too late. I let him i had found a better offer and that I was putting in my two weeks. He was SHOCKED, which to this day I still don't understand. I had asked for an offer at least comparable to 90k, sighting everything thag had changed and increase since my mast raise (nesrly 2 years prior) and the best they had done was 75k. He was very supportive but it was clear, again, that he and Management were completely baffled as to why that wasn't enough.
I took 2 weeks off between jobs and have now been at my new Jon for about 3 months. It's WONDERFUL. I have never had to work more than 8 hours a day, the pay is excellent, the team environment is so amazing, and the company really prioritizes and rewards design and creativity.
So thank you, r/antiwork. Thank you for teaching me to know my worth, to set boundaries with my employer and to not feel bad for asking for what I'm worth.
Last I heard from my old team, they still have not replaced the Team Lead because no one internally is interested in management for the salary they are offering and the team is a mess. I was always honest with them about the workload and what the Team Lead position was like, and I have antiwork to thank for that too.
I realize, in hindsight, that i had almost developed something akin to Stockholm Syndrome with my precious company….
So my message is this: even if you make great money, or its your first job and you're terrified to leave (i get it) if you know you can be making more, or that you will be happier somewhere else, take the leap! Know your worth, and know what is best for you. You don't owe your employer a God damn thing, you are selling your time to them, but at the end of the day it's jsut that: YOUR time.
Peace, love, and fuck capitalism.