Scamazon taught me that if you really bust your ass, prove your worth, chase after innovation and pursue promotion you’ll only acquire more work and less wealth. I was by all accounts the top performer, top kpis, adviser to all peers, sme for leadership and driver of projects. But the way my promos worked out, I’d be promoted right before yearly review so I never earned the top performer budget increases. “Scamazon’s philosophy is that if you were promoted in that year, it should be impossible that you were a top performer since you are new to your role for a good chunk of that year. Even if you finish strong, your top end year performance balances with your starting “needs improvement” to a nice average “achieves”” with the standard less-than-inflation raise.
Now that the stage is set, the point of this post is about a specific story that still boils my blood, nearly two years later. I was killing myself in an ops role to level up and develop my career. All my hard work was awarded with more work, but I was hourly and earning a lot in OT. After busting ass for so long but being paid less than new hires (I leveled into the role so started bottom of the pay band), I went to my skip level’s manager and told him I was overworked and underpaid, considering looking outside of Scamazon. He wanted what was best for me and offered me an incredible opportunity to develop a new role! “In just two short months the role should be out and we can offcycle promo you into it. There’ll be a title and compensation change, and you’ll finally be salaried”
Two months came and went. I wrote a 5 pager, got the role creation approved by leadership and HR, and then… nothing! So every week I started knocking on the same doors, reminding my leaders of my continued top performance and above the bar delivery. Eventually, 8 months after my first engagement with sr leadership the role went live and I was allowed the opportunity to apply – even though I had already been promoted almost a year earlier. I went through the motions and received the offer. From hourly to salary, one measly share, and no change in compensation. This meant not only did I bust my ass for one stock, I was unable to earn OT but still expected to work the same amount of OT. But hey, I should be thrilled! After all, my earn potential is 10k higher if I spend the rest of my life in this role! In all fairness, I did receive a lump sum cash payout for estimated OT for the year, but it was a one time thing.
I said fuck that, applied to a different team where the manager had worked with me before and knew my caliber. Took the cash payout, one stock, and because of an error with the offer I was able to transition laterally to a higher paying role (I found out once giving my notice that accepting the other offer was supposed to lock me in role for 6 months). Fuck those guys. My skip level pulled me aside on one of my last days and said “I hope you find what you’re looking for” as if I was some lost puppy about to be chewed up and spit out. Two years later, I have now doubled the salary I was making back then. While I may not have found exactly what I’m looking for, it’s a hell of a lot better than what I had.