Good Afternoon & Happy Superbowl Weekend,
As of today, my last day at MetaBank will be 02/25/2022. I plan to stay on to support the two major IRS funding drops & complete the Unfunded Tax Prep features. I’m leaving MetaBank to lead a team of talented software engineers as a Software Engineering Manager. The initial work will involve migrating legacy monolith systems over into scalable Azure cloud environments utilizing endpoints. My baseline salary will be $180,000 with 10% annual bonus based on performance, 401k 6% match, tuition reimbursement for continued higher education, a 37.5-hour work week, and numerous other benefits. The responsibilities I hold will be 1/6th in total of my current responsibilities here at MetaBank. In total, this will be more than a $100,000 increase from my current compensation at MetaBank for 1/6th of the stress. In my five years at MetaBank they have increased my salary by $14,000 which is a ~16% increase – this is roughly 3.2% raise per year & includes a promotional raise from SE to SSE. Inflation has vastly outpaced this 3% raise metric. At present I’m paid $89,000 annually and my starting salary was $75,000. The current market rate for a full stack .NET senior software engineer with 10 years of experience is currently at $150-200k pending on what company/industry you choose to work for.
I initially wanted to leave in Sept-Nov as I was sent 10+ LinkedIn opportunities each day – each starting at $150,000. Rarely I would see a lower starting range of $130,000. From Sept-Jan I ignored over 400 messages on LinkedIn from companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Rockstar Games, Blue Origin, and many other well-known leaders in the software development industry. I ignored these opportunities to instead help the tax teams through this tax season as we had lost three SMEs this year alone for better opportunities under strong industry leaders.
I started my job search in earnest on 01/27 and secured a position on 02/07 after performing five interviews with various companies. Talented .NET full stack developers are in high demand at this moment in history, however, historically MetaBank has always offered below market non-competitive SE salaries. At the end of the day, I can handle any amount of company re-organization, politics, and technical challenges, but I simply cannot afford to remain here. A job is not a culture – a job is an exchange of skill for monetary value. I believe a company that invests in their employees ultimately makes the greatest investment of all: loyalty and a guarantee of quality services.
I also believe the leadership of Mike is essential for the prosperity of the tax business. Under Mike’s executive leadership I would be content to return as the director of MetaTax IT. I believe in Mike’s vision, and I have the experience, aptitude, and desire to help MetaTax achieve its value streams. Presently, we have an IT tax director and BRM who fail to understand the basic concepts of what we do in MetaTax. Nor do they have what it takes to improve it. This has caused confusion, misrepresentation of commitment, and in general chaos. This year alone we have seen several SMEs and key members of tax leave because of this ineffective, inexperienced, and nonchalant IT Tax leadership.
Thank you all for your hard work throughout the years. I’m sorry to leave and will miss many of you. A significant part of me wishes I could remain here. The skillset and relationships I’ve built up with you all over the years is irreplaceable. I wish I could do more to help support you as a servant leader. I feel a tremendous loss in leaving, but I know that the opportunities out there far exceed the ones that exist here. First and foremost, I must do what’s best to support my family and my career.
I think I'm going to be looking for a new position too. Leadership at Metabank has been just terrible and devaluing.