Posting from a throwaway, second attempt since the first one was picked up by automod because the account was less than three days old (sorry!). Apologies for the rant, but I need to vent and distract myself from my 'job'.
I work in the general scope of software. I work for a company that spent three days in a virtual town hall bragging about how ahead of the curve we were during the pandemic, how much we care about people both inside and outside the company, and how we made record profits.
Since starting here a little over a year ago, I have taken initiative, learned stuff beyond the original scope of my job, helped write new policies, and have single handedly run a job that usually requires at least two people while my coworker was on paternity. During this time, there were zero complaints about my performance, and plenty of praise and recognition. Having just left a job where I got none of that, it felt great.
Then the other shoe dropped. After a glowing review, I was given a small bonus and a less than 2% raise. When they paid me the bonus, they took the liberty of pre-paying the taxes out of it and withdrawing a 401k contribution before giving me the half I could 'take home'.
All told I am getting less than a single paycheck. On top of that, I am already being paid almost 20% less than the median for my job title in my county.
I am not naive. I was under no delusions that this company cared about me. I just started at this job a year and a half ago, after leaving a job I had been at for three years because I was not given the upward mobility or increased pay I had been promised. I know the game pretty well by this point. But it will never cease to disgust me how a company can talk me up, spend half of my week bragging to me about how much they care, and then have the nerve to give me an effective pay cut.
I am taking what remains of my bonus to purchase an upgraded laptop so I can brush up on my skills, and then it is back to job hunting for the second time during a global pandemic. I wish I could use that money for other things, but at this rate if I want to be able to keep a roof over my head I need to invest even more time and money into something I never wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I want to work, just not like this. I want to work for me. Specifically I would love to be a cook. I love cooking, even if I am cooking all day, and I have a habit of cooking for armies instead of just myself. I would love nothing more than to spend all day, every day, cooking a giant meal to feed a neighborhood.
Instead I am stuck coding for a company that will use what I make to help an industry screw over even more people. And it sickens me to my core.