I started out working for state government back in 1998. I remember a colleague of mine, let’s call him “Scott” taught himself a very specific skill and got his certification on his own dime and time. The agency immediately began taking advantage of Scott’s new certification and assigned him work outside of the position he was hired for. Scott was making about $31,000 a year asked for his position to be reclassified and an increase in pay of at least $9,000 a year. The Director as anticipated flat out denied this request as he thought Scott should do this very specific work out of the kindness of his heart. This is illegal in most civil service jobs because you can’t make a person work 100% of the time on something outside of their job description. Scott quietly updated his resume and offers immediately poured in with the highest bidder offering a starting salary of $93,000 a year plus benefits. Damn good for 1998. The Director had the audacity to get offended and say “I’m tired of people coming here, getting trained and then leaving for more money.” At that moment I decided to be a Scott and learned as much about my job as I could. A few years later I also left the agency and more than tripled my salary, actually making more than Scott. In a world full of shitty bosses try your best to be a Scott. You owe your boss/organization nothing, you owe yourself and your family everything. Thank you Scott for showing me the way.