I work for a government contractor who offers good starting salaries and really strong benefits, but our raises suck ass. The only way to get a raise outside the annual raise is by promotion or changing positions, and I knew from others that the promotion raises suck. I just finished a master's degree (paid for by work, so that was a nice benefit), and had kind of emotionally prepared myself for a measly raise with a promotion and got it. But now I'm sitting here looking at the 3% bump and it still feels like a complete fucking slap in the face after the amount of work I put into my degree.
I've been looking at other job opportunities and gotten a few offers, so I know that I am being paid pretty close to market rate, especially with this lil bump, but I didn't want to relocate from this beautiful little town I live in so now I'm looking internally. But of course there's been “too much internal movement” so now promotions require a year commitment to your current position so I might not even take this one. All in all, fuck work, professional development is a waste of time, thank you and good night.