Sorry, this is gonna be long.
I’ve been at my current job for 1 year full time plus about 3.5 years part time (while I was a student). I work for a tiny government contracting company with <10 employees including the owner. I never planned to stay after I graduated, but I make $40/hour plus commission and occasional bonuses. In my recent job searches, I haven’t found anything that pays this much that requires less than 3 years experience. The job is super flexible and I can show up anytime before 10am and work my 8 hours, no dress code, and I can take days off whenever I need.
But I feel like I’m going insane because of the amount of responsibilities I have.
Long story short, I took over someone else’s (I’ll call him Steve) full time position before I graduated. Trained 2 full time employees while I was only working 15-20 hours/week. Took over all responsibilities from the moment Steve left. The problem is, I was doing all of Steve’s work when we was there but he took credit. Now it’s too much.
Now I am the office’s go-to IT person because I set up a computer one time and everyone thinks I know everything now. I am the office’s go-to Excel, Quickbooks, EDI, CRM, etc. person even though I have less experience with everything (except Excel) than 90% of my coworkers. I am the one making decisions about bonuses and sometimes pay. I am the one making our marketing materials. I am the one managing our quality control system. I am leading meetings. Anytime anyone has a question or doesn’t know how to do something, it becomes my responsibility.
All of this is on top of my actual job which is managing our product data and government contracts and writing proposals. I also take on larger or more complicated quotes for the sales team because they either “don’t have time” or they refuse to learn how to do the paperwork. I am in the middle of working on proposals, by myself, for 2 multibillion dollar contracts as well.
I am glad that I make decent money and I don’t want to complain about it, but I feel like the stress and amount of responsibilities I’ve taken on warrants more. I found out a couple months ago that Steve got 2 $100k bonuses in the 4 years he worked at this place. I’ve never even gotten 1/4 of that.
The company is struggling because of COVID-related issues and I feel bad asking for more money. And honestly, I don’t think more money would solve the issue. I am 23 years old and living in a constant state of stress. I am completely burnt out. I don’t want to work anymore. I live in LA so the money I make is not enough for this to be worth it. What the fuck do I do??