Eric on Nostr: Today brought me significantly closer to leaving my fiat mine behind. It was ...
Today brought me significantly closer to leaving my fiat mine behind.
It was performance review day.
I have had a great year, crushed all my metrics, moved my entire team to a different department, changed management verticals twice, all while maintaining a ridiculously high workload and documenting and training new work processes to my team. Possibly my second or third best year at this company, maybe my best, and I've been here almost 15 years.
My boss also invited her boss to the zoom session. Fine. Didn't really concern me. She started by saying they had determined that my performance level was something like "progressing toward standards" - basically one level below mediocre. I was understandable shocked, but held my tongue. The justification to this was since I was under this new management structure, and did not yet do all of the things in their department, I was not meeting the standards of the department. I was transferred in July, I think, with my full team, responsibilities, and workload. We had planned on beginning some cross training into these things over the next few months - but I only got the training plan a couple weeks ago.
Clearly this is completely unfair. What could I even say to this? Then my boss continued by saying thst because of the low rating, I wasn't eligible for a raise this year. First time in the last 14 years that has happened.
They asked if I understood, if I had any commenta or questions. All I could answer is that no, I understood what they were saying. I repeated variations of that to a couple of their questions, and made a small joke about at least not gettibg a pay cut, and let them close the meeting. I'm actually quite proud of myself for handling it so calmly. I never acknowledged that I agreed with their findings, or accepted them as true - only that I heard their words.
My boss and I have a good relationship, and I know this didn't come from her. She just had the difficult job of telling me what her leadership had commanded. I reached out to her shortly after the meeting, let her know that I knew it wasn't her, and that I didn't blame her - and also that I wanted to make that meeting as easy for her as I could, because I understood the situation she was in.
So now, what motivation could there be? It could just be a cost-cutting move by the department, to try and keep raises to a minimum (or in my case, no raise). I doubt this, although the company is acting a little tight at the moment. This felt way too personal. I'm pretty sure I pissed off my boss's boss (who was in that meeting) and she wants me gone.
What possible reason could I have for staying at an organization that would do this? They've been consistently fucking me over for some time now, never personally, but in a general way that affects many of its employees. I have earned my smallest bonus since 2014 this year (which didn't rely on this review, but on metrics I had no direct control over). My annual raises have been getting smaller and smaller, definitely not on par with inflation. Last year (alao a great year) I got less of a raise than my worst year, performance-wise.
They have proven to me that money is not tied to effort or merit in my role, and not in any way to my performance, attaining of goals, metrics, etc.. I do enjoy the work I do. The benefits are great. I work from home, and can take time off whenever I need.
I was planning on mining fiat here for at least a couple more years, trying to get them to put me in a named manager position (the closest I had been to manager title is team lead). As long as they deposited my paychecks, I was ready to put my head down and coast for a bit, and deal with some expected hijinx.
The company is also expected to go public soon. It is currently private, majority owned by Blackstone (the private equity side of Blackrock) that has been inserting key people into the c-suite over the last two years from other Blackstone companies that have gone public or accelerated drastically. I do have some bullshit "RSU" stock that might earn a little bit if the company went public, but I have my doubts - I just cash it out as it vests and buy bitcoin.
I hit 15 years on Feb 1 2025, I think. I will probably try to stay on until then. Nice clean numbers, for reference. I plan on having a short conversation with the department director (3 levels up), just ti make sure he is aware of the situation I have been put in, and ask for his counsel. I've met with him before at conferences and such, and we've always been amicable. Even if this is coming down from him, I doubt it would hurt anything for me to tell him my concerns.
I plan on floating the idea (first to my manager) that I would be fine being laid off with a couple months' severance, especially if it would allow for some transition. But I also plan on looking for a new fiat mine next month.
Why not sooner? Well, I do want that 15 year number, and also want to be ready to leave immediately if I get a serious offer. That means I should wait until at least the second week of January. That gives me some time to schedule the meeting with thelat director, and get past the holidays and year end. I'm in HR, and these are busy times for my industry.
I also already have planned vacation from Christmas to new years (since they were midweek, I took the 24th off, and I don't think I go back until Jan 6). So no need to fuck myself out of that.
Thanks to bitcoin, I have months of runway that I could use to look for a new job if this goes terribly wrong (or more terribly wrong than it already has). That said, I don't want to be selling any bitcoin at this point, even if I have to float a personal loan to pay my expenses.
So wish me well. This chapter is closing, and a new chapter awaits!
GN #nostr.
It was performance review day.
I have had a great year, crushed all my metrics, moved my entire team to a different department, changed management verticals twice, all while maintaining a ridiculously high workload and documenting and training new work processes to my team. Possibly my second or third best year at this company, maybe my best, and I've been here almost 15 years.
My boss also invited her boss to the zoom session. Fine. Didn't really concern me. She started by saying they had determined that my performance level was something like "progressing toward standards" - basically one level below mediocre. I was understandable shocked, but held my tongue. The justification to this was since I was under this new management structure, and did not yet do all of the things in their department, I was not meeting the standards of the department. I was transferred in July, I think, with my full team, responsibilities, and workload. We had planned on beginning some cross training into these things over the next few months - but I only got the training plan a couple weeks ago.
Clearly this is completely unfair. What could I even say to this? Then my boss continued by saying thst because of the low rating, I wasn't eligible for a raise this year. First time in the last 14 years that has happened.
They asked if I understood, if I had any commenta or questions. All I could answer is that no, I understood what they were saying. I repeated variations of that to a couple of their questions, and made a small joke about at least not gettibg a pay cut, and let them close the meeting. I'm actually quite proud of myself for handling it so calmly. I never acknowledged that I agreed with their findings, or accepted them as true - only that I heard their words.
My boss and I have a good relationship, and I know this didn't come from her. She just had the difficult job of telling me what her leadership had commanded. I reached out to her shortly after the meeting, let her know that I knew it wasn't her, and that I didn't blame her - and also that I wanted to make that meeting as easy for her as I could, because I understood the situation she was in.
So now, what motivation could there be? It could just be a cost-cutting move by the department, to try and keep raises to a minimum (or in my case, no raise). I doubt this, although the company is acting a little tight at the moment. This felt way too personal. I'm pretty sure I pissed off my boss's boss (who was in that meeting) and she wants me gone.
What possible reason could I have for staying at an organization that would do this? They've been consistently fucking me over for some time now, never personally, but in a general way that affects many of its employees. I have earned my smallest bonus since 2014 this year (which didn't rely on this review, but on metrics I had no direct control over). My annual raises have been getting smaller and smaller, definitely not on par with inflation. Last year (alao a great year) I got less of a raise than my worst year, performance-wise.
They have proven to me that money is not tied to effort or merit in my role, and not in any way to my performance, attaining of goals, metrics, etc.. I do enjoy the work I do. The benefits are great. I work from home, and can take time off whenever I need.
I was planning on mining fiat here for at least a couple more years, trying to get them to put me in a named manager position (the closest I had been to manager title is team lead). As long as they deposited my paychecks, I was ready to put my head down and coast for a bit, and deal with some expected hijinx.
The company is also expected to go public soon. It is currently private, majority owned by Blackstone (the private equity side of Blackrock) that has been inserting key people into the c-suite over the last two years from other Blackstone companies that have gone public or accelerated drastically. I do have some bullshit "RSU" stock that might earn a little bit if the company went public, but I have my doubts - I just cash it out as it vests and buy bitcoin.
I hit 15 years on Feb 1 2025, I think. I will probably try to stay on until then. Nice clean numbers, for reference. I plan on having a short conversation with the department director (3 levels up), just ti make sure he is aware of the situation I have been put in, and ask for his counsel. I've met with him before at conferences and such, and we've always been amicable. Even if this is coming down from him, I doubt it would hurt anything for me to tell him my concerns.
I plan on floating the idea (first to my manager) that I would be fine being laid off with a couple months' severance, especially if it would allow for some transition. But I also plan on looking for a new fiat mine next month.
Why not sooner? Well, I do want that 15 year number, and also want to be ready to leave immediately if I get a serious offer. That means I should wait until at least the second week of January. That gives me some time to schedule the meeting with thelat director, and get past the holidays and year end. I'm in HR, and these are busy times for my industry.
I also already have planned vacation from Christmas to new years (since they were midweek, I took the 24th off, and I don't think I go back until Jan 6). So no need to fuck myself out of that.
Thanks to bitcoin, I have months of runway that I could use to look for a new job if this goes terribly wrong (or more terribly wrong than it already has). That said, I don't want to be selling any bitcoin at this point, even if I have to float a personal loan to pay my expenses.
So wish me well. This chapter is closing, and a new chapter awaits!
GN #nostr.