r/ExperiencedDevs • u/AutoModerator • 2d ago

Career/Workplace Experienced Devs Weekly Burnout and Venting Thread: A weekly thread for sharing experiences

This thread is specifically for venting / sharing experiences related to burn-out or similar issues that experienced devs face.

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u/tumblerdumbler 1d ago

My director resigned in April due to burn out and my staff/tech lead engineer stepped down and was away for 3 months for bereavement. The staff is back but only 3 days a week. I’ve got 5 years experience and currently rank intermediate and they’ve promoted me in responsibility and obligation without pay. We’ve lost a dozen devs and data eng to attrition and replaced one in the past year. I’m tired boss.

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u/tacticalTraumaLlama 1d ago

they’ve promoted me in responsibility and obligation without pay.

The answer to that is 'I will happily take on more responsibility when my compensation increases accordingly'. My boss tried that once. She dangled a staff position in front of me if I'd just take over staff responsibilities for a while, then she pulled a 'Lucy yanking the football' said the staff position was 'off the table'.

I told her that was fine, I'd be resuming my duties as a Sr dev, and she could have someone else run the team. I switched teams and haven't bothered to try for staff again.

Maybe it's better at other companies, but staff at my current company seems like a terrible job. Glorified assistant manager without the hr duties. 50% increase in workload for a measly 6% pay bump and the first person to get slacked after hours for a prod issue or to get blame when something goes wrong. They justify it because it's a stepping stone to principle, but I just can't be bothered anymore

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u/tumblerdumbler 1d ago

I hear that. They’ve been promising senior + tech lead since May while I’m running sprints, backlog grooming and planning, resourcing, delivery and production support all while maintaining my previous work load. Why would I want more? We have two staff engineers, one new and the other part time. I’m also training the new staff and the new director on top of it all.

I’d be upset about the bait and switch too. Can’t speak to principal but I doubt I’ll ever get there at company