Hi Guys,
I'm in a challenging situation with my career that I hope some of you successful types could chime in on. Here's my story.
I'm a very capable specialist in IT who graduated with the highest honours in my program. Working that hard in school burned me out. I worked at a very successful technology company for my coop terms and have stayed with them past graduation. School burned me out so hard that going to work felt a like a bit of a break for me and while I produced really good technical results, I made a lot of mistakes politically and have learned a lot about how to carry myself in an office environment after 4 years of full time.
Now I'm in a position where I am possibly the best at what I do, and while I've moved on from my foolish behaviour and really stepped my game up the past couple years, I fear others will never see me for who I am today. In the past 2 years I've received many awards and lots of praise from my leadership but never awarded more than a 3% raise or a promotion of any kind since I was hired. Management above me has changed every year I've been here, so I don't think that has helped much either.
I am a master in my current specialization and have been offered salaries of over double what I currently make to work abroad. Unfortunately my current personal situation restricts me from moving, and while I'm stuck here, this is still the best place for me to further my skill set in a technical specialization that excites me.
I am so frustrated and confused about my position, it was so foolish for me to work so hard in school and yet let my guard down when entering my career. There's nothing I can do about the past now.
There are occasions when I'm asked to go above and beyond for the business, and I have done so with perfect execution many times over the past couple years. These events have been extremely high stress and exhausting but as well as I do, I don't think I've ever been rewarded accordingly. I'm starting to think its time for me to decline these requests as they don't seem to be appreciated... Should I take a stand, or is there a smarter way to deal with this?
