I got a promotion today. Sort of.
So did everyone else.
All of the engineers in our department got switched to salaried positions, whereas before we were paid hourly. This included a pay raise to compensate for the fact that we wouldn’t be getting time-and-a-half pay for working all those overtime hours anymore, and new job titles. That makes me an “Engineer 2” with a paycheck that’s roughly 8% larger than it was before. Kind of nice to actually get my first ever pay raise instead of that awesome 10% cut that came in 2009.
So that’s about it. I still do the exact same work I did before, in the same cubicle as before, and with roughly the same expectations as before. Now I’m just responsible for working the right amount of hours to get the job done (No one has any idea what this actually means in relation to our work. Outlook: BAD).
I’m sitting here staring at the print out summarizing my pay for the last 3 years as well as my future earnings that kick in a week from Monday. It doesn’t bring me joy or happiness. Here is this new number with several zeros behind it, and all I can think of is how it solves nothing. I’m still sitting here at home in Holland without anything to do on yet another Friday night. No one to even join me for happy hour and “celebrate” my raise.