Hi all,
EDIT: Title should say Employer, not Employee. Sorry!
Throwaway for soon to be very obvious reasons. I've generalized every aspect of this story to keep it anonymous. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience. I am not willing to offer any more information or evidence for this, so just take it for what it is. Also, the point of this story isn't to brag over money, but to share my revenge plan and execution.
Anyways. I work in Software Development using very in-demand and "complex" frameworks and tools. The average salary doing what I do, in my area, is around $110k / year for a relatively simple, low level job. By this, I mean a position where the employee does not have major responsibilities, works as part of a much larger team, etc.
I worked on-site and then remotely as a "contractor" for 3 years for a firm, hereafter named "the firm", while I was at university. As a contractor, I was the only developer in the entire firm of a few hundred people, and was solely responsible for all systems, development, testing, etc. This includes databases, webservers, and much more. This seems like a lot; it was. But, I had full control of my environment and autonomy. I worked on the software projects that I wanted to and felt would have the most impact.
During that period of remote work, upper management was changed. After I completed my schooling, I received an offer from the firm for $70k. I knew this was below what I should be making, but I also realized the following:
– I had full autonomy in my environment
– I had some gaps in my skill set
– By staying in this environment, I could fill in those gaps and VERY easily prepare to transition to another, higher paying job.
So, new management and I reached an agreement: I would accept a salary of $72k and then, after 6 months time, we would meet to go over my salary and it would be increased by at least 15%. This was included in my offer letter which both new management and I signed.
Fast forward to 6 months later. I have now filled every gap in my skillset and expanded on it to increase my skillset even more. The 6 month marker rolls by, and nothing happens. I send new management repeated meeting requests and they are ignored. 3 weeks into the 6th month, I go to HR and raise the issue. HR turns ghost white and makes the meeting happen. That afternoon, new management comes into my office and offers me a 1% raise. Yes. That is correct. 1%. I kept my cool though, and reminded them that I was guaranteed at least 15% due per our agreement. New management completely denied making this agreement and repeated their previous offer. I brought out my offer letter with both of our signatures on it and they started backpedaling. They said they would talk and get back to me. I made it very clear that if I did not receive the agreed upon amount, we would have a problem.
Fast forward to 2 weeks later. New management invites me into their offices. I am then offered a 6% raise. They try to make excuses about spending plan restrictions, fairness to other employees, whatever they could think of. I knew then I had these options:
- Quit
- Demand the 15%, possibly get it, but severely damage my relationship with new management
- Accept the 6% raise and maintain a strong positive relationship with new management, allowing me to blindside them later
The wheels in my mind spinning, I agreed to the 6% raise. At that moment, I decided what I would do: I would take the raise, use the remainder of my time there to look for another job, and leave. A few months passes, though, and my plan expanded. I begin implementing the most cutting edge technology, using the most modern frameworks, upgrading everything I could as aggressively as I could. Of course, this provided immense benefit to the firm. That was the plan. I entrenched myself in every system in every way possible, increased the skill floor for my position as high as I could get it… and left.
4 months after I accepted the raise of 6%, I accepted an offer for a salary of $130k at another firm. I put my two weeks notice in at the firm and all hell broke loose — new management knew they had messed up & they were completely blindsided that I was unhappy with my position. Since I had graciously accepted the 6%, they thought they were off the hook. With me, I took all knowledge of almost every one of their systems. New management freaked out! So, I did what any capitalist would do: I offered to come back as a remote contractor. For $200 an hour.
They had no choice but to accept. So, over the last few months, I have been charging them $200 an hour to do the exact same thing that I was previously doing for significantly less. Now, instead of being out a few thousand dollars a year due to my raise, they've been outted over $35k in a few months, with no end in sight. I even hired one of my good friends to help fill the hours.
The money is nice, but the look on new management's faces when this played out was priceless. It was the sweetest revenge of my life.
Additional Edit:
I want to add that I never did anything unprofessional or untoward towards my fellow employees or employer. I am not billing inflated hours, sabotaging, or anything like that. Everything I did and have done is honest work.
Another Edit:
Wow, I came home from work and checked this; I did not expect such a huge response! I appreciate everyone's responses and am glad so many people got enjoyment out of my story. It seems I struck a nerve with my fellow IT workers (and other industries)…
Many people have asked what exactly I do. I originally said that I would not provide additional information, but I figure I can provide this. My current role is as a Senior Full Stack Engineer in the financial field. This means my job is split between two things: the back-end and the front-end. I am not going to go into detail as to what that means (a quick google will explain it all), but I will say what I use everyday for each.
For the back-end, I work with:
– ASP.NET Core 2.2 Web API
– ASP.NET Core 2.2 MVC
– ASP.NET MVC 5
– ASP.NET Web Forms (.NET Framework 4.6)
– C#
– SQL Server
– Entity Framework Core (for ASP.NET Core)
– Entity Framework 6 (for ASP.NET MVC 5)
and some other minor tools and frameworks.
For the front-end, I work with:
– Razor Syntax Framwork (with ASP.NET MVC)
– Angular 7 CLI (with ASP.NET Core Web API)
– JQuery + Javascript
– TypeScript
– Bootstrap, DataTables, Chart.js, Bootbox, and many of HTML / JS libraries
I use Visual Studio Professional, Visual Studio Code, CLI, SQL Management Studio, Postman, Vmware, and some other tools to do my job.
This does not include the software design practices, project management skills, etc., that accompany a senior level software engineering position. These are just the tools I use to facilitate that. The main thing about my position is that I must be able to deliver a stable, scalable answer to any problem on my own. Hopefully that helps some of you out. You can find tutorials and documentation on Microsoft's website that will introduce you to every one of these tools and frameworks (except Angular + JS stuff, check the respective website for that). Spin up a GitHub repo and get to codin'!
—-
Some people have commented and said I should have charged more than $200 an hour. And maybe your right. But, in my area, a programming contractor can be had for $240 on average, so I wasn't trying to push the envelope too much. I wanted me to be the only reasonable option. After all, getting greedy may come back to bite me (case in point, my former employer).
Some people have said I should work more hours…. yea, again, maybe. I work as much as I am needed. I could milk it and get more hours, but at the end of the day, money is only money. My health, time with family, and peace of mind are worth more than a few extra dollars, especially when I've already made so much. That may sound condescending, and I don't mean for it to be that way, but it is what it is. A lot of money doesn't create happiness. My previous employer caused extreme burnout & stress from dealing with their mismanagement, and I don't want to feel that way again.
Hopefully that answers everyone's questions. Thanks for reading.
Last & Final Edit:
Hi everyone. I received some hateful messages last night, so this will be my last and final edit. I want to reiterate that, while my position uses the skills listed above, that does not represent everything I do. In reality, project management, database design, and many other things play into my role in a very heavy way. In my area, a standard .NET developer makes around 85k average. But, I am not just a .NET developer. My salary of $130k is accurate for my area and skill set (including those skills not included above). I am not willing to go into more detail than that.
Some people have commented that I could have been easily replaced by another .NET developer at my old job, and that I am overestimating myself too much. Based on this post, that is true. I did not include that I worked with closed legacy systems with no documentation. So, in reality, they would need to find someone with knowledge of those systems or have me train them. Due to the nature of the systems I worked with, I assure you that it is not as easy to replace me than you'd think, and everything I said in my original post is true.
Those of you that sent me a message that was not hateful — I will respond to you soon.
And, like a famous Hobbit once said, this is the end. I am going now. I bid you all a very fond farewell.