...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

[Pekka]

... not even that. Something I worked on for a year, half of which totally at my own risk (did not report about it), came to fruition money wise, and now we killed something that saves us 1.3 million starting from 1st of Jan. Two to three years was the estimated cost that had to be done. In other words, I initiated, engineered and worked on something that saves my employer up to 3+ million euros. Time for a nice bonus?

No. A thank you? No. A t-shirt? No. My boss appreciates it, his boss gets the bonus. Never mind the worker who actually discovered it and did it, even with a risk of firing at first. I think I'm soon done. Not the first time, but definitely the biggest score, and very quantifiable. A bit bitter sweet. Going down as the one who never capitalized. Oh well, I think I just take a back seat for a year or two. Show up, look somewhat interested and not do much. Wait for the perfect time to leave. THis will be the reason for it, if they ever ask. And yes, I kind of told them. It turns out saving people's asses does not always pay off. So much for unofficial projects. I am up for my review in two weeks and I am not known for sugarcoating things. Not about to start now. And I did it all while doing all the other work as well. I learned something valuable. Never do anything unless they clearly understand. Yeah, we made tens of people impressed.

The raw play by play:

They started something that was doomed to fail. I argued it will fail and provided the facts. I brought outside expert to support my view. They disregarded and trusted their own consultants, with inferior experience and track record (and logic). They worked for 3 years, spent over 3 million on something that never amounted to anything.

Avoided the "I told you so" and started working on the correct solution, got funded by another budget so free for them. In less than a year, we already have more done than the previous failure. We have spent less than a million. We will cap our yearly cost under 1 million. For the next 3 years we will save 1.3 million each, leaving us with over 300k. The projection is accurate and realistic. And we are ending up with state of the art service, that is future proof and works like a tank.

So thank you very much, it was a pleasure. Not.

edit: my only dessert was that I got to kill the failing thing. Pull the plug on it. It gave me satisfaction for 5 minutes, after which it's been a bit depressing to realise that it never was the point. And they will keep making the same mistake time and again. So my review will be the same with one beef: "I hate it that we lack logic, and it is evident we will never change." I can sum it all up right there.

[rah]

Yes, always tough not to get recognition for something well done.
That is very common as a reason for leaving a position.
Just one question. Aren't you compensated quite well for your work?
I don't remember you every complaining that you were underpaid.

[Pekka]

In local terms, yes. My salary alone is among top for daily work. I also get paid OT if I choose, which I usually opt out.

The best things in my work are, and are rare:
1) I have a great boss (rare)
2) I can prioritise my work freely without permission (= do what I want)
3) I don't have regular hours, as long as I come in somewhat regularly and wash myself
4) I don't need to report to anyone (and I don't)
5) I have 0 % margin up to 250kEUR loan, all my insurances 50 % and the best health care platinum card one can have, which includes all the previous conditions as well (cannot buy with money anymore).

So those things kind of keep me there. If it wasn't for my boss, I'd have already left a long time ago. Like for now, I can just do the review, say that I am not motivated and would like to just take it easy for the next couple of months, do what is expected but not pay much interest in doing real stuff, and he'd be OK with it. I am not motivated by money. I am motivated by getting to solve difficult things. I don't need appraisal for it, but some recognition would be nice. My boss appreciates it. He trusts me and I am a nightmare of an employee: I don't report, I might leave 2PM and not say anything or explain what I did, I say "that's wrong" and I sometimes tend to get some eyes on us. Then again, I do my job and more than is required, I am more experienced and constantly use the help of others, do favors and receive them and just not mention it. My ways have gotten a reputation that my boss still defends, which is "he is doing something again.." meaning I am not present, but I am sincerely working for our common goal. Not all bosses like that, when they are not in control, or even in-the-know of what his or her employer is doing, just keep paying and don't ask questions. That's a level of trust rarely given. I don't think I'll find a better boss. But the organisation is pure pain.

Greatest frustration comes from the fact that we can do things really well, yet we choose to outsource poorly, pay more, get less. I don't neglect our rules to be mean or futile resistance. I jsut don't see the point. I figure people have been fired for less.

edit: my last argument is still the heaviest: "this saved us millions" and it is not speculation. So I don't spend money as much as I save us money. Adn that is the goal, not job description. But even within this organisation, under a different boss, I'd have been fired probably already. Or at least given several warnings. So they see the value I bring. The ultimate sign of trust was that I was given a permission to be away every other week, in another country, to do research. That is for us as well though. And I still get paid in full, but I have to do all the work as well. He knows I would have done it anyway and left the company should have they said no. The job was more challenging (research). Still... we're talking about millions of euros, and saving faces of not one but a small group of directors.. and no recognition what so ever. I took the heat of doing this on the side, failing would have meant the door. Success... well, nothing.

[-Jrabbit]

It's a depressing story, and very typical of some of my corporate experiences. Non-mandated work is generally doomed, no matter how positive the results. More than once, I saw other people or departments getting full credit for ideas I initiated and/or executed. Because if it's not in your job description or project list - the things on which evaluations are judged - it's a waste of your time career-wise. Not logical, not fair, and very frustrating. Organizations love to talk about loyalty and the big picture, but those things are buzzwords, not reality. It's a hard lesson.

Eventually, I learned that the key is to negotiate a firm list of things on which your next evaluation will be judged. Then focus all your efforts on those items, and only those items, to maximize your professional benefits. The next time you have a million-dollar idea, make sure it's officially one of your tasks. Guerilla brilliance just makes people in power positions look bad.

The thing that's a bit surprising is that there is a very specific financial benefit to this project. Usually there's someone ready to take the credit (the bonus) and tap that resource (Pekka) for similar future projects. My guess is that you made someone else look bad to their superior by destroying a project on which they were being judged.

[rah]

In local terms, yes. My salary alone is among top for daily work. I also get paid OT if I choose, which I usually opt out.

The best things in my work are, and are rare:
1) I have a great boss (rare)
2) I can prioritise my work freely without permission (= do what I want)
3) I don't have regular hours, as long as I come in somewhat regularly and wash myself
4) I don't need to report to anyone (and I don't)
5) I have 0 % margin up to 250kEUR loan, all my insurances 50 % and the best health care platinum card one can have, which includes all the previous conditions as well (cannot buy with money anymore).

On top of all that you need recognition? Sorry, no sympathy on this one from here.
Most would consider that a dream job.

I only get mad about lack of recognition when some of the items you listed are non-existent.

Yeah official recognition is nice but getting a good pay check can be recognition enough.

[Pekka]

Exactly Jrabbit.

This was engineered differently. The people who made the ill choices before were the ones who I wanted to plant the hero status on, so they would not resist. Department X made a huge error (in my opinion) and spent all that money. I fought it, failed, and few years later, started to work to fix the situation (because it was not working, spenditure was not my priority), got funding from Department Y. They loved the whole vision and fast results, so we decided to do a whole end to end service out of it, and it still cost less than the initial thing. But a lot of people ended up looking bad. Well, more like incompetent. And I did not go through thouse people, as logic escapes them and they were in denial. From my point of view, we needed it from security perspective, whether they wanted it or not. So I worked it, and we don't even know the end result, it could help some other services as well for business analytics and make some money. All I know for sure is that it will be cheaper, serve more functions, and we don't pay the few million Euros for 2018. So very quantifiable, these are results from ending a contract that was bad for us. But bosses signed the deal and an employer made a better one, so at least I had the honors of pulling the plug without the "I told you so".

[pchang]

In Silicon Valley, we have a lot of "My company got bought and all I got was this t-shirt" t-shirts. Mine are actually polos, but I've still got 4 of them. I traded one to someone else for one of theirs.

[kentonio]

Wouldn't it be a risk taking a new job if you have the best healthcare already and might not be able to get it somewhere else? Or does it transfer across once you have it?

[Lorizael]

On top of all that you need recognition? Sorry, no sympathy on this one from here.

Agreed. Here are the perks of my job:

1) I can work in the evening, which lets me go to school during the day.
2) Nobody cares if I wear the jeans with holes in them.
3) Thinking not required.
4) I always have new stories about crazy customers.
5) The pay is exceedingly awful, which keeps me on my toes.

[The Mad Monk]

[The Mad Monk]

Agreed. Here are the perks of my job:

1) I can work in the evening, which lets me go to school during the day.
2) Nobody cares if I wear the jeans with holes in them.
3) Thinking not required.
4) I always have new stories about crazy customers.
5) The pay is exceedingly awful, which keeps me on my toes.

...so you're still a TA, then.