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My last job was a corporate hellscape. I worked really hard to move up to assistant manager, then corporate put me in a failing store on the other side of the s

My last job was a corporate hellscape. I worked really hard to move up to assistant manager, then corporate put me in a failing store on the other side of the state and just left me to rot. I had zero employees, just me and the manager. We constantly got berated for not meeting sales targets, which meant corporate sent us less product to sell, so our numbers got worse... Then there was the mandatory unpaid overtime, the 12 hour days running the entire store solo. It nearly put me in the hospital, and I'm not exaggerating. Then I got an unbelievable offer for a tech job ten minutes from my house. It was "only" twice my corporate salary, and I'm definitely being way underpaid for essentially being the senior R&D engineer. But it pays enough that my husband doesn't have to work and we don't want for anything. My job is so much fun, and my dedication is definitely noticed and appreciated. They've already given me a raise unprompted, and once we have enough revenue, I expect I'll get a much bigger one. Not that I really care about the money, I feel respected here, and I get to use all of my talents instead of cold-calling people to sell more crap. I'll never go back to that corporate life. It was absolutely soul crushing for someone who has a lot of initiative and a lot of skills. This is where I was meant to be.

neeleshs 3y ago
Curious question - how did you make the transition from being a store manager to an R&D Engineer? Was this a skill you already possessed but couldn't utilize before?
- dopidopHN 3y ago
  My previous R&D lead was a store manager just before as well. He was a stellar lead. Maybe there is some untapped potential in all the store managers of the world?
  - xyzelement 3y ago
    I actually bet your experience holding it down and getting shit done in that failing store was a good reflection of your ability and character and helped you get the next gig.
  - skeeter2020 3y ago
    I bet they're great at solving a million little problems, shielding devs and getting shit done. If that's your priority/emphasis they'd be a great source of solid employees.
    - red-iron-pine 3y ago
      "the finest steel comes from the hottest dumpster fires" and man is retail often a non-stop dumpster fire. ditto for a lot of other service-ish jobs.
  - flatline 3y ago
    So-called “soft skills” are essential to effective management and hence team cohesion, employee happiness, and lots of other hard to measure metrics which still contribute directly to the bottom line and the team’s ability to deliver. Someone with minimal technical skills and great people skills can still effectively lead strong technical teams. If those skills are not present on a team at all, they will struggle 100% of the time. Nobody may even recognize the struggle if there is no one who can identify these things.
  - gopher_space 3y ago
    > Maybe there is some untapped potential in all the store managers of the world? McDonalds is a great leadership pipeline because there's no reason for a competent assistant manager to stick around.
- distract8901 3y ago
  Pretty much. I took the retail job because I couldn't find a programming job. Before that I was a video game programmer. I actually got hired here as a mid level unity programmer, but it quickly became clear that my other skills were more valuable. I've done electronics as a hobby for most of my life, and I just have a natural talent for engineering and problem solving. R&D is something I've wanted to do since I first heard of it at 10 years old. The stars just never aligned until now.
H8crilA 3y ago
Why did you not leave more or less immediately? I know that hindsight is 20/20, but still, it is pretty obvious you were not taken seriously at all.
- pierat 3y ago
  Thats a no-brainer, really. In the US (assumption of location), we have nearly no social net. We pay 30+% in taxes, but little to show for it if we lose jobs, or dealing with horrific jobs. And with the spates of homeless arrests, even sleeping under an overpass or rough camping is illegal. And of course, the worse the job, the less the pay, and the stickier the employees due to not being able to save. Ive been in similar situations, with terrible jobs, up to and including a manager who ordered me to lie to a state entity over his botched fix.
  - jjoonathan 3y ago
    Those who make income pay 30+% in taxes. Those who make capital gains do not. Of course, those who make capital gains don't need a social safety net, but discussions about taxes need to include both tax tracks because they behave so very differently.
    - lotsofpulp 3y ago
      If your effective income tax rate is 30%+ in the US, you either have a very high income, easily top decile, or you live/work in Oregon (but that’s only a few million people).
      - dmoy 3y ago
        $90k in NYC is >30% effective after federal, state, city, and FICA. But yea it's probably top 10%. If you include medical costs outside of FICA, which many other Western countries get for near free after taxes, then it looks... quite different.
        3y ago
xyzelement 3y ago
This is amazing, thank you for sharing the story and the contrast between a good and bad workplace. It's not that different than marriage - if both parties are committed to acting well, it's amazing. If either party slacks/abuses its a nightmare.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  That type of work environment is endemic to retail/hospitality/food service businesses. Combination of low quality of life at work and low pay.
biomcgary 3y ago
I've never worked in a large corporation, just academia and startups. The nature of exploitation in academia is reasonably well known and you pretty get much what you expect if you go in with eyes open (although there is variation depending on your academic advisor). I transitioned from academia to a startup that was far more exploitive than anything I experienced previously, but the exposure it gave led to another startup that has been the exact opposite (generous compensation and equity, great colleagues, etc). In each case (various academic labs and the two startups), my loyalty was to the biological problem we were trying to solve rather than to the institution. I selected advisors and startup based on the problem that we were trying to solve (e.g. improving drug development and human health). As long as I thought the institution was making progress, I was willing to overlook a lot. I suspect that the video game industry and a few others might (space!) have a lot of people with a similar view of loyalty (and levels of tolerated exploitation).

neeleshs 3y ago

Curious question - how did you make the transition from being a store manager to an R&D Engineer? Was this a skill you already possessed but couldn't utilize before?

dopidopHN 3y ago
My previous R&D lead was a store manager just before as well. He was a stellar lead. Maybe there is some untapped potential in all the store managers of the world?
- xyzelement 3y ago
  I actually bet your experience holding it down and getting shit done in that failing store was a good reflection of your ability and character and helped you get the next gig.
- skeeter2020 3y ago
  I bet they're great at solving a million little problems, shielding devs and getting shit done. If that's your priority/emphasis they'd be a great source of solid employees.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    "the finest steel comes from the hottest dumpster fires" and man is retail often a non-stop dumpster fire. ditto for a lot of other service-ish jobs.
- flatline 3y ago
  So-called “soft skills” are essential to effective management and hence team cohesion, employee happiness, and lots of other hard to measure metrics which still contribute directly to the bottom line and the team’s ability to deliver. Someone with minimal technical skills and great people skills can still effectively lead strong technical teams. If those skills are not present on a team at all, they will struggle 100% of the time. Nobody may even recognize the struggle if there is no one who can identify these things.
- gopher_space 3y ago
  > Maybe there is some untapped potential in all the store managers of the world? McDonalds is a great leadership pipeline because there's no reason for a competent assistant manager to stick around.
distract8901 3y ago
Pretty much. I took the retail job because I couldn't find a programming job. Before that I was a video game programmer. I actually got hired here as a mid level unity programmer, but it quickly became clear that my other skills were more valuable. I've done electronics as a hobby for most of my life, and I just have a natural talent for engineering and problem solving. R&D is something I've wanted to do since I first heard of it at 10 years old. The stars just never aligned until now.

H8crilA 3y ago

Why did you not leave more or less immediately? I know that hindsight is 20/20, but still, it is pretty obvious you were not taken seriously at all.

pierat 3y ago
Thats a no-brainer, really. In the US (assumption of location), we have nearly no social net. We pay 30+% in taxes, but little to show for it if we lose jobs, or dealing with horrific jobs. And with the spates of homeless arrests, even sleeping under an overpass or rough camping is illegal. And of course, the worse the job, the less the pay, and the stickier the employees due to not being able to save. Ive been in similar situations, with terrible jobs, up to and including a manager who ordered me to lie to a state entity over his botched fix.
- jjoonathan 3y ago
  Those who make income pay 30+% in taxes. Those who make capital gains do not. Of course, those who make capital gains don't need a social safety net, but discussions about taxes need to include both tax tracks because they behave so very differently.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    If your effective income tax rate is 30%+ in the US, you either have a very high income, easily top decile, or you live/work in Oregon (but that’s only a few million people).
    - dmoy 3y ago
      $90k in NYC is >30% effective after federal, state, city, and FICA. But yea it's probably top 10%. If you include medical costs outside of FICA, which many other Western countries get for near free after taxes, then it looks... quite different.
      - 3y ago

xyzelement 3y ago

This is amazing, thank you for sharing the story and the contrast between a good and bad workplace. It's not that different than marriage - if both parties are committed to acting well, it's amazing. If either party slacks/abuses its a nightmare.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
That type of work environment is endemic to retail/hospitality/food service businesses. Combination of low quality of life at work and low pay.

biomcgary 3y ago

I've never worked in a large corporation, just academia and startups. The nature of exploitation in academia is reasonably well known and you pretty get much what you expect if you go in with eyes open (although there is variation depending on your academic advisor). I transitioned from academia to a startup that was far more exploitive than anything I experienced previously, but the exposure it gave led to another startup that has been the exact opposite (generous compensation and equity, great colleagues, etc). In each case (various academic labs and the two startups), my loyalty was to the biological problem we were trying to solve rather than to the institution. I selected advisors and startup based on the problem that we were trying to solve (e.g. improving drug development and human health). As long as I thought the institution was making progress, I was willing to overlook a lot. I suspect that the video game industry and a few others might (space!) have a lot of people with a similar view of loyalty (and levels of tolerated exploitation).