Any workplace advancement horror stories?

I'll go first.

Worked for a fairly large (12,000 employee) company from 2008-2010 as a Desktop Support Tech. Sysadmin left for an internal sales position with a different business unit. Position didn't pan out and a year later he came back but his spot was filled, so he was put in the helpdesk. I should disclose the sysadmin had only been at his sysadmin role for three months prior to leaving--promoted from desktop support so he was very green.

A few months later his old job opens up when his replacement left state for another position with the company. By this time I had obtained my A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA 2003, and I had a 2 year degree in local area networking. He had nothing but experience and we were pretty equal in my eyes.

We both interviewed and I was given the job. Sounds like his former boss the manager of networking and systems didn't like that he bailed after 3 months and saw I was motivated. Makes sense, no problem right? WRONG

Our boss the head of customer support was just promoted to IT Director during this time and must have felt a sense of guilt or something for talking this guy into leaving for the sales job; He complained to HR that the hiring practice was unfair. HR pulled the sysadmin position. Shortly thereafter our Desktop Support Lead left and endorsed me but guess who landed the job? That's right the old sysadmin.

I was even pulled into the office of my new manager and told they would hate to see me leave but their hands were tied. So I knew something fishy was going on.

From that point on my new lead did everything he could to undermine me. Called me stupid in front of customers. I was on a support call in a closed office with no windows with my feet were up on my desk so he comes back and says "no sleeping". I turn around and say what? I'm not sleeping, I'm on a call and later that day I get called in by our manager and get told I need to move my desk so it's right in front of the office door.

I was literally one word or crooked smile away from workplace violence. I loved my job, I liked the company and my co-workers but I jumped on craigs and found another position. This was one of the scariest moments of my life. I was comfortable making $50,000 a year and finally had a real IT job. Leaving for the unknown... Ended up making tad more and then received a huge raise when the new company promoted me to network admin.

I just checked the dude has yet to get that admin spot 7 years later.

For any young guys my advice is work hard, keep your personal life personal, and be kind. Karma has a funny way of working.

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Comments

cyberguypr

I remember back in early 2000s I wanted to move from desktop support to the network team. Several technicians in my team interviewed. I was definitely the one with the strongest networking experience, certs, etc. They ended up picking a guy that was super green. I had the support of the desktop support manager from the beginning so after selection happened he came to me and told me that I wasn't chosen because the manager wanted someone "docile". I was initially very upset but it worked out OK in the long run because the guy who got selected later on accepted that working for the new manager sucked and he never took his input. He ended up quitting after a year.

olaHalo

No bad stories from me. Went from $9.00 an hour to 110000k in about 4 years.

But a common one ive seen is people who have been at a company for a few years and get paid X.
Then newer people get hired for much more to do the same job.
Then the older employee gets a promotion or raise and he is still lower than the rates of his newer coworkers.

ITSec14

Haven't really had any horror stories, but that right there would have infuriated me as well! I guess things happen for a reason though. I've learned that most managers/fellow employees that try and throw people under the bus often feel threatened by those individuals and lack confidence. Those people don't typically do well in their careers or in life for that matter.

NetworkNewb

olaHalo wrote: »

No bad stories from me. Went from $9.00 an hour to 110000k in about 4 years.

No bad stories from me either... But on another related note I got a hole in one in golf when I was 14 years old.

PC509

I was a tech support guy that moved up to sys admin when the other guy left. I was having fun. It was great. But, I also had tech support duties along with the other new guy they hired.

Apparently, the new guy wanted to move up. So, he'd tell people that he couldn't fix their issue and that I would call them back (and give them a time). Of course, he never relayed that to me. A few weeks later, the boss calls me into his office and I'm let go. Too many unreturned calls and customers were pissed. Joy. The decision was already made... ****.

Oh well, I moved on and eventually moved up. Still, some people will stab you in the back for something they want. CYA, make notes, email verification, etc.. And, don't be an *******. Don't stab people in the back for something you want.

ITSec14

PC509 wrote: »

I was a tech support guy that moved up to sys admin when the other guy left. I was having fun. It was great. But, I also had tech support duties along with the other new guy they hired.

Apparently, the new guy wanted to move up. So, he'd tell people that he couldn't fix their issue and that I would call them back (and give them a time). Of course, he never relayed that to me. A few weeks later, the boss calls me into his office and I'm let go. Too many unreturned calls and customers were pissed. Joy. The decision was already made... ****.

Oh well, I moved on and eventually moved up. Still, some people will stab you in the back for something they want. CYA, make notes, email verification, etc.. And, don't be an *******. Don't stab people in the back for something you want.

Wow...I'm actually surprised your boss didn't bother to investigate though. Taking the word of a new guy over someone with more seniority? Messed up...This is why ticketing systems exist for tracking of issues and ensuring follow up. When I was a sysadmin, I had a few helpdesk people try and pass blame on to me for not resolving higher level issues when users complained, but I was able to dispute those claims by audit logs in the ticketing system.

dhay13

Well I was hired as a Sys Admin (there were 2 of us) for a family owned company of about 90 employees. Before me there was the manager and a Sys Admin. The IT Manager retired so they hired a new Sys Admin and kept them both at the same level. The new Sys Admin was only there a few months and left for another job. I talked to him later and he said he knew after one month that he could never work for a place that ran their IT dept. like that. I was hired to replace that guy and it was bad. Only one DC and when I asked the other guy he said he didn't think you could have more than one DC on a network. None of the servers or workstations had any updates installed in 2 years. I asked why and his response was that sometimes updates cause problems so he just didn't update anything. We had no A/V on any servers. I asked why and was told that we don't surf the internet with servers so we don't need it. This guy was technically my equal but management went to him with all questions. I plead my case with the single DC and even went to management. They went back to him and he told them it was a waste of money and wasn't necessary. A few months later that DC crashed and shut everything down. It took about 3 weeks to get everything back to normal. His response to management was that it was a hardware failure that was unpredictable. There were a few issues with us trying to override each other as we were equals so management promoted him to Sr. Sys Admin and made him my boss. I found out after I left that he had lied to management and me about several things (management realized it too but I was already gone). He is still there. Just glad to be out of there.

naclh2onaz

olaHalo wrote: »

But a common one ive seen is people who have been at a company for a few years and get paid X.
Then newer people get hired for much more to do the same job.
Then the older employee gets a promotion or raise and he is still lower than the rates of his newer coworkers.

This is the exact reason im job hunting now

BuhRock

olaHalo wrote: »

No bad stories from me. Went from $9.00 an hour to 110000k in about 4 years.

But a common one ive seen is people who have been at a company for a few years and get paid X.
Then newer people get hired for much more to do the same job.
Then the older employee gets a promotion or raise and he is still lower than the rates of his newer coworkers.

Ha, is it the same if I went from $18/hr to 115k/yr in 2?