Career Advice Needed

apr911

Hey all,

I could really use some career advice before I end up committing career suicide (At least at this company).

First let me give you a little background.

I hold my MCSE with Security Designation, my Comptia Security+ and my CISSP. I joined my current company in January of this year after a long arduous interview process that saw three separate job offers spanning a very very wide range of salaries before finally settling on my current role.

The positions I interviewed for were:
1st - Level 2 Sys Admin (salary approx. 70k) - Offer withdrawn; budget
2nd - Call center support (salary approx. 35k) - Offer declined
3rd - Level 1 Sys Admin (salary approx. 55k) - Offer accepted

I accepted the Level 1 Sys Admin role on the understanding that if I worked hard and proved myself, I could become a level 2 within 6 months.

I started work on my team and I loved it. Within a month, I had volunteered to fill gap on another team and once replacement was found for me on that team I stepped up again and filled another gap on a different team, this time taking a paycut of 5% or $2500.

This 3rd team is the team I still work for.

Because this 3rd team is in a different department (same division though), I found my promotion pushed back by 2 months as they are on a different promotion schedule. No big deal I thought. I figured the fact I now volunteered and filled 2 important roles and I was now taking a paycut, I would be well taken care of when the time came.

Well the time has come and I just received word the other day they want to promote me!

Great I thought...

After talking it through with my direct manager, I found the salary to be much lower than expected. They want to bump my salary by 5k to approx 60k total comp. I know with my certs and experience I could very easily leave this company and make significantly more than that amount but I do legitimately like this job. However, even overlooking the market value which I knew full well I would not receive with this company, this offer is about 10k or 10-15% below the company mid-point for Level 2 admins.

Further, after considering the paycut I took to come to this team the promotion salary might as well be nothing as I now have 4 months of reduced wages to make up for. I did the math and as near as I can tell, Ill be working for the next 3 months before that salary increase even hits the break even point with the total compensation I would have collected if I had never left my old team to come to this team and thats before considering the fact I would have been promoted two months earlier.

I tried to discuss it with my manager but seeing as he thinks does not think highly of me, I did not make much headway on that front and was informed none to gently it was not open for discussion.

I have been promoted in the past at other companies and have never found myself where the terms of the promotion were dictated by the employer. There was always some negotiation and discussion about the new job and responsibilities. So now Im stuck in a quandary.

Despite the issues with my manager, I legitimately like this job, the work and the hours and even with the issues with my manager we have reached a detente where as long as I complete my work he leaves me alone.

So the way I see it, I have 5 options:
1. Go to higher manager. I have networked extensively with higher management and I am well liked there so I know they would hear me out as I have a very good and open relationship with them. Since I have stepped up and filled 2 vital gaps for them in the past 6 months there is a chance they might step in but my concern here is it could very well be career suicide and I dont know it would yield any results as I know they would be at the very least hesitant to step into it.

2. Apply for internal transfer. I dont want to leave my current team as like I said, I do enjoy the work and the hours and soon we will have another manager so my "problem" manager will be less involved. I also dont know that this will yield results as it is possible Ill be moved to a different team and not get anything out of it or horrors, another paycut.

3. Turn down the job offer. I dont think this is actually an option. Not only was the salary dictated to me but so too was the fact I was being promoted. There was no "do you wish to accept" it was pretty much your an L2 heres your salary now get lost. This wouldnt provide any real results either as I already do the job of an L2 so why would I turn down any increase of pay just because it doesnt meet my expectations. It also again could be career suicide.

4. Accept the job offer and live with it. No real results would come from this either.

5. Bide my time and leave the company as soon as feasible aka come January 2011. Again, I do like my job which is why I havent already left for greener pastures but really this was way below my wildest expectations.

So as you can see, I have 5 options laid out in front of me. Options 4 and 5 dont do anything for me. Options 1 and 3 could be career suicide. Option 2 sounds the best but I really dont want to leave the team either.

Thoughts? Ideas? Am I wrong to feel disrespected and spit on by the company in this situation?

Mojo_666

Accpet the offer (option 4) then work on option 5, it is suprising how people come arround when you are actually handing in your notice.

apr911

Thanks for the advice Mojo.

Ive been thinking about it more lately and I think I might go with a option 3-2-5 route.

Since it would take 3 months of new salary to make up for the reduced wages I have on the team, if I were to remain on this team in my current role until Im ready to exercise option 5 in January my total wage reduction would be only around $1250-1500 Gross. Which to me is an acceptable amount of missed wages vs taking the promotion and the increased responsibility/expectation.

On the other hand if I exercise option 2 and move back to my old team (which has repeatedly stated they want me back), by the time Im ready to exercise option 5, my total wage reduction would be around $800-900 gross and I could potentially be promoted with them come January and get the correct salary in which case I wouldnt need to exercise option 5, Id hit break even in February, about a month behind my current breakeven point and beyond that Id be break even with my new salary late February/early March at which point my gains would far outweigh the current offered salary.

I think this option is the best as it is a short term and smaller acceptable loss for a long term and greater gains.