I feel like my career is stagnated as an IC. Moving up “levels” as an IC doesn’t necessarily mean change in visibility. I work at a 70 person startup and lead, senior, junior developer is just a random title that doesn’t necessarily mean higher salary or responsibility. I barely got a 2.5% bump in base and no additional stock grants when I got promoted. The whole reason for taking a pay cut and joining a startup was to get more visibility and a say in decision making. Unfortunately, I’m still excluded from such meetings. It’s the tech equivalent of being “friendzoned”. I tried asking to be included in the roadmap/planning meetings, and even though I got to go to 1 or 2 meetings, I find I have to keep asking to be included. I just can’t seem to get respected for spending 60-70 hours and contributing via coding/ unblocking most of my team, doing releases on time and in general making sure stuff works. I was made a namesake manager for a couple of folks last year( I say namesake because I still had to do all my ic work in addition to conducting 1-on-1s and acting as the tech lead/ scrum master for a larger group, while still being uninvited to larger impactful meetings) Overall, I just feel under-appreciated and over-worked. Is there a way to come out of this “being overlooked” mode of things ? Is there a way to get hired directly as a manager in another startup with ~8 months of managing experience for a small team? TL;dR over-worked and under-appreciated at startup as IC, can I be hired as manager somewhere else?
The story you told is the story that I have experienced myself and have seen in others. The bottom line at startups is that the founders are Kings. If you don't have their patronage, you are a nobody. What makes you think that things will be different in other startups?
I don’t even necessarily want to be a manager. But I do know I can add value to discussions involving broader scope of the company’s direction. And 60 hours of coding is taking a toll
Kids these days. Barely 8 months and wants visibility. Slow down, bud
I’ve been at said startup over 3.5 years now. Total ~10 years of industry exp
Ok, that’s different. I didn’t realize the tenure was longer. You could wait until you manager screws up, and step up when it happens. I’ve seen this happening multiple times, but not to me.
who are the people that the founder trusts? long time friends? did they know each other before the company began?
Yep. The founder mostly trusts the original 5. I’m employee #16. I had a person who the founder trusted in my corner up until 2 months ago. Ever since he quit, I’m more invisible than usual. New manager doesn’t understand what my value add is. I’m at a point where I’ll have to prove myself all over again. Not sure if I want to put the effort in, considering there is no reward in sight
I was there once. it's their company, they're not interested in having you make decisions. you're just a worker. when you take on that perspective it can be liberating. if that's not good enough, just move on amicably.
TLDR please.
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