This seems to be a trend in my professional career. 1st some background -
I work for a retail company, in their IT department. I've worked there a number of years.
When I started, I was a Test Analyst Lead working under a Test Analyst title, but still doing the work of a Test Analyst Lead.
It was really good for the company, but a complete Catch-22 for me - why?
Turned out whenever I would demonstrate any 'leadership' skills, I'd be told I wasn't focused enough on actual testing of the solution, and so on.
And when I'd show that this was false - that I had in fact understood how the various solutions worked, and ran enough tests and found enough issues to get fixed - I'd be told that I didn't show enough 'leadership'.
Pretty good for my employer - they got the work of a Test Analyst AND and Test Analyst Lead, for the salary of a Test Analyst.
I got tired of watching people I'd train (or were less competent at the role; or who viewed me as some sort of threat to them) move upward and onward on my accomplishments. In fact it wasn't until I keyed a director who supported one of the solutions I tested onto this, that things began to change. Only then did I finally earn a promotion to that lead-level role - and likely because doing so was also in the interests of the management.
Of course my own management probably didn't like this approach to getting what I had demonstrated I had accomplished years ago. So I got buried in a number of projects. Indeed my-then manager had by this time been further promoted, and I had had enough. But then something unexpected happened.
Along the way our group got a new VP. And he took an interest in me. And this person was different than previous ones. This VP actually seemed to respect me. This VP actually asked ME to set up time w/THEM so they could get to know ME.
Fucked up, eh?
Anyways, he took the time to inquire as to what my interests were, where I wanted to head, and all that. I was honest and was candid, and he even took down notes. When I expressed an interest in a project that was brand new to the company, he said he'd look into whether I could be a Lead Test Analyst there.
Well that didn't sit well with my management. They told me I was wasting my time. They told me I wasn't qualified. They told me I didn't have enough skill, or passion, or fortitude to survive, and that I shouldn't bother to apply. Only after did I find out that they had in fact chosen someone else for the role in that project; and that they were really only trying to not have me apply, so I wouldn't be even considered.
That VP I mentioned - well when I told him what happened, he got really pissed, and he said he'd do something about it. A couple of days later, my director contacted me and told me that there - suddenly - was an opening, but for a different role. He said that I could try working on supporting production deployments. I talked with a couple of people, and they advised me to pursue it, as it was an opportunity in this particular project that I'd never get a chance to otherwise be in. So I decided to give it a shot.
(One thing to note - even though I took on this role, it didn't result in a change in pay or title).
What shit I went through.
Remember how I mentioned that some people felt threatened by me - my mere existence? Well it turns out one of those people never stopped seeing me that way because they taunted me at every turn starting from Day 1. If I didn't know something, or got something wrong, I was vilified by this person. I was taunted, and told I didn't belong there. And whenever there was some degree of conflict, this person's m.o. was to simply add more layers of management to any communication about the issue, which resulted in them coming down on me. Only the lead project manager would stand up for me back then.
Now in all fairness, I was new in both the project and the role. And I'm thinking this person felt that I had 'complained' my way into the role. What I later found out from the PM was that this person had in fact applied for the very role I was assigned to. That they didn't get it, and I did must have bothered them (despite the fact they'd been doing this role for few years in another area).
But I didn't 'get' this role - I was given a shot at it. Remember, no title change or pay increase - which meant I had to prove I could do the job.
Of course it helped that - except for most of other PMs aside from the lead PM - practically everyone on the project was more than helpful and willing to help me out. And I did listen and learn - both about the underlying technology and the way to deploy things to production that made sense for our business. I even learned things from this other person as well.
And in time, I earned peoples' respect and trust. The project delivered successfully, and even something better was achieved. Together with the lead PM (and other leads on the project), we worked out a scaled and continuous deployment process that allowed for maximum delivery in a cadenced fashion. Along the way, I literally wrote the guide for doing this form of scaled deployment in our company.
Eventually by the time the project began winding down, I was finally rewarded with a title change and pay increase. Which perhaps was good timing in that the portfolio I was in chose to eliminate all Lead Test Analysts as employees. You could say I dodged a bullet.
But wait - there's more to come ... Stay tuned for Part 2.
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