Re: Would you be angry?

[Shelley Strong <sstrong -at- TECHREPS -dot- COM>]

Richard Anderson wrote of not getting a raise when all of the developers did.

Richard, maybe after leaving, your old company will realize just how
irreplaceable you are and how underpaid you were and want you back.  Whether
they could get you back would be _completely_ up to you.  (And wouldn't it
be fun!)  Case in point:

I knew someone who left her job under oppressive circumstances (overworked,
underpaid, underappreciated, etc.).  She took a new job in the same town.

Two weeks after she started it, her old boss called her and "casually" asked
how the new job was.  She responded that it was good.  In reality, she HATED
it and wanted her old job back, but she was going to play VERY hard to get
because she already heard the pleading tone in her old boss's voice.

After some begging on his part and some tough negotiating on her part, she
got her old job back, kissed the "new" horrible one goodbye, got her desired
raise and more respect and power when she returned.  There apparently were
no (or few) hard feelings toward her on the part of management.  She was
well-liked and respected when I worked for her, which I think was only a
year or so after this "dance" occurred.

OTOH, (putting on devil's advocate guise) maybe they want you to leave?  Is
there ANY legitimate reason they might? (Taking off devil's advocate guise)

At any rate, I sympathize.  BTW, I'd leave ASAP.  Whatever happens next,
work won't get any better for you until you leave your current job, no
matter what their reason for "overlooking" you for a raise.

Good luck, Richard, in whatever you decide to do.

Shelley R. Strong,              We are all apprentices in a craft where no one
Technical Editor                 ever becomes a master. - Ernest Hemingway
Albuquerque, NM
sstrong -at- techreps -dot- com
(505) 266-5678 ext. 264