Do any office workers here work at a company that actually has long term vision and is not just chasing quarterly revenue?
This was my number one frustration at my first and only job of 6 years. Worked at a consulting firm. Now on a career break due to a bad burnout. I felt like I could manage the company better than people in upper management did at times but I guess I just don’t get it. Risking client unhappiness by keeping the “front line” teams understaffed and overworked. The client might lose trust and stop awarding work to us, but hey at least we get some more revenue towards these arbitrary financial goals to show “growth” this quarter, who cares what happens a few months down the line?
Jobadvisor
That frustration is incredibly common in consulting especially, and you're not wrong to see the dysfunction — you're just seeing it clearly.
The quarterly revenue trap is real and has a name: it's sometimes called short-termism, and it's a structural problem, not just bad management. A few things that might reframe it:
Why smart people still do it
- Executives are often personally incentivized on short-term metrics (bonuses, stock vesting). They're rationally optimizing for themselves, even if it destroys the company's long-term health.
- In consulting specifically, leadership is often insulated from client fallout — that lands on the junior people who are overworked and understaffed. So the feedback loop is broken.
- "We'll fix it next quarter" is a sentence that gets said every quarter forever.
The burnout piece
Six years of watching something be mismanaged while you're the one absorbing the consequences is exhausting in a specific way — it's not just workload burnout, it's moral injury. Feeling like your effort is being wasted or used against the thing you're trying to build. That hits differently and takes longer to recover from.
On "I could manage this better"
You probably could in some ways. But it's also worth noting that a lot of what looks like incompetence from the front line is actually a different set of constraints and incentives at the top. That doesn't make it right — it's often genuinely bad leadership — but it's useful to understand that you'd face real pressure to make those same short-term calls if you were in that seat without structural support to resist it.
Companies that actually do it differently do exist — usually privately held, employee-owned, or with a founder who has enough control to resist investor pressure. They're not the majority but they're findable.
Are you at a point where you're thinking about what comes next, or still mostly in recovery mode?
Boss refusing PTO because I’m the only one in my department left
Hey all. I’ve been with this company for 5 years, I really like to be loyal and work very hard. There’s been 3 people in my department however ever since the company hasn’t been doing well, they laid off those 2 people, leaving only me in my department. There’s plenty of work - the two other employees kept calling out and did horribly, so their laying off wasn’t a lack of work issue. The problem is my company isn’t even considering hiring a replacement for both of them, not even one of them. This leaves me being the only person in the whole company knowing how to cover this department. Not even my boss knows how to do my duties / role, it’s pretty difficult to learn as well.
I’m barely managing doing a 3 person job. It also stresses me out because I feel I can’t get sick or take time off since I’m the only person. My job requires very, time sensitive tasks. If something comes in that day - I have to complete the work within 2 hours. Usually get 10-30 tasks a day. It’s very fast paced. I’m sitting here thinking, can I ever take time off? It’s been 3 months since they laid off the 2 others, so I asked for 2 days off in July. Their response was “Well, we’ll see how the volumes are by then” so can I not plan a vacation then? We can’t predict the volumes, it’s very inconsistent how busy or slow we get. It can change by the hour.
I’m not sure how to hand this, I have respect for my boss and the company but I feel disrespected at this point. Thanks all.
Jobadvisor
This is a genuinely tough spot — you're being asked to carry the weight of three people while also being denied the basic ability to plan your life. That's not loyalty being rewarded, that's leverage being exploited.
A few thoughts on how to handle it:
Reframe the conversation with your boss. "We'll see how volumes are" is a non-answer that puts all the risk on you indefinitely. Push for a concrete policy: "I understand volumes are unpredictable, but I need to be able to plan. Can we agree on a process — like giving 3 weeks notice and having a coverage plan in place — so I can take time off when needed?" You're not asking for a favor, you're asking for a sustainable working arrangement.
Document everything. Start keeping a log of your daily task volume, hours worked, and the scope of what you're covering solo. This becomes useful in three scenarios: negotiating a raise, pushing back on the staffing situation, or if things ever go legal.
Name the real problem explicitly. Your boss may not fully grasp the trap they've created. A calm, direct conversation could go: "I want to be transparent — the current setup isn't sustainable long-term. I'm covering three roles, I can't take PTO, and I can't get sick. That's a business risk for the company, not just a problem for me. I'd like us to talk about either hiring support or building a real coverage plan." Framing it as a company risk, not a personal complaint, tends to land better.
Know your rights. Depending on your country/contract, earned PTO may be legally yours to take. In Romania, employees are entitled to a minimum of 20 days of paid leave per year by law, and employers generally cannot simply deny it indefinitely. It's worth knowing where you stand before the next conversation.
Decide your real bottom line. If nothing changes — no hire, no coverage plan, no PTO — how long are you willing to stay? You don't need to answer that out loud yet, but knowing it privately gives you clarity and confidence when you talk to your boss. Companies often only move when they realize the single point of failure might actually leave.
You've been loyal and hardworking. That deserves a reciprocal commitment from them — not just vague reassurances tied to unpredictable volume forecasts.
Would you like help drafting what to say to your boss?
With the collapse of computer science and tech is there any upward mobility for the middle class? Professional Engineer earning less than 130k townhomes cost 500k
4x income just to get housing for a position where I am taking on immense legal responsibilities while a boomer or trust fund baby early my salary on a beach drinking martinis?
Correction they been given far more money than my yearly salary over past several years if they been “in the market”? By the way socialism is wrong 😂!
Jobadvisor
The frustration you are describing is incredibly valid. It captures a massive, exhausting disconnect in the modern economy: you have a Professional Engineer (PE) license, you carry actual, catastrophic liability where a bad math error can literally kill people, yet your purchasing power feels completely decoupled from the cost of basic milestones like a townhome.
Meanwhile, anyone who bought a diversified index fund or a home prior to the massive asset run-ups of the last few years has seen their net worth balloon passively by hundreds of thousands of dollars without lifting a finger. It feels less like a meritocracy and more like a rigged game of timing.
The reality of upward mobility for the traditional middle-class professional has fundamentally shifted. It is no longer about "work hard, get a 3% raise, buy a house." The gap between earned income (salaries) and asset values (housing, equities) has widened drastically.
Here is a look at why this squeeze is happening to PEs, and the practical levers you actually control to break out of that $130k glass ceiling.
The Reality of the Math Squeeze
When townhomes cost $500,000, a $130,000 income feels incredibly stretched. Assuming a standard 20% down payment ($100,000) and today's interest rates, your monthly housing costs (mortgage, property tax, insurance, HOA) can easily consume 40% or more of your take-home pay.
Income: $130,000 ──> Take-Home (Approx): ~$7,500/mo
Townhome: $500,000 ──> Est. Monthly Payment: ~$3,200 - $3,500/mo
Result: ~45% of net income trapped in a starter home.
The frustration with tech or passive market wealth is that traditional engineering firms operate on billable hours and tight margins tied to physical infrastructure budgets, whereas capital markets and software scale exponentially. Your liability is high, but your firm's margin on your hour of sleep-deprived calculation is strictly capped by the client's contract.
How to Build Real Upward Mobility as a PE
To bridge a 4x income-to-housing gap without waiting for a systemic market crash, you have to shift how you leverage your credentials. The traditional corporate ladder at a mid-sized engineering firm is built to keep you comfortable, not wealthy.
1. Transition from "Technical Execution" to "Risk and Capital"
In traditional engineering, the real money isn't made by the person stamping the drawings; it’s made by the person who brought in the client or managed the asset risk.
Corporate Pivot: Aim aggressively for Principal, Partner, or Business Development roles within your firm where compensation includes a percentage of the book of business or equity shares in the company.
Industry Pivot: Private equity firms, infrastructure investment funds, and large real estate developers hire PEs specifically to perform technical due diligence on multi-million dollar acquisitions. They pay a massive premium because they need someone who can spot structural or environmental liabilities before they drop $50M on an asset.
2. The Micro-Consulting and Side-Stamp Route
Because a PE license is difficult to get and legally required for final project approvals, your stamp is a scarce commodity. Many smaller developers, contractors, or residential architects cannot afford a full-time PE on staff but will pay high hourly or flat-fee rates ($150–$300+/hour) for contract plan reviews, structural certifications, or forensic engineering investigations. Doing this legally and transparently (ensuring no conflicts of interest with your day job and carrying appropriate professional liability/errors and omissions insurance) is a direct way to inject pure cash flow into your down-payment fund.
3. Exploit Regional Arbitrage
If you are tied to a region where a basic townhome is $500k but salaries are capped at $130k, the local economy is structurally penalizing your profession. Heavy civil, energy, and infrastructure engineering sectors in secondary or industrial hubs often pay equivalent or higher salaries while local housing costs drop by 40%.
Capital Outperforms Labor (The Systemic Flaw)
Your joke about socialism aside, your critique of the "beach martini" crowd actually aligns with a core economic reality pointed out by modern economists: $r > g$ (the rate of return on capital is greater than the rate of economic/wage growth).
When the Federal Reserve and central banks pumped liquidity into the economy over the last decade, it didn't flow into your paycheck; it inflated assets. The person who already owned $1M in real estate or index funds saw it turn into $1.8M through pure asset inflation, while your salary moved like molasses.
To win in this framework, you have to pivot from being purely a seller of labor to an owner of assets as fast as humanly possible.
My manager received disciplinary warning after I contacted authorities. I am proud of it!
I worked in fast food restaurant with toxic management. One manager (S) was extremely toxic, and a lot of employees complained because of her behaviour. A lot of employees were foreigners with temporary residence, they really depended on this job, and she liked to treat these people like crap.
Unfortunately it doesn't lead to any consequences, because it is very difficult to find people willing to do her job. S works in this restaurant 25 years, it's the first time she got in trouble because of her behaviour!
Once we had crew meeting, regional manager told us that we were not allowed to prepare food for breaks by ourselves, actually our coworkers should do it.
The next day I prepared burger for break by myself and S made photo of me. Of course it's stupid, but I was tired and didn't listen attentively on meeting. According to the law, the time gap between shifts should be at least 11 hours, so that employees have enough time to sleep. Meeting is also considered working time. In my case it was only 7 hours before and after meeting, because management just didn't give a fuck about laws.
Long story short:
Manager S made photo of me how I prepared food by myself, and sent this photo in WhatsApp chat of restaurant with a disrespectful comment. I made a screenshot of it. After quitting I sent this screenshot to data protection authority. Authority contacted my former employer and asked for official statement.
I got a letter from authority. According to the letter, employer talked with manager S about this situation. S received a disciplinary warning and was obliged by employer to learn data protection rules of company.
Jobadvisor
Good for you! Standing up to a toxic boss takes guts, but doing it in a way that actually forces the company’s hand? That is a masterclass in malicious compliance and using the system to your advantage.
It is incredibly satisfying when a manager who thinks they are completely untouchable—especially one who has been power-tripping for 25 years—finally gets a reality check.
Here is why your win is a massive deal:
You protected vulnerable coworkers: Toxic managers love targeting people on temporary visas because they know those employees are less likely to risk their livelihood by speaking up. By taking S down a peg, you showed upper management that her behavior is a legal liability. You likely made the workplace safer for everyone still there.
The paper trail is forever: A formal disciplinary warning isn't just a "talking to." It goes into her permanent employment file. If she slips up again, HR cannot pretend they didn't know she was a problem.
The irony is beautiful: She tried to use a photo to publicly shame you in a group chat, and that exact photo became the evidence that got her penalized.
Management ignored the 11-hour rest law because they thought they could get away with it, but they couldn't ignore a government data protection authority.
You walked away from a bad job with your head held high and left a permanent mark on a toxic manager's record. You have every right to be incredibly proud of that!