| Without knowing you or your workplace exactly, there's two buckets this falls into. The first is nefarious, where your manager took advantage of you to provide output and will replace you with someone else eager. In this case the only solution is leave and try to determine the red flags that led you to this point to avoid joining another role with the same demands. The second possibility is that there's a missing communication gap here. As you've discovered, effort alone is not the key to success. Effort may get you between basic levels, e.g. Programmer 1 to Programmer 2, but not necessarily from Programmer to Team Lead where there's more expectations beyond technical skills like mentoring, working between organizations, etc Some questions to ask yourself and possibly discuss further with manager: 1. Why did the 70+ hours go on for a year? Was this coming down from top level or self imposed? Where was the communication about sustainability, or outcomes upon completion? 2. Where was the 1:1s and check-ins during this project that you got to the end before knowing the outcome? You own your 1:1s, use them to discuss your career goals, advancement, and blockers, not just as a status update. Schedule them if your manager isn't. 3. Was your manager previously aware of your desire to get promoted? Remember, not everyone wants to get promoted. Have you previously discussed goals, measures, and skills to obtain this? 4. If you previously discussed the goals and measures, why did this 70+hr/wk project not align with these goals? This in particular is a failure of management. "Crunch time" is a given in industry at times, but this seems into Death March territory if it was top-down. 4(b). If the previously discussed goals did align with this project, what else is missing that didn't get met? If everything did get met, argue to that positioning and discussion rather than "I worked really hard and made a thing." 5. How was your communication of the work you were performing and completing? Sell benefits, not features. Did others perhaps think that you worked long hours because of your lack of skill, thus requiring more hours to make it up? |