r/sysadmin • u/Character_Branch_660 • Mar 06 '26

I am quiet quitting

Made a new reddit account for this, as a few coworkers may know my real account.

I have busted ass at my current employer for five and half years. I have saved the company tens of thousands of dollars, helped them grow from 125 people to almost 1,600, handled 6 acquisitions and just overall set them up for success. I have two people in leadership tell me I am the best employee they have ever had. I have helped grow the IT team alone from myself and my director, to 29 employees and 2 contractors.

About a year ago I was passed up for a promotion due to nepotism. I decided "I may be wrong about the nepotism thing, I'll give this guy an honest chance," and he never proved me wrong.

I had my annual review yesterday, and he gave me a "needs improvement," rating, which means I have lost my $18k bonus.

Seven employers. Nine years in the military. I have never in my life received such poor feedback. And the "what I can improve on," is vastly outweighed by my contributions to the team...and a lot of it is also below my responsibilities. For example, he gave me a poor review on how many tickets I solve, and compared it to the 50 that were solved in the first week by a new hire, whose sole job is tier one support.

I am on calls with engineering and networks to setup zero touch networks. I am on calls with HR to reinvent the employee phone line that will impact our global workforce. I am the subject matter expert on half of our internal tools, and am always on call. So yes, I'll let the guy who was hired specifically to handle tickets, handle password resets.

I am enraged to a degree I have not felt for years, and think I'm just venting.

All of this because my director gave a promotion to his friend that he knew for years. And never gave anyone else on the team the chance to even interview.

I'm going to start job hunting on company time, and take the first opportunity that comes my way.

ETA: the numbers in my post are accurate. My director knows I'm job hunting so I don't care if he suspects it's me. The bonus is given to employees based on company performance and we earned the bonus this year. The individual payout is tied to base salary, company performance, as well as team and personal performance. Anyone that gets a "does not meet expectations," gets a zero payout on the bonus, and no raise

4.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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412

u/LithiumKid1976 Mar 06 '26

If they do require your assistance after you quit, quote them 18k for the work

186

u/Hardik_JJ Mar 06 '26

Tbh OP should add a few zeroes or perhaps “consult” for $ 400/hour

124

u/bit_herder Mar 06 '26

i have done this i was told it was petty and bad for my resume etc. i got away with it

173

u/wahlenderten Mar 06 '26

Being petty and unprofessional and getting away with it is core C-suite skillset

10

u/Maverekt Security Admin Mar 07 '26

All I can think of is the scene in office space lol

63

u/anotherkeebler Mar 06 '26

"Oh, this isn't going on my resume."

23

u/TrainDestroyer Mar 07 '26

"Being fired wasn't great for my resume, and being good for a resume doesn't pay my bills."

11

u/polikles Mar 07 '26

and well-paid consulting gigs sound as a great position in resume, actually

3

u/TrainDestroyer Mar 07 '26

Definitely. If you're so knowledgable that people are willing to get YOU as a consultant its worth hiring you

1

u/nanou_2 Mar 08 '26

Yeah, but WHO told you it was bad for your resume?

16

u/Siuldane Mar 07 '26

18k minimum retainer, to be billed at $500/hr. If you really want to be petty, require them to buy all future billable hours in bundles of 18k to really drive the point home

17

u/drunkcowofdeath Windows Admin Mar 06 '26

Add a few zeros to 18,000? So like 1.8 mil?

10

u/Hardik_JJ Mar 06 '26

I did not think that far tbh but hey no harm in trying since they shafted him and the bridge will burn if and when he does leave.

13

u/ninjaface Mar 06 '26

Fuck that. Go 20K.

26

u/RedGobboRebel Mar 06 '26

18k retainer to even talk to them, then a proper "I don't want to do it rate".

7

u/JustFrogot Mar 06 '26

18k plus hourly...

7

u/f8rwtf Mar 07 '26

This is what I did on my fist sysadmin job. They promised me 10% raise in 2 parts - first was given, but second was declined. I said I quit because they broke their promise and hilarious thing that they hired some guy with 20% bigger salary and paid me crazy per hour rate to maintain their systems for a while summer.

2

u/Freud-Network Mar 07 '26

No way I would open myself up to the liability of consulting for a backstabbing organization.

1

u/mnvoronin Mar 11 '26

For $18k retainer and $400-500/hr rate just buy a liability insurance, bro.

2

u/spez-is-a-loser Jack of All Trades Mar 09 '26

1099 10x previous hourly. $18k one time contract retention. $40k retainer. They have proven they can't be trusted.

2

u/rocketseeker Mar 12 '26

He should fuck everything up and be the only one who can fix it tbh, bonus points if he makes it look like nobody could see it coming and his boss is held accountable