I recently received a title change that effectively removed me from all SQL programming at my company, moving me towards a support / training / data transfer position.
I had communicated to my HR director that my manager and a team member were not providing me critical pieces of code that impacted areas of work and it was deeply affecting my performance. Later that week, my manager scheduled a meeting with the HR director to tell me that my programming was poor and that I would no longer be programming for the company.
My manager wasn't able to elaborate on anything other than that at that time. The examples of my errors were almost menial in comparison to some of the changes that impacted our company. For example, I had created an ASP menu with a SQL back end. The SQL script was roughly five thousand lines of code and he had mentioned that I forgot a comment on one of my statements. Outside of this, nothing was mentioned in regards to my position changing.
The position change was a relatively ugly affair because the position change had occurred three months after that meeting and prior to me receiving communication on it. An entire regional office learned of my position change before I did. I actually learned about the title change the same day as my annual review.
A week later, I received a document containing examples from almost a year prior. I had no idea that these were even issues until that time. Again, these examples were menial at best, for example, the default value of a drop down was blank instead of "-- Select --". He also slipped in a little comment stating that since I'm now in a support role, I've hit the ceiling for my salary and that I should not expect raises in the future. When I confronted my HR manager later that day, all she could tell me was "This scenario could have been handled better.".
Now that I support the end users, I hear about how bad the system has become, often crashing during critical points in their work flow, costing them hours of their time. Its also worth noting that this employee babysits my manager's kids every week. It's clear that the manager favors this employee who is clearly not cut out for the position, but no one seems to care.
Unfortunately, I am well above the average salary/benefits for my position since I had worked in my original position for so long. I've been to several interviews, but we're so far apart in the negotiations it has been tough to transition. My personal life does not allow me to take a position with a smaller salary.
- What would be the best approach moving forward?
- Should I reach out to the owners?
UPDATED with two questions that this community should be able to assist with.
