Ugggh! I was speaking sarcastically.
>You want the big reward, take the risk or sit down, no ones gonna hand you the brass ring you have to earn it.
I'm glad you said brass ring. In a merry go round, the brass ring is made to look like you can reach out and get it. But in reality, it is rigged so that it is very hard to get it. Cubicle workers are told, "Work hard and you will be rewarded." In truth, they are held to predetermined 3% raises. Naturally, the one or two uber geeks are well fed, but management is forced to reward such people or lose the entire business. The boss points to uber programmer so and so and says, "Work like him and you'll get a greater reward." Hence the brass ring. In truth the boss intends only that you'll only get the 3% increase, but they want that motivation to remain so that YOU produce like crazy.
Actually as someone who has rode a merry go round in Santa Cruz, California many a time (they actually still do have brass rings (well stainles steel these days)) The brass ring is not out of reach or unattainable. In fact I not only grabbed one every time around the circle, but threw it successfully through the clowns mouth on occassion as well.
Cubicle workers are told, "Work hard and you will be rewarded." In truth, they are held to predetermined 3% raises. Naturally, the one or two uber geeks are well fed, but management is forced to reward such people or lose the entire business.
I see so the uber geeks, who are better at their craft or skill getting paid more because as you say they are worth it, for not to pay them would cause the entire business to be lost, are keeping the moderate or lesser skilled oppressed? Seems like rewarding the most deserving based on skill and ability to me.
The boss points to uber programmer so and so and says, "Work like him and you'll get a greater reward." Hence the brass ring. In truth the boss intends only that you'll only get the 3% increase, but they want that motivation to remain so that YOU produce like crazy.
hahaha.. yes it does sound like you got a bad review, and are now spiteful to everyone else. I have never gotten less than a 8% annual raise in my life, every time a boss or manager or potential employer said I was not worth it I have gone out and found not only the salary I wanted elswhere, but more and a better opportunities to boot from someone else. I don't know about your experiences but mine are not "perform like abc and you'll get more" More often it is you need to work on x and/or y... not work like him. In fact any manager worth their salt who simply tells an employee work more like another employee is a piss poor manager.
In the tech field especially sticking with the same company year in and year out doing the same job year end and year out is not the way to move ahead. Technologies advance to rapidly and if you sit idle you will be left behind... not like other industries in the least.
My experience has been, without question hard work pays off, but on the flip side of the coin if you feel you are being wronged you move on as well. If you feel 3% is too little, find another job, don't blame the system, the system pays what it can get away with. Yet even with all the growth and success I have had in my career thusfar I still know my success lies on my own shoulders not from others. I invest in real estate and run my own company as well, to better my financial position and bolster my personal freedom, and if at the end of the day I become very wealthy, it will not be from the work I do day to day for others, but the work I do on my own endeavors that will take me there.
Do employers hold out carrots? Sure they do, bonuses are one in the tech field that never materialize, and why I will never take a job with a significant part of the salary as bonus... roll it into my base or forget about it.. have seen every company I have worked for screw over tech people on bonus program... every single one. Even if they deliver everything for the bonus, money never shows up... I don't trust my employers, I know they are out for themselves, and I am just a resource to them.. .but I do make myself a valueable resource and make damned sure I am never placed in a no win.