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Situation: I work for a Santa Cruz, Calif. software company. There is a
small group of technical
writers and a manager. I was the first tech writer hired. When my manager
is out of the
office, others in the company come to me for their requests. In addition,
my manager
has informed me that he considers me the best editor in the group
(including himself).
Thus, when marketing, sales, tech support, etc. have editing requests, my
manager
gives them to me. He's always given me his writing to edit, and the
writingn of another writer.
I recently had my annual review. After that review (which my manager said
was "excellent":I received "excellent" and "outstanding" ratings
throughout), I pointed to
my value to the copany and asked for (a) a title reflecting those
responsibilities,
such as senior staff writer or lead technical writer, and (b) a raise in
accordance
with that.
My manager informed me that such a title is "not in accordance" with his
"model,"
in which each writer is part of a project team. (E.g., if I worked for
Sun, there would
be a Javasoft technical writer.) I asked about a rating system for tech
writers
(for example, a junior tech writer is a level 1, a more experienced
writer is a level 2,
etc.). He said, no everyone is a staff writer.
Therefore, I receive no recognition for my extra work when he is away and
my constant
flow of editing.
In addition, I happen to know that the last writer hired makes over five
thousand a year
more than I do. I asked my manager why that writer's value to the company
is so
much greater than mine, and what I could do to rise to that level. My
manager said
the other writer is "very technical" and had received a high salary over
the hill (meaning San Jose, where salaries are always higher than in
Santa Cruz).
I feel discouraged. If there is no promotional system, what is my 5-year
goal supposed
to be? To always be a "staff writer"?
