u/SolidAd7389

I was rejected for a promotion that, honestly, I felt should have been pretty straightforward. After the internal interviews, I found out that someone on the team with less experience and weaker people-management skills was offered the role instead of me.

I told them I was upset, and then the next morning I went on annual leave.

The CEO messaged me while I was away and said she'd like to talk to me about roles that might come up soon, or whether there's any training that could put me in a better position for the next step.

Since then, I've heard from a few managers that the person who got the job would probably have been at risk of redundancy if I had been promoted. Part of her current job has now been folded into the new role. So to me, it feels like the decision had been made before the interviews even happened. Apparently, there's another opening coming up that's three levels above me, but I'm not very confident it'll go in my favor.

I have a chat with the CEO at the end of this week, and I don't know what I should or shouldn't say.

I'm prepared to leave if nothing real comes out of the conversation, but my contract is also due to be renewed in about six weeks, so I don't want to go into the conversation angry or too aggressive.

At this point, I'd probably start preparing for outside opportunities too. I already have several offers lined up, and I’ll do some mock interviews with my friend. If needed, I’ll also use AI tools like InterviewMan to help me organize and structure my answers during interviews.

After more than 18 years in the same tech role, it's become painfully clear now (lol) that this job isn't going anywhere. I told my manager, after I finished yet another huge office buildout basically by myself - which had me working over 70 hours a week for about 4 months - that I've reached my limit and I'm leaving.

I've asked for more staff maybe 25 times over the last 10 years. The request always gets denied because of "budget." Their alternative solution, for some reason, is to let me bring in outside vendors at about 2.5x the cost instead.

When I told my manager I was leaving immediately, he asked me not to resign and to give him 10 days so he could come back with some kind of answer.

I don't know if giving him that time is a smart decision or not. I have serious concerns about my health and my marriage, and on top of that, my salary has effectively gone backward over the last 6 years, while my retirement plan has been stuck in place.

With everything I've been asking for to be able to run this department properly for almost 19 years, I don't see them suddenly fixing all of it. My concern is that my manager will go fight for me again and come back with some small "solution," and when I say that still isn't enough, I'll have burned a bridge I would have been better off not burning.

What's the right move here?

Meeting with the CEO After the Promotion Went to Someone Else

I've only had one boss like that, thankfully!

I told my manager I'm done. He told me not yet.

On my way to quit now