A tech executive working 14 hours a day recently shared how his relentless pursuit of promotion cost him his marriage. In a post shared on the anonymous professional community Blind, the man revealed that for three years, he worked very hard, sometimes 14 hours a day, so he could get promoted. He recounted several important family moments he missed because he was busy with work. In the end, he said he did manage to achieve his career goals - being promoted to senior manager with an impressive salary of Rs 7.8 crore. However, he shared how the demands of his high-powered job strained his personal life to the breaking point, leaving him feeling empty and questioning his choices.
"Joined 3 years ago as a stupid senior who keeps asking for a promotion. Since I asked, the amount of works keep piling and my scopes keep growing. It eventually reached the point that I coordinated EU + Asia team by default, so my meetings start at 7am and end at 9pm," the anonymous user wrote in his Blind post.
The tech executive revealed that he missed his daughter's birth because he was in meetings all day. After the birth, he could not support his wife who had postpartum depression because he did not have the time. "On the day my daughter was born, I was in meetings almost all days. When my wife has postpartum depression, I have a meeting conflict and did not go to the therapist with her. She asked for a divorce," he wrote.
The techie concluded his post saying, "I received a good news that my promotion was approved today. It does not feel happy as I hope, but I feel empty and indifferent."
"Can't stop asking myself on what am I doing with my life. But I guess in this layoff shitstorm era, I should be happy with what I have, right? But how to be happy?" he asked.
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The post made its way to X. A user shared the screenshot of the Blind post with the caption, "Total comp $900,000, but at what cost? I got out of this rat race when I looked around me and realized that even the winners were miserable."
The post struck a nerve online, triggering various reactions from users. "OP, even the way you speak you sound arrogant and tone-deaf: your wife/daughter are about to leave you and all you care is RSUs. Also, what kind of lunatic sits through the meetings entire day when his daughter is getting born," one user wrote.
"I don't see this as a terrible dilemma. ALWAYS prioritize family over everything," said another. "A ton of folks get caught by inertia and the innate desire for 'progress' without stopping to reflect on whether that narrow definition of progress at work is right for them in the broader context of life," expressed a third user.
"Maintaining your employment by keeping your employer happy, even if it means skipping personal things, seems like a survival technique," quipped another.
https://ift.tt/KxOVmNW February 14, 2025 at 09:14AM NDTV News-Offbeat https://www.ndtv.com