Thepopbitch's journey

I just found out that I didn’t get the promotion I was hoping for at the marketing agency where I’ve been working for the past three years. To say I’m frustrated and hurt would be an understatement. When I started, I was the only designer, and I really put my all into the company. I consistently stayed late for urgent projects, sought out improvements during my free time, trained new hires, and eventually took on the responsibility of managing the design team. I felt like my hard work was acknowledged through bonuses and raises, which kept me motivated. However, things changed when the company hired a Chief Strategy Officer and restructured the team. They brought in a new manager above me who had more experience, which I initially saw as a positive change. Unfortunately, he ended up relying on me more than I expected, admitting on his first day that he needed to learn from me about managing the team. That was a huge red flag, and after a year, he was let go because he wasn’t effective in his role. I thought that after all the assistant-manager work I had been doing, I would finally get the promotion. Instead, they promoted someone who had only been with us for six months, despite their work needing constant corrections. I ended up training both the new designers and their manager, which made me feel like my years of experience and effort didn’t matter at all. Today’s four-hour meeting was the last straw. My designs were heavily criticized, while they praised the new designer who had complete creative freedom. It’s disheartening because the rest of us have been working under strict rules that stifled our creativity for a year. Right now, I feel undervalued despite all the responsibility I’ve taken on, the problems I’ve solved, and the support I’ve provided to the team. My morale is at an all-time low, and it seems like the entire team feels the same way. I need this job, and I’m not ready to start looking for something else, so for now, I’ll stay and try not to take it all personally. But honestly, I’m just really disappointed.