i’m late to the realization you can’t neglect having a better job to dangle over their heads at every moment even if the current job looks decent and you want to stay.

Last year, money was running out in our project and the guy who had trained me decided he’d take the L and move to another project, so we could continue in the project. And yeah, suddenly I was in the role of the lead developer.

Like, don’t get me wrong, I would’ve been the one to be moved to another project, if I wasn’t up for the task. It’s not like I was a complete dumbass.
But it did still feel more like “I guess, we doin’ lead development now” rather than something I had intentionally worked towards.

and your salary doesn’t go up lmao

Only pay raises happen when you get poached. Your boss isnt suddenly gonna pay you more.

In reality, not everyone quits and your pay didn’t move. Only way to improve your pay is often move and negotiate.

If you stay, you can do 200% of the work and hope there is a role and they appreciate your work. Or just sell your experience to a company that definitely has that role available.