I have hesitated to comment lately on this forum due to all the negativity. I recently retired after 40+ years of service to a company I was always proud to say I worked for. My entire career was at a manufacturing site. EM enabled me to educate my children at private institutions, buy multiple homes, travel and now enjoy a retirement with no monetary worries. I stayed on the technical track and developed my skills, while others around me pursued management positions that I’m sure enabled a much higher salary. I made the decision fairly early in my career to put family first and never regretted it.
My personal mantra has been to learn something new every day at the same time “earning” my EM salary. Perhaps you would consider me a “dinosaur” but I will tell you I never “drank the Koolaid”. I always spoke my mind and kept my principles.
This younger generation of employees seem to think that their employers owe them something. They don’t, you have to earn it! I only hope you recognize this fact sooner than later or you’ll end up a sad, disenfranchised curmudgeon later in life.
Things were not alway “rosy” in my career but that challenged me to work harder to prove them wrong when I had an inept manager.
Best of luck to all on this site!