There's a sweet spot in the corporate ladder. People at the bottom get the daily grunt work stuff that's time consuming and repetitive. People at the top end up with competing responsibilities so they spending most of their time in meetings about other meetings and arguing about planning to make decisions. It's right in the middle where you blend into the background and can spend half your work day in your underwear playing video games. And that's exactly where I like to live

Pregnancy

Easy

Quit and become destitute and homeless

Because apparently these days those are the only two options available

Jump

according to Peter's principle you don't get to get back down, you fall down

It’s hard to feel bad for anyone stuck in a position of relative success. For many of us, there’s simply no way to relate to such an issue.

Golden parachute

You gotta apply to another company now. There's no way back down in the same company that won't piss people off.

Jump

You demote yourself back to an IC. And they'll let you do it. And most likely they'll let you keep your salary and just make up some god-tier IC role for you to fall into.

Don't let your job dictate how you can best do your job. You know your own capabilities best. If you're better in an IC role, demote yourself and do the thing that gives you purpose.

I tried climbing the ladder, every time I got a weight put on me that was responsibilities along with the low pay weight. I couldn't climb at best, back slid more often. Fuck that ladder.

Life abroad is a pretty sound strategy.

Sorry, can't relate. Not even sure what her problem is. "Boo-hoo I earn too much money & don't know how to stop!"

You could take the corporate parachute over there or the corporate zip line over here!

Start your own business, and get out. It's hard work, but you'll never be sorry to not have to suffer supervisory fools and toxic co-workers any longer.

Yep. I just took a leap. Worked out fine.

Quit, sell all your shit, and move to another country, start back over.

I did this. Was a manager of a NOC. Been a sysadmin. Had good corporate jobs. Decided to jump off and start my own company. Now I'm sitting here in shorts and t shirt getting ready to head out of state to do a job for a couple hours before being back home for dinner. A nice way to spend the day, and being paid better then ever.

You dont, you just stand on top, pissing on everyone below you, because you hate yourself.

Suggest something that would make things better long term, but hurt next quarters numbers. You'll be back on the bottom of that ladder inside a week.

Oh, aren't you supposed to pull it up instead?

Start killing people for fun and use drugs in office

That's not really a worry. Once you get old enough and assuming you don't reach the very top before they can axe you, odds are very good your bosses will simply let you go.

Another option: Get demoted. Move DOWN the ladder.

In my part of the world, I'm hearing about a lot of people getting what are essentially demotions, even though the terminology being used is typically a lot more rosy than that.

As these companies are doing massive layoffs, they're also restructuring to flatten the organizational charts. Basically direct managers/supervisors are being moved into IC roles (individual contributors aka non-managerial worker bees), directors are having to take on direct management of IC while also sometimes also having to take on a certain percent of the IC work, and so on up the chain.

A noose. Or C4 if you’re feeling adventurous.

You’re almost there, don’t quit now