I've been around for a few years and here is the situation I ended up in. The technology I'm working on is very proprietary and getting outdated with every year. If I decide to look for another job ... it will be hard. So it will be hard for my manager. And probably for his manager. We all kinda stuck here. And the company knows that. The pay is below average and a lot of people are focused on job security. The managers are picking direct reports based on the personal loyalty, they manage up, they sabotage introducing data driven metrics, we keep adding more and more new projects and growing technical debts - you get the idea, right?
Why don't I stand up and say something about it? Let's see ... If I tell my manager that he is not being efficient - I'll likely get fired. I can't really prove I do my job well because - remember, no metrics! If I go to HR - the same will happen. At this point so many managers are all interested in keeping status quo - no single individual can change anything.
Why don't I just pack and leave? At some point I probably will. A lot of employees who have marketable skills have done it already. But if you're working on something like Xpresso - you're stuck. And if my manager sucks - why do I have to leave?
