When you work in IT as a developer, you can pretty much expect that companies are going to do all they can to pay you as little as they can.

What would you do if your management promised a big pay raise, but then never came through with it?

That is what happened to the developer in this story, so he made some major upgrades to their system and then quit, forcing them to hire him back as a contractor and paying him way more than he originally asked for.

Check it out.

Employee reneged on compensation agreement, left and milked them for $35k in 2 months

I work in Software Development using very in-demand and “complex” frameworks and tools.

This is a good paying job!

The average salary doing what I do, in my area, is around $110k / year for a relatively simple, low level job.

By this, I mean a position where the employee does not have major responsibilities, works as part of a much larger team, etc.

I worked on-site and then remotely as a “contractor” for 3 years for a company, hereafter named “the company”, while I was at university.

As a contractor, I was the only developer in the entire company of a few hundred people, and was solely responsible for all systems, development, testing, etc.

Wow, he had a lot of responsibilities.

This includes databases, webservers, and much more. This seems like a lot; it was. But, I had full control of my environment and autonomy.

I worked on the software projects that I wanted to and felt would have the most impact.

During that period of remote work, upper management was changed. After I completed my schooling, I received an offer from the company for $70k.

I knew this was below what I should be making, but I also realized the following:

These extra perks can be very valuable.

– I had full autonomy in my environment

– I had some gaps in my skill set

– By staying in this environment, I could fill in those gaps and VERY easily prepare to transition to another, higher paying job.

This sounds like a fair deal.

So, new management and I reached an agreement: I would accept a salary of $72k and then, after 6 months time, we would meet to go over my salary and it would be increased by at least 15%.

This was included in my offer letter which both new management and I signed.

Fast forward to 6 months later. I have now filled every gap in my skillset and expanded on it to increase my skillset even more. The 6 month marker rolls by, and nothing happens.

I send new management repeated meeting requests and they are ignored. 3 weeks into the 6th month, I go to HR and raise the issue. HR turns ghost white and makes the meeting happen.

Really? This is not at all what they agreed to.

That afternoon, new management comes into my office and offers me a 1% raise.

Yes. That is correct. 1%.

I kept my cool though, and reminded them that I was guaranteed at least 15% due per our agreement.

New management completely denied making this agreement and repeated their previous offer.

I brought out my offer letter with both of our signatures on it and they started backpedaling.

They said they would talk and get back to me. I made it very clear that if I did not receive the agreed upon amount, we would have a problem.

They are certainly taking their time.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later. New management invites me into their offices. I am then offered a 6% raise.

They try to make excuses about budget restrictions, fairness to other employees, whatever they could think of. I knew then I had these options:

1. Quit
2. Demand the 15%, possibly get it, but severely damage my relationship with new management
3. Accept the 6% raise and maintain a strong positive relationship with new management, allowing me to blindside them later

It seems like he gave in. For now.

The wheels in my mind spinning, I agreed to the 6% raise.

At that moment, I decided what I would do: I would take the raise, use the remainder of my time there to look for another job, and leave.

A few months passes, though, and my plan expanded.

I begin implementing the most cutting edge technology, using the most modern frameworks, upgrading everything I could as aggressively as I could.

Of course, this provided immense benefit to the company.

He is making himself very valuable.

That was the plan. I entrenched myself in every system in every way possible, increased the skill floor for my position as high as I could get it… and left.

4 months after I accepted the raise of 6%, I accepted an offer for a salary of $130k at another company. I put my two weeks notice in at the company and all hell broke loose.

How did they not expect this?

New management knew they had messed up & they were completely blindsided that I was unhappy with my position.

Since I had graciously accepted the 6%, they thought they were off the hook. With me, I took all knowledge of almost every one of their systems.

Honestly, $200/hr is not bad for this type of position.

New management freaked out! So, I did what any capitalist would do: I offered to come back as a remote contractor. For $200 an hour.

They had no choice but to accept. So, over the last few months, I have been charging them $200 an hour to do the exact same thing that I was previously doing for significantly less.

Now, instead of being out a few thousand dollars a year due to my raise, they’ve been out over $35k in a few months, with no end in sight.

He is doing very well for himself.

I even hired one of my good friends to help fill the hours. The money is nice, but the look on new management’s faces when this played out was priceless.

It was the sweetest revenge of my life.

Did he keep the other job as well?

I would not feel bad double dipping in this situation!

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Hopefully he is working as much as possible.

This is very true.

You love to see it.

This commenter thinks he was very professional.

Management is often short sighted.

Looks like he got the last laugh.

And it cost the company a lot.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.