When I worked in public accounting, the idea was that you slaved away as an associate making relatively nothing but would reap the fruits of your labor at the s

When I worked in public accounting, the idea was that you slaved away as an associate making relatively nothing but would reap the fruits of your labor at the senior level (and increasingly more so as you promoted higher). Most wouldn’t make it to senior or would but would jump ship as soon as they were promoted. There was a built in turnover rate at the lower levels that was very high. My cohort hit senior in 2020 right when we shifted to work from home. The business made the decision that the economic environment was too uncertain and skipped the annual raises across the board, including for promotions. Suddenly, we were seniors with the pay of associates. 2020 saw record revenue for the firm (they didn’t reveal expenses), and it also saw the largest productivity increase ever. I couldn’t believe it. People were working almost twice as much with their pay was frozen around $70,000 while working as seniors with a masters degree and CPA license. When things opened back up, that period did a lot of lasting damage to the people that had been “brainwashed” by the system. I saw many people who I think would have become mindless robots change their outlook completely and leave. For me, it was the catalyst to switch into software engineering where I no longer felt like I had to play the game of working more and more to keep up with the others who seemingly never slept, particularly in busy season. Staying up at the office until 2am on my birthday is something I hope I never have to do again. I’m sure the firm recruited more bright-eyed kids who are ambitious yet insecure like the article mentions, and the partners are making more money than ever while working more hours than ever. I’m happy to be a software engineer that doesn’t have to put up with that level of commitment in exchange for such a small wage. There’s performative theater at the office and then there’s public accounting.