Okay, so you know how sometimes you start a job, and you’re like, “Yes, this is the job I signed up for,” and then, out of nowhere, someone hands you a completely different job? And suddenly, you’re doing two jobs for the price of one? Yeah. That’s me. That’s my life.
I am a web developer. I write code, I fix things, I do IT magic. That is my job. Or at least, it was my job until one fateful day when our HR person left, and my boss went, “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll hire someone else soon.” But then he just… didn’t. And now, years later, guess who’s still doing HR work? Me. Guess who never, ever, in a million years wanted to do HR work? Also me.
Now, in case it’s not clear, I am not an HR professional. I have never studied HR. I have no idea what I’m doing. If I left this job tomorrow, no company would hire me for HR, and frankly, I wouldn’t want them to. I didn’t spend all this time learning web development just to be buried under payroll spreadsheets and employee complaints.
And before anyone says, “Well, at least you got a raise,” yes, they did increase my salary a little, but this was never about the money. This is about the fact that I want to grow in my field, and instead, I am stuck juggling two completely different jobs. I tried to hire someone else to help—both for HR and web work—but guess what? No one wants to come here because the pay is too low. So now I’m just expected to do both jobs forever, apparently.
And the worst part? I don’t hate this job. I actually feel comfortable here. But at the same time, I cannot spend another year wasting my time doing work that will not help me move forward. Every time I remind my boss that I don’t want to do HR, he nods and agrees and says, “Yes, yes, we will hire someone soon.” But “soon” has apparently entered another dimension where time moves at a different speed, because it’s been years.
So what do I do? Quit? Can’t. Stay? Also can’t. So if you see me sitting at my desk, staring into the void, just know I am having a full existential crisis over the fact that I am a web developer trapped in an HR manager’s body.
I am a web developer. I write code, I fix things, I do IT magic. That is my job. Or at least, it was my job until one fateful day when our HR person left, and my boss went, “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll hire someone else soon.” But then he just… didn’t. And now, years later, guess who’s still doing HR work? Me. Guess who never, ever, in a million years wanted to do HR work? Also me.
Now, in case it’s not clear, I am not an HR professional. I have never studied HR. I have no idea what I’m doing. If I left this job tomorrow, no company would hire me for HR, and frankly, I wouldn’t want them to. I didn’t spend all this time learning web development just to be buried under payroll spreadsheets and employee complaints.
And before anyone says, “Well, at least you got a raise,” yes, they did increase my salary a little, but this was never about the money. This is about the fact that I want to grow in my field, and instead, I am stuck juggling two completely different jobs. I tried to hire someone else to help—both for HR and web work—but guess what? No one wants to come here because the pay is too low. So now I’m just expected to do both jobs forever, apparently.
And the worst part? I don’t hate this job. I actually feel comfortable here. But at the same time, I cannot spend another year wasting my time doing work that will not help me move forward. Every time I remind my boss that I don’t want to do HR, he nods and agrees and says, “Yes, yes, we will hire someone soon.” But “soon” has apparently entered another dimension where time moves at a different speed, because it’s been years.
So what do I do? Quit? Can’t. Stay? Also can’t. So if you see me sitting at my desk, staring into the void, just know I am having a full existential crisis over the fact that I am a web developer trapped in an HR manager’s body.
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