I’m realizing that my coworkers who are being hired externally are making so much more money. I’m now thinking what’s the benefit at staying g at a company and rising the ranks?

How do you deal with the feeling that your entire professional output is meaningless? I’m watching my company ignore every single one of my user-centric findings. They pay me to conduct deep-dive interviews and usability tests, but at the end of the day, the CEO just goes with whatever gut feeling he had. It’s soul-crushing.

I just got my first performance review, and the feedback was literally "you're doing great, keep doing what you're doing," with a 2% raise. Inflation in my city is sitting at 4%, so my reward is effectively a pay cut for a year of hard work. Is this normal? Is the only thing to do jump companies?

If every employee had an AI assistant that doubled their productivity, would companies hire fewer people or expect twice as much work?

I just found out I didn’t get the promotion that I was certain I would get. I’m feeling very emotional about it. For those who have experienced this, what are the next steps? What should I do and what should I not do?