So I have been having a really tough time lately with my job and the fact that i basically sit in a chair 35+ hours a week with little to no legitimate work to do. If i was my manager i would lay me off any day of the week. Heck I am just waiting for a meeting with HR on how much time i spend surfing beyond on my computer, but really i don't have much else to do.
In any normal circumstance I would have quit months ago as what I am doing is literally a waste of my and the companies time. But with the market the way it is i feel completely trapped.
Basically i feel like I am in a role with a company that is as least 30% overstaffed. With nowhere positive to go. Any work I do on my own initiative is dismissed and actively discouraged. The work that I am actually assigned to do is honestly actively dismissed by most members of the company, they just plain don't like my department. I sit in meetings where people say straight to my face that they are ignoring all of my recommendations to go with their gut feelings. Nice.
My boss is incapable of delegating tasks, he does everything himself because he doesn't trust anyone else to do them. I basically google things for him so he doesn't have to. Any work that I would like to do is instantly denied because I quite frankly have 0$ budget to gather any data, which isn't unreasonable right now. The worst part is i didn't even like the job when we were busy, i put up with it so i could try and learn a complicated role. I am not learning any more.
I have brought these issues up with my manager, VP, i have even sat down with the CEO about it. I have been promised for months a transfer that isn't even close to happening ( my manager doesn't even know a thing about it). I first mentioned that I need a change ASAP last December in my official performance review. However i see what my counterparts in other departments do and it doesn't look much better.
That's my job in a nutshell.
The flip side is I am well taken care of by the company. gold plated benefits, great cash and otherwise compensation, crazy numbers of days off, good vacation time. My boss is great about this as well, he basically doesn't have patience for department administration so he lets us do whatever we want re: vacation, appointments, lunches, etc.
If i was in the tail end of my career i could probably put up with this, but 2 years in i feel like i am burning through some of the most important years for learning and getting recognized. Heck i don't even think APEGA would accept what I am doing as legitimate engineering experience.
My wife has been in school for the last 2 years as well so my income was completely necessary in staying above water. She has a job now and is working full time though which i feel gives me options. She also thinks i should just quit because of how she sees it affecting me, she doesn't really think about the consequences of me not having a job but whatever.
There is also a possibility that my company wont even exist this time next year anyways, the nature of the patch right now.
Does anyone else in a similar role feel this way? Am I just out to lunch with my expectations of life during a downturn?
Should I just shut my mouth and ride the comfortable ship through the downturn and put up with how the job makes me feel? Because what i am doing makes me feel near constantly depressed and useless.
What kind of options do i realistically have?
Not looking for pity because i know i don't deserve it but maybe an outside opinion or two would be very helpful in sorting all the things swirling in my mind.
I also know a few of you have deducted where I work and what I do so I ask ( cant make anyone do anything ) you to keep that to yourself in the thread.