Working for a startup as a senior scientist for a year. I had a few years of experience between my Bachelors in Biochem and my Masters in Biochem Eng but it's my first job since getting my Masters. I graduated at the beginning of 2020 and only got the job in November. It was probably because of COVID but I had a really hard time getting the job and I was pretty desperate.
I accepted a $50k salary from this startup which I knew was significantly below my market value. I was hired with the promise that the compensation will be renegotiated 3 months later. After 3 months they refused to increase my salary or provide other benefits (when they said no, I asked for a 3rd week vacation instead, it was refused). They said it's because the company is low on funds, being still in early development and mostly making money from government grants.
They said we can discuss it in May. May came and went, and now we're at my 1 year anniversary of joining the company. Since then, I've been a major contributor to a number of important projects which have resulted in us getting close to $3M in government funding to develop a number of diagnostic devices within the next 2 years. Right now it's a bit of a quiet period as the next phases of these projects are slated to start within a couple of months.
The CEO just sent me a message today that he would like to postpone my performance review until there is "more insight into the project plan so we can have a more fruitful discussion moving forward".
I am never going to get anywhere in this company, am I? I am being exploited for my labor and I'm getting nothing in return. They refused to discuss equity despite me being one of the first employees and being the biochemistry expert on the team, on which a lot hinges. These people stand to become millionaires potentially if the company sells out.
I've been curating a database of better positions I am qualified for in the past few months. Today I started sending applications.