Employee ‘forced to resign’ shares how it led to his best career move yet: ‘Got 70% hike’

The Redditor was asked to start his notice period immediately and wasn’t required to continue working, which ironically gave him weeks of free time to prep for interviews.

Within a short span, the Redditor got multiple offers with a massive 70 per cent salary jump

A Reddit post about a man who says he was “forced to resign” has blown up online — not because of the setback, but because of how it unexpectedly pushed his career forward. The post, titled “Forced resignation turned into a Golden opportunity,” has opened a wider conversation about messy workplace dynamics, difficult bosses, and how unfair situations can sometimes lead to surprising wins.

The Redditor explained that he had spent nearly three years as a Junior QA, single-handedly automating an entire module with four applications — a workload that, in other teams, was handled by multiple senior professionals. But the professional relationship between him and his reporting manager gradually deteriorated. He admitted that he often disagreed with his manager in meetings and even called him out publicly a few times.

“I didn’t think he was the type of man who would take it to heart – and I was wrong,” he wrote.

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Tensions peaked when a new project required him to automate constantly changing, unstable requirements for a third-party integration. Despite reworking the test cases again and again, he was suddenly called in by both the manager and company director – only to be told that his performance was “not up to the mark.”

What shocked him most was the lack of warning. He said there had never been a discussion about poor performance or any talk of putting him on a performance improvement programme (PIP). “He wasn’t even considering me to be placed on a PIP and prior to this there was never a talk or word of my performance,” he said.

He was asked to start his notice period immediately and wasn’t required to continue working, which ironically gave him weeks of free time to prep for interviews. And that’s when everything flipped. Within a short span, he got multiple offers with a massive 70 per cent salary jump.

“I always wanted to switch… this was a great opportunity for me to have two months free time to prepare,” he wrote. “Fast forward, I got 2-3 offers with 70% hike.”

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Check out the post:

Screenshot of the Reddit post

The post struck a chord with many. A user shared, “I too have been forced to resign today. I had taken leave for marriage when this decision happened. I am married now. Resigned today.”

Also Read | ‘Can quit any time’: Indian employee confronts US boss after denial of leave; sparks debate on work-life balance

Another user commented, “Same thing happened with me this year. I was asked to resign as well and I spent my 3 months of notice period enjoying a break. After applying for jobs for a couple of months, I was able to get a much better job with 85% hike and I couldn’t be more happier that I resigned from my previous company.”

A third person commented, “The First Law of Power: Never Upstage Your Master. Good for you OP you get job people are dumb so just ignore it and best of luck.”