When is it Time to Leave?
I’ve been at D for almost 3 years and have always had mixed feelings about the job. I made senior, then shortly after went on maternity leave for 6 months. Because of that, I missed out on a lot of the hands-on senior experience my peers got.
When I came back, I was excited to step back into my engagement, but things felt completely different. Another senior I used to work well with became very cold and passive aggressive toward me. I was constantly out of the loop on client communications, meetings, and team discussions, while managers assumed I knew what was happening.
I tried asking for more responsibility because I genuinely wanted to contribute and catch up from being out on leave, but I kept getting very small tasks while the other senior handled everything important. I brought this up to my manager in a professional way, but the response was basically that she also needed opportunities to learn and I should communicate more with her.
Eventually I stopped pushing and just did what I was assigned. By the end of the audit, it felt like she was shining while I faded into the background. What frustrates me most is that I’m genuinely hardworking and collaborative, I’m just not the competitive type that tries to outshine others.
Now I’m wondering if this is just Big 4 culture and if it’s time to leave. For those who left, did things actually get better? Did you end up happier with your work and coworkers?