#109 “Yes, my having a child was convenient for my manager to replace me without having a real conversation about my career.”

“Before I had my child, I was the technical lead of my development team. When I left on maternity leave, a guy ‘filled in’ for me as tech lead, and he was a level more senior in our role than I was at the time. When I asked my manager what would happen when I returned from leave, I was told that ‘we’d figure it out then,’ and my manager continued to dodge my questions. When I came back after maternity leave, my manager just pretended everything was fine, and that he thought I knew I was moving back to an individual contributor role. When I complained that he never made that clear, he said ‘I thought that’s what you wanted, to take a break.’ To be clear, the guy who replaced me had more appropriate skills for the work, but my manager let me believe I would get my spot back. I complained about this to a past manager/mentor, a peer of my current manager; she told me that ‘it was a convenient time to replace me’ as tech lead. Yes, my having a child was convenient for my manager to replace me without having a real conversation about my career.”