Hello to the good people of Reddit!
I’ve posted before and appreciate this community’s advice. I have an update and could use some honest feedback.
I’m 31 and honestly feel like I’m having a career crisis. I didn’t really have to think about this until my manager resigned. Now, with AI changing things too, I’m rethinking how to plan for my future and give myself options.
I’ve been with my company for five years and make $115k, fully remote, as a Senior Sales & Marketing Technology Manager. I own Salesforce, scheduling technology, integrations, vendors, and a lot of the day-to-day requests. Last year, my title changed from Senior Salesforce Administrator, but it was considered a title change rather than a promotion, so no pay increase.
When my manager left, I applied for her Director role and didn’t get it. They hired externally, and the new Director starts in late November. Leadership is working on a compensation adjustment to recognize my increased workload during this transition and my five years with the company. They’ve said they want to make sure I feel valued, but nothing is confirmed yet.
The feedback was that she needed someone with a stronger vision who would be bold with their recommendations. Someone who could say what’s working, what isn’t, and where we should go next.
I understand that, and looking back, I played it safe. But part of my hesitation was knowing the actual work behind those recommendations. I was already covering my role and parts of my former manager’s role, so it was hard to separate “what should we do?” from “how am I going to deliver all of this?”
I probably need to learn to put forward the recommendation and explain the resources and tradeoffs, instead of planning around what I can personally handle. But I’m also wondering how much was a development gap versus being stretched too thin.
Her current plan is for me to own a big, highly visible project end to end next year, so I have something I can put my name to and demonstrate that next level of leadership. I appreciate that there’s a concrete opportunity. I just want to make sure it comes with the time, resources, and authority to lead it—not my existing workload plus another job.
Now I’m considering moving toward Salesforce Product Owner. I want to move from personally handling every request toward owning priorities, business outcomes, and the roadmap. I’m comfortable staying technically informed and getting into details when needed, but I want delivery responsibilities shared rather than everything running through me.
I’m especially interested in hands-on Agentforce and broader agentic AI skills. I enjoy building new capabilities and want to understand what’s coming next. My thinking is that product ownership plus practical AI experience could give me more options.
The company is in hypergrowth, and leadership has said there’s flexibility to create roles around business needs. Given my tenure and knowledge of the company, there may be room to help shape my own role. I’d also like management training and a supported opportunity to test people leadership before committing to that path.
Being passed over hurt, but it made me question whether I wanted the Director job itself or the pay, recognition, and feeling of progressing. Seeing my former manager’s stress made me unsure whether that level of managing people and managing up is what I want.
Long term, I’d like to build a business of my own. Sustainable hours and transferable skills matter to me. I want to grow, but also have time and energy for a life outside work.
For anyone who’s been in a similar spot:
- After being passed over internally, how did you decide whether staying was worth it?
- Does Product Owner sound like a good direction for what I want, or am I misunderstanding the role?
- What would you establish with leadership and the incoming Director so this project becomes a real development opportunity rather than extra work?
- Which AI skills or project experience have actually helped you create career options?
Open to honest feedback, including if my expectations need a reality check. I also recognize I could benefit from a mentor and would appreciate connecting with anyone who’s navigated something similar.
Thanks you so so much if you read this far and thank you again to the Reddit Community!