Undervalued and Over It: Leaving IT After a $7,000 Wake-Up Call

Being a woman in IT has always been challenging, but some moments leave scars that don’t heal. This was one of them.

For years, I worked as a Database Administrator with extensive programming experience — handling complex data systems, solving problems, and ensuring everything ran smoothly. I wasn’t just another cog in the machine; I was the person people turned to when things went wrong, when they needed guidance, when they needed fixes that only experience could provide.

Then, I was asked to train and mentor a new hire (academic hourly)— someone just starting in the field, someone who made frequent mistakes that I quietly corrected. I wanted to help them succeed. I believed in lifting others up, especially in a male-dominated field where support can make all the difference. As I fixed issues I was patient in explaining how to fix and why I made the choices of fixes that I did.

The person I had mentored — whose mistakes I had spent months fixing and who I had mentored— was then hired on full time for at least $7,000 above my salary. (Universities publish the salary of all staff)

The Betrayal of Equal Effort, Unequal Pay

It wasn’t just about the number on a paycheck. It was about everything it represented.