Well, I did that right away and the take away from that discussion was that I need to communicate better. So I've setup weekly meetings and monthly meetings with key folks in my team and send meeting minutes of important stuff discussed. I was also told to put extra effort into work assigned to me and I have done that as well. I have kept track of the amount of time it has taken for me to write software for each feature, the number of faults uncovered during testing and any positive customer feedback ( I have received a couple) Because I finished my work early, I also volunteered to help my teammates.

But nothing has changed. I am not being assigned significant and challenging work and am being left out of meetings. Maybe because of my past review or because of politics or both. If it continues like this, I will have trouble getting a good review again and promotion is out of question for a couple of years. The bigger problem is I'll have trouble finding work elsewhere because I won't have much to show for for the time I spend here.

So it's amply clear that I need to leave. I have constraints in that there aren't a lot of other companies where I live and relocation is not an option. Also, I made a career transition recently from test to software development and I have about 3 years of experience with development but 8 years of experience overall. All of this is making it longer for me to find another job resulting in having to endure the current situation longer. Also, the longer it takes, the harder it's going to be to find a position which concerns me a great deal. I am trying to mitigate this by doing some side projects so I have something to show for for the time I spent.

All in all this is becoming very difficult for me to take psychologically.. I dread going to work every day. The other day we had a meeting and everyone had some updates baring me (because I had no work). I can roll in the amount of work I did last week into 3-4 hours and still no one would notice.

I also fear getting laid off because of either the review or not having any work. Finally, a layoff means deportation because I am on a work visa and my stay is tied to an employer unless I find another willing sponsor in a month or so. I essentially would have to leave the life I built here for 8 years and return back to my home country where I am not even sure which city I would go to. Not to mention the fact that my wife would have to quit her Masters program mid way and leave without a degree and let go of the money we put into it thus far. This has happened to people and it's a sad situation, they basically turn their home into a garage or estate sale.

I know it's not the end of the world and there is always another day but right now the burden is becoming difficult to handle.