Arjun Sivadasan (5/11/2016)
Thanks for asking Abrar. Let me start by apologizing for not answering any sooner.The last couple of months were tumultuous. My teammates quit and I'm the only dev left in office. I was stressed out with server upgrades and a few data migration projects. Upgrade to 2014 was interesting. We have trace flag 9481 turned on because all the junk code written ages ago wouldn't complete and just timeout with the new Cardinality Estimator.
About relaunching my career: I realized it all depended on one person - me. I have decided to give my job the best I can while I am still here, instead of whining and bitching. I have become a lot more proactive. I'm also happy with my learning efforts. I'm preparing to write about my experiences with the 2014 upgrade w.r.t performance. I have also set a long term goal and decided to not worry about where I'm at while I work to achieve it.
Where you are now sounds like an opportunity to build (or prove) your T-SQL refactoring and tuning skills. Let management know you're willing and able to take on the task. Why this should be a priority is because illustrating your proficiency with performance tuning, actually backing it up with before and after numbers, is an excellent way to round out your resume and provides a impressive narrative for use when interviewing for your next job.
Remember the old story of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby...
(spoiler alert)
... he escaped from his sticky predicament by tricking the Br'er Fox into throwing him into the briar patch.
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/brer_rabbit_meets_a_tar_baby.html
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho