Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 24 posts

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#11

Post by SamReidHughes »

throaway54321 wrote: post #10
muzani wrote: post #6

You should probably examine really closely why they do this. My hypotheses are: 1. They are doing it to purposely be unproductive. It's like in school where kids would ask the smartest kids in the class to bring down the grading curve by telling them to relax or hang out more. 2. They see you as a threat. This could be for the above reason, it could be because of your background. The hazing and insulting comments sup…

Thanks! Do you have any suggestions for Ben Franklin biographies/books?

Try his autobiography.

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#12

Post by UzhasKakoi »

Adding to some great suggestions ... Sometimes there is no reason to waste time fighting or/and adjusting. Move on and find another team that would appreciate what you have to offer. If you have so much experience you may have a few people to reach out to for connections.

Slowdown and listen. Do you hear this loud sucking sound? It's the demand for software developers. There is a ton of examples in competitive athletics and other areas of human endeavors when someone was unappreciated in one situation and super successful in another.

Still, before you leave, learn as much as you can about the situation, so, if for no other reason, you could recognize it before joining.

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#13

Post by jackgolding »

throaway54321 wrote: post #9
jackgolding wrote: post #7

What does your manager/iteration manager think? Are they feeding you the same feedback? It's only a matter of time until it bubbles up to them so figuring out a plan might be appropriate.

When I first joined, I was working on a decent-sized project that required interfacing with other teams. My mode of development has always been to ask lots of questions, even if they're "dumb". I like "dumb" questions because it gets everyone on the same page, and it narrows the conversation. It's worked out really well in the past; I really believe in communicating early and often. During my first week, I started do…

Yeah this sucks - opposite to my current role I used to DM people on slack and the tech lead told me to keep it in the appropriate dev channel because all questions are important to everyone and everyone should be able to chime in.

I'd look for an exit plan - good luck!

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#14

Post by muzani »

throaway54321 wrote: post #10
muzani wrote: post #6

You should probably examine really closely why they do this. My hypotheses are: 1. They are doing it to purposely be unproductive. It's like in school where kids would ask the smartest kids in the class to bring down the grading curve by telling them to relax or hang out more. 2. They see you as a threat. This could be for the above reason, it could be because of your background. The hazing and insulting comments sup…

Thanks! Do you have any suggestions for Ben Franklin biographies/books?

I got it off Robert Greene's Mastery, the chapter on people being an obstacle to mastery.

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#17

Post by dm319 »

throaway54321 wrote: post #9
jackgolding wrote: post #7

What does your manager/iteration manager think? Are they feeding you the same feedback? It's only a matter of time until it bubbles up to them so figuring out a plan might be appropriate.

When I first joined, I was working on a decent-sized project that required interfacing with other teams. My mode of development has always been to ask lots of questions, even if they're "dumb". I like "dumb" questions because it gets everyone on the same page, and it narrows the conversation. It's worked out really well in the past; I really believe in communicating early and often. During my first week, I started do…

Sounds like you've joined somewhere that has already long drawn-out political battle lines. It would probably take years to figure out what the history is behind this. I suspect the difficult time you are having is likely because you are either boy who notices the emperor isn't wearing clothes, or it's because you've landed on one side of a political landscape.

I've been here before, and you also have to be careful of who you get support from as well.

To be fair, most workplaces have history to some degree or another. If you are able to keep your head low and excel at the tasks you've been given without showing others up, you'll do well and might even be able to make a clean escape!

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#18

Post by itamarst »

1. Don't fight over unimportant things. Setup flake8 with all the plugins, maybe use yapf, try to make the coding style issues just go away.

2. Try to figure out why this is happening. There's usually a reason. Most likely it's managerial incompetence, but maybe not, and even if you can't figure out a solution being able to identify the problem is a useful skill (and might help you minimize conflict).

3. Try to switch teams. If that doesn't work, start thinking about switching jobs.

Re: Ask HN: What to do if I'm a bad fit for dev team?

#19

Post by staticautomatic »

throaway54321 wrote: post #9
jackgolding wrote: post #7

What does your manager/iteration manager think? Are they feeding you the same feedback? It's only a matter of time until it bubbles up to them so figuring out a plan might be appropriate.

When I first joined, I was working on a decent-sized project that required interfacing with other teams. My mode of development has always been to ask lots of questions, even if they're "dumb". I like "dumb" questions because it gets everyone on the same page, and it narrows the conversation. It's worked out really well in the past; I really believe in communicating early and often. During my first week, I started do…

Yeah it's bad news bears. Save yourself. Leave as soon as possible. You won't regret it.
Post reply on HN