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

Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 506 posts

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#321

Post by Notanothertoo »

prima-facie wrote: post #40

Your boss is gaslighting & intimidating you. - Do not be intimidated into thinking you did your work poorly. I've seen this happen many times with employees being guilt tripped, especially the younger more junior employees. You are a professional and the work you do is important for the company, you do it with pride and to the best of your ability. - Beware of gaslighting. Some bosses can be incredibly manipulative a…

This.

The conversation had was entirely one sided with no grace or responsibility. Furthermore if they don't appreciate it that feeling isn't going to change. They are rolling their bullshit down to you because they lack the maturity for something else. Also juniors are expected to need hand holding to adjust academic expectations for real world and if they haven't done anything to correct or provide more direct technical feedback that is also on them.

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#322

Post by cliftonk »

Don’t take any of it personally. It sounds like you’re doing the best you can. Your manager is probably not great at some aspects of managing re: communication / expectations. You might have to be more proactive about checking in with your manager on a regular basis about these types of things (even though this should be their responsibility — not yours).

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#323

Post by psyc »

3maj wrote: post #317

I'm looking at this from a PM's perspective and not a devs perspective so take it as you will. >he basically tells me this project should have been finished a long time ago and he can't believe it's taken this long >>Sounds like a manager with a MBA and lack of hands on technical experience. >he says I probably just misinterpreted an offhand comment of hers as a hard requirement >>The problem isn't you not understand…

It took me a long time to learn that it can be very valuable to stay in the loop with PMs and planners. Once, I was tearing my hair out over a huge task, and literally on the verge of quitting in shame, having realized it was beyond my ability to even move the needle on that mess. Fortunately I happened to vent about it to a PM, and she just says, "Oh don't stress out about that. That's getting cancelled." I don't know who was going to tell me or when. But as a mechanically-thinking engineer, my only solution to this was to figure out how to move the moon with a lever. Their solution was one line in an email that said, "Cut it."

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#325

Post by NicoJuicy »

Depends on the boss ofc. But i would send an email and ask for updated feedback after the discussion.

You're not responsable for changing requirements, so that's not your fault. Criticism for a junior developer is feedback.

I don't think you should take it to heart too much.

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#326

Post by strken »

hunter-gatherer wrote: post #293
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess if I want to keep working here I'll need to find a way to make fewer mistakes like that in the future. Communication is the answer. If you think you're going to quietly go back to your laptop and solve all of these problems by being more careful, you'll probably end up disappointed. You should take this as a learning opportunity to improve your communication skills. Communicate early and often. Ask for feed…

To piggy back on this, you will most definitely work with and for people who are malicious and gaslight you. Not saying that is the case here, but even if it is, a valuable skill is learning how to cope through it and work with those individuals. It isn't easy, but it is more sustainable than just being a victim.

You want a strategy that works regardless. E.g. if your skip-level manager tells you a project should have been completed a while ago, and this is the first time you're hearing about it, it's better to say "let me follow up on that after the meeting and get back to you, because it's a bit different from the timeline we've set within the project" than to push the blame onto your direct manager, get defensive to your skip-level manager, apologise, or agree to spend the weekend working. Get some breathing room, put together a paper trail of emails and meeting notes, and let everyone cool down.

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#327

Post by NortySpock »

dazeandconfuse wrote: post #301
r00fus wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 'bother the professor' part is key. With new teammates, I want them to reach out if they're on a project I'm leading. If things look like they're going well - then it's great to get positive feedback. If not, better to change direction early (lost work due to changing requirements). Do you have a weekly 1:1 with your manager?

No, I don't, is this something you think it'd make sense for me to request?

Yes, or just schedule the one-on-one yourself. You have Outlook, same as them.

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#329

Post by 3maj »

psyc wrote: post #323
3maj wrote: post #317

I'm looking at this from a PM's perspective and not a devs perspective so take it as you will. >he basically tells me this project should have been finished a long time ago and he can't believe it's taken this long >>Sounds like a manager with a MBA and lack of hands on technical experience. >he says I probably just misinterpreted an offhand comment of hers as a hard requirement >>The problem isn't you not understand…

It took me a long time to learn that it can be very valuable to stay in the loop with PMs and planners. Once, I was tearing my hair out over a huge task, and literally on the verge of quitting in shame, having realized it was beyond my ability to even move the needle on that mess. Fortunately I happened to vent about it to a PM, and she just says, "Oh don't stress out about that. That's getting cancelled." I don't kn…

I generally suggest that all dev teams send at least one person that's in the trenches daily to the steering committee meetings and any other decision making meetings.

This way, there's always someone that can keep expectations in check and can relay any minor/major changes back to the team. Ideally, these would be the tasks of a competent PM/Sr.BA but it doesn't always work like that.

Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?

#330

Post by trynewideas »

mushufasa wrote: post #24

> Part of the reason it had taken so long is because I put a substantial amount of work into a part of the project that's no longer necessary due to changing requirements, which I don't think I could have forseen. One of the things that I've experienced with new grad junior devs is that there's an adjustment needed to change from academic working to business working. In academia, usually the professor gives an assign…

I'd go one step further and log my work and blockers in a place that's visible to everyone internally, like a company wiki if there's one. Still check in frequently but have that already written up and ready to share with anyone else who might be able to help.

The biggest problem I've had being new at a company is knowing everyone else's skillset, and many people have a history at the company that gives them a unique voice or perspective that's especially valuable to someone new.

(A big example: people who transferred between departments over time and can contrast how things are similar and different between them, what the connections between them are like, and the history and changes over time in them.)

Having something easily sharable and already public can make it trivial for your manager or boss to track your progress — managers LOVE focusing their meetings on actions with context already in hand — and also make it easy for your boss to point you in the direction of someone else who can help with specific issues or blockers.

Post reply on HN