First don't ever say this is what my manager told me to do to his/her boss, accept critics and say that you will improve. Then talk to your manager and explain the situation, you don't know their relationship and if the critics are towards you or really are a way to criticize your manager. Besides that work at your best and speak a lot to your manager for feedback
Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
371–380 of 506 posts
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#372Shrug it off and keep your head down. Keep on producing good work. Your manager should of deflected this sort of stuff and you are a junior developer. The responsibility doesn't really fall on you. Take some notes about what you can do better on future projects and try and improve. Rinse and repeat. Gj on delivering.
DONT keep your head down though. That's part of the problem. Get out of your bubble/headspace/etc and talk to other devs. Compare approaches. Reach out to others to see how they're solving problems. Even problems you're not having. Especially those actually, for when the time inevitably comes when you have to deal with those issues. As a new person you can't possibly know everything. If you dont have someone showing…
It really seems they isolated him and / or he's working solo on a project. Dangerous place to be in a mismanaged org.
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#373Punching down by skip levels should never, ever happen. If you are actually underperforming, that's something to be discussed between you and your manager. The skip level may have legitimate concerns, but by going around your manager they are undermining her, and creating a pretty toxic situation for both of you.
First priority should be for you to sit down with your manager and discuss the feedback you received from your skip level - it's entirely possible your manager isn't aware of the specifics, and also possible that the skip level has it out for them, rather than you, and is taking it out on you.
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#374> 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 have this junior engineer DM'ing me right now and I've been ignoring it because I don't want to deal with him and I have my own work to do. I'm reading through your comment here thinking "hey, I'm pretty good at walking that line, bothering the professor when appropriate, not waiting too long and not asking him for help too soon"... and then it occurred to me this guy is probably bothering the professor where I'm t…
Doesn't have time for junior dev, because has so much own work. Then hangs on hackernews :D
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#375> I'm working my first job out of college and I really enjoy it.
As a (former) tech manager I'd stop right there. I take it as my duty to provide guidance, by means of code reviews and frequent discussions about code and architecture, naturally if the developer wishes so - usually something i ask for during the interview process for early career candidates. Furthermore I encourage the team to help in a friendly meaningful manner. Although it is the duty of the employee to try and brush up their skills (as their current job will not be the last, and training on the job for a specific job doesn't do magic for one's career) it is also our duty (those with a bit more experience) to pass on the torch. Of course there is nuance to everything.
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#376I would advise not to make a big deal about it. Someone who looked at the project from far away made bad comments on it. This is actually very common. When things start working and sell, all this is forgotten quite quickly and life goes on.
Your boss feels like he has to act as a customer to his engineers. I am not sure this is the best way to manage engineers. Anyway take this for granted and act as a supplier towards him: defend your work, the team, blame unclear and changing requirements, hide your work from scrutiny and claim you will improve processes and communication, remain positive but vague on details.
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#377Just stay open to appropriate criticism, reflect and discuss criticism you cannot accept (maybe it is really inappropriate, but maybe not), talk a lot about expectations theirs and yours, maybe make some suggestions to
* on the job training,
* mentoring,
* code reviews
Be also open about your respect for your managers and their skill, but do not belittle yourself. Keep the story of the lion and the mouse in the back of your head :-)
Also see to it to get feedback on criticism from a different perspective, i.e. talk about the talk with the boss with your manager. They might help you separate the rambling about project mishaps from the stuff really concerning you.
And finally: Always remember there are other good bosses out there.
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with this sentiment. And in fact, I’ll take it further: I’m not sure any “you should have” phrase is ever beneficial UNLESS it’s in the context of giving guidance about the future. And even then, it’s better to phrase it as “next time, I would suggest…” This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. “You should have” phrases are often used to berate or make the recipient feel bad while acting as a vent fo…
So i work with this person that is really slow. She should have accomplished a task in 2-4 weeks and it took her 6 months. We gave her 3 months to accomplish it. So at some point you do need to point out that a task should not have v taken as long as it did and ask the person why it did. Was there some sort of unknown issue that caused the task to take 4x longer than expected
Try to break down the tasks so that their single task doesn't take more than a day/two, see how it works out. Some people seem to operate better on short, simple tasks with visible understandable impact.
Also a 4 weeks task for a member of a larger team is something that turns them into their own development shop and it's probably not something you want to have in a team.
I also understand some will say "a senior dev should manage such a long task on their own" - well maybe they should and some might, but in the end it's not their business and they can jump the ship 2 weeks before the deadline of a 3 months task (seen that) - that's why good project/tech/team management is a skill ))
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#379There’s some real mistakes on the part of your direct manager here. It sounds like they have not been properly managing expectations between you and their boss. Out of curiosity how many direct reports do they have and how long have they been managing?
I would not be surprised to hear you’re reporting to someone who until recently was a just an IC and is still learning how to manage.
Re: Ask HN: My boss doesn't think I'm doing good work, how to proceed?
#380A company puts a newly graduated student alone on a project... It's on them.
The buck stops with the manager in these cases. He's blaming you for something that's 100% his fault.
Talk to your direct manager and tell him about this. He should have been at the meeting and he should have guided you.
It isn't like this in other companies. You're doing great, dealing with a complex rust project right out of college is tough. You're expected to carry on your own in every project. But your manager has the responsibility to keep the finger on the pulse. Gauge shifting requirements and make sure everything works smoothly for you. At this stage your job is to code and report.
Project delays happen, that's just inevitable. If a manager makes you feel small they're a bad manager. Empathy to subordinates is the most basic skill a manage should have.