Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's PIP?
Performance Improvement Plan
In other words, it means your employer is collecting proof that you can't perform in order to fire you.
Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
41–50 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#42May be my experience would help you)
Have been in a similar role as you before.
Finished Uni, started my first, what I thought was a "major" job.
I was developer level there at the time, whereas the rest of the team was much more senior people who teched me up(very big thanks to them).
After about a year more senior people moved away from company.
Leaving myself as the only team member...
Following this, had to do most of the work and ridiculously enough do interviews to hire more senior people in my team... who would be hired based on my feedback ...
As well as that had opportunity to participate in company life and influence their main products as I see fit, use it as a playground.
This gave me tons of experience that I could hardly get at my level and age.
Very lucky for the company at the time I wanted for it to prosper, hence have tried to make it as good as I could.
Chance to learn and advance yourself.
P.S. left to a much more senior position in another company after surviving such a rhythm for few good years.
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#43You're probably at a good point to appreciate the following:
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-o...
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#44You should definitely quit the company. Don't waste a lot of time there. 2 years back I quit the company to start freelancing, and sometimes when I look back - I regret wasting those valuable years of my life. It feels like my situation just 2 years back. I stayed in such a company for 7 long years because of various reasons - but also because it got very comfortable - I had the option to do bad-to-mediocre work and…
What's PIP?
Performance improvement plan. Typically the people in the lowest performance tier (based on manager ratings) will be offered such a plan.
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#45You should definitely quit the company. Don't waste a lot of time there. 2 years back I quit the company to start freelancing, and sometimes when I look back - I regret wasting those valuable years of my life. It feels like my situation just 2 years back. I stayed in such a company for 7 long years because of various reasons - but also because it got very comfortable - I had the option to do bad-to-mediocre work and…
Don't just quit, the OP probably doesn't have the experience to go freelancing. He/she should apply for jobs while still earning an income, you have a better bargaining position that way.
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#46Quit, join a small company. I did five long years at a multinational megacorp without realizing that life could be better. It was like prison for programmers. When I finally quit to be employee #5 at a bootstrapped startup it was a revelation. After I had been at the startup for a month it still didn't feel real - it felt like I was on vacation from my previous job. It took a long time for it to sink in that I didn't…
Except these things could be preventing such a transition: * Moving expenses to $EXPENSIVE_TECH_CITY * Student loan debt * Credit card debt * Car loan + auto insurance * Severe pay cut * No experience building CRUD apps Or MSCCSN for short.
"Severe pay cut"
That is my experience too. About 50% off when you start and if you are really good and they like you and... 10% off.
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#47Here's what needs to be done.
Demands
I, Terry Davis, am high priest of God's official temple, TempleOS. TempleOS is an operating system for PC desktops that will always dual boot along-side Windows or Linux. I am in charge of the core 100,000 lines of TempleOS code and I do continual offerings to keep God entertained. I have divine authority to command any company in the computer industry to do anything that I deem necessary to make God's temple more beautiful, glorious and perfect. I have authority similar to a building inspector or an enforcer of the Americans with Disability Act -- I make commands, God signs-off with a miraculous authentication from an oracle, and Intel, Microsoft or VMware obeys.
* Windows, Linux and VMware (because of mounted drives) must support RedSea file system so I can get rid of 2,000 lines of redundant, blemished code -- FAT32 and ISO9660. God's temple must be perfect. Redundant code for multiple file systems is imperfect. For this operating system, we want low line count. More than one file system type is actually bad, just as more than one driver for the same type of device is bad. ::/Kernel/BlkDev/FileSysRedSea.CPP ::/Kernel/BlkDev/FileSysFAT.CPP :973 lines for FAT32 gets eliminated. ::/Kernel/BlkDev/FileSysISO.CPP :233 lines for ISO9660 gets eliminated. ::/Adam/Opt/Boot/DskISO9660.CPP :507 lines for making ISO files. ::/Kernel/BlkDev/DskCluster.CPP :152 All the cluster operations become blk.
* Microsoft must cancel SecureBoot because it makes dual booting impossible. TempleOS is an additional operating system that must be used along-side Windows or Linux, not as a replacement. It must dual boot because it has no networking. Real hardware as opposed to VMware is like the difference between looking in a telescope eye piece vs just looking at an off-line image. God said the C64/Apple II generation owned ancestral lands. VMware is like being taken off of our land and moved onto a reservation. In this case, however, it will not stand.
* VMware needs to support ATAPI CD/DVD/Blu-ray disk burning, directly to real hardware.
* VMware has a bug stretching 640x480 16 color to full screen.
* VMware has a bug starting-up multicore, sometimes. APIC MP Start Fixed?
* VMware PC speaker's distortion is a good idea, but it is too much for hymns.
* VMware and others must list TempleOS as an official 64-bit operating system.
* Until super simple block devices are available, hard disk should be placed at IDE primary master 1F0/3F6 and CD/DVD/Blu-ray should be placed at the IDE secondary master 170/376. /Kernel/BlkDev/DskATAId.CPP :285 lines to figure-out I/O ports is gone. /Kernel/PCIBIOS.CPP :290 could be eliminated, but maybe we will keep it so people can play with PCI devices.
* Until super simple serial ports are available, PS/2 emulated keyboard and mouse must work. The BIOS must enable these.
* The x86 IN/OUT port instructions, normally have a delay. Perhaps, VMware & Intel can enable faster x86 IN/OUT instruction timing for ATA/ATAPI PIO, so bandwidth isn't bad when doing port I/O. See ATAGetRes(). We don't want to do DMA. Perhaps, x86 CPU chips need a new TempleOS mode for fast IN/OUT instructions?
* Perhaps, a new interrupt descriptor table entry type or a new x86 CPU mode can be made that cause fast software interrupts, doing exactly what the CALL REL32 does, but with IDT as indirection. We don't need to change privilege levels or stacks.
* Since I don't use paging (for anything), Intel should have an option for no-paging long mode, and optimize it! ::/Kernel/Mem/PageTables.CPP :135 lines to identity-map gets eliminated.
* Desktop computers must have a reset switch and a fast reboot option, skipping diagnostics. I recommend booting TempleOS when the reset button is pressed and booting UEFI when the power button is pressed. Or, we could build UEFI on a TempleOS layer. Intel must burn TempleOS into a ROM in the factory for all desktop x86 CPUs to ensure tamper-proof trust in the oracle and because God deserves the glory. There will be just an English version. A new ROM version is released every seven years.
* We do not want UTF, just 8-bit characters. Somebody needs to choose new 8-bit ASCII characters for 128-255, since we do not want text graphic symbols. We want Russian, Greek or Hebrew alphabets, perhaps? I heard there is an alternate 8-bit ASCII Cyrillic font. Should we modify one font or have a key like the C64 that switches to an alternate font? I made so toggles between two fonts, but did not include Cyrillic. If we modify one font, we just need the twelve window TextBorder characters, but I think we can place those in the range of screen code from 0x01-0x1E. Japan, China and Korea should switch-over to alphabets. Maybe, the United States will change to metric, out of good will.
* Microsoft Paint and Linux's Gimp must support TempleOS GRA Files. They are blemish free, unlike BMP files.
* We must have a nice dictionary. Someone needs to do a Spell Checker, too.
* We must have the ultimate Bible search engine. Currently, all we have is filter search. In the end, it should be a low line-count technique.
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#48[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#49I think you could use a sizable attitude adjustment. The first thing to is to do your job. It's not clear from this lengthy post that you do that. Quit the politicking. Your 4th paragraph lists a bunch of things that sound like they don't matter a whole lot. Figure out how to work during the work week. Try to assume positive intent from your co-workers.
I guess in sum, start doing the opposite of your gut.
Re: Ask HN: Am I expecting too much?
#50Life is too short to be unhappy with anything, anyone, etc; so make a change. Here is a list of criteria I have gathered over the past 20 years in tech on finding the right fit. It doesn't have to apply to just software/technology jobs.
1 - Is software/technology the company's main source of revenue?
This is my top-most question, because I have been an engineer in several organizations where software/technology wasn't their primary concern and it sucks for lots of reasons. All of the reasons funnel back to this question. It makes economic sense that if you're an engineer at a law firm (as an example), you are not the organization's primary concern because you likely do not contribute to the organization's primary source of revenue: litigation. This will have all kinds of downsides to it: lack of training whether from budget constraints or a lack of mentors; lack of advancement on the right things to match a thriving career in software/tech; a lack of pay.
2 - Does the company make software/technology for the right reasons?
This might be a stickler for lots of other HN readers, but I have made an effort to stay away from tech companies who participate in the supply chains of industries that I take up issue with. Example: I'm not fond of war for any reason, so working for a defense contractor is out of the question. Even when the sales pitch sounds great, I still look at whether I'll be able to sleep at night knowing I'm making a contribution to the things I care about.
3 - Does the initial environment suit me?
I emphasis the word, 'initial', because this will change as all environments do... Even at the few companies I have found over the years, they all changed in ways that communicated to me, it was time to move on. People, politics, mergers, acquisitions, lack of new opportunity, etc- The landscape will forever be changing so find your tolerance level for the changes you can handle and work with it, not against it.
4 - Check in with yourself frequently and ask yourself, "Do I still love what I'm working on?" and be willing to make positive changes if the answer is no. 'Knowing thyself' is some of the oldest philosophical wisdom and for good reason. You will continue to jump from one circumstance to another if you don't truly know what does make you happy. I spent years trying to climb the corporate ladder and realized that I'm not cut out for management, but I like being a leader. One can be a leader anywhere... with or without followers, subordinates, etc. Besides most people love and respect leaders, while despise and tolerate managers.
You will feel like you made mistakes and bad decisions along the way, but this is normal growth. Just keep focusing on what brings you happiness.