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

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

#31

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

Tell your manager that you are scared by what happened in the meeting with the skip manager and ask if they want you working for them or if you should start looking for another job.

Most likely you should leave in this situation, because if your skip manager thinks you suck, you don’t have much of a future at the company. They will likely need to approve promotions, raises, etc.

However, you don’t have much to lose by being very open with your manager and seeing if the situation can be repaired.

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

#32

Post by asciimov »

Have you gone to your manager and discussed the meeting? Start there, One on one.

Just tell them what their boss told you and go from there.

Take any criticisms with a grain of salt. While they may be valid they also may be their own frustrations seeping through.

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

#33

Post by Simon_O_Rourke »

Keep your head down, and use the time wisely to line up a new job. No need to accept anything just yet, but start putting out feelers.

If your boss is saying bad things about your work while you're in the room, you can bet your bottom dollar it's amplified when you're not there.

One way things may play out is in the review cycle, if things are coming up negative there, with no positives, then you can throttle up the job search.

Either which, look after yourself first and don't let them pull the rug from under you with no options.

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

#34

Post by geofft »

I quit my last job over less than this, and I felt really uncertain about it at the time, but my career growth, compensation growth, and intangible feeling of management support have all been massively better at my new place - and I found it by being randomly contacted by a headhunter. My old job wasn't bad nor was my old manager, there just wasn't a fit between what I wanted to do with my career and what my employer wanted to do with that role. The immediate trigger was that I had a conversation much like this one where I thought I was being treated unfairly, and in retrospect I wasn't really, but in fact it was a good sign of that mismatch.

So I do want to encourage you to keep your eyes open for other opportunities. If you're a Rust coder working on computer vision stuff, and you're early-career enough that you're not particularly tied down as a person, you have a lot of options.

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

#35

Post by nlh »

myowz wrote: post #7

This boss telling you that they felt the project should have been done a long time ago: I wonder who that comment benefits? Feels like no one. You get bummed, they give late feedback without a lot of constructive aspects to it. I am trying to think of one way it was useful to tell you that, but I can’t. Seems like you should feel justified in not being a fan of working under this person. What you do with that is hard…

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 for the sayer. By grammatical definition, they refer to events / things in the past and suggest an alternate course that didn’t happen. A theoretical construct. Good for language construction, bad for feedback.

I’d love counterexamples if anyone thinks differently, btw.

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

#36

Post by XorNot »

Plan to quit. Start looking for new jobs now. The boss has made his mind up about you - when the manager leaves or is transferred you'll be gone next.

I have been in this situation and the reality is there is just nothing you can do to salvage it.

It sounds like you've been there nearing a year and you've delivered a project - perfectly good reasons to be moving on when you've basically been given a warning that they're thinking about canning you.

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

#37

Post by krimbus »

Just relax and try to learn the most that you can from this interaction: This person could be on a bad day or be a natural asshole, maybe you did misunderstand your manager comments, you definitely should have looked at other projects and most importantly, now you know how not to give feedback to someone else.

Anyway, this is your first job and you are playing a very long game. Don't let a single interaction determine how you feel. As many others already mentioned, you can also talk about it with your manager to figure out what happened.

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

#38

Post by dpeck »

zwieback wrote: post #8

The first meeting where your manager just abandoned you and you ended up talking to your manager's boss is totally inappropriate. Being so new to the job basically all the responsibility is with your direct manager and her boss is wrong to dump on you without your manager present. I'd give it another chance though, sounds like the work is fun and maybe you can communicate your concerns to your direct manager.

Completely agree. As a general rule if a junior developer does something “wrong”, unless it purposefully malicious, it’s on the manager.

OP, I’d say keep this situation in the back of your mind and reevaluate in a few months. If it happens again, start the job search.

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

#39

Post by xupybd »

"my manager and her boss are both super smart"

That doesn't mean they are good at growing staff. In our industry that seems to be lacking big time.

You need this sort of feedback but it should probably have come from your manager. You said your manager was too busy. It sounds like the company is struggling to meet deadlines. There must be a lot of pressure on your management. That might mean they don't manage you very well .

Don't get down. You were probably very good at university and now as a junior you have a lot of growing to do. That's a shock many of us face. You will always have a skill set in demand. Learn as much as you can here. If you don't like it you can move on. Don't let your confidence get shaken.

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

#40

Post by prima-facie »

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 and will resort to all sort of tactics to get more from you. They can have you attend more meetings than necessary because there's a deadline coming up for them. They might want to shift the blame to you when something hasn't been done in their department, even when it wasn't your job in the first place. When this happens clearly state that it is not your responsibility and that you do your job well and on time.

- Stop caring too much about company problems, and focus on your own work. You should not care if the manager does his job poorly or if the company is not doing so well. It not your fault. They are running the business poorly.

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