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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?

#361
post #359

> 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…

> without bothering the professor What the hell kind of academic culture is this? Maybe in graduate research, if I expected a research assistant to know how to do a task... but certainly not true in an undergraduate course! If they can't do the assignment, that is the perfect time for them to come to me and learn from me how to do the assignment. That's like, the whole point of my job as a teacher is to help people l…

> That's like, the whole point of my job as a teacher is to help people learn.

Many professors see teaching as a distraction from their real job, research, not an adjunct to it.

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

#362
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 have this feeling most workplace structures are pressure trickling systems. Nobody really knows how, but things get pushed down blindly, everybody grinds hard and higher ups complain about progress not being good enough. People grind again through fear. Rince, repeat.

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

#363
This is going to sound harsh, but it's not meant to, it's not a criticism, but there are two things that first of all comes to mind: 1. It is absolutely irrelevant how hard you worked on something, "the company" does not care if you ground yourself down to the bone, or if you barely moved a finger. "The company" cares about the project being done on time and with the expected quality. I've had negative feedback on projects where I worked like a horse, because, well, it was hard and I didn't know how to do it.. And I've had positive feedback on projects where I did very little actual work, but knew what to do, and so, well, had a good relax before installing the library that solved all the problems.

2. Striving to please is natural, and dangerous, again, "the company" does not care about your good intentions, they'd rather have a working product of high quality delivered in scorn, than a late project that's not up to standard delivered with the best wishes.

That was the tough parts, but try to think of them as ways to change your own mindset, to protect yourself from a lot of negativity that's largely beyond your control and won't benefit anyone, but only be to your own detriment.

That said, it sounds like a startup to be honest, the boss sounds immature if they're bummed out by SOFTWARE BEING LATE.. And they should definitely have appreciated that if requirements change, it's their problem and responsibility rather than yours (or at least your managers) and probably the polite thing for them to do would be to apologize that they made you do that work that wasn't used, and relay to you that it's totally understandable to be bummed about that, but that it does happen from time to time..

About you taking your managers advice, well, it's hard to say, maybe your manager didn't understand the problem as well as you did (or should have done) and so it might in fact have been your responsibility to push back, but again, here a mature boss would have recognized not to expect push back from a fresh, non-senior hire, and accepted this as part of the learning process.

How to proceed ? If you're up for it, maybe arrange a meeting with your manager and boss, and relay your view of the situation, it was very well formulated, and their reaction and response will quickly reveal if that company is worth working for.. They probably shouldn't have to apologize exactly, but they should clear the air, show understanding and explain to you that it's gonna be okay. Any worse reaction tells me that they're not ready to be boss and manager.

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

#364
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a theory about why it is so difficult for great IC's to make the jump to being a great manager. As an individual contributor, you need two things most of all: 1. quiet uninterrupted time to focus your mind and get into flow, and 2. quick responses to any blockers or questions that you have so that you can get back into the work. As a manager, a key part of your job now requires you to be infinitely interruptab…

> I have a theory about why it is so difficult for great IC's to make the jump to being a great manager I find it very odd that most ICs take the path of management. This seems like an unnatural transition, like going from being a minister to playing in a death metal band.

Since I'm both an IC and a death metal connoisseur, I'll argue that it's more like going from playing in a death metal band to being a minister ;)

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

#365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

company doctor?

In EU companies have to appoint a medical expert that checks worker's health (for free) upon joining the company, and routinely (1-2 times a year, depends on country I guess). Edit: Could be something that only companies whose workers have to do physical labour ("blue collar" jerbs) If you call in sick for more than three days you usually go through your own doctor, so that you get a certification that you're taking…

EU citizen here, never heard of that, what country is that?

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

#366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You called in sick yesterday and went to the beach with your buddies? I'm glad you did! We all need a mental health day once in a while. Being happy actually makes you more productive in the long term.

> You called in sick yesterday and went to the beach with your buddies? I'm glad you did! We all need a mental health day once in a while. Being happy actually makes you more productive in the long term. Not quite. It's great when employees take care of themselves and make a point to enjoy their time outside of the office. However, it's not really cool if you commit to be somewhere on a certain day, no-show, and then…

> However, it's not really cool if you commit to be somewhere on a certain day, no-show, and then lie about being sick. If you want to take a day off, that's perfectly fine. Please just communicate about it honestly. Don't lie. Reputation and trust are hard to build but easy to destroy.

People sometimes take "sick" days because the culture is such that they aren't allowed to be more honest about it. Many places I've worked operate in a never-ending cycle of extreme urgency. Taking days off usually must be approved far in advance, making it useless for those times when you wake up and simply cannot be productive. This leads to burnout pretty quickly. I have no issue with saying "I'm not feeling well" when I know I've hit a wall mentally and need to separate myself from my work. This makes me much more productive for the weeks following.

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

#367
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without bothering the professor What the hell kind of academic culture is this? Maybe in graduate research, if I expected a research assistant to know how to do a task... but certainly not true in an undergraduate course! If they can't do the assignment, that is the perfect time for them to come to me and learn from me how to do the assignment. That's like, the whole point of my job as a teacher is to help people l…

> That's like, the whole point of my job as a teacher is to help people learn. Many professors see teaching as a distraction from their real job, research, not an adjunct to it.

Could it be because you lose your professor job is in peril if you don't get research funding? Survival explains so much.

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

#369
I am yet to see a project of a reasonable size where its success or failure can be contributed to a single person - it is always a group effort. A good manager always knows how to distribute work and manage things so that even underperforming/sick/demotivated/frustrated people (things happens) are still delivering value so that the things are moving ahead no matter what. Looking back and pointing fingers is a useful as looking for a toilet after shit already happened.

People's behaviour/actions/attitudes should be adjusted while we are in progress and any reviews/post-mortems/retros are normally embarrassing and offensive and non-productive as we are not given a chance to do differently which brings frustration and breaks the spirit rather than improves things.

The only thing that matters is people around you, not technology, or projects or anything else. We spend more time with them than with our parents or partners - but the good thing is - you can always ditch them - not that easy with the parents or partners )))

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

#370
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a theory about why it is so difficult for great IC's to make the jump to being a great manager. As an individual contributor, you need two things most of all: 1. quiet uninterrupted time to focus your mind and get into flow, and 2. quick responses to any blockers or questions that you have so that you can get back into the work. As a manager, a key part of your job now requires you to be infinitely interruptab…

> I have a theory about why it is so difficult for great IC's to make the jump to being a great manager I find it very odd that most ICs take the path of management. This seems like an unnatural transition, like going from being a minister to playing in a death metal band.

There really isn't a pipeline for for entry-level managers in tech: I've never heard of anyone interning for, or graduating from college and managing ICs as an entry-level job. However, those managers are needed, and have got to come from somewhere, so here we are, looking to start a death metal band at a seminary.
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