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Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

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Re: Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

#81

Post by SteveNuts »

beebmam wrote: post #71
mattw2121 wrote: post #9

I had a situation once where we had a minor re-org and I ended up with a new manager. Literally day one, he made an attempt to change everyone's role. We were a team of developers and business analysts. He decided that everyone would become both and spend 50% of their time on each activity. Not sure why he thought this was a good idea, but he did. After he announced it, I had a 1x1 with him and clearly let him know t…

> Why am I telling you? It's that I've learned it better to communicate and hopefully work things out then just pack up and head to another place. How do you know it was better, in this circumstance, if you don't know what the outcome of packing up would have been? It's impossible to know all the consequences of our actions.

Because if they were anything like me, and the boss unilaterally decided I'm going down a different career path, they would have eventually quit.

Re: Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

#82

Post by BeFlatXIII »

buscoquadnary wrote: post #66
nimblegorilla wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sort of agree. Jobs usually have aspects that seem unrewarding. But if you spend most of your time cleaning break rooms then it doesn't let you grow the type of skills needed to land a SWE salary at the next place.

I can and do practice those things in my own time. I love my craft I love to excel at it. I have a period of time coming up where I will not work for several weeks (still paid though), during this time I am planning on working through The Art of Computer Programming and learning mobile development. The responsibility for me to keep my skills sharp is upon me not my employer.

Why not take that responsibility on company time? What's the worst that happens? The nonsense you were asked to do was somehow tied to company profitability and the stock price tanks?

Re: Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

#86

Post by beckingz »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #17

Personally I think the concept of growth is a scam to get people to work harder for less. You can certainly grow your skill set, but intelligent people can rise to the occasion in most jobs. Including CEO/Director/High level decision making jobs. Everytime I have received some insultingly low offer from a startup, they start talking about "growth", "what I can own", "wearing many hats". Meanwhile, the founder is sitt…

It's a scam but sometimes it pays off.

Re: Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

#88

Post by blululu »

duxup wrote: post #68
blululu wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many manager stories where it doesn't sound like they even did a basic check in with their subordinates...

Communication is a two way street for sure. But I haven known plenty of devs who keep their heads down and bemoan their boss and wouldn't say anything to them anyway. Hard to know how a person feels in that case.

From the sound of it the OP really did go out of their way to try to talk this one through. Of course communication is a two way street, but communication is basically the only job a manager really has at the end of the day. It is their primary responsibility and they should bear the brunt of the responsibility for any communication breakdowns. Sure devs can be hard to talk to. Managing people is fundamentally a hard job. That's why it pays well.

Re: Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

#89

Post by jesse__ »

jmartrican wrote: post #21

One of my problems is that I like to write code. Specifically novel code. But the places I work at really want me to just do regular CRUD work and glue work (use other people's code and avoid novel code). How do I find companies that write their own cool new code? Maybe coding teams get broken down into such small teams that there is only room for CRUD and glue and novel code gets too risky when trying to deliver use…

I also started my career in web development, and also found it became very mechanical after a while.

Personally, I've found game engine and graphics programming to fill this void. It's somewhat tricky to learn, but if you're interested I'd check out Handmade Hero to start.

The job market for engine programmers isn't fantastic, especially if you want to work remotely, but there are definitely jobs out there, and very few people capable of filling the roles.

Re: Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

#90

Post by conductr »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #17

Personally I think the concept of growth is a scam to get people to work harder for less. You can certainly grow your skill set, but intelligent people can rise to the occasion in most jobs. Including CEO/Director/High level decision making jobs. Everytime I have received some insultingly low offer from a startup, they start talking about "growth", "what I can own", "wearing many hats". Meanwhile, the founder is sitt…

This is mostly true for IC roles. Politics of the company are learned and are increasingly important beyond that point. People generally need to learn how to influence and how to whip votes for certain objectives to become a priority or receive budget dollars. Being smart might help but isn’t always a solution but having a mentor in the process or having been coached through similar activities can be a big help. They also generally need to learn how to lead/grow/manage a team of IC's and eventually team of managers as part of their responsibilities. Even smart people are usually born without that ability. Some people have a head start if they have taken leadership roles elsewhere in their life. YMMV but this is applies to most corporate cultures that I have experienced over my career.
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