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Tell HN: Beware 'Ungrowth' in Your Job

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

#131

Post by bornfreddy »

Gareth321 wrote: post #93
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…

> Personally I think the concept of growth is a scam to get people to work harder for less. I've certainly seen this employed as a way to argue against wage increases. "If we're going to pay you 15% more, how are you going to add 15% more value?" Sadly this rhetoric often works on people because it sounds so obviously intuitive at first. Thing is, jobs can become more valuable even if they're exactly the same, and th…

"Easy. I've been working at 50% because of the s*t pay anyway."

Jokes aside, if someone tries such manoeuvres it might be time to reevaluate if 15% is enough to stay.

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

#132

Post by jtwebman »

I think this really depends on what they are asking you to do. If part of the job is say writing documentation, moving and documenting your work with Jira tickets, report progress, or helping your team accomplish the sprint then maybe you need to build those skills to at least be ok at it. If it is to manage people or move up in job title then I would agree maybe that isn't something you should try for. You were not very specific on the details.

Also growth isn't always just building on strengths. It is also knowing where you are short on skill and learning more to at least do that skill ok and then maybe delicate or trade tasks with someone that is better at it. It is about understanding yourself.

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

#134

Post by aynyc »

It seems to me that your boss was more than understanding. Coaching and long runway. I'm glad you see the realty as it is and not go into passive-aggressive mode.

I disagree that growth can only come from strength. Like many coders, I was bad at communications, particularly in public speaking space. My boss needed an engineer that can present work at company meetings, he basically tasked me (mainly because I knew the system and business very well). It was 6 months of absolute terror as some of you might know. In the end, I succeeded. I learned more than about me than before, while my technical skills didn't improve, my soft skill improved leaps and bounds. My career also has improved significantly.

What I'm trying to say is, change is hard, especially if it impact the core of who you are. But like everything else in life, stepping out of your comfort zone is important for growth if that's something you desire.

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

#135

Post by jcadam »

bombcar wrote: post #104
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.

This will often be a small company/large company divide. If you started at a small company, you'll be used to doing all sorts of things "outside of your job description" (usually below) like restocking toilet paper, etc, simply because there is nobody else to do it. If you started at a large company, you'll likely be used to "you cannot whatsoever move your computer to the other side of your cubicle without contactin…

LOL, once spent a few days on SWE salary (along with a few other guys) physically moving server racks from one facility to another. Yes, small company. As a one-off that sort of stuff is fine.

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

#136

Post by AlwaysRock »

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…

> After a year of trying, coaching, assuming I’m the problem, talking to my skip level, hard convos with my boss, and much more etc

Seems like OP did all these things.

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

#137

Post by exabrial »

FartyMcFarter wrote: post #48
throwarayes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. However life is short and after trying half a dozen things over a year, it’s creating a lot of mental health problems for me. It is likely I have failed. I have tremendous empathy for this boss. But I also have to think of my strengths and where I can be successful elsewhere.

Don't worry about having failed. Just try to learn some lessons so you can avoid similar problems next time. If it's truly getting to the point where it's affecting your mental health, the job is no longer what you should prioritize.

Precisely ^

Strive for excellence, not perfection, in everything you do.

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

#138

Post by zuzuleinen »

You reminded me about a big company I used to work where they had these personal development plans. They were insisting on people to do them, but the allocated time was mostly "on paper". The consequence of that was that people started to pick small/trivial goals just to show something in reviews.

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

#139

Post by AlwaysRock »

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…

I dont know. I've taken a few jobs for growth. But I made sure they also benefited me in other ways. Want me to take a really hard role where I'm going to learn and grow a lot? Pay me more than if I was taking a less difficult role with less growth.

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

#140

Post by [deleted] »

conductr wrote: post #90
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…

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