201–210 of 293 posts
But just in case you need to hear this, I don’t know you but I believe in you. It takes a lot of skill to write something tactically useful when you’re in the deep end of shit pool. You’ve got this.
Been there. I had very strong technical skills and was well known in the organization for that. Changed jobs on the promise I would work on projects using those skills. In reality they wanted me to do change management, negotiate budgets, negotiate dates, coordinate projects, make power point decks… Because of my excellent track record delivering technical stuff they expected great results from me doing this new stuf…
One thing to watch out for (in roles like the old one you left) is the mentality that all butts in chairs are interchangeable. In particular, they should have hired a seasoned release manager instead of trying to turn you into one. (Some Dev Ops proponents have some nonsensical argument about continuous release meaning you don’t need a release manager. Those people are incompetent, and don’t know what a release manag…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If my boss wants to pay me a SWE salary and then insists I clean out the break room fridge on Friday that is his perogrative not mine. I mean... I can buy this to a point. But for me personally, there are lines. And there are things I'm just not going to do. Period. I know it's un-trendy to talk about anything being "beneath you", and I'm not sure that's the wording I would use, but there are simply things that I don…
You sure showed them! I bet that advance auto manager thought real hard about asking anybody else to....sweep. I'm glad you realized your hands were too important to be callused by a broom
The thing is, I didn't then, nor do I now, care about what he thought hard about or not. That wasn't the point. I just wasn't going to be the one doing it. What happened beyond that is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned.
There is a leadership book called "First Break all the Rules - What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently". It's data driven by a large meta-survey and research project. One of the conclusions was that, essentially, the normal instinct with Performance Management to focus on improving weaknesses is wrong and leads to sub-optimal outcomes. The best managers actually doubled down on each individuals strengths, a…
I can't change my project to need more proof of concepts in every case. So, I have two things in my toolbag: I can try to coach someone to know my expectations for this project and help with coaching those behaviors and skills, or I can let them go for being a square peg when we need a round hole.
I wish we had better ways for matching people with the best jobs that rewarded what make them excel.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You sure showed them! I bet that advance auto manager thought real hard about asking anybody else to....sweep. I'm glad you realized your hands were too important to be callused by a broom
seriously, while I understand and agree with the sentiment in general, you're a clerk at a small store, sweeping the parking lot doesn't seem outside of your duties.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know who is going to be the first one fired and the last one promoted? The SWE who is being asked to do some bogus tasks that aren't even close to what they are capable of. In many cases you are in one way or another obligated to act as you suggest, but it is not always good for you personally and simply pretending that you aren't getting screwed is pretty naive. You often don't really have much of a choice in th…
I have a good friend who runs a smallish (100 person) company with about 30-40 (mechanical) engineers. One of their long-term custodians got ill for a long spell and so engineers were asked to take out their own trash. Some people just refused to do so, to the point it got smelly and affected the org. One of the execs got fed up and took all the smelly trash out herself one night and then started going around and ind…
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…
Does anyone in the team understand what you bring to the table? Is your contribution key to the team's success? If that's the case then the others could serve as promoters for your case in front of the boss who apparently doesn't see or appreciate this. But if this is not the case then maybe your current skill set is not a good match to what is currently needed. I don't know, maybe someone else is already covering th…
Yes, I helped build the team. Many of the colleagues are my friends and best coworkers from past jobs. That’s what makes leaving so hard. I’m being recruited heavily by other internal teams, which helps my mental state right now.
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…
Yes, my biggest problem with how promotion processes work at big companies is this. How you're supposed to perform at your currently level is pretty well spelled out by your manager - exactly what your expectations are, etc. However, you're supposed to perform at the "next level" prior to being promoted. Expectations are less clear here. This leads to you doing a lot of things you think will get you a promotion (most…
I'm at a level now where the next level up just looks miserable. The people I know one level up are the most intelligent productive people I know but almost every single one of them has some bizarre unexplained health issue likely related to stress. The things my boss, her boss, and their peers are able to accomplish is amazing to me but, man, i just don't think that level of suffering is worth the increase in pay.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If my boss wants to pay me a SWE salary and then insists I clean out the break room fridge on Friday that is his perogrative not mine. I mean... I can buy this to a point. But for me personally, there are lines. And there are things I'm just not going to do. Period. I know it's un-trendy to talk about anything being "beneath you", and I'm not sure that's the wording I would use, but there are simply things that I don…
You sure showed them! I bet that advance auto manager thought real hard about asking anybody else to....sweep. I'm glad you realized your hands were too important to be callused by a broom
You misunderstand. I have no problem sweeping. If he'd asked me to sweep in the store, that would have been fine. I did that pretty much every day anyway. It was more that the *fucking parking lot* doesn't need to be swept in the first place. It's a parking lot! This guy was just being a jackoff, which is why my response was as seemingly hyperbolic as it was.
Sorry, that's my fault for eliding some details in the story, because I was in a hurry earlier.