Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Doing Everyone Else's Job

yosefk.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 106 posts

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#91

Post by Brian_K_White »

dust-jacket wrote: post #79
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of at least two people in my career who were, ahem, load bearing for the company. They did all of the BS, non-sexy work required to keep the place running. Never wasted time on vanity projects, just showed up day after day doing the actual necessary things. They were criminally under appreciated by management. Their career trajectory significantly worse than those who engaged in the highly visible project…

I've never understood why people would continue to care so hard when their efforts are unappreciated. But I've also never worked at a large company.

It's because being rewarded is not the primary reason they do anything. It's a component and it's nice, but it's not the definition if life and existence.

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#92

Post by carlosjobim »

ozim wrote: post #80
esafak wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the company does not recognize its importance just LET THE DAMN THING FAIL. That is how management will pay proper attention to it.

I like getting paid each month and not having to look for job. Letting it fail is directly opposing my need to pay mortgage.

If the entire company of thousands of employees stand or fall depending on your work alone, then you can find something which pays double your salary in less than a day. And thus pay your mortgage.

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#93

Post by jeffrallen »

I work this way, and apart from being well liked because people know I bring well thought out requests (and sometimes, code) to them, I haven't seen much reward. The reward has to be intrinsic. You have to actually like helping other people selflessly, and that's about the only reward you can count on.

Usually, if I dig into something that's not being done by others it's because it is no one's job. And by the rule of "he who touched it last owns it" (a stupid and destructive default rule that exists even in otherwise excellent organizations), I end up owning a bunch of old crap no one wants to touch.

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#94

Post by BeetleB »

> I also believe that you will be well-rewarded for doing everyone else’s job in the many cases where the organization is in a shape bad enough to need this (which is most of them) but is still healthy enough to eventually appreciate it (and if it can’t, it’s on its last breath.)

Tread carefully. At fairly large companies, you'll find plenty of people who'll take your reward. I also know people like those described in the article who get hit by layoffs - people didn't realize how significant the unofficial work they did was.

Whenever I get a new job, I always research and test the waters. If it's clear I won't get rewarded, I don't do it (and start searching for another job).

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#95

Post by jjk166 »

esafak wrote: post #77
maerF0x0 wrote: post #70

> and most managers fail to punish at least some of these slow learners of theirs False, they punish by not crediting that work as work. Glue work, keeping things tidy, dealing with that annoyance that everyone else has been able to get away with suffering through (and ignoring), all of this will be worth approximately 0 at performance review time because your time is a zerosum game that is traded off with highly vis…

If the company does not recognize its importance just LET THE DAMN THING FAIL. That is how management will pay proper attention to it.

It can take years for the damn thing to fail even after the key support stops entirely. In that time you and your colleagues will suffer, and the people responsible will jump ship long before the full impact has been felt, learning nothing from the experience and likely blaming it on the person they leave holding the bag. You can try to get a job elsewhere but things which aren't appreciated at one company often times aren't appreciated at most. Doing a good job is often in your personal best interest regardless of what an out of touch middle manager thinks is more important.

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#96

Post by toomuchtodo »

dust-jacket wrote: post #79
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of at least two people in my career who were, ahem, load bearing for the company. They did all of the BS, non-sexy work required to keep the place running. Never wasted time on vanity projects, just showed up day after day doing the actual necessary things. They were criminally under appreciated by management. Their career trajectory significantly worse than those who engaged in the highly visible project…

I've never understood why people would continue to care so hard when their efforts are unappreciated. But I've also never worked at a large company.

Because it’s how the brain is wired. Some are wired to not give AF, some are. Doesn’t take much to figure out who is who.

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#97

Post by sharts »

dust-jacket wrote: post #79
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of at least two people in my career who were, ahem, load bearing for the company. They did all of the BS, non-sexy work required to keep the place running. Never wasted time on vanity projects, just showed up day after day doing the actual necessary things. They were criminally under appreciated by management. Their career trajectory significantly worse than those who engaged in the highly visible project…

I've never understood why people would continue to care so hard when their efforts are unappreciated. But I've also never worked at a large company.

You never understood why some people are not grifters?

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#98

Post by mitxela »

elmo-shrugged wrote: post #58
mitxela wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is done in the USA too.

I've been at U.S. companies that paid lip service to this flexible sort of coverage, but once you are actually useful in the dept you're in, your boss never wants to let you go because upper management didn't build in the redundancy to the headcount to ensure you'd be effectively replaced...

I meant in hospitals

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#99

Post by 3eb7988a1663 »

two_handfuls wrote: post #74
3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of at least two people in my career who were, ahem, load bearing for the company. They did all of the BS, non-sexy work required to keep the place running. Never wasted time on vanity projects, just showed up day after day doing the actual necessary things. They were criminally under appreciated by management. Their career trajectory significantly worse than those who engaged in the highly visible project…

Was the company over 1000 employees?

Significantly larger, yes.

Re: Doing Everyone Else's Job

#100

Post by djmashko2 »

jltsiren wrote: post #83
dust-jacket wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood why people would continue to care so hard when their efforts are unappreciated. But I've also never worked at a large company.

Do you exercise because it makes you stronger and faster? Or because it's something you enjoy, and it also keeps you healthy? Many people get satisfaction from doing their job well. From their perspective, if they are already happy with what they have, why would they make themselves unhappy by constantly pursuing more?

For me - I don’t enjoy it personally.
Post reply on HN