Do You Like Your Job? 1174
G-shock asks: "I've worked for the government (NASA), large public companies, and small startups as a software engineer. They all have something in common. It seems like management at this company is just winging it. I find myself putting all my energy, both mental and emotional, into a project only to be disappointed by decisions made by management. I really feel like management at my current employer is disconnected from what is actually going on. They manage a project, but not the people. They also seem to lack any real vision. Direction is constantly changing and proper time is not given to engineer these changes correctly. This leads to mandated quick and dirty solutions that end up being maintained with great pain for long periods of time. All this leads to me feeling cynical about the work I'm doing. What I want to know is, how can I feel good about the work I'm doing if I don't have confidence in my management? How many of you are happy with your management? Why? Why not? What can I do about this? Thanks in advance for your insight." Considering that this seems to be a common problem in technology companies, and seeing as we have been producing software for basically half a century, do you think that managing software projects is a different beast than the management of anything else? How many of you have had this problem in your career and what did you do to adjust?
Tower of Babel. (Score:2, Funny)
The gods created managers to keep our species from competing with them.
I gotta be honest... (Score:5, Funny)
sure I do! (Score:2, Funny)
Plus, being a garbageman gives me lots of time to think about the universe and discuss it with clients like Dilbert!
Managers are morons (Score:3, Funny)
God I hate them^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hbless them.
MMMmmmmm yeaaaaa... (The problem with management) (Score:4, Funny)
If you could plow through those TPS reports, that'd be great... Yeah, okay, and I'm gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Saturday, mmmkay, greaaaaat...
Attitude adjustment (Score:4, Funny)
Odd Todd would agree with you... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ex-programmers make the best managers (Score:4, Funny)
1: They are under the impression that if they think something is easy, then it is easy. This is even worse when they are brilliant, and you are merely adequate, and
2: They know what you should be doing. It is a lot harder to fool your boss with 'Just stress-testing the network' (with Quake Deathmatch), when he used to do it too!
But then, sometimes he joins in!
My name is Cliff, brother of Joe... (Score:0, Funny)
Re:heh (Score:3, Funny)
This seems more like a poll question to me (Score:2, Funny)
Do you like your job?
-Yes!
-No!
-What job?
--SONET
Anyone else find it funny... (Score:4, Funny)
Anyone else find it funny that these are the people that end up managing the CS and CPE graduates when they get a job after college? Maybe this is the reason why management sucks so much.
Re:Work for a Good Cause (tm) (Score:3, Funny)
Oh please, we all know its because you don't want it /.ed
the real reason you aren't linking to it: (Score:3, Funny)
(And yeah, I agree with you, working in a casual atmosphere rules. It's worth the pay cut if you have to take it, to show up wearing what you want and know that you have a good chance of making it through the day without getting screamed at.)
Re:Simple solution, work for yourself (Score:2, Funny)
I'm trying not to talk to my plant right now. Unfortunately, I've moved it where I bump into it frequently and have to resist apologising.
Re:Ex-programmers make the best managers (Score:4, Funny)
On a dare, one of our engineers messed with the manager:
Engineer: "We tried hard, but could only get 63 bits to work."
Manager: "That's ok. We can get that last bit in a patch."
Re:WE NEED A LINUX ADMIN!!!!!! (Score:2, Funny)
If you're still looking please let me know. I can do some research and find out if Exchange/Outlook is available for Linux.
AOL (Score:3, Funny)
I love my job (Score:2, Funny)
work for yourself (Score:2, Funny)
J.O.B. Definition (Score:2, Funny)
I could code a better manager (Score:3, Funny)
A technical manager is good iff they know the limit to their knowledge. They shouldn't make decisions outside of their knowledge.
A manager is good iff they support their employees to do their job (aka run interference).
There are many qualities that make for a bad manager so we should best leave those alone.
int main() {
while (Manager_EMPLOYED) {
for (int i=0; iDIRECT_REPORTS; i++) {
if (employee[i] != HAPPY) {
root = findRootProblem();
correctProblem(root);
}
for (int i=0; iDIRECT_REPORTS; i++) {
if (employee[i] == jobComplete) {
giveRaise(employee[i]);
}
else {
if (employee[i] == blocked) {
runInterference(employee[i]);
}
else if (employee[i] == resourceStrapped) {
realignProjectPlan();
}
}
}
doProjectPlan();
doBudget();
hire();
fire();
}
}
Probably needs some work but it is at least better than most I've worked with.
rev