Ask Slashdot: How To Improve At Work When You're Not Getting Feedback? 222
An anonymous reader writes: Too many managers avoid giving any kind of feedback, regardless of whether it's positive or negative. If you work for a boss who doesn't provide feedback, it's easy to feel rudderless. It can be especially disorienting if you're new in the role, new to the company, or a recent graduate new to the workforce. In the absence of specific guidance, is there any way to know what the average boss would want you to work on? What would you advise someone who works in IT, engineering, coding, designing or any similar industry?
No need (Score:5, Funny)
No feedback means you are awesome and there is no room for improvement. If people have a problem with you it's just that -- their problem. If you are the problem they'll tell you in a clear. actionable and constructive way.
Re:No need (Score:5, Insightful)
No it doesn't.
"No feedback," means something different to every relationship at work and is based on the nature of both the superior and the subordinate.
Terrible manager, no feedback could mean that the manager doesn't actually want to do their job. I've seen this firsthand, and the problem lingered for many years. It was made worse because the manager was friends with his boss, so his boss didn't bother to push to uncover what was going on in the section.
Could easily also mean that the manager is scared of repercussions for doing the job, or feels that it's just easier to ignore the problems. This can be the end-result when the previous kind of terrible manager doesn't document or do honest evaluations of employees. It can also play into problems with employees that belong to suspect classes- if the boss doesn't document problems with employees generally, then it's much harder to get rid of problem employees, and it's even harder if the problem employee happens to belong to a suspect class. That documentation on employee performance and a paper-trail of guidance and review is what allows an employer to promote or terminate without having to face accusations of discrimination.
There's only so much an employee can do to get feedback, and the myriad of factors (everything from the nature of the job to the physical layout of the employee work area relative to the boss) determines what that employee can try. I know I can walk over to my boss' office to talk, and I usually do talk a couple of times a week to go over projects and timetables, etc. I also document by-email, we're required to submit status logs of what we've been doing anyway so I just fill mine out stream-of-consciousness as I work and edit down to something usable at the end of the week, keeps him informed so he knows what's going on.
Try to communicate with the boss, but it's as much on the boss as it is on the worker.
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Are you getting paid?
Are you getting raises and/or promotions?
If yes to one or both of those, you are doing fine. You have to get use to the fact that no one out there has the time nor is interested in validating you and your self esteem. That's for young snowflakes...is the real big, bad world...no one really cares.
If you are fucking up, they'll let you know. If you really need feed back...GO ASK someone about your work and what they might suggest.
It is NOT their job to go out of their way an
Re:No need (Score:4, Interesting)
If you're not getting yelled at or fired, you're doing just fine.
...or you're stagnating, and 10 years later when you finally get laid off due to cuts from high above, you'll find yourself hopelessly outdated and lost as hell in job interviews.
I guess the point is, it's not simple validation sometimes, it's mentorship, it's a chance to let the boss know what you're up to so he/she can put you on interesting problems later down the road, or even put you on to opportunities that may come along which are more suited to your desired career path.
Any boss who is non-communicative, let alone not do any of these things for their employees, is completely worthless.
I mean shit man, I don't beg for daily praise/criticism, but I do want to know at least once in awhile if my initiatives and work are truly taking the company where it needs to go...
Re:No need (Score:4, Interesting)
Here is a secret: your boss is not there for you. They are there for the company. They exist not to mentor you or help your career but to get what the company needs out of you and mitigate company risks like you leaving. If the manager decides it is in the company's best interest to release you rather than reform you, that's what she should do. If it's not in the company's interest for you to grow, you shouldn't expect your boss to help you grow.
I have many underlings ask for me to lay out a career path for them. To me this is an admission that they are passive actors in their career, floating along and putting in time and expecting others to figure out the next step for them. And I will do so, in some cases, depending on how much the company needs that employee to stick around even if in another position.
Another secret: your boss is regularly asked how he/she has planned for you leaving voluntarily.
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Not all companies share your mindset, thank god.
Many companies do look at the production that the employee brings as an asset, rather than only looking at the cost in wages that an employee draws as a detriment. Since the corporate structure between the end-worker and the top people doesn't usually itself produce anything profit-making, it is in the company's interest to attempt to mentor employees. It makes the employees feel more valued. It may provide more skill to the employee so they produce disprop
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They exist not to mentor you or help your career but to get what the company needs out of you and mitigate company risks like you leaving.
Without growth, the competent employees will *always* leave sooner than you think, and you're soon only left with the incompetents. Good luck with that.
Also, there is no need to do any part of the employee's job (laying out a career). There is a need however to discover what the employee think his/her career should be, and if you're a competent manager, you would want to be the first to find out (which incidentally helps out with that whole 'is my employee going to leave soon, and if so, when?' bit.)
And, su
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If you are fucking up, they'll let you know.
At my job that would be your Windows accounts (regular and admin) not working, your badge deactivated and no one in management returning your phone calls. If you call the help desk, they will confirm that your termination ticket is being processed. Eventually security shows to escort you out of the building.
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then how did you get into the building in the first place? Or did they just let you in so that you could clean up your desk yourself instead of them having to pack everything up for you?
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"No feedback," means something different to every relationship at work
This.
In one of my past jobs, I was pretty visible to people in engineering and on the shop floor (both of our group's customers). They knew when I was delivering and when I was fucking up. Meanwhile, my boss was the son-in-law of someone high up in management and he had no clue what was going on. As long as our customers were happy, his job was cake. He left me alone and I got the extra merit raises every year.
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Asking for a raise can easily get you feedback.
FTFY. You're welcome.
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First off if the raise is approved you might not handle the added workload and will want to leave or if its not approved and you start looking for another job.
That's the same canard I heard at Cisco when I asked about training. My manager could approve training to help me do my job better, but then I'll used the training to get another job at a competitor and make him look bad. Never mind that a lack training was why most employees trained themselves on Cisco certifications and get a job somewhere else. Corporate dysfunction at its best.
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If you shitcan me for that, well, rest assured that you're just as replaceable as you think I am and keep in mind that I network. A lot. Good luck finding a competent replacement for me once word gets out.
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Good luck finding a competent replacement for me once word gets out.
While I can appreciate your sentiment that a boss is just as replaceable as an employee, you're flat-out incorrect about your being able to make an appreciable dent in the employer's ability to find perspective employees, and keeping this mindset is to your detriment.
There are a lot of people that work in technical industries at capacities below their capabilities. Those people would gladly step into your job and I'm sure that the boss could find someone else that could do the job. Might not be the first
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and keeping this mindset is to your detriment
You make the following incorrect assumptions: A) that I work for someone other than myself and B) that it wasn't that very mindset that got me to where I am today.
Two and a half years ago, I replaced my boss with myself. My boss, on the other hand, filled me position but did not replace me. In fact, I've been hearing on a weekly basis from a friend of mine who still works for the company (in a much different role) that ideas and policies I pushed for while I was employed there are being implemented, bug f
Re: No need (Score:2)
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I've worked for a number of small businesses over the years. Even they do not necessarily struggle to hire if they either take young upstarts in the field and employ them where the new person feels they have the ability to grow, or else they manage to figure out how to pay enough to find someone.
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If you work for me and ask me for a raise you will get some feedback but I will also start looking for a replacement.
I already know what kind of people work for you: the kind that are too afraid of change to leave. Anyone good with a modicum of self-confidence has already left, and your office is a soul-sucking place to be [youtu.be]. Experienced, skillful people can screen you out a mile away, and don't make it through the job-hiring process.
There's some feedback, and it's free. You didn't even have to pay me.
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I didnt asked for your feedback and it's funny you think any one cares.
Oh, you wish you could reach into your monitor and give me a good electric shock. Or you wish you had this device [smugmug.com]. I get paid in cash and you'll never have good coworkers until you change.
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I don't know how you think this is about you.
Of course it's not about me. It's been about you the entire time, starting with the moment you explained what a lousy boss you are. Then I explained why that makes YOU lousy, and then talked about YOUR desires. It's all about YOU. No escaping it.
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You sound like a boss I used to have.
He once told me "I can replace you at moments notice!" He was surprised when I said "Let's see if you can." and started packing up my desk.
The outcome was,
In 48 hours I had two job offers on the table.
In 6 months the position was still open and unfilled.
An Asshole boss will always be an asshole boss. It is best to simply find a new boss that is not an asshole.
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yup.
I had several mediocre managers in my two decades at Intel. I had two that stood out as ludicrously bad.
First one:
Took my formal review from the year prior and copy pasted it, replete with spelling errors and an area for improvement that read:
netoworkBoy successfully completed all areas of improvement from last year, this year he should focus on FOO, BAR, and Python development.
Interesting, I successfully did all this and now need to do it again? Tell me again that you paid *any* attention to my work?
The other manager was even worse. In his slide deck about the project that he would give contractors there was a picture of a monkey in a
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Most places, it would be more of a canned response about how the raise system works. Every place I have ever worked (HP, IBM, etc) only do payraises in specific timeframes related to year-end appraisals - and even then, there is little discretion in terms of pay range increases. (There is a process for special cases, but much harder to justify).
There is no advantage for asking for something with some hidden agenda for something else. If you want feedback, ask for it. Try the approach of asking what it would
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Those workplaces have built those structures to reduce the human element from the managerial process. The manager's personal feelings are diminished, the employee's productivity and how it's documented decides the pay. That doesn't mean that a manager can't influence the process, but if the review numbers are too far out-of-whack then they're subject to review. Thus person that doesn't meet expectations or is otherwise lackluster might get cost-of-living increases if any. Person that meets expectations
Re:No need (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the difficult thing. It is all about the relationship and the environment.
In bad environments asking for a raise gets you fired. Asking for training (even if the company says they encourage it) gets you fired. Doing anything ambitious gets you fired, or have the things taken without credit. This type of company also fires people immediately if they make a mistake that has a cost.
In good environments asking for a raise starts a discussion that can get you money. Asking for training (even when the company has never encouraged it) can get one person or even a team of people some training. Being ambitious is rewarded openly and and given cautious praise: that in addition to doing the regular duties you also did the thing on the side. This type of company generally retains people who make costly mistakes who are also contrite and appear to learn the lesson; leaders know the company pays for the learning experience either way, the question is if they will retain the student of life's hard lessons.
The first type of company is the one to flee. The second is the type to cherish. If you don't know what to look for it is easy to miss the signs when finding the job.
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Probably true. Most managers only give negative feedback.
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Worse yet, I've seen managers for whom "feedback" is merely a euphemism for "criticism" and often believe that it requires blowing some issues out of proportion if not fabricating them completely in order to have an ample supply of criticism. The apparent purpose being to create the idea in the employee's mind that they are just barely doing an acceptable job, should work harder, and should not ask for a raise/promotion.
"Praise" is reserved for totally above-and-beyond behavior that should actually be comp
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It is true that most of my feedback is negative. However there are a lot of negative things that need pointing out. Though a lot of this comes from code reviews as I'm still doing those. I'm giving some positive feedback though maybe it's not as obvious ("keep it up").
There is the yearly performance evaluation where you're essentially required to give feedback, and when I've done this I make a point to include positive feedback, and the negative feedback is given constructively. There are people who don
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Do what you think is needed to be done (Score:5, Interesting)
Oddly enough, the stuff I get the most praise for is stuff that I simply started doing because it filled a void that I felt was present. Full disclosure: I have a cool boss.
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"Why does a build take 2 hours"?
"Because"
A quick profile of the process later found a stupid design decision that ate 30% the time. (On a small scale you never noticed but on the entire build it just ate time.)
And now I'm sort of miracle worker for just looking into a problem no one wanted to look into or just assumed "that's the way it is".
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I did that. Reduced an 12+ hour build to 45 minutes. The miracle worker status lasted awhile, but I probably coasted on it longer than I should have. At some point it turns into "what miracles have you done lately?"
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That's likely to be the stuff I will praise the most for as well... both because it is most likely to be "above and beyond" and because it's apparent to everyone that the void is filled, but unexpectedly.
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Oddly enough, the stuff I get the most praise for is stuff that I simply started doing because it filled a void that I felt was present. Full disclosure: I have a cool boss.
Please oh please tell us where you can find this "cool boss" you speak of. I haven't had one of those in about a decade. (sad panda) The ones I have worked for in the past 10 years have been narcissistic, incompetent pricks that suffer from the Dunning Kruger effect. It's been awful.
Leave. (Score:5, Interesting)
If your boss isn't communicating with you, try to communicate with him/her as to what you need and why. Be respectful and open, but direct; you're trying to improve your working relationship. If that doesn't work, move to a department that has a more communicative manager, and failing that, just bail as gracefully as posible. That workplace isn't going to be a good place for you to work in the long run, and life's too short if you have any other choice.
Self evaluate (Score:2)
Od course, if you're in the Dunning-Kruger regime, a self-evaluation may fail.
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Schedule the meeting yourself.
I put a reoccurring monthly meeting on my boss' calendar. Sometimes it gets moved, sometimes it gets canceled but it's in the calendar for a reason.
Ask your coworkers (Score:2)
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What the fuck does 'doing a good job' have to do with it?
You want to do the same job every day for the next three decades? That's ok, some people welcome that.
Many people get bored, want to do different things, have career goals. They want to improve themselves, their skills, their ability to get other jobs. They will benefit greatly from feedback, especially if it's constructive and well intentioned.
That doesn't mean they're not doing 'a good job'. Shit, you could be the world's greatest programmer, I bet
This is an ovbious question... (Score:5, Funny)
I get feedback from Slashdot. For example, as an IT Support contractor who makes $50K+ in Silicon Valley, the feedback I got is: I don't make enough money to afford the American Dream, I'm a moocher because I work in government IT, I'm not a real IT person since didn't graduate from a CS program with $100K in student loans, I'm fat, ugly and retarded, and, worse, I'm not even ashamed of being fat..
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I get feedback from Slashdot. For example, as an IT Support contractor who makes $50K+ in Silicon Valley, the feedback I got is: I don't make enough money to afford the American Dream, I'm a moocher because I work in government IT, I'm not a real IT person since didn't graduate from a CS program with $100K in student loans, I'm fat, ugly and retarded, and, worse, I'm not even ashamed of being fat..
And have your formed a plan of action around the feedback?
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And have your formed a plan of action around the feedback?
Still setting up a marketing funnel. So when the asshats attack me, other readers will wonder why all these asshats are shitting on me and then click on my Hompage link above my comment. Web traffic and ad revenues to my personal blog has been awesome for the last few months.
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He posts to Slashdot in order to drive web traffic to his blog or self published book or some bullshit like that, and makes... $50/month from it.
I post here to have fun. It's the asshats who are making money for me.
So who is the fat, retarded dumpy asshole now? Creimer is of course. Don't forget bald and half blind, ya ugly prediabetic.
Bald and half-blind I'm not.
https://twitter.com/cdreimer/status/861287512802705408 [twitter.com]
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Aren't you the guy who suggested quite seriously that someone pursue an A+ certification?
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Aren't you the guy who suggested quite seriously that someone pursue an A+ certification?
If you're starting off in help desk, the A+, Network+ and Microsoft Windows certifications will make a great foundation for future certifications.
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You forgot the part where you're also an insensitive clod!
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You forgot the part where you're also an insensitive clod!
I would be working in IT if I wasn't an asshole. ;)
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Or less offensively, there is opportunity all around you.
My current opportunity is a fully funded five-year, nation-wide contract that I'm halfway through. Although I'm only being paid $50K+ for being a system administrator for ~80,000 workstations (my manager fell out of his seat when I sent him a salary survey for what sys admins really make in Silicon Valley), I'm studying for my InfoSec certifications and my next job will be in the $100K+ range.
If you decide to make 50k in Silicon Valley, that is your choice.
That's the top rate for IT Support in Silicon Valley. Although that might be changing since young hipsters are unwil
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IT position at 50k in Silicon Valley means you're an IT monkey that they can't outsource to India because they haven't got a remote controlled robot that can push power buttons and move equipment yet.
That's why I'm not concerned about being outsourced. If they build a robot to do the work I do, I'll be the guy who maintains the robots.
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As soon as you finish coding your python script that shitposts on slashdot all day, your script will replace you, fat fuck.
Correct. Than I can spend my time on something more important. :P
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This site hasn't been for smart people for almost 15 years. It's a sounding board for racists, curmudgeons and Nazis to complain about a world that is passing them by.
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It's a sounding board for racists, curmudgeons and Nazis to complain about a world that is passing them by.
And asshats who think that making $200K per year means that they're smarter than everyone else.
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Go away loser.
No.
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You are not a part of that community - you are a spammer, and you do not belong.
I've been part of Slashdot since 1999. Yes, I beat my own drum. I would rather be someone than another asshat in the crowd.
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One would think being rejected from a group of people for that long - someone would get the hint.
It haven't always been like that. What started things this year was when an asshat accused me of threatening to shoot him for six weeks straight and I kept pushing back. That's how you deal with bullies in real life, as they're cowards and don't like assertive people getting into their face.
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Go the fuck away and stop bothering everyone here.
No.
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2/10, obvious troll is obvious
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Why would I want programmers doing QA?
Test-driven development. You should try it. I would have written fewer bug reports as a video game tester and lead tester video game tester at Accolade/Infogrames/Atari (same company, different owners, multiple personality disorder), and as a tester for Fujitsu and Sony.
Test-driven development (TDD) is a software development process that relies on the repetition of a very short development cycle: requirements are turned into very specific test cases, then the software is improved to pass the new tests, only. This is opposed to software development that allows software to be added that is not proven to meet requirements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development [wikipedia.org]
You seem to spend all your business hours on slashdot writing comments and having your employer pay for it.
As both an employee and entrepreneur, there's only one metric that matters: Do I get my numbers in each and every day? Yes, I do.
I am sure this is what your whole life has been - sticking out of the crowd, in a bad way.
No. I'm the guy who doesn't stand out in the crowd, surro
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TDD is about automating away the "virtual ditch diggers" of QA - you don't need a thousand monkeys staring at and pounding away on the software when your code has high unit & functional coverage, and automated acceptance suites.
I've never done white box testing, so I would never know. However, that doesn't excused programmers from not writing their own unit tests.
You should be thanking your lucky stars that your company didn't use TDD when you were there - you would have surely been the first one out the fucking door in the resulting downsizing of QA.
I the third of a dozen senior lead testers who left the company before it filed for bankruptcy.
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You seriously think you are qualified to give anybody any advice on anything on this site?
Yes.
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Go try writing similar software yourself, and see how you fare, before you start proclaiming yourself superior to them because you found some bugs.
You sound like the programmers I dealt with as a lead video game tester. All piss and vinegar because their title got delayed in QA for a crash bug that only happened 7% of the time (if I caught it, Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony will catch it too), and their milestone bonuses go bye-bye when the schedule slipped. Since I never got bonuses as a tester, I'm not sympathetic to a programmer who had wait longer to go buy a Ducati motorcycle.
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"Since I wasn't smart enough to get a job that offered bonuses, I resented everybody who did, and took great joy in ruining their chances to get a bonus."
QA testers don't get bonuses to keep them objective during testing cycle and not drink the marketing Kool-Aid. It's not my fault that the marketing, producers and developers don't know how to schedule. I just add two months to their schedule estimates to account for the inevitable delays that comes from developing a video game on a unrealistic schedule. Only one developer got a game done on time, but they were the only one to submit a 256-page design doc (most are not thick enough to wipe with).
You sound like a petty, small-minded, intellectual weakling. How's that feel, friend?
You're assu
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Oh wait - you're a 50k per year IT support monkey in one of the hottest tech markets in the world.
I live in Silicon Valley, not San Francisco.
To make my implication explicit for the benefit of your limited intellectual capacity: "Those who can, engineer. Those who can't, test. Those who can't test, work as IT support monkeys."
I make a very good living in IT support. So what?
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Are you really retarded enough to suggest that Silicon Valley is not one of the hottest tech markets in the world?
The vacancy rate for my 50-year-old apartment complex and the surrounding apartment complexes are at 50%. The last time that happened was after the dot com bust and the Great Recession. Looks like Silicon Valley is cooling down.
[...] you're still making 50k with 20+ years of experience [...]
Correct. For the kind of work that I do.
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"A good living" is defined not by you but by us.
If I listened to doubters like you, I've would never gotten as far I have gotten in life.
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You threaten to shoot people who debate better than you. When this is pointed out, you are still not the victim.
This is one my most popular blog posts. Keep up the good job and thanks for the ad revenues!
Have I Threatened To Shoot You Today?
https://www.kickingthebitbucket.com/2017/03/21/have-i-threatened-to-shoot-you-today/ [kickingthebitbucket.com]
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I truly wonder about you if you think $50k is enough to get by with in Silicon Valley, even if you live a minimal lifestyle.
As an IT Support contractor, my income can vary considerably from year to year. The lowest I ever made was $30K and the highest was $54K. I spent the last 12 years living in a rent-controlled studio apartment. No wild increases in rent as the real estate market cycles from boom to bust and back again.
What about your savings? Your retirement?
20%
I just think you're selling yourself short and should be getting while the getting is good.
A lot of people here on Slashdot make the assumption that I can simply just get $100K job. Recruiters look at my work history — software tester, help desk/desktop, project lead, etc. — to put a $
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Everyone assumes, rightfully, that you are too dumb to get more than you are getting.
The last time I heard that was before I made the transition from video game tester to help desk technician. Before that when I made the transition from kitchen cook to software tester. Before even that was probably when I skipped high school to go to community college. I'm always surrounded by doubters.
Did it ever occur to you that... (Score:2)
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If they don't manage people then what do they manage?
My current boss has frequently been remiss in her management.
What she's doing instead is working stupid hours picking up tasks that she doesn't want to drop on us because we're all already overcommitted.
Sure, there are some obvious opportunities inherent in the simplistic write-up above, and a lot that she and I have both done about it - including me giving her manager grief about the workload he's causing her - but the main point is that she's stupidly busy and bitching at her about it would be very counte
Quit/Leave the Department (Score:2)
In my experience (both personal and looking at other people), there are three reasons why a manager/supervisor won't provide feedback:
1. They are incompetent.
2. They don't want you/don't know what to do with you and just wish you would go away.
3. They are psychopaths and don't want there to be a papertrail showing that you a) succeeded without/despite them or b) failed because they don't know what they are doing (see point 1.).
Sorry for being so harsh but I've had 1. & 3. as managers and seen lots of
The way it works where I work... (Score:2)
I do fabrication drawings for corporate theater, and more, sets.
So I do a drawing and when I get done, I'm then given direction other than what I drew.
I once worked with a Project Manager that would intentionally produce work order for the shop that had errors. He told me it gets the shop to think.
Moral of the story, if you are not getting feedback Do it wrong and you'll get feedback.
Wait until you get a micromanager (Score:2)
work for yourself (Score:2)
Will you tell me please (Score:2)
Focus on what your boss wants (Score:2)
You need to be working on what your boss wants you to be working on. That is the point of being an employee.
If your boss is not giving you anything to work on, why are you going to work? What are you doing with your days?
If you have down time and want a side project, ask your boss what else you can be working on. If they do not have anything for you to do, then find something and ask them if they think it would be valuable to the company for you to work on it.
>>This seems like the kind of topic tha
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Ha, I have one guy that goes too fast, sort of. I give him a couple tasks, and end of the day he says he's done and is going to back to work on the old project I don't want him to work on. An hour later after looking at his code l see that he rushed it, didn't understand the requirements, or made it really complicated (I think he does it for job security). So even though he's constantly saying how he's done he never really ends up being done. There is some hope, he's starting to ask more questions befor
Identify simple, repetitive tasks (Score:2)
Feedback is a myth: ask for promotion instead (Score:2)
In IT jobs you are basically junior, [no designation], then senior at "something". Sometimes years, decades after that you might be a lead in your role, if the wind favors you (e.g. C++ Lead). Lead is basically the guy between management and the lower ranks of a particular team - someone being introduced to the management BS that still has a soft touch for instilling the BS on the team. Then maybe manager in-between, but eventually you get another a horizontally displaced title, such as "Build Master", "Sys
You need to ask (Score:2)
If needed, insist. Unless you can read thoughts, there is no other way. If that still fails, look for another job.
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I have bi-weekly one-on-one meetings. There's no structure or format. Often it's just a status update. Sometimes there's mentoring or helping out with a tough problem, but sometimes I am asked for feedback ("am I don't a good job?" was actually asked) but I am able to offer up feedback instead of waiting until the end of the year or trying to corner the person in the cube.
If you are not getting feedback (Score:2)
Maybe it's a Millenial thing? (Score:2)
I've read articles in the recent past detailing the "generational divide" in bigger workplaces where you have the Millenials, the Xers and the baby boomers all sharing the same environment. The articles I've read seem to indicate that Millenials need much more constant feedback than previous generations. I wonder if that's part of it, and whether older managers are having trouble keeping up with the new pace.
The workplace I'm at currently skews older, but we do have some new grads coming in every couple of
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you're going into it with the wrong attitude. As a manager, I don't want an employee to fail, it means that I have failed and now I have extra work to do.
What it sounds like is a lack of communication. I know some younger people with the same problem. You don't do X, Y, and Z without first seeing if it's OK to do X, Y, and Z. Sure, some of that communication does need to come from the manager, but it must be a two way street. Ask for feedback, ask if you're doing the job correctly, ask before you
You may not need manager feedback (Score:2)
Easy. (Score:2)
"In the absence of specific guidance, is there any way to know what the average boss would want you to work on?"
Take a look at what you think your company needs, and in particular focus on areas where productivity can be enhanced with the least effort. Then, do the opposite.
Good feedback requires expertise (Score:3)
While I get the occasional "great job" from management at my job, that kind of feedback is largely meaningless. In order to give good feedback, you have to actually be *knowledgeable* in the field in question. In the case of programming, you actually have to review the code and understand it, including design and testing patterns, etc. In my company, that has never happened. No one ever looks at the code I produce, and there are only two other people who could even make sense of it. I think this is a huge problem.
You can't "improve" (Score:4, Insightful)
"Improve" in the sense of working for an employer means better meeting the employer's expectations. If the employer is not providing expectations or feedback, you are trying to be clairvoyant which is not possible. One of my parents was like this. They would expect me to do things a certain way or at certain times but never inform me of that except by severely punishing me for not reading their minds. That's a toxic situation.
My advice, unless your employer doesn't question your performance and you can do whatever you like, leave. During the exit interview tell HR this is the main reason you are leaving. Hopefully they will take the feedback to heart but often employers don't because they are more often than not egotistical and believe they are infallible not open to criticism.
Just so you know, there is a cognitive bias whereby people think that everyone thinks the same and therefore they ought to arrive at the same conclusions, you know the "right" and "only" ones because you know there is a right way and everything is the wrong way (black and white thinking). They can't compute why someone wouldn't arrive at the "right way" independently other than there is something wrong with you and you are defective in some way. These people have the emotional intelligence skills of a rock and you don't want to work for them or be in any kind of dealing with them. They will make you miserable.
As a manager... (Score:4, Informative)
I have personally fielded this question from my team. On that occasion, I reminded them that when I say, "great job", I mean it, and when I say, "You missed this one, lets try $colleague's idea this time." I am not just being a persnickety asshole boss, I am providing feedback, and directing a project.
(I think) At least half the problem today is that the younger generation no longer hears the real praise from their superiors for what it is, because they've spent their lives hearing these things for simply meeting the standard. I don't pass out high fives at the water cooler for showing up to work on time, but I do pass-out pitchers of beer and pizza when we complete a project within spec and on-time.
When you're late on your side of the hardware, and the whole team is off grumbling between themselves while doing make-work for other departments, I'm going to point out a few things you may want to do differently next time. I'm going to remind you that this is not the way we roll around here. And I'm going to ask you if you think somebody else would have been a better fit for your responsibilities. Again this is not me being a dick boss, it's feedback, and guidance.
If I see a problem with the way things are being done, the way you carry yourself, or the way resources are being applied, it's my job to fix it. Part of that job is making those responsible aware of the problem, as well as solicit solutions from them and avoid these problems on future projects. On Thursday, when I *ask* you to change the shirt you've been wearing since Monday, I am not *coming down on you*, or *being a dick boss*, but providing clear direction. If you're so dense you have to ask me why, (this has happened) I'm going to tell you the odor is distracting, and the catchup stain on the collar is annoying as hell. This is the feedback that is remembered. THIS is what he will tell his spouse tonight over dinner, and this is what he is going to remember when review time comes around.
Unfortunately, "Team, we did it again, $client loves our work, and word is they are already bidding our next project. Wonderful work guys, keep this shit up. Anybody wanna join me after work this Friday at $pizzajoint? My treat...." Is considered standard for every project. It aint, It's positive feedback, as well as opportunity to debrief, and decompress, as well as for one on one time with me, over a beer, as friends and colleagues; instead of boss and subordinate.
My boss is counting on me to both guide the teams project to completion, and keep my guys happy. I try to do both. If I don't, he's gonna ask me why not, and provide a few suggestions himself (misguided as they may be) That does not mean I'm on the hook to present a gold medal for meeting the standard, high school was a long time ago.
Suggestion (Score:2)
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Damn, I must be rich now! https://github.com/fsufitch/gi... [github.com]
Re: (Score:2)
If you're any good you should have an idea how good you are.
Most people overrate themselves. Very very few people understand their weaknesses and correctly prioritise addressing them. Most people are insecure.
"Hey, you're doing great, we really value you. Of course you can work from home half the time, your contribution is very visible anyway." makes an employee feel great. Adding, "You've said you want to take this next step in your career, and I was thinking some practice on these skills would really take you forward" makes a manager feel great too.
Some managers n
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not sure if you're open to feedback and you're obviously welcome to disregard this. It's clear you're passionate and want to share on this topic and that's great, thank you.
A reader has suggested though that the structure of your contribution may benefit from some small tweaks that would help with readability and increase their chances of benefiting from your input. A specific example here would be the addition of paragraphs, although the multiple nested snippets of text (inside brackets or quotation ma