Paywall removed: https://archive.is/Gsm0k
I manage a whole team of engineers. Last month, some C-level asshole with an MBA told a bunch of developers, to our faces, that our volunteer-run hackathons that we operate for the general public should instead be the general public contributing code to us directly.
We run those programs to build good will and help train new developers into the field. And this suit wants to milk them for shitty code we can’t even use (legally). This is in an industry which continues to get massive layoffs.
This isn’t his first bad idea. The others include removing perks, changing our department name three times in a year, and general fuckery of priorities.
So yeah, as a boss, I’m absolutely checked out.
In a conversation with a friend, I finally touched upon why I no longer think the tech industry is enjoyable. When I got into it, it was filled with people like me. Now, it’s full of people who saw the options to make money: doctor, lawyer, tech. They aren’t nerdy and passionate about tech. They’re just filling a role. I fucking hate that.
I hope the crumbling job market for programmers will make those people look elsewhere.
I’m feeling this right now, since I got a new boss and he is very bad. Would be nice to quit but so many other jobs seem worse, and force the workers back into the office. So I have quiet quit and only do the bare minimum at this point. The upside is I can learn about all kinds of fun tech stuff I can use at my next job when I find it.
I guess my boss also doesn’t enjoy his role, and just took it for the money and status.
You aren’t quiet quitting… That’s a bullshit term the business consultants came up with to shift the blame back to the employees again. You’re doing the quality of work you’re paid for. The company doesn’t care about you, and they aren’t going to pay you more for more effort.
If they want better quality work, businesses need to pay for it.
Yea … this! It’s a general pattern to keep a look out for across the board. How many things are being “put onto the employee” through culture, language and established practices.
You may find a bunch of things both specifically in your workplace and your culture generally.
Things like performance reviews, how promotion cycles are managed, what kinds if incompetence are tolerated and what kinds aren’t, how consistently “accountability” is used, what feedback channels exist and don’t exist, what groups of people are enabled to form entities and which aren’t … etc etc. You’ll find it’s everywhere and many aren’t even capable of seeing it.
Don’t forget when someone is fired or quite and they spread their workload to the rest of the team, and never hire a replacement. That’s a classic as well.
I don’t feel guilty at all so I guess shifting blame didn’t work on me. It’s all a big game to keep people busy doing pointless things as the people who own everything gets richer. So why feel guilty for seeing that and adapting to it. :)
Paying me more won’t make me work harder, because I just don’t care about the company and that won’t change. If it was my company I would care I guess.
I’ve spent the better part of the last decade of my 16 years in technology either trying to shield my team from a constant river of bullshit or contributing to projects that are clearly DOA from day one.
Got laid off a month ago and to be completely honest, I’m pretty bummed about the idea of going back to another corporate job. I’m going to do what I’ve gotta do to take care of my family. But there’s an increasingly large part of me that isn’t sure I want to do this until I retire. Don’t get me wrong, I do my job for the money; not the enjoyment. Anymore, a “good” job is one that I don’t hate. But it would be nice to work at something that doesn’t feel like a total waste of my time and expertise.
I get surveys at work asking me how much I believe the workplace aligns with company value x, y, z etc. Every question I just respond : I don’t have an opinion. I literally have no clue and do not care, I’m here to get paid.
My manager was an engineer who got promoted… Now she is still responsible for some technical contributions but also has to manage a team
She is extremely checked out.