This Business and Moment...

[HangTime]

Feels like the wolves are beginning to circle at a bit at work. Weird situation, for the first time in my career I feel like I'm underperforming and probably not contributing enough value relative to what I get paid (throughout my 20s and 30s this was always the opposite). Not really enjoying it, the culture is generally good on a personal level, but I've ended up doing a role slightly different that I was originally brought in for and I don't feel like I'm using my best skills enough (moreover, the type of stuff people want me to doing I'm probably just 'average' at). Feels like I'm being micromanaged at times (which I kinda get, in the sense that people naturally want to exert more control if they don't feel they are getting what they need). Vaguely reassuring (albeit disappointing) is one of the people I've worked closest with / get on with has decided to leave and feels similarly about some things, so it's not entirely a 'me problem'. I'm sort of 'trapped' in the sense that in the current job market I would find it hard to get a job paying similar elsewhere - I'm basically being paid the top end for my type of role and more than some orgs pay for the next rung up, so even a more senior role might pay less. More positively, I'm pretty secure financially so halving my income wouldn't have any impact on my day to day life.

Assuming I stay, I'm at a sort of crossroads really, where I either:

1. Keep doing what I'm doing and see if I get called out in performance reviews etc.
2. Actively try to have my role realigned closer to what I'm good at - I don't think this will wash because that's not what the org [thinks it] needs right now, and also I don't have the successes under my belt to justify it.
3. Switch up my approach, do a lot more 'managing upwards', put more focus on the things senior people want as opposed to what I think is the best use of my time. Basically 'play the game' a bit more, and step outside my comfort zone at times. Let down the boots on the ground but keep the generals happy (in the short term at least). Whilst I can be 'politically savvy', and certainly let senior views influence me, this isn't really my style. I've sort of said I'll do this in the past, but then I very quickly fall back into my default mode of solving small problems that don't move the dial / are on the radar of senior leaders.
4. Go the other way, be more disruptive, push much harder in certain areas, try to change the way we do things (I feel the organisation is quite immature at dealing with large scale transformations, compared to what I've done elsewhere). As with point #2, I think this stall pretty quickly because I haven't earned the right / respect to do that type of thing here yet.

 

[jaybee]

I'm ticking along at my place. Fairly mundane in terms of current projects and actual BAU stuff and I know in the grand scheme of things I am losing value and skillset over time just because we are poor at keeping up to date with tooling/software/trends in our IT space. We think we are agile but we're not.

I'm any case, I have so much going on in my personal life. This combined with the fact the job market I am hearing is dreadful right now, makes me happy to keep my head down and frankly, keep my seemingly secure, good ish job. It has good enough perks to still be competitive and a few upcoming things to look forward to I guess. The box ticking exercise of 50% time in the office though is really disappointing with the London commute I have.

I've tried to stop caring about how incompetent our org and staff are at times, and just do my job, go home and switch off. I would say I'm back to quiet quitting in some regards. My care levels are way down. Some things will just never change at my place. Only leaving would improve my career path, but that brings risk at a bad time in my life for work upheaval. So one carries on for now.

 

[LuckyBenski]

I've tried to stop caring about how incompetent our org and staff are at times, and just do my job, go home and switch off.

Exactly this. It's hard though, and I still end up exhausted when I go home on time just from how busy/unpredictable work is.

I did today say in a Teams chat with colleagues "Or we can throw out hands up and say **** it, this platform is a mess anyway"... So I haven't entirely given up on pointing out our issues

 

[Stu999]

I'm sort of 'trapped' in the sense that in the current job market I would find it hard to get a job paying similar elsewhere

I feel like the jobs market is pretty garbage in general for a lot of professions. In fact, it's absolutely dead in my career area.

Are you in a management role or more 'hands on'?

 

[OspreyO]

Exactly this. It's hard though, and I still end up exhausted when I go home on time just from how busy/unpredictable work is.

I did today say in a Teams chat with colleagues "Or we can throw out hands up and say **** it, this platform is a mess anyway"... So I haven't entirely given up on pointing out our issues

There's a point where pointing out issues or constructive criticism is seen simply as negative moaning. It will drown out any positive things you do.

 

[Throrik]

There's a point where pointing out issues or constructive criticism is seen simply as negative moaning. It will drown out any positive things you do.

This 100%, I had this happen in my last place, went from getting 9.5s in my reviews to being considered difficult because I would advocate for doing things correctly, not cutting corners and delivering shoddy projects and I suddenly got the lowest scores.

 

[Minibiker]

Just bagged myself a face to face interview next Monday, Had the company call me around 10:30 for a chat over the phone and now they want me in, fingers crossed this is a start to a great future out of this **** hole

 

[NickK]

There's a point where pointing out issues or constructive criticism is seen simply as negative moaning. It will drown out any positive things you do.

Indeed there’s a senior leadership expectation to not complain/moan as your role 80% of the time is sorting out people’s escalations

 

[LuckyBenski]

There's a point where pointing out issues or constructive criticism is seen simply as negative moaning. It will drown out any positive things you do.

I'm starting to feel this, definitely. In fact I feel like I'm genuinely starting to be less pleasant to work with.

I've tried to cut back on the moaning, outside of certain colleagues where we have DMs to do so. But the pointing out mistakes/poor quality is hard for me to let go of.

 

[jaybee]

Had a good one today. Change request raised. Under the time to implement section, there's a box saying "reason for time window selected". The requestor's put: "That's when we always do it".

I pushed back on this and asked them why it's an out of hours change if there's no downtime. It sparked a major discussion where I upset at least 2 members of staff because it turns out nobody really knows why we do it then. Nobody previously has had the thought to challenge this, push back or ask questions.
I am noticing this a lot since covering for my boss. There are things we do, that aren't questioned enough and should be. Frankly some of it is because people can't be bothered to rock the boat and improve things. Some of it is because the people doing the changes get paid out of hours to do very simple work. Some of it is self protectionism and making a mountain out of a molehill to remain more relevant.

I really should go back into management and fix the utter amount of complete **** at my place, but it wouldn't be high enough up to make a difference. It needs someone to come in at a very high level and be brutal. It's beyond fixing I feel.

Does this resonate with anyone?

 

[Stu999]

There's a point where pointing out issues or constructive criticism is seen simply as negative moaning. It will drown out any positive things you do.

The “seen as” bit is critical here. It’s just businesses sticking their head in the sand to avoid having to fix issues.

Obviously, not every moan is valid or there might be a good reason why things are the way they are.

 

[Stu999]

I keep getting badgered to do “training”. Training in itself is fine but there’s no specific thing they want me to do. I ask what I need to improve / do better (the answer is nothing), but the training is just seen as a “good” in and of itself.

I already have to do 21 confirmed hours of CPD a year anyway.

 

[-westy-]

Interview for a Management role next week - certainly feeling the pressure. Having progressed from shop floor, to junior engineer, now into a principal role in about 5 years, definitely feeling the imposter syndrome! I was encouraged to apply by one of our directors, so I'm trying to take that as a good sign without reading too much into it.

 

[OspreyO]

Interview for a Management role next week - certainly feeling the pressure. Having progressed from shop floor, to junior engineer, now into a principal role in about 5 years, definitely feeling the imposter syndrome! I was encouraged to apply by one of our directors, so I'm trying to take that as a good sign without reading too much into it.

Seize the opportunity when it's present and you've got a mentor, support above. Go where your wanted.

 

[OspreyO]

I keep getting badgered to do “training”. Training in itself is fine but there’s no specific thing they want me to do. I ask what I need to improve / do better (the answer is nothing), but the training is just seen as a “good” in and of itself.

I already have to do 21 confirmed hours of CPD a year anyway.

I've had this, done the training only for project or role not to happen. After a few times of this training. I'm starting to see training itself is a bit pointless unless you use it. You can't lock in what you've learnt. Generic qualifications only go so far.

 

[Stu999]

I've had this, done the training only for project or role not to happen. After a few times of this training. I'm starting to see training itself is a bit pointless unless you use it. You can't lock in what you've learnt. Generic qualifications only go so far.

That’s what I keep saying. Very happy to do training if it’s going to lead into a bit of work or directly benefit the way I work, otherwise there is no point.

 

[-westy-]

Seize the opportunity when it's present and you've got a mentor, support above. Go where your wanted.

That's what I'm trying to focus on - it's a decent step up with further progression in the future possible - just trying to convince myself that I'm capable. Doesn't help that the of the other candidates is my old manager

 

[OspreyO]

Quite often they are looking for a younger person. I say this as an older person.

 

[JustBen]

Exactly this. It's hard though, and I still end up exhausted when I go home on time just from how busy/unpredictable work is.

I did today say in a Teams chat with colleagues "Or we can throw out hands up and say **** it, this platform is a mess anyway"... So I haven't entirely given up on pointing out our issues

I'm with you here! Most days exhausted, not through the actual work (or what should be) just some people. Sometimes i do just think **** it let them do stupid and they can live with a **** outcome of stupid decisions but they'll no doubt turn around and blame me for not stopping them so a loose loose situation. Its all made harder by having a great team working for me trying their best and i've got to try being positive as a leader but jeeezzz
Not sure at which point i'll burn out at the rate i'm going as i sometimes wake up thinking about work but suspect it'll happen before the end of the year. Think there's a fine line between stress and just busy.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Its all made harder by having a great team working for me trying their best and i've got to try being positive as a leader but jeeezzz
Not sure at which point i'll burn out at the rate i'm going as i sometimes wake up thinking about work but suspect it'll happen before the end of the year. Think there's a fine line between stress and just busy.

This is exactly my situation! I'm new to management but I've built a team of 3 juniors who are just brilliant. They're all less than a year into their first "proper" (tech) job and all better than I was in that role. I think my main reason to stay in this role instead of leaving is to look out for them. One of my colleagues when hiring me into this promotion said "Managers don't pass **** down, they pass **** back up".

My guys are awesome, as a team they achieve so much (for less pay than they deserve). I just am not happy with the wider/senior company governance.