>This is a not for profit organization that is strictly mandated by government procedures. It has a large budget. It has been around several decades. It serves tens of thousands users a year and enjoys monopoly on the services it's users require.
I'm familiar with that situation.
Two things:
1.) You're in no danger, there's likely no accountability at any level and you don't have to be in a hurry to quit. As a relative newcomer, what you see as a death spiral is likely status quo for the organization - it's a zombie.
2.) You never had a chance at effecting any real change, so don't feel guilty about bailing.
I too have been in a similar situation, and it was made less stressful by the #1 thing @incision mentions.
Realize that as bad as your company is at building software, it is probably equally bad at other things, like: Recognizing that someone has checked out, or Firing someone.
When I was in your situation I went into cruise control. I did the absolute minimum to avoid disciplinary action and began seeking out greener pastures.
This was my first development job, so I wasn't sure everywhere else wouldn't be the same. I also didn't have a very strong resume yet. I also wanted to switch from Java to Ruby. It ended up taking me almost a year, partly because I wanted to be certain the next place would be an improvement.
The next company I went to work for was awesome :-)
OP, you appear to have plenty of experience and can probably be chose-y about your next move and still not have to wait very long. There are a lot of great places hiring.
It might be a black spot in his career. It will be difficult to explain what went wrong while staying positive. Beside, this can strongly affect his moral. A back flip, if possible is in my opinion the right move: get the hell out of this.
Yeah, I've seen quite a few SMEs now for which this post basically describes the way the company operates.
They put out bad software, slowly, but seem to just about keep on ticking over. Suggestions for improvements are often met with mild positive feedback and a sense of amusement that you think you can actually change the place for the better.
From OP's description, I see the same situation and agree with these observations.
Toxic is the right word - my personal experience is that hanging around to try and untangle/learn from the environment makes me super unhappy, and unmotivated.
Just think about it this way, you are never going to get the days and weeks and months and potentially years you put in here back. If you don't spend them on something useful you will forever see this as a problem.
So since the place is clearly clueless, you need to decide what your going to do. When you talk to people about this place in the future, they are going to ask you "why you stayed" and your answer is going to reflect on your character and your outlook.
You can try various strategies to fix things, some might help, some might not. But you can practice you skill in identifying roadblocks.
You can switch into anthropologist mode and start studying the people who are dysfunctional. Find how how complete idiots maintain a lock on their power base, what techniques do they use if it is clearly not skill in their job.
You can practice organizational dynamics, try to figure out who the 'players' are and who the 'pawns' are. It's a sort of morbid curiosity and of course once the players notice you are looking at them you will have to be on your toes and bob and weave lest they corner you on the board. (You don't want to end up fired with everyone in the organization thinking you're the reason the world is screwed up, and a good player will try to make that happen to protect their turf)
I wish there was a way to quit and on the way out mark the entrance with ultraviolet sensitive ink or something so that others could know what goes on there and stay away.
Since you are asking these questions though, you are in good shape.
> Find how how complete idiots maintain a lock on their power base, what techniques do they use if it is clearly not skill in their job.
While this is extremely interesting, it's not something that can be learned in a reasonable timeframe, and may never be learned if you don't have the right approach or luck into the relevant facts.
For example, one company I know of, the CEO was in charge for 8 years, while the company constantly lost money. They struggled to come up with new products, flailing around. They only stayed afloat through patent lawsuits, without which they would have been long out of business.
During this entire time, the CEO made mid-six figure salary. I use to remark, "If I understood why that company was still in business, I'd be rich".
Why did the CEO stay in charge? The answer is very boring. 2 of the 3 board members had already checked out, writing off the entire investment, and the third was personal friends with the CEO.
The answer is not always interesting, and there's not always as much to learn as you'd hope.
There is too big a need for talented developers for you to stay there. Call a head-hunter.
I’ve been in such clusterfucks, probably a dozen times (that's a very large number no matter how long your career is) and, as much as I need to tell me that, I never really learned from staying. All I learnt from trying to point out how brocken the situation was (the three first times) was that people do not like to be pointed out their mistakes, and some might actually commit suicide for that. The fourth time, my desk-mate wrote a book on how bad the situation was; the book was really good, actually, in a lucidly desperate and unwillingly helpful way. It ended up selling a dozen million copies (US Ed.: ISBN 0-375-42373-7.)
After that, I’ve learnt more than I want to, and more than I can actually use about too-big-to-fail, harrasment, corporate fraud and covering one’s ass. The only useful tidbit: I’m not happy in larger organisations (something anyone who met me for ten minutes can figure out).
Chiph is right: you will learn something, and be able to avoid patterns, but that's actually not very useful: you can tell a mess without experienced it before (you just did) and two messes never really look alike.
Staying would just make a part of your CV uncomfortable (mine is a minefield); one is probably easy to avoid or explain, and a great source of jokes for dinner-parties.
I make very funny presentations listing fuck-ups; none of them has ever actually helped anyone around me to not find a creative way to get something deeply wrong.
The company was French electricity monopoly EDF, and their reaction to the book was instrumental in propelling it to success. Its creator is now widely known as the French version of Scott "Dilbert" Adams.
You can't ignore the psychic impact of working on a project going nowhere, or down the toilet. As noted here, I don't think your own job seems in danger, but if you are not working on stuff that juices you up, and is going well, it will have a medium to long term impact on you.
Hiring managers can tell that you've been working on boring, soul-crushing stuff. This sense is almost indistinguishable from the sense that you are a bored individual; hiring managers won't bother to figure out what's what.
It can take a couple of years to get your 'mojo' back if you have been in the wrong situation -- I would urge you to act wisely, and move before you lose it. You'll be glad.
I agree strongly with this. I worked as a consultant on a zombie project where the out-of-his-depth PM held a 2-3 hour phone call every morning with a team of 15 as his way of moving development along. Needless to say, that didn't work. I was billing a pretty great rate for myself at the time, and for a while sort of enjoyed just reading HN or a book on someone else's dime every morning, but eventually I realized it was sapping my will to do good work of any kind -- either paid or for myself. I found a good stopping point and left.
In the Netherlands we have this TV show called: "help! my husband is a handyman". It is about families living in a mess that should have been a palace. But the handyman had so much jobs to do he just could make up his mind were to begin.
I think this also applies to problematic projects like this toxic one. The mess seems too big to clean up. But it isn't. You just have to start somewhere and clean up little by little.
In the past I had to implement a feature in a toxic software project. While implementing the feature I also refactored some messy code and even deleted some functionality nobody every used (thousands of lines). By doing this I broke some parts on purpose and added some functionality to fix what was broken.
Now others who were also working on the project had to deal with the stuff I broke. Ofcourse nobody liked it, but when they knew I provided better functionality to fix the problems everybody was happy because they knew this had to be done.
Broken gets fixed, shitty lasts forever. That's why sometimes you need to break shitty things on purpose.
"Toxic workplace, what do I do?"
quit. F' that noise. It isn't worth the frustration. I did the same thing about a year ago, working for federally funded science. The worst decisions on earth were made, money was wasted AND they complained about budget cuts. It got to the point that someone was like, "you look miserable?" and I was. Toxic is a perfect word, it was literally eating away at me. I quit, had no job lined up, went on vacation while emailing my contacts about jobs, came back with a job. Done and done. Being in a toxic environment does nothing for you with the exception of teaching you how NOT to do things. But, it seems clear the author of this post realizes that, so your lesson is done. Quit. move on, don't look back. Simple as that.
This sounds like the kind of place where one could put in his 40 hours and bootstrap a project on the side. As long as you can sort of disconnect yourself and avoid feeling overwhelmed, you could also put in just a solidly competent performance and enjoy the steady pay.
If that doesn't interest you, then quit immediately for greener pastures. Even if there's no risk to you, you only get one career, and staying there is wasting time.
This sounds like the kind of place where one could put in his 40 hours and bootstrap a project on the side. As long as you can sort of disconnect yourself and avoid feeling overwhelmed, you could also put in just a solidly competent performance and enjoy the steady pay.
That's not a bad idea. I did basically that for almost 2 years while working for on a trainwreck of a project managed by clueless PHBs. I just came in, did the bare minimum I needed to do to stay employed, and reserved as much of my mental, creative and emotional energy as possible for Fogbeam work after hours. Hell, I'd probably still be there, except I got so bored and tired of the B.S. that I started speaking my mind about things, and pissed off a lot of the managers, and eventually got laid off.
In hindsight though, getting let go from that place was a blessing. You can do that deal, but it takes a toll on you after a while, even if the job is nominally "easy". There's a unique sort of mental stress that comes from grinding through soul-sucking boring bullshit, tedious meetings, and inane bullshit day after day after day after day...
The day I walked out, the sense of relief was virtually palpable.
So I guess I'd say "go this route, but don't let it stress you out too much. Tolerate it as long as you can stay sane, then just bail, or force them to let you go".
Although it adds color to the situation, not all non-profits are clueless about technology. There are many that are run as well as (or better than!) many tech startups.
If you're based in the Washington DC area, drop me a line. I'd love to connect and help you find a better position. (I'm not a headhunter or recruiter - just a non-profit developer who doesn't want to let one clueless NGO tarnish your impression of all non-profit tech for life.)
First, what you describe is pretty typical in certain sectors. They have a monopoly mandated by the government. They have no profit motive. You need to start by stepping back and realizing what the incentives are.
This is to do just well enough to avoid the ire of the government regulators. They don't need to earn customers. They don't need to offer quality services. They just need to do just well enough to scrape by. This is exactly what they are doing.
So the first thing you need to do is adjust your expectations and understand that it is all a charade, and that that is what the real game is.
The second thing you need to do is take a look at yourself. Do you want to work in such a place? If not start looking for another job now before the environment poisons you. The real danger is that it can poison what you want in your career if you want to effect change.
Will you learn more (career-wise) by staying and observing the fall & aftermath, or by leaving now?
I would put forth that you'll learn more by this experience about how people deal with failure and what happens afterwards than you would if you left. Will there be shouting & tears? Probably. Will people get fired? Almost certainly. Will you get fired? Chances are low, but not zero. Worst case scenario - you get some severance money.
Given the track record of successes in the software industry (few/poor), learning what not to repeat will probably take you further than anything you could learn by swapping jobs and doing CRUD work. And if you get asked about it, you say "I could have left, but I intentionally stayed on, as I felt that this was something that I needed to experience so that I wouldn't repeat these errors."
The important thing is to act strictly as an observer (do your work, but .. observe what is going on around you), and not to engage in any schadenfreude or gloating. The people that lost their jobs -- for the majority of them, what happened was not their fault and they shouldn't be blamed or made fun of.
So build up some savings (you should have 6 months of fixed expenses saved up, anyway), sit back, and enjoy the ride.
I disagree, but respectfully so. You will learn a lot by staying, but as you said, it truly is a toxic situation. You'd learn a lot by shoveling toxic checmicals every day for 6 months too, but that has semi-permanent effects on you, and it's just not worth it.
I recommend you get the hell out, ASAP. Take your time enough to try your best to pick a new landing spot that is not so dysfunctional (even then, there's no guarantees, but give it a good shot).
Life is short. Pick a new spot that will be as enjoyable as possible on a daily basis, while also carrying your career in the direction you want to go, and GET THERE ASAP.
(And I say that from experience -- I've found myself in a few of these messes myself).
> I would put forth that you'll learn more by this experience about how people deal with failure and what happens afterwards than you would if you left. Will there be shouting & tears? Probably. Will people get fired? Almost certainly. Will you get fired? Chances are low, but not zero. Worst case scenario - you get some severance money.
No one is getting fired. This project is in steady-state.
Barring that, adhocratic takeover. Loudly proclaim "I AM TAKING OVER THIS WING, IF YOU LOVE ME FOLLOW ME" and start treating the project as if it was only you working on it. See what those who do follow you want to work on, and split tasks according to mesh-management protocols.
This assumes that you care about the project getting done, if you don't, pull a Wally and enjoy all the extra free time. :)
By the way, I give this advice after having done this at least once. The product was delivered slightly ahead of the revised schedule, after which the team was disbanded because the higher-ups did not want to deal with the surreal situation. I managed to get 1 out of 6 developers to follow me.
This assumes that you care about the project getting done, if you don't, pull a Wally and enjoy all the extra free time. :)
There's a part of me that wants to treat Wally as my role-model! He's definitely my favorite Dilbert character.
Unfortunately, I had the (good|bad) fortune to inherit (or learn) a strong work ethic from my dad when I was a kid, and while I don't mind a bit of goofing off here and there, I could never pull a "full Wally". And now that I have a startup to work on, I have a hard time even letting myself take a day off without feeling guilty. :-(
While this fish was rotting from the head down long before you arrived, it would be better not to be around when stool samples hit the gaseous oscillator. Some of it might stick to you by mere association.
This is superior advice to quitting immediately. You're much more likely to get a good offer if you already have a job and don't need a new one (talking in the financial sense here) than if you quit first and then have to negotiate a package from a position of unemployment.
I've seen people quit their job and be forced to come back when they couldn't find work elsewhere. Why take that risk when there's no need?
> In addition to that, we are being thrown onto the Agile train with hope that it will save us.
I can hear the higher-level discussion in my head: "We don't have a plan, we don't have clear requirements, and we have no process ... that means we're already agile, right?" "Let me look at my checklist, Jeff. Yes, it seems we are in fact agile."
Few enough companies implement anything close to agility at the beginning of a project. An attempt to inject it when failure looms is desperation at its worst (or best if it means a quick end).
It's indeed funny how some managers apply Agile methods religiously, conveniently disregarding the fact that everything else went haywire years ago. Is that snake oil or what?
- they are no longer in their early 30's. I have a family to sustain.
- don't see themselves as rockstar developers. I constantly dabble in side projects from natural language processing to web development to building Android apps. I feel I provide a lot of "out of the box" input. But since I am a hard case of impostor's syndrome I don't feel like I could eg. lead a team. Or, heaven forbid, do a start-up.
I feel I am wasting my life here, but the market is not great for self-conscious devs.
If the option exists to keep doing the horrible job, that means there is no direct pressure to quit it. That means sustaining your family is never a problem, you can hold on to the job while you are looking for a new one. You can even have someone else (a headhunter) do the looking while you work the job.
Maybe you should stop giving your self syndromes and acknowledge that you know how to program. Businesses are looking for people who know how to program, why do you think the market is not great? Last thing I heard many businesses are still scrambling for web and app developers.
It is a well kept secret, but the kind of team leader that doesn't think he's a good team leader often is a good team leader. If you position yourself as just 'one of the boys' you get a lot more honest feedback, and you'll be less of a cock to your team.
Doing a startup as someone who lacks confidence and needs to sustain a family seems like a bad idea, unless you could get into YC or something.
Also.. maybe I'm naieve but you should do something about your confidence, aren't you raising a child?
Fellow dabbler here post-30. I totally understand and feel the same way.
Recently, I realized that my dabbling behavior is what keeps me from achieving expert status in any particular tool/language. I am broad, not deep. Oh ...and I discovered that I don't like managing people.
I think what you are describing is pretty common among developers. The good thing about your situation, is that you have the power to change your self limiting behaviours. You have to push yourself. Finish a webapp and post it to HN. Get involved in a local tech group and do a talk. Sign up for a MOOC from Coursera or Udacity. All of these requires hard work, but will give you confidence. Beeing successful as a software developer is as much about how you market yourself as how good a dev you are. So if you want success, you have to learn how do those things. I'm learning this as well. It's not easy, but necessary.
> I am planning on doing a graceful back-flip out of this mess and quit. What are your suggestions for immediate and eventual haul until my tenure is over ?
Are you asking what you can do to improve the project while you hunt for a new job? I'm not sure what "immediate and eventual haul" means. It sounds like you feel some personal or professional motivation to help the project, even if you have already "checked out".
I recommend that you start your job hunt immediately, network with positive and connected people in the organization while you still can, leave a good impression with your managers if possible, and generally avoid rocking the boat.
Even though it may feel cathartic, burning bridges is unproductive. This is a small industry and you can only hurt yourself. The organization will not make any changes based on anything you say in your exit interview that might rescue the project or improve the lot of the co-workers you leave behind.
I have to add my vote to the "quit sooner rather than later" column. Several years ago I worked in a similarly dysfunctional environment (also in a monopoly position in their industry): terrible code, terrible development processes, you name it. I was tempted to quit after a month but gritted my teeth and tried to change things as best I could. I quit after nine months there because I realized that I was a) getting nowhere with higher mismanagement b) waking up angry because I was having dreams about the technical arguments I'd have the next day. Leaving that place was I think one of the best career decisions I have ever made. Epilogue: I nearly doubled my salary at my next gig, which also was nicer to work at. Life is too short to endure a shitty job. Good luck!
Some of the time, potential employers look at what you did when they knew times were rough at a given job. They assess your actions and ability to perform under duress. While I do not say stay. I would say take the time to provide the most value you can while you consider your next career move.
For example: Document inefficiencies, cultivate worthwhile relationships if applicable, establish trust where available and create a turnaround plan. The goal is not necessarily that you have to save everything but provide an open communication channel in case someone decides to shift culture for the better.
Lastly, stay humble. While it seems toxic and a road to nowhere, remember that where you are could be worse. You are a professional. Don't lose sight of that.
Been there. You're in no harm as long as you leave within the next 6 months. Don't let yourself grow bitter. Don't get to the point where you feel you have to leave now! You don't want your sanity or your career to suffer. Once you become "damanged" it will take a while to "heal" but during that time other hiring managers will pick it up like a sixth sense.
If you make the exit and explain to anyone who asks why you are leaving that you feel you are under utilized (no negative remarks) then they have to accept that. If they press, be diplomatic. Good luck.
Why stay until 'your tenure is over'? The mess isn't of your making, looks to be best described as 'management failure' and you're not going to be able to fix that or even make a dent in it.
Just walk if you can afford it, if you can't afford it start looking for something better and walk as soon as you have found that.
[+] [-] incision|12 years ago|reply
I'm familiar with that situation.
Two things:
1.) You're in no danger, there's likely no accountability at any level and you don't have to be in a hurry to quit. As a relative newcomer, what you see as a death spiral is likely status quo for the organization - it's a zombie.
2.) You never had a chance at effecting any real change, so don't feel guilty about bailing.
[+] [-] examancer|12 years ago|reply
Realize that as bad as your company is at building software, it is probably equally bad at other things, like: Recognizing that someone has checked out, or Firing someone.
When I was in your situation I went into cruise control. I did the absolute minimum to avoid disciplinary action and began seeking out greener pastures.
This was my first development job, so I wasn't sure everywhere else wouldn't be the same. I also didn't have a very strong resume yet. I also wanted to switch from Java to Ruby. It ended up taking me almost a year, partly because I wanted to be certain the next place would be an improvement.
The next company I went to work for was awesome :-)
OP, you appear to have plenty of experience and can probably be chose-y about your next move and still not have to wait very long. There are a lot of great places hiring.
[+] [-] chmike|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Nursie|12 years ago|reply
They put out bad software, slowly, but seem to just about keep on ticking over. Suggestions for improvements are often met with mild positive feedback and a sense of amusement that you think you can actually change the place for the better.
[+] [-] neumann|12 years ago|reply
Toxic is the right word - my personal experience is that hanging around to try and untangle/learn from the environment makes me super unhappy, and unmotivated.
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|12 years ago|reply
So since the place is clearly clueless, you need to decide what your going to do. When you talk to people about this place in the future, they are going to ask you "why you stayed" and your answer is going to reflect on your character and your outlook.
You can try various strategies to fix things, some might help, some might not. But you can practice you skill in identifying roadblocks.
You can switch into anthropologist mode and start studying the people who are dysfunctional. Find how how complete idiots maintain a lock on their power base, what techniques do they use if it is clearly not skill in their job.
You can practice organizational dynamics, try to figure out who the 'players' are and who the 'pawns' are. It's a sort of morbid curiosity and of course once the players notice you are looking at them you will have to be on your toes and bob and weave lest they corner you on the board. (You don't want to end up fired with everyone in the organization thinking you're the reason the world is screwed up, and a good player will try to make that happen to protect their turf)
I wish there was a way to quit and on the way out mark the entrance with ultraviolet sensitive ink or something so that others could know what goes on there and stay away.
Since you are asking these questions though, you are in good shape.
[+] [-] arohner|12 years ago|reply
While this is extremely interesting, it's not something that can be learned in a reasonable timeframe, and may never be learned if you don't have the right approach or luck into the relevant facts.
For example, one company I know of, the CEO was in charge for 8 years, while the company constantly lost money. They struggled to come up with new products, flailing around. They only stayed afloat through patent lawsuits, without which they would have been long out of business. During this entire time, the CEO made mid-six figure salary. I use to remark, "If I understood why that company was still in business, I'd be rich".
Why did the CEO stay in charge? The answer is very boring. 2 of the 3 board members had already checked out, writing off the entire investment, and the third was personal friends with the CEO.
The answer is not always interesting, and there's not always as much to learn as you'd hope.
[+] [-] bertil|12 years ago|reply
I’ve been in such clusterfucks, probably a dozen times (that's a very large number no matter how long your career is) and, as much as I need to tell me that, I never really learned from staying. All I learnt from trying to point out how brocken the situation was (the three first times) was that people do not like to be pointed out their mistakes, and some might actually commit suicide for that. The fourth time, my desk-mate wrote a book on how bad the situation was; the book was really good, actually, in a lucidly desperate and unwillingly helpful way. It ended up selling a dozen million copies (US Ed.: ISBN 0-375-42373-7.) After that, I’ve learnt more than I want to, and more than I can actually use about too-big-to-fail, harrasment, corporate fraud and covering one’s ass. The only useful tidbit: I’m not happy in larger organisations (something anyone who met me for ten minutes can figure out).
Chiph is right: you will learn something, and be able to avoid patterns, but that's actually not very useful: you can tell a mess without experienced it before (you just did) and two messes never really look alike. Staying would just make a part of your CV uncomfortable (mine is a minefield); one is probably easy to avoid or explain, and a great source of jokes for dinner-parties.
I make very funny presentations listing fuck-ups; none of them has ever actually helped anyone around me to not find a creative way to get something deeply wrong.
[+] [-] jpatokal|12 years ago|reply
The company was French electricity monopoly EDF, and their reaction to the book was instrumental in propelling it to success. Its creator is now widely known as the French version of Scott "Dilbert" Adams.
[+] [-] vessenes|12 years ago|reply
Hiring managers can tell that you've been working on boring, soul-crushing stuff. This sense is almost indistinguishable from the sense that you are a bored individual; hiring managers won't bother to figure out what's what.
It can take a couple of years to get your 'mojo' back if you have been in the wrong situation -- I would urge you to act wisely, and move before you lose it. You'll be glad.
[+] [-] jdminhbg|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ohwp|12 years ago|reply
I think this also applies to problematic projects like this toxic one. The mess seems too big to clean up. But it isn't. You just have to start somewhere and clean up little by little.
In the past I had to implement a feature in a toxic software project. While implementing the feature I also refactored some messy code and even deleted some functionality nobody every used (thousands of lines). By doing this I broke some parts on purpose and added some functionality to fix what was broken. Now others who were also working on the project had to deal with the stuff I broke. Ofcourse nobody liked it, but when they knew I provided better functionality to fix the problems everybody was happy because they knew this had to be done.
Broken gets fixed, shitty lasts forever. That's why sometimes you need to break shitty things on purpose.
[+] [-] omnisci|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] encoderer|12 years ago|reply
If that doesn't interest you, then quit immediately for greener pastures. Even if there's no risk to you, you only get one career, and staying there is wasting time.
[+] [-] mindcrime|12 years ago|reply
That's not a bad idea. I did basically that for almost 2 years while working for on a trainwreck of a project managed by clueless PHBs. I just came in, did the bare minimum I needed to do to stay employed, and reserved as much of my mental, creative and emotional energy as possible for Fogbeam work after hours. Hell, I'd probably still be there, except I got so bored and tired of the B.S. that I started speaking my mind about things, and pissed off a lot of the managers, and eventually got laid off.
In hindsight though, getting let go from that place was a blessing. You can do that deal, but it takes a toll on you after a while, even if the job is nominally "easy". There's a unique sort of mental stress that comes from grinding through soul-sucking boring bullshit, tedious meetings, and inane bullshit day after day after day after day...
The day I walked out, the sense of relief was virtually palpable.
So I guess I'd say "go this route, but don't let it stress you out too much. Tolerate it as long as you can stay sane, then just bail, or force them to let you go".
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] kevinconroy|12 years ago|reply
If you're based in the Washington DC area, drop me a line. I'd love to connect and help you find a better position. (I'm not a headhunter or recruiter - just a non-profit developer who doesn't want to let one clueless NGO tarnish your impression of all non-profit tech for life.)
[+] [-] valugi|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] einhverfr|12 years ago|reply
This is to do just well enough to avoid the ire of the government regulators. They don't need to earn customers. They don't need to offer quality services. They just need to do just well enough to scrape by. This is exactly what they are doing.
So the first thing you need to do is adjust your expectations and understand that it is all a charade, and that that is what the real game is.
The second thing you need to do is take a look at yourself. Do you want to work in such a place? If not start looking for another job now before the environment poisons you. The real danger is that it can poison what you want in your career if you want to effect change.
[+] [-] chiph|12 years ago|reply
I would put forth that you'll learn more by this experience about how people deal with failure and what happens afterwards than you would if you left. Will there be shouting & tears? Probably. Will people get fired? Almost certainly. Will you get fired? Chances are low, but not zero. Worst case scenario - you get some severance money.
Given the track record of successes in the software industry (few/poor), learning what not to repeat will probably take you further than anything you could learn by swapping jobs and doing CRUD work. And if you get asked about it, you say "I could have left, but I intentionally stayed on, as I felt that this was something that I needed to experience so that I wouldn't repeat these errors."
The important thing is to act strictly as an observer (do your work, but .. observe what is going on around you), and not to engage in any schadenfreude or gloating. The people that lost their jobs -- for the majority of them, what happened was not their fault and they shouldn't be blamed or made fun of.
So build up some savings (you should have 6 months of fixed expenses saved up, anyway), sit back, and enjoy the ride.
[+] [-] charlieflowers|12 years ago|reply
I recommend you get the hell out, ASAP. Take your time enough to try your best to pick a new landing spot that is not so dysfunctional (even then, there's no guarantees, but give it a good shot).
Life is short. Pick a new spot that will be as enjoyable as possible on a daily basis, while also carrying your career in the direction you want to go, and GET THERE ASAP.
(And I say that from experience -- I've found myself in a few of these messes myself).
[+] [-] darkarmani|12 years ago|reply
No one is getting fired. This project is in steady-state.
[+] [-] spiritplumber|12 years ago|reply
Barring that, adhocratic takeover. Loudly proclaim "I AM TAKING OVER THIS WING, IF YOU LOVE ME FOLLOW ME" and start treating the project as if it was only you working on it. See what those who do follow you want to work on, and split tasks according to mesh-management protocols.
This assumes that you care about the project getting done, if you don't, pull a Wally and enjoy all the extra free time. :)
[+] [-] spiritplumber|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mindcrime|12 years ago|reply
There's a part of me that wants to treat Wally as my role-model! He's definitely my favorite Dilbert character.
Unfortunately, I had the (good|bad) fortune to inherit (or learn) a strong work ethic from my dad when I was a kid, and while I don't mind a bit of goofing off here and there, I could never pull a "full Wally". And now that I have a startup to work on, I have a hard time even letting myself take a day off without feeling guilty. :-(
Obligatory:
http://www.dilbert.com/2013-06-04/
http://www.dilbert.com/2013-05-26/
[+] [-] jacques_chester|12 years ago|reply
While this fish was rotting from the head down long before you arrived, it would be better not to be around when stool samples hit the gaseous oscillator. Some of it might stick to you by mere association.
[+] [-] tjmc|12 years ago|reply
I've seen people quit their job and be forced to come back when they couldn't find work elsewhere. Why take that risk when there's no need?
[+] [-] _pmf_|12 years ago|reply
I can hear the higher-level discussion in my head: "We don't have a plan, we don't have clear requirements, and we have no process ... that means we're already agile, right?" "Let me look at my checklist, Jeff. Yes, it seems we are in fact agile."
[+] [-] bsg75|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FatalBaboon|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iSnow|12 years ago|reply
- they are no longer in their early 30's. I have a family to sustain.
- don't see themselves as rockstar developers. I constantly dabble in side projects from natural language processing to web development to building Android apps. I feel I provide a lot of "out of the box" input. But since I am a hard case of impostor's syndrome I don't feel like I could eg. lead a team. Or, heaven forbid, do a start-up.
I feel I am wasting my life here, but the market is not great for self-conscious devs.
[+] [-] tinco|12 years ago|reply
Maybe you should stop giving your self syndromes and acknowledge that you know how to program. Businesses are looking for people who know how to program, why do you think the market is not great? Last thing I heard many businesses are still scrambling for web and app developers.
It is a well kept secret, but the kind of team leader that doesn't think he's a good team leader often is a good team leader. If you position yourself as just 'one of the boys' you get a lot more honest feedback, and you'll be less of a cock to your team.
Doing a startup as someone who lacks confidence and needs to sustain a family seems like a bad idea, unless you could get into YC or something.
Also.. maybe I'm naieve but you should do something about your confidence, aren't you raising a child?
[+] [-] throwaway1979|12 years ago|reply
Recently, I realized that my dabbling behavior is what keeps me from achieving expert status in any particular tool/language. I am broad, not deep. Oh ...and I discovered that I don't like managing people.
[+] [-] niels|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] krisroadruck|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cpeterso|12 years ago|reply
Are you asking what you can do to improve the project while you hunt for a new job? I'm not sure what "immediate and eventual haul" means. It sounds like you feel some personal or professional motivation to help the project, even if you have already "checked out".
I recommend that you start your job hunt immediately, network with positive and connected people in the organization while you still can, leave a good impression with your managers if possible, and generally avoid rocking the boat.
Even though it may feel cathartic, burning bridges is unproductive. This is a small industry and you can only hurt yourself. The organization will not make any changes based on anything you say in your exit interview that might rescue the project or improve the lot of the co-workers you leave behind.
[+] [-] volkadav|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] avelis|12 years ago|reply
For example: Document inefficiencies, cultivate worthwhile relationships if applicable, establish trust where available and create a turnaround plan. The goal is not necessarily that you have to save everything but provide an open communication channel in case someone decides to shift culture for the better.
Lastly, stay humble. While it seems toxic and a road to nowhere, remember that where you are could be worse. You are a professional. Don't lose sight of that.
[+] [-] wheaties|12 years ago|reply
If you make the exit and explain to anyone who asks why you are leaving that you feel you are under utilized (no negative remarks) then they have to accept that. If they press, be diplomatic. Good luck.
[+] [-] jacquesm|12 years ago|reply
Just walk if you can afford it, if you can't afford it start looking for something better and walk as soon as you have found that.