Manager constantly ignores my suggestions and I end up in shit?
I am working as Technical Lead with 15 years experience and there has been several times when my manager has ignored my suggestions and straight off said that I am wrong. The result is that I always have to stay late and fix these fuck-ups the week before deadline. Today, I shared my suggestions on a project with very tight deadline. The work is divided between several resources and the person with most experience after me has < 2 years as developer. Since my suggestions mostly affected other parts of the work than the ones I am assigned to, my manager basically told me to shut up because that is not my responsibility. I KNOW that I am right, technically. And I KNOW that we can't deliver the things that are being promised to the client. I'm really starting to feel bullied at work. We don't have an HR, and this manager is super close friends with all the uppers in the company. I am already searching for other places, but since I will need a visum sponsorship, it could take some time... Any suggestions?
Document everything in written form and prove where your suggestions could have prevented the fire drills. Then when shit hits the fan and your boss tries to pin it on you, go back and point to the written suggestions. Also, try to approach the boss with practical solutions. Maybe you are, but maybe you are being too negative about it? Would need more info on specifics.
I'm generally a very positive person and my old CEO wrote me a letter of recommendation pointing out that one my my strongest sides is to foresee potential problems ahead and to present solutions. I have been saving print screens lately, because I brought this up with higher management recently, and they ended up blaming me for the past fuck-ups while totally praising my manager. I have quite a nice collection of screenshots and documentation now... So I feel safe from blame. The problem is that I LOVE MY JOB and this manager is making my workdays feel like hell. I kind of just want to leave ASAP! But with the visa process, I might end up staying another 3-4 months even if I find something. Uh, just ranting I guess. Letting off some steam. I guess I should just be Zen and get out asap!
People don't quit jobs, they quit managers. Best of luck in finding something more balanced. :)
Managers don’t listen to engineers who don’t leave them. Their point of view is that if you were any good, you’d have moved on. Assuming you’re at Cisco though based on the title fetish. If not who knows.
Maybe data will help you drive the message to the uppers in the company? Numbers that show how many times your suggestions have not been followed and how much it has cost the company. No blame. Just data supporting the facts and what the next step should be to “save money for the company”. If you make the uppers look great with higher uppers they will become your “buddies”
Thanks! This is good suggestion! I will start documenting more hard data into this!
Change the team ASAP.
How about quitting and as a parting gift, forward all emails to your manager and their boss about how many times you asked them to do something they didn't?
Leave. If he is friends with higher ups you lost before you began
Yeah. I'm kind of not in it to win or lose, I just want to do my job and enjoy it! Which I did very much before we changed manager... But leaving is the winning choice!
That first sentence is why your manager hates you.
every engineer always knows they are right
Find new job as soon as early. It is a waste of time to work for such a stupid manager.