My SDM is totally biased - puppet.
We have a SDE3 and instead of SDM deciding who will work on what, it that A$$Hole decides. SDM keeps a poker face in 1:1 and let me take a call in sprint planning and in sprint planning, fakes being a deal maker, but does everything this puppet master wants. Last time a SDE opposed this procedure, he has been PIPed out. Looking for a new team, will post a message once I get it.
Happens quite a lot. We have a QA engineer in our team who our manager likes and manager listens to what he says and not so much to others. Qa guy barely knows coding. Another instance , I pointed out flaws in our architecture and the manager gets offended. Since then I have stopped making any strong opinions about technical and non technical stuffs. That’s the nature of corporate culture. You have to become a “yes” man. If your manager says 2+2=7, you have to agree to it. Sad but retaliation will only lead to you being fired.
when i asked questions about crash analytics, my colleague tells me i always ask hurtful questions 🤦♀️ Interestingly in the court of law retaliation is a term used when companies terminate an employee when they raise concerns
That pains my scientific brain when I see emotion play into brainstorming new, potentially better solutions. I've learned that managers have to upkeep the team's image, so pointing out an issues is more than knocking their ego
Have you considered that the SDE 3 may genuinely know how best to break down and distribute technical work?
This^ OR the SD3 is being mentored for management and has been asked to drive this.
If such SDEs are being mentored to be an SDM, god bless Amazon.
So if you are a$$ lickers of this SDE you will get some good Dev work else he will keep assigning ops to you. It is not just about work assignment but being a manager, you need to be unbiased personally and provide a chance for everyone in team to grow. By totally agreeing with one person you are creating a impression that work as he says or you can not survive here.
There is always a balance between spreading “interesting” work around to maximize growth vs. sending work to the right people so that it is completed [quickly, correctly]. And if you think ops work does not provide growth opportunities, then you are probably not looking at the work with the right mindset. Much of the super interesting learning I’ve done here happened because of root causing obscure failures in distributed systems.
^ would it be bias if a male colleague gets work assigned that i had more experience in?
I have 2 mangers as well. Be glad that your real manager is the beta in the agreement. My lead engineer and manager always disagree, which leads to me being lectured about my priority no matter what I do. One or the other is not the right focus from their perspective. 50/50 isn't enough time for them to think it's ok.
Man, that sucks. If SDMs can’t manage their own team, they should get out of the way. Let the the other guy take a lead
SDMs and Sr. SDEs are partner in getting projects delivered on time and with quality while fulfilling aspirations of others and giving the right opportunities to SDEs for their career growth. Sorry, but OP you sound like a cry baby to me. If you need a meaty project earn that trust first.
I know who u are.