Hi guys, I started a new job 5 months ago and hate it. For context, there’s a teammate who’s been here for 6+ years and they’re in the same role as I am. They’ve always worked solo on the team for the past 6+ years until I joined. Since they know the ins and outs of everything, they‘ve asked me to run my work through them and to get their approval prior to executing on anything (which I guess is reasonable but at the same time they’re not my manager?). Also, they’re always super critical of my work and would leave harsh feedback on everything I create (ever since the first month I started working). So one day, I wanted to experiment and see if they’re actually leaving constructive criticism on my work or if they’re just trying to attack me. So I copied and pasted some of their own work in a document and asked for feedback and guess what? They criticized most of it, even though barely any of it was even by me. I even copied a link from their website and put it on mine and they asked why I linked out to such a “bad useless resource”. Basically, when they do something it’s ok, but when I do it it’s not. Also, I always make sure to offer a helping hand (I offer everyone I work with). After my calls, I always end with something like “if you ever need help on anything, please let me know”. Then one day, this teammate aggressively tells me to stop asking if there’s anything to help out on. I apologized to them for a good 10 mins and nearly cried. I feel like I’m always stepping around eggshells with this person and have to compromise my rights to avoid any potential conflict. Also, when I initially joined, they said if I ever see any gaps or room for improvement, I should let them know. However, whenever I propose a new way to do something or suggest improvements, they’ll shoot down the idea right away and not even consider or think about it. Once my manager told me to create this new dashboard and when I told the toxic teammate about it, they shot it down and said it’s useless (even though my manager requested for it?) They even take it personally (as if I’m criticizing how they previously did things when in reality, I just want to help the team succeed with a fresh pair of eyes). I never come from any ill intent and I always propose improvements carefully (I’ve never gotten in any work conflict prior to this). I reported this persons behavior to management but management joined the team recently too so they depend a lot on this person and probably won’t do much about it (everyone else on my team has only been here for a few months except for that one toxic person).
Is this teammate threatened by me or something? Has anyone ever gone through something similar? Can things get better? Or should I start LC and looking for a new job again?
TC: $185k
YOE: 3
#hrissues #toxic #teammate #management
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comments
Do not join established teams that have established products - the fun in tech is the ambiguity/uncertainty of the initial design/architecture and that is where all the innovation (if you can call it that) happens. Once the product is established, it is about incremental enhancements and maintenance - which is also a time the product gets offshored, team-members establish territories and the general toxicity level (and politics) increases, mediocrity starts to set in as the best folks leave to other greenfield projects. Joining a team at this juncture is risky.
in your situation, i would leave in a hurry, as the toxic teammember is unlikely to change, and the management has no choice - they may be attempting to neutralize the toxicity with new hires and fresh blood
What I found was, The experienced guy was just slacking from last 1 year and was taking 5-7 days to complete a request which can be done under 15 mins.
Obv. He felt threatened when a new guy is trying to improve things or doing 3x the amount of work- he even said in one meeting that he couldn't work as he is guiding / validating my work whole day- BS!!
In my case, luckily because of ZO wind down, He was laid off.
Things generally don't get better unless mgmt sides with you- Please start LCing and i hope things get better for you !
Keep a track of work done. Also, track of how many times you tried to escalate to MGMT and they didn't listen- in case things go further south, This will help in HR case/ suing
Yeah, If MGMT and HR are useless - There is no point in escalation.
I hope you get out of this sh*thole asap and I wish you all the best for your interview -see you on the other side.