I'm tired of having no empowernent at my job | Hacker News Reader

I'm tired of having no empowernent at my job

3 pointssmallthrowaway4 comments

Hey guys,

I am having an issue at work where I feel that I am in isolation and have no real autonomy and/or empowerment to make decisions about the work I am doing. It was bearable to be able to not pick what I am working on, but now I have to follow word for word what a Senior developer says is right. This doesn't allow me to grow.

The past few months I have been solely focused on a subsystem at work. Now that I've worked on it, I feel confident in my ability to solve problems / bugs it has, but it's very discouraging when all of a sudden a manager decides that the Senior developer has ultimate authority over my work and comes in making order / commands and basically throwing out work I've done. I spoke to the manager in question about this, and they basically said I have to get approval before I make ANY changes from here on after. The difference between my patch for this task and the Senior developers instructions were minimal. He just wanted it done in his way, and not mine. Basically all of my work was wasted. I was never even told "why" that way I implemented the patch was wrong, just that it wasn't liked.

I believe the problem is the Manager did not communicate that I needed to get permission, or "guidance" from this Senior developer, and then in the end, when the Senior didn't like it, and I voiced my concerns about how this work will be wasted, he suggested that in the future I communicate all code changes with both him and the Senior. This leaves me no room for growth, but as a puppet being controlled by the strings.

Is this literally what I'm going to encounter in every job I have? Having to be micromanaged? What is the point of having me working if they are just going to literally have me copy paste their design in their head. Is it common for managers to Empower their Senior developers to take control over a person with less seniority/ years at the company?

Thanks

It's fundamentally your leader's charge to create an environment where you can produce high quality work and sustain. Part of that sustenance is you feeling like you can learn, grow, and with that growth deliver increasing value. Based on at least your side of the description, I think what you have is a failing manager who's 1) eschewing proper delegation and 2) a peer who isn't collaborating well. These two things will lead to shitty outcomes for the business. You'll either have crappy productivity (either through wasted time or low quality), or you'll have a work culture that breeds turnover, possibly both.

You should have an honest conversation with your leader about your commitment to being part of a productive team and voice your concern about how the team dynamic is affecting you. This should be something you lay out honestly in a 1:1 setting.

If your leader is worth staying with and working for, they'll take you seriously and try to help.

If they balk, offer excuses, or do anything short of hearing you out and giving a thoughtful, rational response, get on the market. You have a skillset that is in demand, you'll likely be able to try and find something that's a better fit.

I appreciate your comments, and all roads lead to me believing that I will have to look for another employer when the time is right. As for 1:1's, trying to communicate with the Manager, did not have any affect, as his only response was that to talk to him and the Senior in the future to avoid this problem. side note, the manager here in question, is not even my official manager, who I've done 1:1s with. The official manager has 1:1's on the calendar but each time the day arrives, they are either rescheduled or their is an excuse, or a question of, "if you have anything, we can meet".

Your capitalization seems unusual. If the people you describe were in the military, they may have decided early on that you are an emotionally fragile snowflake with a strong sense of entitlement. Such early perceptions were, of course, wrong.

there are assholes at every job and there are two options here: Either they're controling pricks or they have an order of magnitude more information and you can't see what you're missing.

I think the key will be if this starts to be a pattern. Happens once? just a bunch of jerks. Find a new gig and ask some hard questions in your interview about how they handle disagreements/different ways of thinking through problems.

Happens again? Start to evaluate where you might be at fault and how you can grow. Is there another level of understanding you can seek or talent you can improve? Even if that's project communication and task management or another tangential but impactful improvement?

Maybe do that anyway if you have bandwidth.

No, it's not like that everywhere and you're not crazy. Start quietly working on your resume and networking.

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