Ask HN: How to work with disengaged coworkers? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to work with disengaged coworkers?

4 pointsgtirloni13 comments

If you have to work with other coworker(s) that, for whatever reason, are disengaged and you can't do anything about what makes them disengaged. How do you handle that and stay motivated yourself?

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If you have to stay at that company (for whatever reasons), it'll take time or it even may be impossible.

I once myself was in a "disengaged" state :-) What motivated me most was a co-worker, that just MADE STUFF HAPPEN, I never thought was possible by just doing it.

"Migration from svn to git? Impossible with this codebase and deployment strategy" everyone thought. He made it happen by tinkering around with tools and somehow he got it working.

"Establishing a CI? No way that is possible within our worktime"... He invested some time and made it happen.

"Code Reviews? Who needs that?" He convinced us to try it out and it was the best and most wanted Meeting we had in our whole week.

So, maybe you could try to be that guy. Make things happen, don't try to point your finger on others, just pick a problem everybody has and try to solve it. It may not work, but at least you learn something on your way. But prepare to have stamina, it needs time (about a year).

Leading by example, I like that. Thanks for the perspective.

I just feel that ignoring all the pessimism takes a toll. I try to stay positive but it's very draining to spend energy to solve a very difficult technical problem WHILE other humans are around basically saying it can't be done, it won't work, if it works it won't be good enough or, which is as bad as, not participating at all.

It seems that working on increasing this "pessimism buffer" might be where I should focus.

> I just feel that ignoring all the pessimism takes a toll. I try to stay positive but it's very draining to spend energy to solve a very difficult technical problem WHILE other humans are around basically saying it can't be done, it won't work, if it works it won't be good enough or, which is as bad as, not participating at all.

Of course it does, everything comes with a price, but believe me, it's better than the alternative: Staying with them and becoming disengaged yourself. If this happens you waste so many time of your career procastinating instead of learning new awesome stuff that is not only fun but also good for your curriculum vitae.

I made it by leaving the company and re-thinking my focus. Leaving my comfort zone by a total tech switch (new programming language, from Backend to UI) helped me to get motivated again and my learning is to never fall for such a situation again.

I really hope you can make it without leaving, this would help everybody, fingers crossed. Otherwise, just leave the company.

> What motivated me most was a co-worker, that just MADE STUFF HAPPEN, I never thought was possible by just doing it.

Is he still at your company?

No, he left shortly after me when things got really bad... but this was about 3 years later after new supervisor and Head of HR switch.

Your disengaged coworker has it right.

Remind yourself what salaried positions are for: collecting a paycheck so you can take care of your you and your family. They're not for meaning, or purpose, or motivation, unless you have serious equity.

Remind yourself that you're not your job.

That's not the point. I mentioned how to stay motivated when others are disengaged from their work. I'm not passing judgement whether it's right or wrong to be disengaged, I'm simply looking for shared experiences or advice on keeping motivated to do the job and do it well. It seems your comment is just a knee jerk reaction to some other thing I haven't mentioned.

This is terrible advice, and seems like a great way to be miserable at work while making those around you miserable.

Find a new gig.

Asking OP to get stuff done with people in that state, does not make it sound like the company are setting you up for success. If the company are also responsible for how they ended up like that, finding a new gig sounds like a good solution.

Lawyer up! Delete facebook! Hit the gym!

There will be disengaged workers no matter what company you work for (with a few exceptions like perhaps NASA) so your best bet is to learn how to work with them instead

I agree, however, if the disengaged coworker(s) and OP's consequent lack of motivation are both symptoms of the work itself, finding a new gig could lead to more satisfying work.

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