Comments by "Christian Baune" (@programaths) on "Thriving Technologist"
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Twice and it went so wrong!
The first one was offered a personal coach (me). His company hired me to give one to one sessions for 3 months.
Right from the start, I saw the guy would be a huge issue. His answer to "What are you doing in this company ?" was already hinting me that he would be a though one!
After few weeks in, I gave him a book reference and told him that he had to read 10 pages every day (there was diagrams and illustrations -> Java Head First).
The next day, I would explain what he read and what is coming up. That way, he would have the information twice, opportunity to ask me AND practice with exercises I did provide.
I quickly realized he didn't bother to read a single page, so I had to do interrogations AND add questions to be answered while reading...
Literally had to treat him as a 12 year boy!
On top of that, I had to train him in taking interviews and it was even worse. When I told him that I would film the fake interviews to annotate and review with him (so, very private recording), he was flipping. After some time, he got used to the camera awkwardness. So I told him that I will invite a stranger for the next practice rounds. He did beg me not too, as if I did pronounced a death sentence (that looks funny, but that actually take a toll on you!).
At some point, HR became involved and they saw that the guy had a very bad behavior. So, we were both summoned.
HR team started to say him what was wrong, what they expect and actions he can take.
As soon we get off the meeting, I ask him: "So, what do you take out of it ?" and he replies "They really don't like me". Ouch!
I was boiling, but had to hold composure and reiterate what they said in a more friendly way.
As an ultimatum to get him to make some effort, I told him that at the end of the training, there would be an examination and that he would be fired if he can't pass it because of incompetence. He got fired...
The other one was a team leader. I was hired to show him spring. The guy made himself unavailable as much as he could and I noticed it. So, I took him apart and told him I was very unhappy of what he was doing! So, I started to work on the project and saw that the department sucked in resource management. No real planning, no real allocations, employees who complaint (even one who jumped out of his chair and started yelling!).
So, I reported that to the manager and told him that we are now targeting years and not *months*.
Then I forced a process and the dev did speed up a bit. A soon I did let it go, we went back to an undescriptible mess. Enough was enough, during a stakeholder meeting, I explained why the project did suddenly go much faster and why it did stale again. The same day, I learned I was fired because I didn't comply with tools to be used (wrong) and that team mate went to the office of the supervisor to complain (My chair was against his door and to get in or out, you had to ask me to move!). In short, they made a long list of lies.
Then they asked a confrontation and I accepted it explaining that I did actually record everything that did happen near my computer. (An habit I took because consultancy can be very weird!)
Well, they cancelled the confrontation and I got paid to do nothing else, but find any position that would suit me.
Then I have been told by other consultants that the company I was assigned has no issues ending someone career and that I was very lucky to have proofs of well behaving!
The company who sent me to them just blacklisted them as a result.
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@HealthyDev I am slowly leaving the field to be a math teacher after 12 years!
I saw companies of all sizes and the result is that I am not a good fit for that field. On top of that, being a math teacher is my dream career. I was held off by lower wage and profound disrespect and disregard for teachers, but I burned out once and ditched too many attempts to take advantage of me.
On top of that, I am an expectation breaker. One could think that being fast and good on the job can be a big plus. No, that means having to be careful to not step on others too hard because that's too easy to do it inadvertently. This alone promote a toxic environment.
A stupid example of that is remarks like: "Why don't you help me? It will take only 5 minutes of you.". Except that if everyone start to ask you 5 minute help, then when are you gonna work your part ?
I had the finger on this for decades and though I had probably a too big opinion on myself. Then I got involved on a project with a friend who dared to told me: "Be careful, if you go too fast, I'll look really lame and that's not good for me". Luckily, we do things that are different (I do embedded and I didn't do that for a decade) and I can BS that I have been trained to do exactly what I was doing (Which is true as I learned industrial computing) and that I am gifted, so really quick to learn. (But a lot of people do not really understand what "gifted" entails. It's all theoretical and they are way smarter!)
Oh, and don't forget the avoidance game when someone says something along: "Nah, you can't really understand it and come up with a solution that quick. I took months to get there". The honest answer is "Well, I process information much faster than the average human, have a greater working memory which enable me to work with higher level abstractions". The answer I give is: "Oh, yes, I probably missed something. Let's see next week".
And when fed up, I ask a "run through" and confront all along :-D (we all break down at some point!)
It was weird for 12years, I don't want to pull that for another 33 years! Time to shift and it will take 3 years as I have to go through a new curriculum while working.
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