Going the extra mile down a dead end road 28

[Foada]

I was just wondering how common this is in the rest of the work world. I have always and will always be an employee that believes that hard work pays off but I am starting to wonder. In my younger years, I worked at several manual labor/blue collar jobs. I found that the harder I worked the more I was rewarded. It may have been a pay raise, and extra day off, or more responsibility. I have since moved on to the "white collar" office world of software development and automation integration. I absolutely love the work but I am becoming less confident that there is a "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow". I started doing this work about eight years ago and I attacked it like every other job I have ever had. I would put in extra hours, bring work home, help other that fell behind etc. In my diluted world, I figured this would pay off. When I was not trying to play catch up because the project manager overlooked this or the saleman promised this, I worked to find, develop, and test ways we could streamline our engineering processes to reduce project development times. I was able to create and prove a dozen different design process improvements, some took years to implement and yet other are sitting in the starting block waiting to go. Enough history, now for the question. I recieved little, if any rewards for my hard work. I may have had a couple of "that a boy"s but for the most part the project managers and sales people became more slack in there jobs knowing that I would pick up the slack. Basically, my reward for hard work was more of other peoples work. The company is small, so I know that plays a part in things but I think this is beyond acceptable. I know some of you will say I should look for a new job, and I am. I am reluctant to move because the engineering group is a great group and they all get about the same treatment as I get. How do you correct this? Are there other people getting the same treatment in other places? I am going to get this were ever I go? Does any one know the winning lotto numbers?

 

[whyun]

Measure of success = your pay / your performance

Underperformer can still be successful in his career if he is paid a lot.

 

[IRstuff]

"It's unfortunate that mediocrity is the order of the day in most places."

Unfortunate for society, but not unfortunate for us ;-)

If I had to compete with only Type "A" geniuses, I'd have to work a whole lot harder and spend less time here

TTFN

 

[AusSteelMan]

whyun,

That is such a known formula. Those who don't perform get promoted out of the critical jobs.

I once recieved the following email extract that I am sure most have seen before but it is worth seeing again

Dilbert's "Salary Theorem" states that "Engineers and Scientists can
never earn as much as Business Executives and Sales People."

This theorem can now be supported by a mathematical equation based on
the following two postulates:

1. Knowledge is Power.
2. Time is Money.

As every engineer knows:
Power = Work / Time

Since:
Knowledge = Power
Time = Money

It follows that:
Knowledge = Work/Money.

Solving for Money, we get:
Money = Work / Knowledge.

Thus, as Knowledge approaches zero,
Money approaches infinity, regardless
of the amount of work done.

Conclusion: The less you know, the more you make.


Regards,
ASM

 

[okpiper]

Foada,

There are 3 things for a good work ethic:
#1 Be a teacher.
#2 Be a worker.
#3 Be a student.

You have to train someone to fill your position, do your work while you train, and also learn about the position that you are trying to achieve. I worked for a company 7 years. Saved themm from bankruptcy 2x. I was the shop foreman. I turned in a three week notice and I received my walking papers. Sometimes you will not be appreciated. Don't lose hope there is the right company out there. I found one.

 

[ziggi]

IRStuff,
It depends on how the geniuses market themselves to the bosses. People like that are the engine of a company, they keep it running. Steering is up to bosses, who may or may not steer it right or even bother to maintain the engine.
In cases like that use their input to further your cause, learn to appreciate their value and then when you become the boss you know which part of the engine needs maintaining.

In other words its not a reason to work harder to compete, its a reason to make your work look better. Once you get the promotion, don't forget who helped you get it.

It sounds like foada's boss realises his value but abuses this knowledge to get more work done. All his boss is creating is a disgruntled employee, one who could possibly cripple the company WHEN he leaves. All the more reason to keep Foada happy.

 

[joemock]

I've enjoyed this chain and thought I'd chime in. I've worked at three different companies over the past 5 years in senior engineering/project management positions, all with different types of managers and have left each time by my own decision. I now have a low stress job with decent pay in a great location.

The following things have worked for me, individual results may vary:

1)Find the right company to work for - decide exactly what it is you want to do and what you're good at, be open-minded
2)Demonstrate that you posess the skills for the next higher position to the right people in management; when it comes to getting promoted, these are the only ones that really matter
3)Understand your manager's hot buttons and focus your efforts to avoid them - they want people they can trust in the "club"
4) Present problems and solutions to your boss (not just problems)
5) Stay away from small companies; if you're working for the owner don't expect to get promoted.
6) Let your boss know that you're not content with what you're doing and that you don't expect to be doing it forever; ask them to help you develop a career plan.
7) Get professional certifications (i.e. PE, CPM, etc)
8) Learn cost and project management software; no one likes it (almost nobody) but it's a must for managers
9) Write articles for publications and conferences
10) Make and effort to bring work to your company, you don't have to actually be successful at it but your boss needs to know that your concerned about the company's profits - in big companies all that matters is shareholder value.
11) Don't be cynical about a position/company - if you don't like it and you're sure the job/company isn't for you - move on, there are plenty of jobs out there; be careful to not burn bridges.
12) MOST IMPORTANTLY - Always Remember: PEOPLE DO THINGS FOR THEIR REASONS, NOT FOR YOURS.

This may hurt some egos out there, but good engineers are not that hard to come by, good engineers who are good with clients, and managing people and projects are - don't expect to be promoted just because you can push buttons on a calculator or are a CAD wizard.

 

[kregz]

Star for you joemock!

Particularly for point #2 and #6. It's kind of simple and obvious, but I have seen many people complaining about their situation without taking step ONE in trying to attain it. If you want a promotion or a raise, make sure you ASK FOR IT. Most companies aren't in the handout business. You'll end up waiting forever.

 

[Foada]

Sorry it took to long to respond, I was busy putting out a half a dozen fires. I would like to thank everyone for their input. I am glad to see that I am not alone on this. I guess that is what I was afraid of. I guess I will just keep toughing it out until I can get my own consulting work off the ground. Thanks again for the input.

 

[planedr]

My personal favourite is that "when you reach the epitomy of your inconpetence they will promote you".

Sadly if you are invaluable or irreplaceable you will remain because you are just that.

The beauty of the system is each succesive Manager just has to be no more incompetant than the one he replaces. Kind of like raising the bar in the downward direction!

Enjoy what you do and the rest falls into place!

Al

 

[DRC1]

Unfortunately, especially in engineering, management(which used to be a means to lead a group to a solution) is now about, well, management. It has become an end product. We ile status reports attend team meetings, project earned value wile we improve document flow so all the stake holders are informed in real time. The only thing we don't do is engineering and design. Quite frankly, many (certianly not all) managers, given a pad and pencil, could not engineer a thing. So they have no real appreataiton for what you do, but they know that if you start managing who will do all the work?
I once worked for a firm where it was tough to get a promotion, so a lot of guys(me included) left. When we gave our notice, we were offered what ever we wanted (to an extent) to stay. I am not sugessting you bluff them by giving notice, but if you grumble a little and suggest thee may be a better life out there, maybe sombody will do something. If they don't, you have a pretty good idea where you stand.

 

[ScottyUK]

In recent days some of the wisdom I've soaked up in this thread spilled out. Somehow I found myself thinking aloud, to a manager, that management are merely an overhead to enable the rest of us to do our jobs, and since industry normally strives to reduce its overheads, wasn't it time they awarded themselves a pay cut and thinned their numbers down?

It's just another black mark in my big book of black marks... I'll need a library to house all these books by the time I retire!


----------------------------------

One day my ship will come in.
But with my luck, I'll be at the airport!

 

[zdas04]

Scotty, I got a really big black mark in volume 9 of my "Big Book of Black Marks" when I suggested to my boss that "Managers are a lot like a funnel over the employee's head--the good ones turn it with the small side up so that most of the BS is kept off my head, you on the other hand turn it with the big side up so it becomes a BS concentrator and dumps more than my fair share of crap on my head. STOP IT".

Needless to say, that wasn't a warm, fuzzy, or (fortunately) long-lasting relationship. He presented one of my projects at a senior-managers meeting and when he couldn't explain any of the details on my slides (that he hadn't reviewed before the meeting or told me he was going to use) he called me on the speaker phone to answer the tough questions. The next week he was back to being an individual contributor. Senior management saw what an ineffective slime he really was and wondered out loud why he even had a job.

David

 

[ajack1]

Isn’t it strange how no one on here seems to see themselves as over paid, lazy, incompetent or generally not worthy of the position they hold or the salary they get whilst many see those above, below or equal to them as such?

Can someone please explain how that works?

 

[ziggi]

We're just better than the 'riff-raff' who don't read these posts. Just plain better........

Oh and all people shift blame, it just depends on who defends themselves better.

 

[Slugger926]

Adusted for the cost of living, i am making less than when I started out of college. I notice many job adds advertising double what I am making. I just don't want to start over on vacation time right now since I get 4.5 weeks off each year. With a 2.5 year old, and a newborn at home, the time off is worth it now but the $$$ will soon out weigh that.

 

[HgTX]

ajack1--it works like this:
People who are getting more than they deserve have nothing to complain about, hence they don't hang out here.

Actually I do think I get away with being lazy (though neither overpaid nor unworthy). This doesn't bother me, because lazy and all, I do a hell of a lot better job than the three guys who all shared my current job when I first got here. I figure I have a "burn and coast" technique that leads to greater overall efficiency.

Hg

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[GregLocock]

Another vote here for lazy but effective.

As one of our managers once said, if you can get Greg to pay attention to your problem for two hours then he'll probably fix it.

I think he was being nice, but maybe not.

I find after 4 hours of analytical work my head tends to explode, so I have to goof off for at least an hour, or more usually go to the pub. And I usually resist doing anything technical in the last hour before I go to bed, otherwise the (internal) computer will be humming away all night and I won't get any sleep.






Cheers

Greg Locock

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