How to survive corporate politics 30

[nickninevah]

I am a registered professional engineer with 5+ years experience. Recently took a new job, my first experience with a large corporation. I have always struggled with corporate politics, but this job is worse than any I've had before. I have four effective bosses. And the lead engineer on a project is someone with half the experience of me, no PE, and frequently makes decisions that I find very hard to respect.

Basically, my question is: how do you stand it? I know more than most of my coworkers, but I get no respect because I'm a new employee (4 months now). I feel like half my coworkers are more concerned with political maneuvering for more power in the company. I am a perfectionist. I can't stand people who are my superior, but who I view to be less competent than me. All I want to do is perform good engineering and ensure safety of life. And I feel like that conflicts with the corporate culture, which really wants me to be an obedient little robot and obey people that I have no respect for.

Here is an example. I sat in a very stressful meeting the other day. The client was very mad because we disagreed with the analysis of another engineering firm. This problem has gone on for weeks and could create major project delays. I feel confident that I could sit down with the other subcontractor and calmly solve the problem in a day. Instead, we sit in these meetings with lots of people arguing around a table. The client is yelling, asking for a solution. I know I can give them one. And I know that my company will not allow it. Because there are at least two people above me who want to be in control. It just killed me to know I could help our client and my company will not allow me to.

I know we all make jokes. But I really care about engineering. I am passionate about my work. And I absolutely hate my job. It causes extreme stress and makes me feel miserable. And I know it is not the company. I had similar feelings with every job, though none as extreme as this. So please, any advice. How do I tolerate this?

How do I care enough to provide quality engineering, but remain detached enough to let everyone else win their power games?

 

[MikeHalloran]

Nickninevah, you remind me of me, ~45 years ago.
I don't mean that as a compliment.
I recommend that you change something. ... now.

Changing jobs won't help.
With five or more years' experience, the only jobs you can get are broken; someone else left. ... in today's market, probably not by choice. So there's a mess to clean up, in addition to learning the ropes.


Which leaves, uh, you.

Be as arrogant and superior as you want. ... on the inside.
...
No, forget that.
Most people will sense your internal attitude, perhaps unconsciously, no matter how hard you try to hide it, and they will react to it.

You need some humility.
Try something hard. No, harder than that.
You need to fail at something.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Gymmeh]

We all want to change the world...or company.

My best advice isn't mine own:

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world (or company).”
― Mahatma Gandhi

 

[TenPenny]

"Let's all focus instead on giving HELPFUL advice"

Many people did give helpful advice: OP should change him/herself and/or switch jobs.

Based on the collected wisdom and experience of the users of this forum, I think the gist of the original post came through quite clearly. It appears that was NOT what the OP expected, however.

 

[1gibson]

Document your suggestions, distribute internally AS APPROPRIATE to your immediate superiors, and wait patiently. Learn how to humbly say "I told you so"*** and be able to instantly produce solutions when the problem is about to get critical, and people are desperate enough to listen.

*** = "Boss, See attached email, this may be a potential solution. Thanks, Me."

Do that a few (dozen) times and things might get to a point where people come to you for help before everything starts to fall apart.


Patience and humility is a much better combination than frustration and arrogance.

 

[ornerynorsk]

Everyone is a customer. Your boss, your clients, your co-workers. Figure out how to render effective and diplomatic customer service. That being said, there are people who will not/cannot be pleased, and the trick is identifying them early on, simply do your job as it pertains to them and carry on. If you are in a situation where the culture is shouting, bullying, derogatory, it may be time to move on.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[bigTomHanks]

It definitely sounds like you have walked into a job with poor company culture. Many places are like this and as you can tell from some of the responses on here, many are brain washed into thinking that you "gotta do your time" before you have the right in their eyes to do your job or have a say in things. It's quite sad and funny to watch these people act the way they do like there is some kind of righteous legacy to be had by their time at the organization. Here is what I do to get by in a place like you describe:

- Become a minimalist and spend more time talking with good people about hobbies, family, sports, etc to make the days pass faster. I actually avoid talking about work stuff 99% of the time if possible.
- Use as much company time as you can to do personal business. Always have something on the side outside work to keep you occupied.
- Show up 15 minutes late a couple days a week when it's convenient for you. Swing by the donut shop or breakfast diner without guilt.
- Take excessively long lunches and leave at the exact quitting time every day.
- Surf web forums on things you are interested in.
- Build ally coworkers that you can confide in to talk about your frustrations . If you have a problem, there will be many others who feel the same way.
- Be straight and unwavering with people. Treat them well but also plainly say how you feel as if you didn't care if you were fired tomorrow.
- Take as little time as possible to complete your work and give it very little thought. No matter what you do the people there are going to criticize you so no need to try to do a good job.
- Use your cell phone to text and play on apps.

Many of these big companies are very poorly managed and people are hired without a real need for them. As a result you get brought on and marginalized which is difficult to accept coming from a situation where you were productive and respected. Just stick it to the man and one day they should come around or you can find another job and move on.

 

[GregLocock]

re BTH's post, If you haven't heard of Poe's law, you might want to look it up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[SomptingGuy]

We had a great Poe's Law episode where I work some years ago.

At about the same time that we were going through a redundancy round, a couple of pointy-heads from upstairs took the money and landed highly-paid jobs in some management consulting company. It all looked very suspicious. So our chief rabble-raiser wrote a brilliantly satirical entry for our company suggestion scheme (at that time, the nearest thing we had to a soap-box). He suggested an alumni scheme to assist former employees keep in touch for mutal benefit, citing news clippings of the high-paid jobs that our people had walked into.

Result: HR director liked and investigated this excellent idea and implemeted it. The rabble-raiser even won a prize for his suggestion.

- Steve

 

[SNORGY]

SLTA...
Brains, class AND guts.
And a T-square.
And a star.

 

[SLTA]

* blushes madly *

 

[Compositepro]

yup, 4u, juz? Text speak in a professional setting, which this is, will be career limiting. Please do not subject us to it here.

 

[epoisses]

"I can't stand people who are my superior, but who I view to be less competent than me."
"Because there are at least two people above me who want to be in control."
Well, not only do they want to be in control, they are SUPPOSED to be in control. They ARE in control, if all goes well. That's why we call it "above".
This is what you'll have to accept. It's fundamental. No organisation can work if one part can't tell the other part what to do. If you can't accept that situation, quit the company, you can't work there or in any organisation.
If you accept the situation of having these people above you, and if you feel you can contribute in spite of your very short 4 months experience, make a suggestion in a positive, constructive way. If they tell you thanks but no, try to understand why and make a more effective suggestion next time.
That's all I can say really.

 

[Ron]

which is when it Might Become Annoying.

You hide it so well!

slta's solution is a foolproof way of dealing with those who "Might Become Annoying", although I sometimes find myself annoying myself.

 

[Sparweb]

Nick,
Your feeling is more common than you think. Maybe the harsh responses to this thread come from those who have either put the same feeling behind them (with some shame) or haven't had the opportunity to have both confidence and knowledge in certain situations. But... you're also still young. It takes time and patience to carefully examine the basis of your own personal confidence, real or imagined, and it also takes time before you make enough mistakes to start to question how much you really know after all. Sometimes you are the most sure of yourself, just before making the biggest mistake you've ever made. Some calm and humility is all you really need.

I'm not denying that there could be some serious problems with the company's organization, but you'll also have to admit that the solution to many problems is not technical after all, and that you don't always have all the facts (especially if you're a few notches down the chain of command). The opportunity to "sit down with the other contractor and discuss" may be a politically/economically charged situation that isn't obvious to you, who is concerned mostly with the technical aspects of the problem.

Been there, done that...


STF

 

[ManifestDestiny]

"Then you would only have to deal with all the stupid clients."

There is no such thing as a stupid client.
There is no such thing as a stupid client.
There is no such thing as a stupid client.
There is no such thing as a stupid client.
There is no such thing as a stupid client.

Repeated often enough, I find that to be at least therapeutic. It doesn't work all the time, though, which is when it Might Become Annoying.

Not too many times though, you might eventually become a Moron By Acclamation.


Sam
Brisbane, Australia

Young Engineer. American old west enthusiast