Promoted by still forced to support old team 10

[ERA21]

I was promoted after 4 months with my company ( my former boss had no professional knowledge so I was involved in every technical aspect of every project, his lack of knowledge actually helped me get my promotion).

Since my former boss was incompetent, he would steal my work, my documentations and my ideas.
I complained to the upper management that his position required qualifications that he did not have, and he should be replaced. Otherwise I would quit. My upper management told me it was not up to me to dispute his position.I was promoted the next month, with the understanding that I would support my department for 2 months. It has been almost 5 months and I still support that department on a daily basis. My former incompetent boss is still there, and my replacement does not have my background.

Since they never solve any problems, and they keep pushing, hiding and ignoring them, right now all the projects are in a lot of trouble and the upper management wants me to help.

I do not want to be involved in helping incompetent people keep their job expecially one who would steal my work. How do I refuse while still being a team player?
However I do not want to be treated as the person who did nothing while the company lost customers.

Then the questions that I have is this, why is there expectation for me to keep doing my former job, while there is no expectation towards my former boss to do his job?
Why are they ignoring the elephant in the room?

The worst part of this is that my current boss has asked me to continue helping my old department while fully knowing how I feel about all this.

 

[postermmxvicom]

Since your company doesn't seem to be in the business of firing people, just do whatever you want to do. Don't support your old team even if they ask. Tell them "No". What's the worst that can happen? Will they fire you? Oh no! Sounds like you want to quit anyways if they insist on making you do these other things. You don't have to be a jerk about it. Just politely and clearly refuse. What will they do? Call a meeting to tell you "this isn't working out?" -- Well, Duh! You already told them it wasn't working out. HAHAHA


Alternatively,

The "right" thing to do is to mentor and teach them how to do the problems.

You know, the whole "give a a man a fish vs teach a man to fish" thing.



I don't know if my first suggestion is serious, but it is funny.


Good luck.

 

[MedicineEng]

I agree with everything htat was done here. I would like to emphasize one point: you have 4 months tenure in that comany. By the look of it, your past professional experience seems also non-existent. So, put yourself in your company's management position: You hire a new graduate, with potential and after 4 months he is already bursting calling his boss incompetent, thieve and liar. See the picture?

 

[jmw]

Intellectual theft?
The company owns you and your ideas. You may not like it, but that's life. This isn't intellectual theft, its plagiarism at worst, a matter of not giving appropriate credit. You can live with that or you can take steps to make sure that everyone knows who is the guru. Sign your work and keep records. But if this guy is a technical dummy, he may not need to credit you, it's probably a given. But it is his department that is delivering the goods.

In the real world environment not every job is filled or can be filled with the right calibre of personnel.
The art of management is to find ways to get the job done with the people it can get (at the price it can afford to pay).
That is why companies develop little books of rules that tell everyone, including managers, what to do in certain situations. It saves them needing original thought.
Indeed, in some companies original thought is discouraged but it is why so many "systems" are imported (often from Japan) and everyone does what their told to.

Inevitably this also means that the more capable people carry more of the load. There will be a bunch of drones and one master. It is what makes things work.

Hence, don't expect to find the manager is as technical than you or even technical at all. That isn't his job. He may not even be a good manager but, as they say, good enough to meet certain performance targets. read his manual and do what it tells him. Most success comes from the routine application of standard solutions. His job as a manager is to administer the prescribed solutions.
If the company meets its monthly targets or can't find good excuses, they are unlikely to "fix things that ain't broke". You know and I know, even management knows that the company will never perform as it could in an ideal world so they don't measure success that way. Expectation isn't "being all the company can be" it is not falling so far behind the monthly targets that someone gets a carpeting.

This guy was there originally and no one canned him. He evidently is good enough for what they expect of him.
OK, they have a manager who can't do your job. But then, they have you to do your job. The fact that you could do his job a lot better than him is irrelevant. Worse, they'd then need to find someone to replace you. They don't need your skills as a manger, they need his skills as a manager and yours as an engineer. If you like, they can always find plenty of average Joe managers but only one of you. (they won't admit that nor let it actually become true, they will always want to be able to replace you).



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[epoisses]

ESA21

You have a couple of ideas in your head that I think are at odds with reality. Some part of reality is very explicitly documented in your contract.

Re "stealing ideas": your ideas are company property. You are PAID for bright ideas.

Re "upper management wants me to help": if upper management wants you to do something, your job is to make it happen. You can ask them all the questions you're asking us, but you're still PAID to do what you're told.

And if you really don't want to quit your current job, as you wrote, you'd better not complicate things further and do something in return for what they pay you.

 

[epoisses]

sorry jmw we were typing at the same time

 

[jmw]

Great minds......

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[namdac]

I have had my share of problems too. I worked for a Land Survey outfit. We had a huge market share of Cell Tower work during the Y2K boom. The President of the company was best buds with the CFO of the realty company that owned the survey company. We were licensed in 18 states to perform surveys. We had a bid in Wisconsin, the local surveyor bid $3500+ Exp. I suggested we bid the job at $3000+ exp. this president who has NO ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE OR EXPERIENCE in any field at all. So, he tells the client that if they give us all 12 sites that we would do each site for $1750 and we would pay for our own expenses. Did I mention that we are headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company was a loss vehicle for the realty company. The company was sold to an engineering firm, and we have all went our separte ways. Myself and the L.S. started a new company.
Now 5 yrs. have passed and I still get companies that want us to bid on work and they still use the $1750 reference on all bid docs. I have explained that we no longer do work this way and if they wanted us to perform the work that the cost was $3500+ Exp. They kept protesting the price and the 15 days net due.
Moral: always have an experienced person in charge to ensure profitability and to ensure the companys success.
Regards,
Namdac

 

[ERA21]

Thank you Namdac

I agree totally with you. Since our department is unique, upper management should have at least hired another engineer to replace me, which they did not do.

But now, there are no engineers, (nor education, experience) in my former department. By the way, I was the the third engineer that was hired for that position, and quit after a few months.

 

[KENAT]

ERA21, In principle I agree with most of the other responders. Either follow through and quit or suck it up.

That said I have found myself in the kind of situation where you aren't really happy, there's stuff you don't like etc but it's difficult to leave for financial reasons or chance to gain experience etc so have some sympathy.

Warning, just because they didn't let you quit doesn't mean they're in love with you and have long term plans for you in the company. They are just as likely appeasing you until you've supported your old department long enough to get it up and running/over the bump and then you'll get canned. I've seen this at my current place.

No management team I've ever heard of really appreciates a whistle blower. Even if what the whistle was blown on was an issue that fixing actually improved the company, doesn't mean they wont take action against the whistle blower. You made them look bad, you questioned their judgement, this is not easily forgiven & forgotten. Even if it doesn't get you canned it will almost certainly limit future promotion.

The machinations of management are often beyond us mere technical types.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[electricpete]

I'm a latecomer in this thread and haven't read all the other posts.

I would suggest to continue to assist but take your opportunities to let people on all sides know that you think the people in your old department are performing poorly, and it is costing you a lot of time which detracts from your new responsibilities.

Also, talk to the people in your old department to see if the relationship can shift toward you being a consultant whose time is valuable. In other words they can call you up to bounce off ideas, to do a quick check of their work etc... but not to do a lot of legwork. If they are so dependent upon you, they should be considering your time to be a valuable commidity to them which should not be squandered.

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[electricpete]

commodity

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[HgTX]

The only piece of practical advice so far has come from widla. I wish to reiterate it here so it doesn't completely get lost:

suggest that all requests for help from the previous group be directed through your new boss

Management needs to know how far outside your official job description you're working.


My boss was sort of in your position, except he *liked* doing all his old stuff, so he never complained about it to his superiors, and I wasn't in a position to go over his head about it. The result was a several-year delay in his getting the knowledge he needed for his current position. He's pretty much caught up now, but it was several years of extreme frustration for me.

Hg



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[KENAT]

Having all requests go through your boss and/or keeping track of the time & effort you spend supporting your old group are great if you're on an even playing field.

However, something sounds fishy about the whole situation. In this case keeping track &/or making it obvious how much you're still doing will go over like a proverbial in a punch bowl.

They didn't like having the problem pointed out once, I doubt they'll appreciate it being kept track of and/or brought back to the surface every few days.

My current position is the dream job for any engineer.

ERA21, the situation you're in doesn't sound like a dream job to me. Technically it may be great but there's a whole lot more to a job than that.



KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[josephv]

Hi ERA21,

No engineer was hired to replace you, this is very key. This tells me that they may have not been honest with you. You may want to start looking for a better place to work for.

Good luck and best wishes,

 

[AusSteelMan]

Sorry for the late post, but I know of a motto that I think suits here. Very similar to the following. (don't remember the exact phase or author at present)

There are two types of people. Those who make thing happen, and those who claim the credit. Try and be the first type. These is less competetion.

ASM