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Do you have to act stressed/unhappy? Is it ok to always be happy and act cool? Or do you have to look actively stressed out and/or unhappy at work, to look professional? Is it a red flag if your employer expects you to look stressed out and unhappy, eventhough you don't have any reason to? <Q> Do you have <S> to look actively stressed out and/or unhappy at work, to look professional? <S> No. <S> I would say it's the opposite. <S> The true professional should be able to keep an even keel through most (all?) <S> of the day-to-day work stuff. <S> I've worked with people who constantly moan & complain about being too busy, "having so many fires to put out", not having enough time, etc. <S> To me, that's unprofessional. <S> It makes me wonder: <S> Why can't you keep up with your workload? <S> Why aren't you able to handle the job you've been doing (in many cases) for several years? <S> That isn't to say there won't be times when things get rough. <S> It will happen. <S> But even then, professionals will keep their emotions in check as much as possible and just focus on solving the problem at hand. <A> Is it ok to be always happy and act cool? <S> Or do you have <S> to look actively stressed out and/or unhappy at work, to look professional? <S> There is certainly no general consensus that being stressed <S> means you are professional. <S> Is it a red flag if your employer expects you to look stressed out and unhappy, eventhough you don't have any reason to? <S> I feel like there's a bit of toxic work culture in the United States where there's an expectation that you should be stressed out and overworked if you are a good employee. <S> It's often accompanied with an expectation that you need to always be available to the company or you aren't committed to your career. <S> I personally try to avoid companies that heavily weight anecdotal evidence when they're evaluating employees, so I'd leave a company if this kind of attitude started to actually matter, but I don't know of that being a common problem. <A> Depends on who you are with. <S> If you are with clients then you need to act in a professional manner. <S> If you are with your team (especially the person directly above you/who you report to) you should have the freedom to express unhappiness and stress. <S> Being open with to your team is part of a healthy work environment. <S> This doesn't mean complaining about every little thing but just being honest with where you're at. <S> It should never be required that you act stressed or unhappy when it's not how you are feeling. <S> If a company is expecting that of you then they are encouraging an unhealthy work environment. <S> This can be either due to your company having a distorted view on productivity and a healthy work load or you boss might just be stressed and unhappy and feel like if he's stressed by his work you should be too. <S> Either way it doesn't make for a good working environment. <S> It might change but realistically you're probably better off looking for an employer with healthy expectations from their employees. <S> This is just what I have seen from personal experience and ultimately everybody will have a different opinion. <S> Take it with a grain of salt and decide what's important in a work environment for you before making any changes. <S> You should never quit your job without being aware of your situation and knowing how hard it's going to be to find a new job.
| Displaying stress or just general unhappiness in front of clients is not professional and should be avoided.
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How many years of job history should I include on my resume? I've been in the IT industry since 1999 including several jobs in between. I was a Director with an organization for 7 years, and another 7 years at my current job as a Director as well. This gives me 14 years as a Director in two different companies. Should I include other jobs (4-5 years) of experience on my resume or should I take those years off? I'm thinking about taking them off because it made my resume 4 pages long. <Q> My CV contains jobs of the last ten years, plus a single sentence: "I also did X, Y, Z, A, B and C". <S> Just three or four words about each job. <S> Some of X, Y, Z, A, B and C are quite interesting, so sometimes I have been asked about them in the interview just out of curiosity, and if you can talk about these things, then it can give you a very slight edge, but it's not really important. <S> Nobody employs you for things you did ten years ago. <S> And a four-page CV hurts you. <S> Some places get many CVs, if I have the choice between reading three CVs or your four-page CV at the same time, I'll read three CVs. <S> BTW. <S> I only write down years. <S> One former boss of mine has a six month gap between selling his company and getting a new job. <S> Spent sailing through the mediterranean with his family. <S> Imagine the recruiter saying "there is a very suspicious employment gap here". <A> It depends. <S> If those 4-5 years jobs are relevant to some job that you are planning to apply to, then include. <S> If not, then exclude. <S> You can always bring them up in the interview even if they are not relevant. <A> You have an XY Problem here. <S> Removing jobs from the resume to reduce its length is about the same as amputating an arm to lose weight. <S> You should instead reconsider how much detail about each job you include. <S> Recruiters would certainly expect the name of the company and the start and end dates 1 . <S> Depending on your local customs, your official designation may also be necessary. <S> You usually do not need to enlist every detail of your role and your achievements. <S> For your jobs that are most relevant to the role you are applying for, describe your role in about a couple of sentences (or bullet points) and about 5 most important achievements, preferably quantifiable achievements. <S> For the jobs held several years ago and/or jobs not completely relevant to the role, you can trim it down even further and include only a one line description of the role and 1 or 2 most important achievements. <S> I wouldn't recommend dropping off old jobs entirely, especially if they span a fairly long duration, such as 4 to 5 years. <S> That would show up as an unusually long career gap. <S> While there's nothing inherently wrong with it, unfortunately a lot of recruiters look at career gaps with suspicion. <S> ( "Was this person unemployed for 5 years after his education, or has he left out an "undesirable" job he doesn't want us to know about?" , etc.) <S> You could, of course, explain it in the interview, but that's not a useful strategy if they don't invite you to the interview. <S> It is an unfortunate reality that shortlisting for interview usually focuses on excluding candidates and then inviting whoever is left standing, as against choosing candidates that match the criteria. <S> 1 <S> The month and year are adequate, and you can usually skip the month for long duration jobs and/or jobs you held long ago. <A> I would consider the number of pages you think are optimal for your resume. <S> Anything over two pages is probably longer than optimal. <S> To achieve your chosen limit you need to carefully consider the relative importance of all the information you want to include and how much space that warrants. <S> Your latest position probably warrants a whole paragraph, while your first may only warrant a line. <S> You can also make a summary of skills and knowledge perhaps with years of experience and say less about individual positions. <S> All in the interest of presenting the most pertinent information most clearly and in the most prominent position. <A> I am a bit late to the party, but … <S> I have my CV down to four pages. <S> I personally try to imagine I were the interviewer and ask myself how many years of experience I would consider relevant and have decided about 10 years should do it. <S> That said, I currently have 12, as there is one job that I don’t want to “drop off the end”. <S> I finish my CV with “details of previous positions available on request”. <S> But, what I haven’t seen addressed here <S> is whether the skills are consistent or if there is some change. <S> I have *cough <S> * decades developing embedded software for the telcomms industry, which segued into satellite communications. <S> There’s not much point in detailing all of those telcomms projects, although I do make the reader aware of the total length of time spent on them. <S> In the last ten years, I have spent a year in automotive, in avionics and in a satellite itself, rather than the ground side as normal. <S> It’s all embed, so all relevant, but <S> the question is what a potential interviewer will think of my avionics experience – to choose one at random – as the years go by. <S> “hmmm, it’s been X years since he did any avionics. <S> I wonder if he still groks the different Design Acceptance Levels. <S> Never mind, we can soon bring him back up to speed on that. <S> DO-178 is more important, though. <S> And if has forgotten his ARINC protocols, we mat as well recruit someone with no avionics experience”. <S> So, with a mixed career, the question is which experience do you want not to “fall off the end” if you restrict your CV to 2 pages, and how much will an interviewer believe you still remember. <S> Whereas, with a long career in a single company, position or industry niche, you can probably use 2 pages plus “and X years similar experience – details upon request”.
| Your resume should include the most relevant experience for the job you are applying to.
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How to be prepared for legal threats when resigning? Context I am a salaried full-time employee at a small company where there are about 30 people. This is in western Europe. There is a high amount of employee turnover and frequently people leaving are very disgruntled about broken promises. Management usually speaks negatively of of people that have left, as if they were betrayed by them. Over the years, I've come to know other employees better on a personal level, including management, which means that I have a lot of inside knowledge about their feelings towards their work, coworkers and employer. I've come to know that many announcements and talk by management about people resigning are completely untrue. I don't mean that they omit details to keep spirits up, but they actively spread falsities about them as if to paint them off like the bad guy. About half of the people leaving faces legal threats or actually ends up in a lawsuit. It comes across to me like they feel that they've been wronged and now they'll make it hard on them. For the employees leaving, this always happens at gotcha moments on their last day while the days leading up to it have been really pleasant and professional. It always involves a lawyer contacting them about some obscure clause and removal of pay. It always becomes clear that the company has been building a case against these employees since their resignation, and the evidence is always only text messages taken out of context (but definitely through false entrapment) implying breach of contract, testimonies by people close to management about things that never could have happened, etc. I have seen them (including HR) plot these things myself. Background I also want to leave the company soon because of unfulfilled promises (bonuses, overtime compensation, role responsibilities, vacation days, etc.) made to me over the past years, but have become completely paranoid because of the way people leaving the company have gotten slandered, face legal issues and are in financial trouble because of it. My contract requires that I give 1 month notice. Since a couple of months I have a legal aid insurance which is specialized in workplace conflicts. I'm trying to substantiate as much as possible about the broken promises made to me, so that hopefully when I get legal threats about unrelated things I can show that I have a long well-described dossier of broken promises. Problem It still leaves me to wonder about how I can prepare for gotcha legal threats. There are too many obscure clauses which could be thrown at someone in any case. Is it even possible to cover myself for every legal thing if an employer is not going about these things in a malevolent manner? If so, are there any established methods or guidelines to go about this? My primary goal is to leave as peacefully as possible. <Q> Well, you are asking an unanswerable question. <S> Having said that, I'll add that nice and easy always beats complicated. <S> A well kept written log of every interaction has seldom been trumped by the most intelligent of lawyers. <S> Just write stuff down. <S> And I do mean everything - including when and what text messages you receive, everyday interactions, emails, notes on the desk, getting ugly-eyed in the corridor. <S> Even the slightest of screwups will be damnable for them, and since there are many of them, chances are they will screw up before you. <S> The more people conspiring, the more idiots are involved, and it follows that the likelyhood of screwups goes to infinity at a much greater rate than the number of people involved. <A> this always happens at gotcha moments on their last day while the days leading up to it have been really pleasant and professional. <S> It always involves a lawyer contacting them about some obscure clause and removal of pay. <S> It still leaves me to wonder about how I can prepare for gotcha legal threats. <S> Is it even possible to cover myself for every legal thing if an employer is not going about these things in a malevolent manner? <S> If so, are there any established methods or guidelines to go about this? <S> In general, the right way to prepare for and deal with any legal threat is to talk with your lawyer. <S> Talk ahead of your resignation, explain what you have seen happen, then follow your lawyer's advice when the time comes. <S> Often that will be something along the lines of "my lawyer will contact you". <A> Make sure you have enough cash available to sit it out for one or two months, even if you are in the right not being able to pay the bills may force you into settling something in a bad way <S> Talk to a lawyer, even before leaving. <S> Try to behave absolutely correctly, by the book and minute-accurate in logging your working times.
| I would expect that your lawyer will give you appropriate words to use if confronted during your resignation day.
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Switching technology at peak of your career - Things to consider while making a choice I am an expert in an obsolete technology which is still being used at few places. I would like to learn something new and change my career path. How to make sure all my years of experience in developing enterprise application is respected in the market while going for a new technology where I don't have much hands-on experience in. Respect: In my current position people look upto me for solutions and have the confidence that I can solve their issues. I can't be replaced by some junior someday. The fact that I can contribute in my workplace makes people respect me there.This is the definition of " is respected " for me. Thought this was quite obvious, but clarifying for those who raised a concern. <Q> I am an expert in an obsolete technology <S> You are in a tough spot. <S> Part of being a developer\engineer is to stay on top of current technologies . <S> As Kilisi points out, certifications are one method to help, but in my experience as a developer your best bet is to simply dive into one of the technology stacks and learn it inside out. <S> There are many choices: .Net <S> Core, Angular, Python, React, etc. <S> All of these are popular right now, and expertise in any of these along with your experience should take you a long way. <S> Demonstration of this can be done by either your own pet project , or with an open source contributions . <S> Perhaps you could even find a way to work some more modern technologies into your current gig. <S> The last thought I would leave you with is this: Don't let this happen to you again. <S> Stay up on a technology stack and keep current. <S> It is way easier than trying to figure it all out at once. <A> Obvious choice wold be developing yourself in technological paths adjacent or derived from your current knowledge base. <S> You may need to jump a few, if the technology you work with is completely outdated. <S> Being not junior in your current field, technological conferences would be a great place to start looking for a new path without completely leaving current one. <A> The obvious answer is to get certified. <S> That way it looks like a progression or sideways move rather than a total change. <S> Certification shows commitment and a recognised level of proficiency an employer can rely on. <S> If starting something from scratch with nothing your previous experience in something totally different is not going to gain as much respect, because it's not very relevant. <A> I don't see an issue here. <S> In fact I think it would be wise to broaden your horizon and to make sure not to become obsolete once the old technology is completely gone. <S> At that point your mind may not be as agile as today and your learning curve may be much steeper. <S> In nearly all fields there are advancements and new technologies coming (and going) regularly. <S> I also think it is almost your duty, especially as a senior in your profession to embrace new and improved technology and gain as much understanding and proficiency as possible. <S> This would also benefit you in the event of job changes. <S> I'm not saying to ditch the old technology you're most familiar with as long as it is still being used an in need of your (now rare) expertise though but keep your options aplenty. <A> The ideal way to transition is to start doing open source work, charity work, and freelance work in the technology to which you want to shift your career. <S> If you want respect, you will need to earn it and the way to do so is to have a steady stream of "CAR" stories (CAR = Challenge, Action, Result) and use these stories to demonstrate your relevance in the new technology. <S> Absolutely avoid buzzwords and buzzphrases like "good communication", "hard worker", "quick study", "teamwork", "leadership", et cetera. <S> As professional writers say SHOW, DON'T TELL Instead of saying "I'm a fast study", say <S> "Our C++ programmer gave two weeks notice, and I stepped in, studied C++ <S> so I was able to maintain her code after she left" Instead of "Good communication", tell a story about how you resolved a conflict, helped others, clarified something, et cetera. <S> Instead of saying "leadership", say something like " <S> Well, our widget-tronic, model 86 broke down and we faced a work stoppage, I instructed 3 coworkers to get our old model 79 out of storage, demonstrated it's usage, and got production back up, and we made our deadline because of it." <S> Well, I started out in COBOL, but my structured technique, meaningful variable names... <S> (more jargon here) easily translate into good programming in C# because.... <S> NOBODY is going to take your word for it, be able to demonstrate your talents and skills
| Become familiar enough with the new technology so that you can show how your skills translate. IMHO, it is not an issue,being on the top of your game in one thing doesn't preclude you from learning something new.
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Should I clock in if computer started updating? I got in early at work today, with approval from my manager, to get a head start on some tasks. I noticed my computer is acting out and decided to restart it. Instead of just restarting it installed an update for a at least 30 minutes. We do not have a policy on such cases and I am trying to figure out if it would be legitimate to enter this into my timesheet as time worked. On one side, this update was forced and unplanned (or at least not communicated). On the other hand there was nothing I could do during that time that would qualify as work. <Q> Of course, you should get paid for this time. <S> You're at work, updating a system that is required for your work. <S> There were probably security updates, for example, that would likely be required by your IT security policies. <S> You weren't just slacking off. <S> Don't worry about it too much unless you are told that you won't be compensated. <A> Your computer is a tool like any other tool. <S> When a tool fails and you await a replacement, if you're still on the clock <S> it's the same for your computer. <S> Additionally imagine the case where your computer required a reboot (crash/power going out...) <S> - to start an update, would you need to clock out, wait for the reboot to end and clock in? <S> If you're still unsure of the correct action to take, discuss it with your manager. <S> If it is decided that this counts as off the clock, get into the habit of powering off/rebooting your computer at the end of the day to perform any Windows update lying in ambush. <A> You were at your work place, you were ready to take instructions from your manager and do the work as you were told, or ready to work on yesterday's instructions. <S> That's when you are paid. <S> If you can't work through no fault of your own, you still get paid. <S> Obviously you would look if there are other things to do during the update. <S> And if you use an operating system that lets you perform updates at a time of your choosing, start updates just before you leave for lunch, or just before you go home, if your company is fine with your computer being turned on unattended. <A> Based on the question, it sounds like your coming in early is a part of the reason you have this question. <S> If so, ask yourself the following questions <S> : If you had gotten in at your usual time, would the same course of events have happened (notice the computer is sluggish, restart it, wait for the update to complete)? <S> Would you have considered the time as time worked in that case? <S> Functionally speaking, by getting in early, weren't you able to do whatever needed to be done earlier than if you got in at your usual time? <S> If all answers are yes, then I would certainly think that you should record the time starting when you got in. <S> That said, I agree that if there's doubt, you should speak to your manager. <A> In addition to the other answers saying "yes, book it", you should also check whether your workplace has a booking code for "being held up by IT issues". <S> IT are supposed to be an enabling service for the company. <S> If something that IT are doing (or are failing to do) is causing employees to be unable to work for some time, your company may have a booking code to track that. <S> Individually, losing half an hour of your time isn't a big deal; but losing half an hour for every employee at Ford, say, would amount to a substantial cost to the company. <S> Having a separate booking code would let the company track this. <S> Most smaller companies don't bother, of course. <S> It's worth asking though. <A> 'Yes' is a reasonable default assumption. <S> If you have reason to suspect that management has an unreasonable stance on this issue, ask them for clarification. <S> If they clarify that they expect to not pay you for time that you gave to them (and got approval for earlier), I would strongly suggest you consider looking for work elsewhere. <S> Your choice to come in early is a non-sequitur - If you'd come in 30 minutes later, it'd still be 30 minutes less work that you do that day, because you'd be hanging out waiting on software to update either way. <S> Coming in early means you got a head start, still, because you got to start doing meaningful stuff that much earlier in the day. <S> You're essentially on the clock for that update regardless - your time is not yours. <S> It's time that your occupation has taken from you. <S> Therefor, as your employer is purchasing your time, if they are not paying you for that time, if they decide they're not going to pay for it, they've decided it's reasonable to rob you of your time sans payment. <S> Any employer that wants to have you in the office for any amount of time, but is not willing to pay you for that time, is an employer you may wish to consider leaving if at all possible. <A> I find all the other answers too shy. <S> This is a really simple binary question. <S> There are only two kinds of time: Work time and private time. <S> Was this private time? <S> Of course it wasn't, it is trivially obvious that it was not. <S> Therefore, it is work time. <S> The proper question to your manager is how , not if, you should book this time. <S> The only gray area regarding the work/private division is commute time, and that is resolved by asking "who is responsible?" - you. <S> Because you and not the company picks where you live, and thus determines the commute time.
| You should just ask your manager what you should do, as how to specifically bill your time will depend on your company policy.
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Should I negotiate the yearly raise? Each year in January my boss, which is also the company owner, calls each employee in and reviews how they've done. He will then give you a cost-of-living adjustment and a raise on top of that. I've only been here about a year so I've only had one of these meetings with my boss. He said I obviously won't be getting a raise yet because I've only been here two months (at the time), but he still wanted to meet with me to see how I like the job so far. Not receiving a raise yet is completely understandable from my perspective so that's not an issue. However my questions is, next year when he hands raises out, should I just accept what he gives me or would it be better to try to negotiate? From what I've seen and heard, it sounds like he just says "your new salary is $XX,XXX." <Q> should I just accept what he gives me or would it be better to try to negotiate? <S> In this case, prior to the meeting with the owner, I would do a good bit or research and <S> see what you are actually worth on the market . <S> There are tons of online free resources to allow you to see what the market will bear for your skills factoring in experience, locale, etc. <S> Once you have this data , see what the owner offers you in terms of an increase, and if it is in line with what your research indicates, your good to go. <S> If not present the owner with the data and ask for a raise that keeps you in line with the market. <A> should I just accept what he gives me or would it be better to try to negotiate? <S> 2 years would be a different story. <S> I'd only worry if the raise was ridiculous or I wasn't getting a raise at all. <A> It is worth negotiating, but at the time he's handing out the raises it is exceedingly likely that the number has already gone through upper management review and/or HR/payroll and is unlikely to be changed. <S> Instead, start discussing with him ahead of time in your one-on-one meetings. <S> (Don't have those? <S> Start them.) <S> You should be discussing your performance more than once a year for sure, and if you believe you deserve a certain amount of raise (hopefully backed up with information like your market worth), you need to seed that into the discussions earlier rather than later if you want them to be taken into account.
| If the offer is fair, then just take it. Negotiating with some bosses leads to issues, and you will only have been there a year and a couple of months.
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Responding to trivial and constant affirmation in a telephonic conference My team and I (supervisor) have to attend a telephonic conference once in a week with another team located in a different country. The agenda is usually sharing updates of each other's work and trying to understand it. There is a third person who supervises these calls and assigns us the next set of work later. Situation One of the team member on the other side always uses the words, 'Ok', 'I See', 'Alright' etc, for every single line of update from every team member. This person is not the supervisor. Problem Whenever these words are used, there are chances that we tend to miss out what the other person is actually updating us about. We expect silence from every other person; an affirmation/review from the supervisor is expected; but not from this person. A few of my team mates have reported this issue to me. How do I politely solve this? Edit Adding an important note here. My team always goes to a conference room for these conference calls. And by default, we mute it while the other team is talking to us. And the other side is the actual client and its team members. I am just wondering if I could really say there is noise on the line and hold their comments until the end. There is always a fear of client getting angry or upset or thinking that I am raising a trivial issue. What do you suggest in this case? Or am I thinking too much? <Q> Since you are a supervisor of one of the teams, you can tell everyone on the call that you can't hear a team member's status update when someone else on the line is talking or there is noise on the line. <S> You could ask that all team members hold their comments and responses until a team member has finished giving their update. <A> How do I politely solve this? <S> This person is just trying to show they are engaged with the call . <S> They don't realize they are causing an issue. <S> I suggest you try something like this: " Ok, from now on, we are going to alter the call a bit. <S> Please keep all comments until the end. " <S> The other approach you could take is to have everyone mute their line until the end of the call as one of the comments suggested. <S> Either of these approachs should achieve the desired results without singling anyone out. <S> If the employees behavior persists then a quick " Hey, please keep all comments until the end . <S> " <S> If after this you still have issues, email the whole team including this individuals manager with the change in terms of how the call will work. <A> I would not agree that making an indirect comment about "Holding comments til the end" or "Please keep the line quiet" are good ways to handle this situation. <S> Both of these indirect comments would also keep someone who has a positive contribution to the call or someone who needs clarification from asking. <S> Certainly that's not the intended result. <S> The person might not make the connection of holding "comments" and their "OK's" and "alright's". <S> After all, they aren't self-aware enough to realize the disruption they are causing on their own. <S> From experience problems are best solved when they directly address the issue. <S> I would wait until it happens on the next call and inject something like: <S> Someone keeps saying "ok" and "alright". <S> It clogs up the line <S> and I can't understand the conversation. <S> Can we please stop that? <S> Thanks. <A> As someone who does this in real life (I don't do it on the phone as much <S> but I still do sometimes), the idea is the difference between "active listening" and "passive listening". <S> If I am "active listening", which you should be if you are listening to something important like an update, I just do this reflexively. <S> Speaking personally, what I would respond to is a reminder to keep the line clear of noise (not a direct one, <S> that's embarassing, but a general "please keep the line quiet"). <S> I think part of the issue is that part of the practice of active listening is that the speaker receives recognition that what they are saying has been heard. <S> Saying (as a team leader) that this recognition is not necessary would be a good first step. <S> The other team's member is trying to be respectful, but he's just going a bit overboard, just tell him to pull it back a bit <S> and it should be fine :) <A> If avoidable and not required / appropriate in the moment, you shouldn't reprimand / <S> embarrass someone during a conference call, especially if that person is not under your supervision. <S> Contact <S> that persons supervisor privately and explain the problems of losing details due to this behavior. <S> I wager that'll be the end of it. <S> If not, contact the call supervisor.
| You could go as far as having everyone mute their lines until a person has finished.
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Could working facing a wall be harmful to my eyes? My co-workers told me that it is harmful for my eyes' health to work facing a wall (the distance between my eyes and the wall is the width of the desk). I was given a brief explanation but I'm not totally convinced. It involved the fact that my eyes can't look around at a distance since I'm limited to the width of the desk. My work involves starring at computer screens (reading, coding, etc) almost constantly. Question: I'm comfortable with working facing a wall. Anyway I do care about my health. So, are there any objective medical/health reasons why working facing a wall might damage my vision? <Q> When I started working in computing (early 90s), this was standard advice, do not face your computer at a wall so you could constantly focus on other distances, as this is what your eyes are designed to do. <S> BUT I just checked <S> and I can not find a single mention of it in any of the health and safety articles I read. <S> Just the rules to look away every 30 mins (which is far to long for me). <S> I do not know if this was dropped because so many offices can not sensibly be laid out any other way, or new research has shown it to be defunct. <A> As WendyG mentioned, the eye has to focus on other distances (not just 1 distance). <S> This is actually one of the eye exercises, to repeatedly focus on a close object then a far away object in a very quick manner. <S> Other than this, the eyes have a "normal" resting focus, it is different for each person but the average is 58-67cm. <S> See this research paper: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeremy_Wolfe/publication/19577567_Adaptation_of_the_resting_states_of_accommodation._Dark_and_light_field_measures/links/0deec517af8dbd974c000000.pdf <S> Taken from: https://www.quora.com/What-distance-does-the-human-eye-focus-on-during-sleep <S> Otherwise as others suggested, simply ask for a replacement desk or one next to a window. <A> There are more aspects of an ergonomic work place than facing a wall or a window. <S> To sum up a few concerning your vision: Your displays should be anti-reflective. <S> The brightness of your displays should be adaptable to the brightness of the room (or vice versa) to avoid stress by high contrasts. <S> You actually should avoid having window directly in front of you or in your back. <S> If you do, there must be a shade or other means to block the sun installed. <S> You should have the possibility to look at distant objects every one in a while. <S> You don't have to sit facing a window for that, turning sideways to look out a windows is enough. <S> The recommendations have changed over the last years, so your colleagues might recall some outdated rules.
| Your desk should be positioned perpendicular to light sources to avoid reflections on your displays, keyboard and desktop. If you were up against a wall, you can still "look" or focus at 50 cm, and 1 metre, by relaxing the eye and getting it to look at something imaginary behind the wall (I do this easily, I'm not sure if everyone can, try it out). For more information, search for "ergonomic screen workplace".
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I accidentally did my colleague's work better than he did. Should I say anything about it? My colleague and I both work for a small startup. We have been both allocated different sections of the product to work on, with different areas of expertise. We both have the same boss (the company owner). Last week he was tasked with creating some code for me to use. While I was waiting for him to deliver me his part for integration into my code, I generated some stand-in code to use in the meantime so I could continue with my work. I didn't write the code. It was generated using a MATLAB tool, and I just inserted the parameters. When he sent through his final code, I saw that my MATLAB-generated code was vastly superior. He also used MATLAB to generate his results, but he used a different tool with different parameters. I was under the impression that he would generate these results 'by hand' instead of using the MATLAB generator. I just used the generator as a quick fix while I waited for him to be done. I don't really know what to do. I didn't intend to do his work for him, and I didn't really (I wouldn't be able to do this by hand in any case!). I don't want him to feel like I'm stepping on his toes. Yet at the same time there is a vast improvement in results between mine and his (that is quantifiable). I also don't want to use inferior code when I know that a better performing one is available. I want to clear this up and talk to someone about it, but I don't know how to approach the topic without coming across as a bad team player, or trying to sabotage my colleague's work, or anything like that. How do I talk to him about it? Or do I bring it up with our boss? <Q> I recommend bringing this up with your colleague, not your boss. <S> When you talk to your colleague explain the situation: you used code as a quick fix <S> and it's giving different results than your colleagues code. <S> Ask him about this difference. <S> You would like to double check with him if you're missing something. <S> Assuming your colleague is a team player, he will observe the same results as you and he'll either tell you where this difference is coming from and why his code is better, or he'll tell you you are right <S> and you get to use your code. <S> In both situations your goal to get the best solution possible will be reached and you and/or him learned something new. <A> Or do I bring it up with our boss? <S> No, I would not recommend that. <S> It is a small issue, really. <S> How do I talk to him about it? <S> Just the facts. <S> You did a comparison between your code and his code, and you are choosing the better solution between the two. <S> Assuming your colleague is understanding and does not make a big fuss out of it, then there is no problem. <S> Unless your colleague is known to have bad temper, do not assume the problem until you have one. <S> Could you have done better? <S> I'd say yes. <S> You could have shared your "temporary fix" with your colleague. <S> That way, he knows the goal: his work has to be better than yours. <S> I didn't intend to do his work for him. <S> You didn't. <S> You just accidentally discovered a better solution to a problem. <S> That is common, especially in research-related areas. <S> After all, we say K eep <S> I t <S> S imple S tupid. <S> Lessons learned: You have discovered that in certain scenarios, the "quick & dirty" way (in this case, generating results in Matlab) is a better solution. <S> Spending extra time and effort does not necessarily yield a better result. <S> You can share temporarily fixes with others when they begin working on a better solution, which gives them a frame of reference about how their work quality. <A> I don't agree that you in any way at fault for not communicating about your stub implementation. <S> Making stubs are standard practice. <S> "I've noticed that your implementation and the one I was using as a temporary measure has similarities. <S> Could we take a half hour and check them both out?" <S> Assuming your co-worker agrees to that, you can have with you your quantification, but present it informally, not as a hammer. <S> All too often, yours MAY be better, but the alternative may have some better pieces, and the best solution winds up combining the best of two solutions. <S> Talking it out not only helps approach better solutions, but it simultaneously helps form/define working relationships. <S> If he will speak about it, you're on a good path. <S> If he won't, then you have useful knowledge there too... <S> If there is no meeting in the middle, check in your code over his. <S> Your burden for proof is no higher than his, and if your solution is superior, it's better for the company. <S> Just before you do that, speak with management about your plan to do so, but that you aren't looking for them to step in, just to back your play. <S> If management disagrees, then adopting the inferior implementation is on them, not you. <S> Good co-workers, be they implementors or managers, will always recognize and value better work through open communication. <S> Poor ones, well, won't, and there's no changing them. <A> I would frame it as a learning experience: <S> "This looks better to me, but I'd like to know why it isn't", and have him defend his code. <S> If he can't, then you can have his blessing for not using his work without bad feelings, and he may have learned some new techniques for the future, and if he can, then you've learned that your initial gut reaction to which code is better might need to be recalibrated some. <A> How do I talk to him about it? <S> -- <S> Hey Jim, I generated an implementation of X which seems to work faster (produce more precise results, etc, whatever you mean by "superior") than yours. <S> Do you want to see it? <S> Then your colleague can improve their implementation based on your input, or decide to scratch their implementation and go on with yours. <S> Or perhaps they will not want to see your version at all. <S> Whatever the outcome, I suggest you keep the implementation your colleague decides to go with in the final product. <S> They were tasked to do it and are responsible for it. <S> If a bug is later discovered in the implementation you provided on your own, you will be the only one to blame.
| I might show my colleague the situation and explain to him what you did. Do your best, every time, and the best people will stick with you. I would refrain from asserting beforehand that you think your work is better, because that might make him defensive. Even though you think your code is superior, it might be you're missing out on some specific details, or there are situations you didn't think about (bigger picture). You've done nothing wrong.
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Dealing with HR harassing My daughter works in Georgia, USA at a small company and is having some problems with the only HR person at her workplace. Apparently, this is how things have went down: daughter applied for a job HR person social media checked daughter and discovered she was dating the HR person's ex-boyfriend HR person goes around blocked phone numbers to contact ex-boyfriend to see if he would have a problem with interviewing/hiring daughter Daughter interviews and takes the job (I was unaware of 2 and 3 or I would have advised against taking job) The HR person is not her boss, but still has authority over her. So, she's only been on the job now for a few weeks and has already had multiple write ups which lacked factual validity; this is not her first job and she's never had problems like this in past jobs. She's getting written up for things that were never told her and others are not doing these things without getting written up. She's also been called to come in just to be told that HR would like her to work the next day (obviously something that could be a phone call). Additionally, the HR person is making up lies about her unfriendliness per coworkers; she's on friendly enough terms and have talked to coworkers and they are shocked about this accusation. She's getting very stressed out about this situation and it is starting to affect her relationship with her boyfriend. The fact the HR person was blocked from ex-boyfriend, and then went around the block to contact him, and now is giving his girlfriend (my daughter) a hard time tells me that the HR person is being spiteful and trying to hurt my daughter and her boyfriend. My advise has been to document everything and talk to her boss (company owner) as I feel the HR person is targeting her. Is this good advice and what other advice could I give? Edit 20181004: Update, she ended up talking to her boss who did believe her and talked to the HR person on better coaching/staff practices. It was better for a few days, but went back to the way it was. She ended up leaving shortly there after to work someplace else. <Q> My advise has been to document everything and talk to her boss <S> (company owner) as I feel the HR person is targeting her. <S> In this situation I doubt it will change a thing. <S> She is going to start a <S> she said she said thing that will most likely only result in more harassment. <S> Even if this incident is resolved, most likely the HR person won't be fired and they will still have an axe to grind. <S> Is this good advice and <S> what other advice could I give? <S> The owner of the company is not likely to take the word of a new employee over the HR person who has been there for awhile. <S> Sadly <S> her best bet is to move on as soon as she finds another job. <S> I would also suggest serving the notice period too. <A> Harassment is harassment, no matter who is doing it to whom. <S> Your daughter can fight her way through it with the right evidence and testimonials, but I'm afraid the work environment will suffer. <S> It takes always two to fight, so her reputation might suffer just as much as that of the HR person. <S> If she's already stressed after a few weeks, she might not have it in her to win this fight, keep her job and be happy with it . <S> The harassment will most likely not end as long as both of them work for the same company, only be tuned down to levels that no longer warrant official complains. <S> In the end, it comes down to "either you or me, but there is not enough space for both of us", so <S> I suggest she start looking for another job now. <S> She should not accept unwarranted complains, lies and write ups, as these might influence her boss and consequently her recommendations and background checks. <A> Could be the boss, could be some long time employee in a trusted position. <S> Many people would be very unhappy with the HR person's behaviour and would be willing to act. <S> What would that person say to her? <S> If it was me, I would ask the person quite hypothetically what would be her professional opinion what should be done if a person in HR harasses an employee who is dating the HR person's ex-boyfriend. <S> As a HR person the only thing she can say that such a person would have to be stopped from harassing others. <S> And then I could say that if it happened in this company, quite hypothetically, and there was evidence about it, there would be trouble. <S> Most people in most companies don't like harassment at all. <S> Harassment performed by HR is totally unacceptable, so with the right help there's a good chance your daughter will succeed. <S> Someone in HR can be fired like everyone else, and in a situation like this it can happen quite easily.
| Since the usual place to go to (HR) isn't available, I think she should go to someone in the company who is senior enough to talk to HR.
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If my business hours start at 9:30, at what time should the office be open for staff? Over the last few weeks, our manager (who has the only keys to the office) has been arriving to work for 9:25 when our business hours start at 9:30. She hasn't been late every day but it has been a few times. On these occasions, the staff who have been on time have been stood in the rain waiting for the manager to show up and open the office. Most of the staff can only arrive in 30-minute intervals due to public transport and so can either get to work 20 minutes early or 10 minutes late every day, and there is nowhere nearby to stand and shelter from the weather. What is the best course of action here? And how long before working hours start should the office be open? Edit: Thank you for your replies. To answer some of the replies from you guys: I am not the manager, I am a lowly employee! The owner of the company is in for about 1 hour of the year and it is a running conversation that he doesn't care for the company too much. He leaves the running of the business to the manager. The manager drives to work and so doesn't have to deal with the public transport. They also live in roughly the same area as a few of the staff who take the same roads and so we are aware when the traffic is bad. Neither the manager or the owner wants another keyholder. Also, I assume that the owner also has a key as well as the manager, but as stated, he's never in. The staff do have coats and umbrellas! Not enough when the weather is horrendous. It doesn't take long for staff to be ready. About 5 mins - turn on computers and make a brew. While I appreciate that the manager wouldn't need to be at work until 5 minutes before we start for this reason, surely its better to come in 20 minutes earlier and have happy, dry staff! Thanks all! <Q> Ask your manager if someone else who wants to start earlier can be a key-holder. <S> This might not be possible <S> (Manager might want to be the only key-holder, might be building regulations, etc.), but at least asking is a tactful way of reminding the manager that people want to get set up in less than 5 minutes at the start of the day. <S> See where that conversation leads to. <A> What is the best course of action here? <S> Have more than one person carry keys to the office door. <S> Perhaps an Assistant Manager. <S> And how long before working hours start should the office be open? <S> It depends on the nature of the business, but for many retail operations 30 minutes sounds like a reasonable time. <S> When I worked in retail, we opened the doors about 30 minutes early so that we could punch in, get the place cleaned up, get the cash register ready, etc. <S> But all of this is completely up to the owner (or the Manager, if that responsibility has been delegated). <S> If they choose not to open the door earlier, it might make sense to find a nearby open shop that will let you inside for a few minutes when the weather is bad. <A> To be fair that is completely made up amount of time, but in all businesses I run if the business opens at 9:30 <S> then I expect the staff to be ready to go 100% at 9:30. <S> This means they need some time to prepare. <S> 30 mins. <S> has always served me well. <S> Some people take longer than others, others want to "unwind". <S> For example, I always liked to get to work 20 mins early so I could get a drink, unwind <S> , say good morning, and be ready to go at 9:30. <A> I'm posting David K's comment as an answer. <S> If the manager has flexible hours (read: time of arrival), if he won't give you an official opening time for the office and also won't allow another key (holder), <S> then ask if arriving 10 minutes late <S> is okay considering all the public transport trouble that most of the staff is facing. <S> Beware <S> that 9:25 might be a decent opening time and that the staff might be asked to be up and ready at that specific time, no matter how early they actually arrive.
| Without knowing the specifics of the business, I would suggest the door opener get there at least 30 mins early.
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Got deleted from spreadsheet for a company run. Should I act on it? A lot of companies are participating in a 5 km run every year. I signed up I a google spreadsheet. The deadline to signing up was yesterday, the teams were announced and I am not in any of the teams. I look at the spreadsheet, and I am not there. I go through the document history (maybe I am crazy and I didn't sign up) - but I was deleted about a week ago. The deletion is from an official company user. (which a lot of the edits in the documents were).which means one of the organizers probably did it. We are a fairly small company (around 40 people) and I wonder why this happened. The question is, should I act on this? I am pretty upset, because nearly the whole company is going and having a good time. A colleague offered me one of his spots (he has 2, because he wants to take the run 2 times). I politely refused because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it - now I don't really feel like going. I could send out an email to the company politely addressing the issue (or using a slack channel). But I am afraid to igniting something up. I really want to know if someone did this on purpose, but I can't see a way to that in a polite way. Is there a good way to bring this up and find out if someone did this intentionally? <Q> Don't read too much into this. <S> If I had a nickel for every time someone accidentally deleted critical data ... <S> The first mistake was in allowing anonymous users to edit the sheet directly, but here you are. <S> Bring this up to the organizer. <S> Let them know right away. <S> I bet that they can fix it. <S> Also, accept that other person's second registration. <S> Everyone around you is trying to make this right. <S> Don't become the problem, here. <A> You're making a lot of assumptions here <S> and it sounds like people are trying to get it right for you. <S> Chances are the person editing the spreadsheet had two open and when you added your name to the last of the list, it got deleted when he saved the older one. <S> Just because your name was deleted, that doesn't mean it was a purposeful action. <S> "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." <S> - Hanlon's razor <A> I would bring this up with the person who is organizing the event: "I signed up for this, but somehow my name got erased, can I be added to the event, look here's the document history to show you that I'm not lying" and see what they say. <S> It's possible that in a (seemingly) extraordinary and unlikely situation as this, that they would probably be able to do something for you. <A> Odds are they had a few windows open, and didn't realize their cursor was in another one when they hit the key combination that removed the row. <S> Even in the face of malicious actions, it is a better approach to assume that mistakes are being made. <S> It's ok to point out a resolution to a mistake if you don't care where or when the mistake was made; <S> but, if you care about the origins of the mistakes, the kind of interpersonal conflict that creates becomes something you started (and that's bad).
| Someone made a mistake and didn't realize it. Don't get all into why it happened, just assume it was a mistake, and ask the person in charge to add you back because someone must have accidentally removed you when they updated their entry.
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Is it a problem that I am never considered for new opportunities at work? I have worked for a private firm for the last 9 months. I find myself facing the below problems everyday: My ex-manager who resigned recently, did not convey a good image of me to the Executive Team. There are two developers in our team and my manager always supported the other developer for everything. She never respected/appreciated me for any of my work, rather she always complained and yelled at me in front of others. When she left the company, she did not give any positive opinion about me to the Executive Management. So I feel I am not being considered for any team tasks or I am being considered as 'Not-so-potential' candidate by the Management team. The Executive team is hiring 2 new people for our team and they wantthe Other developer to do knowledge transfer to the new people whilethat other developer is so busy and going out for 1 month vacation.The Executive Team never considered me to interview newcandidates/train them but they reached out to other team heads to doso. This is bothering me as why I am not being considered foranything. Since we are working on multiple projects, I am never offered any complex projects rather given with very simple ones. They still feel I am not experienced to handle projects with compressed deadlines even though I proved them my ability in many aspects Question: Do these actions symbolize something? Or should I infersomething from all these happenings? Should I consider that theExecutive Team is going against me based on my ex-manager's viewpoint? Because they are hiring 2 new people even through they need only 1 person to support the team, will it have any effect on my role? I'm confused. Any help? <Q> At this point your only real option is to talk to members of the executive team and ask them . <S> Have your questions straight in your mind, and request a meeting with them to discuss. <S> Based on what the executives do or <S> don't say you can then at least attempt to plan your next course of action. <S> ( Basically decide if you're going to stay or move on ) <S> Good luck. <A> Do these actions symbolize something? <S> Or should I infer something from all these happenings? <S> Should I consider that the Executive Team is going against me based on my ex-manager's viewpoint? <S> Certainly not being considered for important tasks is a bad sign. <S> But why they are doing it is something only you are in a position to know. <S> Or it could be that the Executive Team knows you well enough and just doesn't think you are capable. <S> Because they are hiring 2 new people even through they need only 1 person to support the team, will it have any effect on my role? <S> Again, only you are in a position to make an educated guess. <S> It could be that the Executive Team thinks it takes more than one person to support the team now. <S> Or it could be that you will be canned and replaced by one of the newbies. <S> Time will tell. <A> First of all, yelling at an employee under ones supervision is unprofessional and unacceptable behavior, bordering on bullying (especially if done in front of colleagues. <S> You should have voiced your concerns against this to your manager, HR and the executive team (lesson for the future). <S> I go out on a limb here and say you didn't provoke those incidents by refusing to follow instructions or guidelines. <S> However, even if she had valid critique points regarding your work or behavior, yelling is not a professional reaction, unless to prevent an immediate incident or accident with damage to property or cause of bodily harm. <S> Regarding your questions: <S> It shows that your superiors may regard you as an employee lacking abilities in communication / social interaction and / or professional expertise. <S> If you show no considerable improvement in those fields, you might be let go sooner or later. <S> If the new hires mean your total team size will be extended, it can signal more work is coming in or that indeed they may plan on replacing you. <S> Assert yourself, become more proactive and communicate with the executive team about your concerns. <S> You may mention a few examples of your ex-managers behavior and why you think they now may perceive you to be less capable than you are but emphasize / guide their focus towards your willingness to prove otherwise. <S> It might be too late <S> but it's certainly better than keeping your head down / sticking with business as usual.
| It could be that your ex-manager badmouthed you, and the Executive Team is reacting solely to that.
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Will I look bad if I apply for the same job twice? I have sent a cover letter and CV to this job, do you think they will notice if I apply on the site as well? <Q> I have sent a cover letter and CV to this job, do you think they will notice if I apply on the site as well? <S> Yes, I do think they will notice. <S> As a hiring manager, I got all cover letters and CVs from applicants who were qualified. <S> And I also got forwarded all online applications. <S> I always notice when I got the same applicant more than once. <S> Now, you may actually be asking "Will it help if I apply both via paper and via online?" <S> The answer to that is almost certainly No. <S> Applying through multiple channels is very unlikely to give you any advantage. <S> And you may actually be asking "Will the employer dislike if I apply via paper and online? <S> " <S> It annoyed me whenever I got multiple applications from the same applicant - without regard to the channel in which they were received. <S> I tried hard not to let that annoyance color my scrutiny of the application, but I'd be lying if I said I could avoid it completely. <S> Apply through one channel. <S> That should be enough. <A> My guess is no, as one of HR's usual processes is to weed out the obvious stuff such as unqualified candidates, ineligible candidates, and duplicate submissions. <S> There would be a problem if you submitted for this position individually and a recruiting agency submitted on your behalf, as employers do not like to get into disagreements with recruiters over whether the employer owes a referral fee or not. <S> Good luck. <A> do you think they will notice if I apply on the site as well? <S> I don't think that this will directly harm you or make you look "bad"; if they find you are good candidate they will contact you regardless of the means you applied by. <S> Just, be careful not to cross the thin like and start spamming them in all the possible ways to apply. <S> Applying in just one way should be sufficient. <S> If you have no good reasons for applying in both then I'd suggest you stick to one. <A> I'm involved in this sort of thing (pre-screening and third level interviews) and with us you MUST ALSO apply online. <S> Even if you hand your CV to me, even if I scan it into the system, even if I like you and strongly think you should make it to the next stage, without whatever the online system does there's NO GO. <S> We've got little cards we hand out detailing this <S> but I also stress it face to face. <S> So imho <S> at worst it won't hurt, at best you really should.
| Most likely they will, if their recruiting and screening process are adequate. The answer to that is Maybe.
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Talking to colleague I am close to regarding their performance issues I have recently become my colleague's Team Lead. Within a week of being in the post, I have been asked to address some issues (performance) that were found with her work. The colleague and I are very close. While I have no issues addressing the matter, which have been confirmed, I wonder how I might delicately broach the matter, within the next week, and preserve the friendship/professional relationship/superior/subordinate. I am very professional but one can never foresee how someone might reacts to concerns or corrections. <Q> Clearly identify the performance issues. <S> Identify performance goals. <S> Talk with them about how to to get to the performance goals. <A> I am very professional but one can never foresee how someone might reacts to concerns or corrections. <S> If you are professional then you don't need to worry. <S> Your evaluation and talk with this person will be strictly professional ; it does not have anything to do with the fact that you are close to each other. <S> Also, this person has no reason to take this personally, as it is simply a matter of performance and job-related situations. <A> Begin in a friendly manner and outline what the person is doingright. <S> Don't put these in terms of "issues", but as "areas of focus" Hi Jane. <S> I wanted to go over a few things with you. <S> First, I just wanted to thank you for all the work you've done on the widget project. <S> Great work!!! <S> Also, in my new position as lead, I have been asked to make a few adjustments. <S> Management would like to see a higher throughput of wazzits, and I'm going to need your help. <S> We need to increase your throughput of wazzits to meet our goals. <S> The most important thing to remember is. <S> ADDRESS <S> THE ISSUE, NOT THE PERSON <S> Remember, in addressing the issues, you are helping your colleague preserve her job. <S> This doesn't have to be adversarial. <S> You can include phrases like. <S> Let me know what I can do to help you meet these targets. <S> or something similar. <S> You want to present this as an opportunity, not as disciplinary action. <A> Focus on the issues, and point out what they're doing wrong or can improve upon. <S> Rather than saying things like Your really bad at coding , say something more along the lines of you tend to write code that has O(n) <S> run time when a O(Log(n)) solution exists, let me give you the following example (go through an example). <S> Provide examples, and show situations where they didn't perform well and then demonstrate what could have been done instead and offer suggestions. <S> Don't make statements that point to performance problems, rather demonstrate them with examples. <S> This way they'll understand what they need to improve upon and have a clear and laid out plan of how to do so. <A> The answers that tell you to be completely objective and professional, because that is how you are supposed to perform your job, are spot-on. <S> However, I can't help but feel that the personal aspect is being skirted a bit. <S> If you do your part correctly, if the other person is completely professional, it should go smoothly, perhaps, but when talking about someone's job, their career, and their ability to earn a living in a way that is not positive, people often take that emotionally and personally, even if, objectively, they shouldn't. <S> One reason is because we're human. <S> Another reason might be that, if you're dealing with someone who has professionalism or performance issues, that is sometimes a result of them not being as objectively professional in their jobs as they could be. <S> I only mention this because I don't want you to see answers that say "you do your part, and it will be fine," and then you get blind-sided if it doesn't go well. <S> How does that change your preparation? <S> It doesn't. <S> You being professional insulates you from adverse results about as well as you can be insulated. <S> The degree to which your friend might not be able to separate that friendship from professional duties, or recognize that your new role requires you to do this, is something that you can't really control. <S> In that regard, it does you no good to try and manage something outside of your control (their reaction), beyond doing the best you can with the part that you can control. <A> This is tough because you value your friendship so you need to address your friend, " <S> As Lead , I have been requested to address your performance ". <S> This puts any percieved negativty both on your boss's request and on your position , and hopefully not you personally. <S> Just be clear when you bring it up that it is your job requesting something of your friend's job . <S> As others have answered, it may be best to keep to the facts and in writing. <S> Keep the duration of that conversation within those professional boundaries. <S> Ask her how she would handle things in your position. <S> Since you didn't specify the kind of personality your friend has or your prediction of her demeaner during this conversation, I stongly recommend considering where she fits in DISC <S> personality chart: <S> DISC Behavior Types <S> It can show how people tend to behave and prefer to interact with others and the world around them both at thier best performance and under duress. <S> It might help to approach her within that framework and how to address behavior issues during a difficult conversation. <S> Will she argue the facts? <S> Is she results focused? <S> Overly emotional and caring deeply of other's feelings? <S> Knowing what she prefers going in will help, but, again, keep the conversation in a professional context.
| As far as approaching them just tell them there are performance issues that need to be corrected. A friend should understand you have a job to perform. Put it in writing. As long as you keep it polite and avoid putting emotions to it everything should run smoothly. Perhaps a good way to go about this is to try and get her to come up with solutions.
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Manager who won't put information in writing: does this happen outside academia? For the last 23 years I've been working at a community college in California, and several times I've encountered a certain situation with managers. I'm curious whether this dynamic is one that plays out only in academia, or whether it has an analog in the private sector. Except for a one-year stint at a factory job, my whole working life has been spent in academia, so I lack perspective on whether this is a uniquely academic style of dysfunction. The situation typically involves a manager who is not at the top of the org chart or at the bottom. These folks may habitually, or in certain situations, ignore attempts at communication through memos or email, apparently because they believe that if they say something in writing, it can be held against them. An example from a long time ago is the following. I was chairing a faculty committee on academic misconduct, basically trying to figure out how to handle cases where students cheat on exams -- we don't want to crucify a student who cheated once, but if the student is doing it repeatedly, we don't want it to slip through the cracks. There was one manager on the committee in addition to the faculty. We write up a report with some recommendations, and we all vote to approve the report, including the manager. Now I'm getting ready to present the report to the faculty senate. My item is on the senate's agenda. A few days before the senate's meeting, I get a very brief email from the manager saying that he has "concerns," but not stating what the concerns are. I email him back, CC'ing the whole committee, asking him to say what his concerns are. Silence. Email him again. Hey, mister manager, can you state what your concerns are? Silence. The aftermath was messy, but the basic problem was that the manager was not willing to state his concerns in an email. Similar situations have come up a few times in my experience. Recently, in a particular case, a lower-level manager (my boss) told me that his boss would never say anything substantive in an email, because anything in writing could be held against him. For example, when his boss wanted to meet with him about something, he would always just send an email saying, "Come meet with me Wednesday at 3 pm," without any indication of what it was about. Some of these situations involve potential controversy or liability. Some of them involve issues of academic freedom, which wouldn't really have any direct analog outside of academia. E.g., recently I sent out an email in response to a controversial academic talk. The talk, IMO, contained historical distortions and elementary errors in the use of statistics. A few days later, I got one of these summonses to a meeting, with the purpose of the meeting being unspecified. The manager (my boss's boss) who issued the summons didn't state what the meeting was about, so I had to kind of guess that it was because of this controversy. When I asked through email what the meeting was about, I encountered silence. Can anyone give me perspective on this? Is this a generic behavior of bad managers, or would this only happen in academia? <Q> In fact, nothing is in writing unless it specifically has to be in writing. <S> There's a saying in such jobs: "if it isn't in writing it didn't happen". <A> Is this a generic behavior of bad managers, or would this only happen in academia? <S> It can happen anywhere at any level. <S> It's not necessarily confined to 'bad' managers, because there can be an ongoing backlash to anything in writing. <A> There are cases where you will have to think "I want to say X, but X could possibly be used against my company in court. <S> For example, you might say to a colleague that a certain customer is an a*****e. <S> If you wrote that in an email, and the customer for some reason took a complaint against your company to court, that email could serve as evidence that your company intentionally mistreated the customer. <S> So you don't write it in an email. <S> Or if you think you might have found a severe problem in a company's product, sending that in an email could have very bad consequences for the company (including when the severe problem actually didn't exist or was harmless). <S> For things that protect the company, this is normal and wise. <S> If it is about covering <S> your * <S> ** <S> then it is not normal, and sending multiple requests with no answer can show that someone isn't doing his job.
| It is very common in the government.
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Can a job title be changed without the employee being informed about it? In a casual conversation, my colleague told me that she was upset that her job title was changed without her knowing about it. Apparently in a meeting in which she wasn't in, her boss had informed her co-workers about her new title. She received no formal notice about it either and it is no way a promotion. Perhaps some might even consider her new title to be a step down from her previous one. She certainly thinks so. I felt that this is not right. Is such a thing legal? Can she do something about it even though she doesn't seem to want to so as to avoid stirring up trouble? <Q> The short answer here is yes , a company can change the title of an employee unless you have an employment contract or are part of a union. <S> Even in these cases sometimes the company can change titles anyway. <S> The only thing she can do is ask for an explanation from her manager . <S> As long as she didn't take a pay cut , I would advise her to not worry about it too much. <S> (you work for cash not a title) <S> The other thing she could try is talking to HR, but this has its own risks, and I don't think this situation warrants shining the HR spotlight on her. <S> YMMV <A> I guess it depends on what the title change is. <S> Evidently it's serious enough to upset her. <S> Going from being a Senior Software Developer to now only being a Software Developer , for example, has serious implications on one's CV. <S> I can only speculate with abstract examples now because her precise title was not mentioned. <S> When she next starts interviewing for employment, employers will see her as having less experience than she actually does. <S> And they may even interpret it as a demotion. <A> If the title is in the contract (which can be the case), then it would be weird for it to change without somebody's knowledge or consent.
| If the title is not in the contract, then yes I would expect it to be totally at the whim of whoever gets to make decisions at a given point in time.
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Should I agree to accept any further addition of rules to the company policy? I have been a senior software engineer in an Indian based company and owners of the company are an Indian as well for the last two years. Recently all employees were given an agreement to sign. Below is an excerpt: In reference to the ongoing business dynamics, we have incorporated a few amendments in the employee handbook and incidental rules and regulations of the establishment. Being a part of establishment, you are requested to kindly study the same in depth. Should you agree the amendments, kindly sign this copy in the duplicate and share as a token of acceptance. I hereby agree and accept the above-referred changes, totally and unconditionally. I undertake and agree to work on the prevalent terms and conditions and be abided by the rules and regulations in force and which may be added / or amended from time to time. I have understood the same in the language known to me. One of the points in the handbook is to prevent an employee from looking for a new job while the employee is still actively employed by the company. That means an employee must not appear on job sites such as Naukri or TimesJobs. My concern is: why is the company now requiring this agreement, even though all employees were already following the rules and regulations properly? Also, can I decline to accept any rule in the handbook? If yes, how can I politely refuse to sign the agreement? <Q> If yes, how can I deny to sign the letter politely? <S> My experience with issues like this is to ignore/forget/lose them as long as possible while I watch what the other staff do. <S> Sometimes there is wholesale rejection and it's withdrawn, sometimes someone gets terminated, sometimes it just goes away. <S> But the longer you can hold out, the more chance you have of seeing what the consequences of not signing are. <S> This gives you both time and information, both of which may be very helpful. <A> No, you should not sign. <S> Send back a revised contract in which you mark your changes or ask them to change the contract as follows: remove "and which may be added / or amended from time to time" and replace with "at the time of signing this contract." <S> Should they insist that they want / need to amend their rules ask to include something along the lines of: "Amendments or changes to the employee handbook and incidental rules and regulations of the establishment shall be attached to this contract as amendments after signed by both parties. <S> I recommend to seek legal advice if possible. <S> If the handbook and rules and regulations are not part of the contract (which they usually aren't) <S> they are either a separate contractual document or automatically enforced by the company and anyone must abide by them, nonetheless. <S> Legality and common practice regarding this differs between countries and should be evaluated by legal counsel. <A> If the condition is to where they have too much control over your personal life, discuss it with some coworkers and see if they are agreeing to it without thinking again, or if they aren't too sure. <S> If a few people are simply not going to sign it, then so be it and see what happens. <S> I think your best bet is to wait and see both the consequences of not signing it and the consequences for disobeying rules in the handbook.
| Whether or not you are willing to sign it should depend on future consequences and not an immediate impulsive reaction of "yes" or "no."
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How do I stop IT Recruiters from sending SPAM? I have received thousands of emails from IT recruiters asking me to hire their clients. I have asked them repeatedly to Cease and Desist and yet they keep up the spamming. One IT firm sent me over 1300 emails in one day. What else can I do to make the company stop? Editing in detail to the OP added to their question in an answer Some of the spamming IT recruiters change their ISP addresses and they start all over again. Actually, it is an old Juno account. I have relatives that use Juno as their ISP. Why I don't know. <Q> What else can I do to make the company stop? <S> Mark those mails as SPAM , usually Gmail will then start to recognize such emails and start filtering them. <S> More info on Gmail spam handling here <A> If so, call them and send a letter to the address stated on their website / their business entries in things like official corporate registries. <S> If this won't help or instead of getting in touch on your own, have a lawyer send an appropriate letter and contact authorities if spamming is illegal in their jurisdiction if they continue their activities. <S> If they're not legitimate ignore their spam, don't reply (!) and set up your email client / ISP to filter them out <A> If it is a legitimate IT firm, opt out. <S> Legitimate IT firms won't push back with more spam; even if they don't have good reputations, they don't sink to the level of spamming after opting out. <S> If it is a scammer posing as an IT firm, use Google's "this is spam" button. <S> Don't use it for legitimate IT firms, because they are maintaining mailing lists going to other clients besides you, and your actions might cause a whole list block. <S> If you aren't using Google and it is not a legitimate company, set up a mail action to mark the message as read and then delete it, using the source email address as the trigger. <S> While this doesn't fix the issue, it does lessen the impact. <S> True fixes to the issue require a lot of work if the company doesn't maintain or honor a removal process. <S> The kind of work that involves lawyers and spending your money. <S> If you want to go that route, look to a lawyer, telling the lawyer you want to cause them the most legal expense while minimizing your legal expense.
| If I am not mistaken, you can even indicate that certain account or sender is SPAMming you, and mark them as such to filter those mails. Find out if they're a legitimate business.
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Prior School Experience with Interviewee who was a Pothead At work I heard a rumor of a new candidate applying for a few positions at the company. I learned that this new person is someone I attended University; with lets call him Tom. While we did not become friends we did have several classes together and completed several group projects as a team. Tom is smart and worked hard but his personal life seemed to completely revolve around smoking pot (which is legal in the state I live in). Now the company does do a drug test upon hiring and doesn't allow employees to smoke weed for any reason. My first question is should I put a good word in for him with my boss? My second question is should I tell them about Tom's questionable conduct during our time in college together? <Q> I would strongly discourage from doing either. <S> First of all: Are you sure it is "Tom"? <S> Even if it really is him: Don't do either of these two things. <S> Plus you don't know what light it might shed on you when you do such things. <S> What if it is unwelcomed by your boss? <S> Do also, under no circumstances, talk to anybody about Tom's past. <S> You would leave the impression of bad-mouthing or even slandering him (plus you run the risk of being sued for slander by Tom if he figures out that you told these stories about him). <S> The company has a drug test in place for exactly this purpose: Making sure they don't hire anybody who is currently doing drugs. <S> That test will reveal what the company needs to know. <A> My first question is should I put a good word in for him with my boss? <S> Best bet is to say nothing - you're reacting to a rumour. <S> If it does come up, keep it neutral - you shared a handful of classes, and that's all. <S> My second question is should I tell them about Tom's questionable conduct during our time in college together? <S> No. <S> For one, as you say, it wasn't illegal for him to be doing whatever you think he was doing at college (and unless you personally witnessed him regularly smoking pot, you dont have much evidence either). <S> Two - he may well have stopped doing it. <S> Would you also mention if you thought someone was getting repeatedly blitzed on booze at college years ago? <A> Best to mind your own business, school and work are different things. <S> There is nothing positive for you in this and quite a few potential negatives. <S> He may get the job anyway and find out <S> and it's not something people forget. <S> You never know where someone will be in a few years. <S> The company already has a drug test, if he fails he fails, you get nothing. <S> But if he doesn't what does that make you look like?
| My suggestions is clearly to keep your knowledge on Tom to yourself. If Tom qualifies, your "good word" is needless, if he does not qualify for the position, then your "good word" is useless.
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Why do some companies only consider local applicants? Recently, I've noticed a couple job postings that say they'll only consider local applicants. What is the motivation for this? It seems like it shouldn't make a difference if applicants are willing to travel for interview and/or relocate on their own budget. <Q> You should specify how much "local" you mean: same country ? <S> Same region ? <S> Same city ? <S> As a recruiter explained me a couple of years ago, in their specific case they request only local (here local means "same small city or the neighboring area") <S> applicants for quality of life reasons. <S> The logic behind their decision was that the nearer the worker is to the office the better from a quality of life <S> perspective: <S> no long travels to/from work, maybe option to go home for lunch, <S> possibility to take the children from school or to get through all the small tasks of the everyday life without any particular hassle. <S> Of course there is the other face of the medal, that they tend to not specify: you are near, so they have not to pay for travel (very rare where I live anyway) or for lunch ( <S> no tickets, no canteen) and maybe you can work some more time since being so near to home even if you work 30 minutes more in the evening you are home at a pretty decent time. <A> They do not want to have to pay for travel or relocation. <S> Even if a candidate made the trip on their own, what is to say they did not ask for relocation assistance once the offer is made. <S> Now you have an additional expense the employer was not expecting. <S> I personally worked around this by removing my address from my resume and replaced it with 'relocating to the DC area' when I was targeting Washington DC for jobs. <A> I can imagine that employees who have moved to the city extra for the job are at greater risk of quickly resigning - just because they realize they do not like the city - for whatever reason: too expensive, missing friends, different culture. <A> There is a number of reasons for the employer to post "local only candidates" offer. <S> In reality, it doesn't mean that company only considers local employees - I was leading a project in Frankfurt in 2015-2017 <S> and most of my recruiters could only find people from London or Berlin, so I posted "local only", knowing that our recruiters will cover London and Berlin pool of candidates. <S> I can think of some other reasons: <S> They had a bad experience recently, and just want to avoid it. <S> For some reason they might think it's easier to get a culture fit. <S> Once colleague of mine was complaining that their hire spent 2 month trying to find a suitable apartment, and then just left. <S> If that happens twice in a row - I can imagine employer being a bit afraid for a period. <S> As in my example - they have other agents/recruiters lookingglobally. <S> Could be " <S> Agency Experience Mentality" - Employer mightbelieve that there is something about local people, that will givethem specific perspective. <S> Usually ad agencies organisations forexample try to find people with "Agency experience". <A> Recently, I've noticed a couple job postings that say they'll only consider local applicants. <S> What is the motivation for this? <S> Sometimes the local market for talent is rich enough that there is no need for non-locals. <S> Sometimes they have been burned by applicants travelling long distances who later drop out of the running after several interviews. <S> Sometimes the company just wants to support the local economy. <S> Lots of reasons, lots of possible motivations.
| Some companies conclude (usually through experience) that hiring non-local workers isn't working out for them, and choose to avoid the hassle. They want to hire somebody really fast, maybe even interview within aweek.
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Boss frequently thanking me for doing my job I have this job in the US for years now. I come from a different country and a different culture where people don't frequently say thank you at workplace. Over the past few years, my boss would thank me for all the hard work I've done once in a while. In the beginning, I thought he was just trying to be polite and respectful as I'm from a different culture, which is good and I'm grateful for all that. But as time has gone by, I've been working for him for years now, he still does that from time to time, which makes me feel like that he does not think of me as his own kind, and seeing him never do that to other American co-workers makes me even more uptight about the situation because it feels like that I'm being edged out. I'm worried. Sometimes, I even feel frustrated because of this. Is the relationship between me and my boss abnormal? I just want to be treated equally just like the rest of my co-workers. Or am I really overreacting here? <Q> "which makes me feel like that he does not think of me as his own kind, and seeing him never do that to other American co-workers makes me even more uptight about the situation because it feels like that I'm being edged out. <S> I'm worried." <S> These kinds of feelings are normal. <S> Most everybody worries from time to time about whether we are doing a good enough job or not. <S> I believe the term Imposter Syndrome was coined to describe this feeling. <S> When feelings like this come up, try to remind yourself that you do good work and your work is valued by your boss. <S> This is why he is thanking you. <S> The other feelings come from insecurities that are very normal, but should not be indulged. <A> I don't see an issue here at first glance. <S> He simply could be genuinely impressed by your work or your progress. <S> Now, this is highly speculative (your impression of his interactions with you are vital to understand if this is the case) but he might see you as a potential friend or more and doesn't feel it would be appropriate to act upon it or didn't find a good way to approach you. <A> Its fairly normal in America to thank someone for doing their job. <S> Its considered polite, and meant to make sure you know your contribution is valued and appreciated. <S> This isn't a sign that he views you as an outsider, its a sign of respect. <S> And while you haven't seen it, its highly likely that he does the same to your coworkers. <A> I think you're overreacting. <S> You don't indicate your country of origin, but your boss may be under the impression that your culture is more formal, and so he's going out of his way to adapt his style of communication to what he thinks you grew up with. <S> This is what managers are supposed to do! <S> Unless you have some concrete evidence that you're being edged out - like not getting good work assignments, emails being ignored, being snubbed in meetings - then I think this "thank you" tic that he has can be ignored. <S> Short version <S> : it's not you, it's him.
| It could be his way of praising people that he finds are excelling at their job. Based on the information you have provided, I don't think you have any legitimate cause for concern. Not to mention that working with someone who's not from the US may have made him uncomfortable, and so his response is to revert to more formal manners.
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Making a loss when working a delivery job? I occasionally do part time delivery work for a local takeaway. They provide an amount of pay for 3 hours. However if I do a large range of deliveries in large quantities, I often find after counting my money I don't make any money but in fact a loss from the cost of petrol outweighing the pay. The employer keeps tips and delivery charges. My question is, is there any way I can negotiate getting the delivery charges, or would it be legal for me to keep the tips and not make the employer aware. Or even just quit as it's obviously it's not worth it as I'm not actually getting the amount of pay I'm being told. <Q> If you are employed by the takeaway, then as you are in the UK, you are covered by minimum wage legislation. <S> If they're not, you should demand this - which may in practice result in you losing your job, but either way you'll be owed back pay for the difference. <S> There's a possibility you are actually "self-employed", in which you have no recourse other than to leave as you are considered to be responsible for yourself. <S> However, it's very tempting for businesses to classify people as self-employed when they're not, and you can challenge that status <S> - there have been some well-publicised court cases about this, for example this one . <S> You can read the definition of self-employed here . <S> I think you could probably point to not getting to keep tips as one piece of evidence that you aren't self-employed. <S> If you're paid hourly rather than by the delivery <S> I think that would also strengthen your case. <S> If you are employed, have a look at https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/#is_your_employer_paying_you_properly <S> _ for more information on your rights. <S> As mentioned on that page, you can also talk to ACAS or report them directly to HMRC, anonymously . <S> They may also be obliged to hand over your tips in addition to the minimum wage, but I'm not sure of the exact rules on that. <S> For example it might be ok for your employer to collect them and share with the "non customer facing" staff like the cooks. <S> There's some information about it here <S> and it's another thing you can ask ACAS/HMRC about. <S> You have no direct rights to any delivery <S> charge your employer charges customers, but of course they may use that to fund paying you your wages and expenses. <A> What are delivery charges? <S> From what I remember working delivery we had 3 values - my rate (very low), fuel price and tips. <S> At the end of the week I showed distance I travelled, my MpG and received money to cover this expense I made at the beginning of workweek. <S> So my employer paid for my time and resources. <S> Tips were mine to keep (as in I didn't enclosed them when returning from delivery). <S> If your employer is keeping tips and not covering the cost of fuel I would advise to leave the job. <S> It doesn't look like it is worth the hassle of negotiating. <S> But of course I would keep it simple, just say (don't ask) that you think you should be keeping delivery charges and tips as they are basically cost of delivery made by you. <S> If they won't agree with you - leave. <A> is there any way I can negotiate getting the delivery charges You can try, but I strongly suspect you'll get the answer "no". <S> Your employer is pretty clearly abusive. <S> or would it be legal for me to keep the tips and don't make the employer aware <S> No. <S> If your contract says that they keep the tips, they keep the tips. <S> Hiding tips from them is pretty clearly fraudulent. <S> Or even just quit <S> This is always an option. <S> While in general we say "don't quit without a new job to go to", if you're actually losing money doing this, just quit right now. <A> Your employer may be breaking the law by withholding tips and/or failing to cover your expenses and a minimum wage, as others have noted above. <S> Don't muddy the waters by potentially breaking the law yourself by keeping money under the table if there is a work agreement or contract that requires you to pass the tips along. <S> You should do two things: immediately start looking for another job. <S> When you feel comfortable doing so, go to your employer and tactfully describe how you are losing money, and show it on paper with numbers. <S> From the sound of things, they probably won't want to help you out, hence suggestion to look for another job. <S> I'm not sure that quitting immediately is beneficial, as a job that covers your living expenses minus 50 lbs a month (just hypothetically) <S> is better than no job and being in the hole for all of your living expenses. <S> The former (your present situation) is admittedly not sustainable in the long term, but the latter is worse, <S> it's a bit of a disaster if you can't immediately get another job.
| Your employer should be paying you the costs of doing the deliveries, plus the national minimum wage (which varies by age).
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How should I approach my store manager about a colleague's lie? The fairly new manager of our retail store relies heavily on the office manager, who knows the ins & outs of the store more fully. I recently found out that the office manager told the manager that myself and another employee wanted a different employee fired. This was completely fabricated. Many other things have come to light which reveal this person is a manipulator and has done similar things to others. The employees involved have decided that it won't do any good to tell the manager because he needs the office manager too much to run the business. I am having a very difficult time not addressing this serious issue and having to work with this lying person. I'm considering speaking to the store manager in strictest confidence so at least it will be out in the open between him & myself. How can I address this issue with the manager effectively? <Q> Your OP reads a lot like a very strict, very false, very extreme dichotomy. <S> It sounds like the dichotomy is between you doing absolutely nothing, and you attempting to get the office manager fired ("The employees involved have decided that it won't do any good to tell the manager because he needs the office manager too much to run the business"). <S> Do not imply that the office manager is a consistent liar or trying to undermine someone or something or whatever. <S> Just stick to the facts <S> : The store manager was told something that wasn't true, and that's where your conversation should begin and end. <S> After that, leave it to the store manager to decide what he wants to do about it, if anything. <A> IMHO, any disinformation attempts should be dealt with on ASAP bases. <A> For the specific situation described in the question I don't think you should do anything. <S> At most your store manager learned some inaccurate gossip (practically a redundant phrase!) <S> which doesn't seem like it would have any meaningful impact on anything (it's not like you were accused of something relevant to the business, like embezzlement or skipping shifts). <S> Even if you really did want that other employee fired, what difference would that make? <S> It may not even be the case that the office manager was being intentionally deceptive-- <S> it might be his or her impression based on interactions between you and the other two employees in question. <S> For other situations involving your office manager it's harder to say. <S> I don't have any idea <S> what sorts of fabrications he or she has been producing, or how they've been delivered, or which goals those fabrications might be pursuing. <S> But a good overall measure to take might be to develop some sort of relationship with the store manager. <S> You don't have to become best friends, but a modest degree of friendliness (or at least professional contact) with him will dilute the office manager's leverage as the only point of contact/source of information about the store and its employees. <S> If your only interactions with the store manager are to point out specific times you think the office manager is lying about low-impact matters <S> I think that things are likely to go poorly for you.
| There is a midway point: You should tell the store manager that you (and whatever other employees are implicated in the office manager's tall tale) did not do or say anything of the kind that he was told by the office manager. You should inform him about thew situation
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Given an extremely open ended question in take home test I have been interviewing for a junior level dev role and in the last interview I was given a take home assignment to assess my technical skills. The last question was really broad. It was "give a high level description of a way we can share product documentation between the cloud CRM, externally hosted website, network shared folders. All 3 locations must be in sync and all must only allow authorized users access". The interviewer knows I do not know their systems, and when I had tried to ask in previous interviews I was often given an answers like "we don't really have a system established yet and you would be helping make it". I would like to ask him for more details on the question, but I'm having trouble finding words because the question seems too vague to me. Should I submit the assignment without having answered the last part and tell him I couldn't even understand the question? <Q> Wouldn`t mind to see the rest of that testSounds like unpaid consulting task list. <S> In this case, what i think, they may be looking at your opinion, i.e. to see what you can google out ;) <S> In any case, steer toward SharePoint, user permission play a huge role in any processes running there. <A> It's very hard to answer this question without attempting to answer the take-home <S> but I'll try: <S> These things usually require a single point of entry for authorized users to make the edits and a single source of truth for the other systems to pull information from. <S> This on its own is enough to get you started on a high-level answer. <S> Again, you don't need the specifics but you need to demonstrate you understand the business value and business objectives this provides for them. <S> Bonus if you demonstrate enough technical acumen to be able to implement it. <S> There are many commercial and open-source systems you can coerce to work with each other in this scenario, but don't get bogged down in specifics. <S> They want to know they can give you a problem and you can understand their language to come up with an answer. <S> Not so much a junior task, <S> but there you go. <S> No , you should not tell him you didn't understand the question in your submission because that will eliminate you as a candidate. <S> See what you can do on your own, and submit that. <A> I don't know if you are still considering (or still in consideration for) <S> this position, but I believe you overthinking the problem. <S> " <S> High-level" means exactly that: high-level. <S> That means no technical details, no implementation plan, <S> no recommendations on services to acquire to provide the solution. <S> Before you start making implementation suggestions, you need to understand what the system needs to do and how it needs to accomplish it. <S> Use general descriptions of system functions, not recommendations of established products that fulfill those functions. <S> Because you don't know their current systems, like you said, you're not going to be able to determine what they can leverage from their current infrastructure and what services they need to purchase. <S> That's a budgetary decision you will likely not be involved with. <S> With all that being said, the question itself is a little more advanced than one I would give to a junior-level developer. <S> I believe they were more interested in your thought process, rather than judging you on your final solution. <S> As to your original question, I would go ahead and submit the assignment. <S> If they liked you, not completing the assignment probably won't mean much. <S> If they had concerns going in, providing an answer will not likely change their minds much. <S> As they say, "The worst they can say is 'No'."
| You don't need details and you don't need to know their specifics.
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How to deal with a colleague who consistently schedules meetings that should be emails? I've got a great team to work in and I absolutely love my job, but one of my colleagues will continually insist on meetings, even/especially after a 'long' email discussion. They're often <= 30 minutes, but I feel they take me out of my flow. I have a hunch that they prefer to handle these kind of situations in person, but given that they tend to be slightly dominant I find that I get intimidated into agreeing for the sake of closing the discussion, whereas I can make precise and defended arguments in an email. I feel that this is a case of two conflicting personal interests in how to handle a situation, so I'm not sure how to resolve it. Overall I'd prefer to have fewer personal meetings, so I can stay focused on my daily tasks. However, when those meetings inevitably occur, it'd also be nice to be able to stand my ground. Some more information about the current situation: I have a meeting planned for this Friday afternoon with this colleague (Colleague A) and a few others from a different team where we'll discuss progress on a project that we're working on. Colleague A now proposed to have a meeting beforehand to discuss and prepare our side of the progress before heading into the final meeting, but most of the items described in the agenda we have already covered in an email chain beforehand. So I feel like I'd go into the meeting and merely repeat what I wrote before. <Q> How to deal with a colleague who consistently schedules meetings that should be emails? <S> In my experience, these types of people are best dealt with by insisting on an agenda for the meeting. <S> Putting an agenda requirement up first before accepting the meeting may force the organizer to really <S> think about what they want to get out of the meeting. <S> Hopefully, after a bit of reflection, they will come to the conclusion that you have already covered most of the items and the rest can be handled via email. <S> This will require a bit of discipline on your part, but the strategy can be effective. <S> You can offer this up as a starting point if the organizer is unsure how to build one. <S> Agenda Preparation Try saying something like " I am very busy with my work, so in order to make sure we both get the most out of the meeting can you prepare an agenda so I can be properly prepared? " <S> Update based on the most recent edit : <S> I see where you're going with this, but I don't see how you can get around it without looking like a jerk. <S> You could try and say " Didn't we cover all this in the email chain? " <S> , but I would not expect it to get you very far. <S> One final thing you could try is talking to your manager . <S> Explain to them how the topics are already covered via email, and if they aren't interested in conserving your time I think you will be out of luck. <A> even/especially after a 'long' email discussion. <S> I think the problem may be the long emails themselves. <S> It would appear that your colleague doesn't believe they have enough quality information from the email chain. <S> And frankly, I'm not surprised. <S> It has been my experience that more replies in an email chain leads to a higher likelihood that there is information that is patently wrong within the discussion. <S> As the number of replies grows, the context of answers can get subtly or even significantly shifted. <S> Different people answer the same question based on different contexts. <S> Some respondents may not have read some of the interleaved responses and answer incorrectly. <S> In the end, it is critical that the communication model work for everyone in order to make sure the correct information is shared. <A> A very important piece is missing, why are they scheduling these meetings? <S> It's very likely that they have some reasoning behind doing so. <S> Maybe you agree, maybe you don't, but understanding that may help you in your own career. <S> Speculation <S> Given the situation you describe - long email chains, with multiple participants, followed by a short meeting - I believe your colleague is attempting to keep everyone on the same page with the decisions that have been made. <S> While these meetings are annoying, the alternatives are much worse. <S> As email chains get longer, and people start discussing many things, some participants will start to "tune out" the noise. <S> This can lead to people missing that a decision has been made, and missing out on an issue they should have participated in. <S> Having a short "wrap up" meeting can help prevent any stakeholder from feeling left out and gives everyone a chance to look at the solution as a whole. <S> Depending on the people involved, it's also possible that the meetings are not for you. <S> You may be there to provide immediate answers for any questions the other people have - for example, if you're the one who proposed an idea. <S> It's less about "does Guus know this?" <S> and more about "other people need to support Guus <S> , let's give them one last chance to ask questions". <S> If they're a junior person, you may want to use this as a teaching opportunity. <S> Ask them the benefit they see from the meeting, and then show them a better way to get the same result. <S> And finally, if they're a similar level person who just has a different workflow than you, pick your battles. <S> My recommendation would be to start declining some of the invites that you feel are very well answered in email.
| Since you're (effectively) asking them to compromise for your preferred workflow, you should try to meet them halfway. If your colleague believes that meetings are necessary to clean up the information from the email chain, than maybe the problem isn't the meetings, but the email chain itself. If they're a senior person, or someone whom you respect, I highly recommend you simply ask them.
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How can I avoid the stigma associated with being late into work everyday? I recently have started a new job. I commute in via train a fair distance but am never late (I usually got in around 15 minutes before my contracted start time). Recently, improvement works have started taking place that have massively affected my journey and I am late well over 30 minutes . I communicated the fact I will be late for a temporary period to my manager (lets call him Bill). Bill was understanding of my situation as other members of the team have been affected by these works also (although they are able to get in early due to not living as far as me).The trains (well, the replacement buses) do not start until a particular time where I live, and so I get the first one. My problem is this. Other members of the company (in different teams) have aired their concerns regarding how late I am when I am around them. This takes place in communal areas such as our kitchens, where many of them become quiet when I walk in, and resume the conversation about me when I am around the corner. I am not sure how to deal with this. Being new in a company is enough to deal with, without other members of the company thinking I get special treatment. How can I avoid the stigma associated with being late into work everyday? <Q> If your manager and direct teammates are okay with it, why does it matter what anyone else thinks? <S> As for people in communal areas, they may not even be talking about you and <S> you are just being overly self-conscious. <S> As long as your manager and teammates don't have a problem with the situation, your work is not getting affected and <S> it's temporary; It's all good. <A> Here are few suggestions: <S> [preferred] Ask your manager to send a message to all/mention this during stand up/etc. <S> - to inform them current work schedule has been agreed and it's OK. <S> Send the message yourself which explains the current situation. <S> Be short and precise - you don't need to be apologetic. <S> Focus on the work and see if your relationship with the team improves over time. <A> Is there any chance of car pooling? <S> Actually, it doesn't really matter whether there is or not. <S> Asking (and letting word get around), or -better
| You say you have mentioned this to your manager and he is okay with it (as long as there's no critical project deadlines to meet). yet - posting a short notice in the communal areas where gossip takes place, explaining the nature of the problem and offering to pay petrol costs ought to stop the gossip, which is the purpose of your question.
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How to deal with a colleague who harasses me for seemingly no reason? I started working on this big company last February as an external consultant. I'm in an office with 3 other external consultants and we all offer a similar service for our client. From the start, the other 3 members were told to mentor me and teach me how to interact with the company's instruments, and one of them in particular was assigned to train me. She is an older woman in her 50s so I always tended to pay more respect than usual. The problem Sadly, I often bite my nails when I'm nervous or when I'm overthinking something, and that's one of the reasons she started harassing me, telling me that I could not touch her desk until I was more respectful. I have no need to touch her desk and sure it is bad that I bite my nails so I tried to lessen the problem of the nails and kept distance. But then she began to complain to me about my methods, or how I conducted my work. I even got blamed for things she taught to me. Occasionally I could demonstrate my actions were the direct result of her instructions (we have internal emails) but she dismisses the issues without even apologizing to me. Today I had enough of it. She arrived at work and immediately started to moan about how stinky the air was. I said hello as usual and returned to my business. She then attacked me with the following: Her: You should be ashamed of yourself Why is that? What's the problem? Her: The problem is that you do not wash yourself. It's a form of disrespect I had a shower this morning. The problem is that you should think before accusing someone. You're the one that's disrespecting me. Then she continued moaning and harassing me and so gave in and told her: Yeah, you're right. And kept going on with my business. This is not acceptable. I can't stand her behavior. Talking to her doesn't seem to resolve the problem, she only talks to me to blame me so I have no hope of reasoning with her. Question: How should I defend myself? Should I report it to my manager or HR? It could be difficult since we are from 2 different companies, working for the same customer. <Q> Should I report it to my manager? <S> Yes , she has no reason to be behaving like this even if she had a problem with you or not it is completely unprofessional to express how you feel about someone on a personal level. <S> Even if you were for different companies your manager may pull you out of this job and swap you with someone else or even just talk to the client about it. <S> Then this colleague may get a word from your client or worse (or neither depends on reaction) <S> But on your job you do not have to put up with this, <S> even in life this is bullying regardless of how old or what you do. <S> If she's not going to be constructive with work you need to raise this point immediately so you can get on with your job and get the best results for your client. <A> You should not approach your manager until and unless you have a list of incidents with dates and times. <S> DOCUMENT EVERYTHING <S> If you haven't already done this, do this going forward. <S> If she tells you something is black, write an email to her repeating what she said "Per our conversation, I am confirming with you that 'ABC' is black. <S> Please let me know if anything changes. <S> If something is particularly egregious, send her an email stating as such. <S> "This morning you told me I smelled bad in front of other employees. <S> I find this unprofessional, please do not do this again." <S> Avoid talking to her and write emails instead. <S> This creates a paper trail. <S> If she does talk to you, send a followup email noting what happened as per 3 above. <A> It should never have gotten to this stage. <S> As a professional you need strategies to get on with almost any colleague. <S> This is best done from the outset. <S> Particularly as a consultant it is very important that you do not have personal conflicts. <S> Even more important in a position which puts you at a junior and vulnerable level. <S> 6 months is a long time to get familiar with your work to the stage where you don't need a mentor all the time <S> but that is another question. <S> Your strategy is back to front, you're analysing what happened after it happened, and then wondering what to do about it. <S> Then you're analysing the next thing that happened etc,. <S> etc,. <S> Instead as soon as you recognised this lady is going to be like this <S> you should have been making proactive steps to prevent it or deal with it. <S> I have periodically worked with a lady exactly like this as an external consultant for over a decade <S> and it doesn't bother me, because everyone knows she's like that <S> and so no one pays her childish rubbish much attention. <S> I've been asked how I put up with her and <S> the reason is I just don't care <S> , she doesn't handle my pay and she is very good at her job, just obnoxious in other ways. <S> Once I realised that I changed my own perception from being offended to amused (the easiest person to change, is yourself). <S> At this stage there isn't much recourse except to let it wash over you and do what you're doing unless you're prepared to get into some unprofessional seeming office drama. <S> But at the end of the day you don't answer to her, it just may require a change of mindset from frustrating, to mildly amusing.
| If this is too much of a toxic situation which isn't going to improve, you may want to move on to a job you can actually do without needing constant assistance and oversight from this lady. This colleague clearly has a personal problem with you and if that's the case she needs to keep it to herself or just get over it. If she is rude or abusive, write down the incident and note the date and time.
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How long should I wait to start interviewing for my next job? Some background:I started this job at this company about three months ago. During the interview they said they would be working on new technologies. However, after I joined here, I find that there is not much scope to learn here. Also, the tasks are very mundane and my skill set is not improving either. The pay is not very fancy either. I am seriously considering to start interviewing for other jobs, but I think it is extremely unprofessional to do so after three months. I am not sure how the company interviewing me will take it. They might think I would do the same to them after 3 months. Also, I am pretty sure it will not go down well with my current company either. How long should I wait before it is professionally ethical/acceptable to interview for another job? <Q> Unless you are changing jobs every three months, it will be very easy for you to explain what happened when interviewing for other jobs, especially if you are a software developer (based on your username and your question). <S> You just explain the truth: <S> the company and the role itself was not what was sold to you <S> and you want to ensure you keep progressing in your career. <S> Interviews give both the company and the candidate the possibility of finding out some basic information about each other. <S> However, that's not enough. <S> That's why, in most of the cases, you'll have probation periods. <S> It looks like you are not very happy neither with your salary or with what you are doing there, so don't be scared to move on if this place is not for you. <A> How long should I wait before it is professionally ethical/acceptable to interview for another job? <S> Start today. <S> There is no magic number of months after which your desire to leave becomes ethical/acceptable. <S> And it makes no sense to continue for a few more years when you have already concluded that this isn't the job you want. <S> As long as you don't make a habit of leaving jobs after three months, this shouldn't negatively affect you. <S> To that end, dig in deeper and learn more about it before accepting your next job so that you won't feel the need to leave so quickly. <S> And be prepared to answer the inevitable interview questions regarding "Why do you want to leave your current job so soon? <S> " You'll need to calm the interviewers' fear that you'll leave them quickly. <A> Take it from my experience - do not wait to start looking for a new job. <S> As you've correctly identified - your skillset isn't improving in this role. <S> The longer you are in this role - the longer you won't have the relevant experience. <S> Also - I may take you longer than you anticipated to find a new job. <S> If anyone asks why you left the job so soon after starting, you can be honest - <S> it wasn't expanding your skillset and wasn't challenging enough - this actually reflects well on you. <A> I've had colleagues leave after five months or so when they figured out that the current job was not for them (or that they had better opportunities waiting for them). <S> You could do it earlier too. <S> I've had one job where they had me program PHP on the first day without ever having mentioned it to me during the interview. <S> I should have quit that one in the first week <S> but alas I soldiered on. <S> As long as you don't make a habit out of it, it shouldn't be a problem. <S> Even then, if you can keep persuading your EMPLOYER+1 <S> that hiring you is a good idea, there is literally nothing stopping you. <S> A final note: just like most questions here that say they are about ethics <S> , this is not actually about ethics. <S> That you think it is, is a con (to put it harshly) played on you by companies to make you want to stay there against your best interests.
| If you feel staying in that company makes no sense for you professionally, then there's no right or wrong waiting time to start looking for a new job.
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E-mail etiquette for retroactively adding people to the conversation Let's say you get a mass-email from your boss containing some organizational information. You have a question, so you send a reply to your boss (not everyone) asking for clarification. When your boss receives this, the "technical" default behavior of any e-mail client in the world would be to only send the response to the person who sent the e-mail. However, for obvious reasons, your boss may want to include everyone that got the original mass-email, in case someone else has the same question. Now, for the question of etiquette: Should your boss: Reply to the e-mail, then add everyone back to the conversation, and reply? Reply to the original sent e-mail, writing a more general addition with the answer contained? I am a strong believer that #1 is very bad form, as it leaks an e-mail thread (your question) that you don't have consent to spread on. In most cases it's probably harmless, but it irks me nonetheless. There are of course way worse examples of "e-mail thread leakage", but this one seems pretty straight forward, and is clearly well meant. <Q> People forward emails, and add others to email chains all the time. <S> When they do, they make an assessment about whether the new people have a need for the information (the sender has already decided they do), and whether there's anything sensitive that shouldn't be passed on. <S> They may do this badly or may disagree with your assessment. <S> Your situation is that you trimmed the list to discuss something sensitive. <S> Your boss didn't agree that your question was sensitive, and felt that the entire group needed the information. <S> Heck, he can take any email you send him and forward it to his bosses, or your coworkers, or anyone he thinks would benefit from seeing it, and doesn't need your consent. <S> The simple answer is, no, there is no blanket etiquette for this situation, because there are many reasons why it might happen. <S> If you thought your boss should have kept your question private, you should request as much. <S> He may still disagree, so if a topic is truly sensitive, and especially if the recipient may not understand or agree, don't put it in email at all . <S> Also don't try to make this your boss's problem by establishing some rules for what is forwardable and what is not, because it won't work. <S> Please internalize: Emails can be and will be forwarded. <A> I think you should consider if this is really a battle that's worth fighting. <S> If your boss had leaked some personal information about you, then sure, that's a big thing. <S> If it's just an e-mail which you wrote which didn't contain anything special, then don't make a mountain out of a molehill. <S> Don't use up your credit with your boss over little things. <S> As an aside: as it leaks an e-mail thread (your question) that you don't have consent to spread on <S> Not sure about that. <S> Every e-mail you and your boss send on work time belong to the company , not to you. <A> I think you answered yourself. <S> The second form is probably the most appropiated one. <S> It is also more time consuming, as the boss has to rephrase your question and answer it, rather than just the second. <S> That's probably the reason they may do it sometimes. <S> As far as the mail did not contain any personal/relevant information, I would not consider it a big deal, to be honest, even from the etiquette point of view. <A> If your boss wants to include everyone on this email stream, then it's because he/she wants to. <S> Being a business-related email, there's usually no reason for any of that information to be confidential to only a subset of employees. <S> If there is any confidential information, the boss should know and edit as apporiate. <A> Like you mentionned already, the second option would be the most formal, and it makes sure that your privacy is respected. <S> However, depending on how busy the person responding is and the workplace mentality regarding questions (I personally love when people ask questions instead of not knowing, it means they care!) <S> someone might simply to everyone involved, ideally with something showing that it is a good question. <S> Not related to the question, but I think it is worth a mention... <S> Depending on the workplace and its politics, sometimes emails can get forwarded around. <S> I personally like to write my emails so that I wouldnt be ashamed if the CEO was to read them... <S> For other things, I.M. or in person are always good ways to get short answers to something you may not want a trace of.
| There are also many reasons why a sender might trim the audience of a followup email: the topic has changed and some people aren't relevant anymore, or wanting to save other people's time, or to discuss something sensitive. In terms of looping in the new person, the boss would "Reply All" to the latest email that has everyone on it, and then add the new person to the CC (or To) list as appropriate, and then copy in the missing email content from the most recent exchange that the group isn't aware of.
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Asked to interview for different position from application I applied to a company for a job as Configuration Manager. Today I received a call for an interview for an Assistant Software Engineer. Now I am very confused! How do I know which job the interview is for? <Q> How do I know which job the interview is for? <S> You ask. <S> Call and ask HR (or the recruiter if there was one) something like "Sorry. <S> I applied for a Configuration Manager position. <S> But the invitation I received today is for an Assistant Software Engineer. <S> Is that the same thing in your company?" <S> If you accepted the invitation by phone you could have clarified then. <S> But now, just ask. <A> It's possible that the company has multiple positions open. <S> Try checking the company's website. <S> Usually there's a section like "employment opportunities" that should have information on open positions, brief job descriptions, etc. <S> It may list both Configuration Manager and Assistant Software Engineer as positions. <S> The other possibility is that (as another answer mentioned) <S> they are looking for an "assistant software engineer" to do "configuration management". <S> In which case the position is the same as what you applied for. <A> How do I know which job the interview is for? <S> You should have queried when you got the call. <S> Nothing you can do now except persist in trying to contact HR. <S> Assistant Software engineer seems a very low level job. <S> If it's totally different from Configuration Manager (no idea what that is). <S> Then I'd just decline the interview. <S> But this should have been done when you got the call. <S> Your options now if you can't contact HR is either go to the interview, or don't go.
| It's quite possible that the "Assistant Software Engineer" position is used for several junior-level roles and might include the person doing configuration management.
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Boss hasn't transferred my salary yet. How to approach the situation? I'm a recent graduate and new to the employment world, let alone the startup world, so please bear with me. I need some advice on how to communicate with my boss regarding my salary. I was hired at a local creative startup agency last July. We don't have an office (yet). We're currently 4, yes FOUR including my boss (the CCO and Founder), in the company. We only meet when it's necessary. And we communicate via online. Everything's signed and done. I got my salary for the month of July (transferred by my boss himself who gave me the notice via email) in its last week. However I still haven't received my paycheck for August. I was wondering if it's impolite to give him a text message that he hasn't transferred it yet. Should I wait until the end of the week to ask him? Should I just casually slip it in an e-mail thread (looks rude)? I don't know how to approach the situation. We're in the middle of a huge pitch and shoot so I could just imagine why he hasn't done so. But my social anxiety, impostor syndrome, and innocence to the "real world" are taking over me. If this was in big ad agencies, I know it's probably dealt with considering they have HR and Finance departments that take care of these things. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Edit: I'm from the Philippines, where startups are in a tricky situation (because our government still has to make up their mind in terms of business laws and such). But we're a legal creative agency, backed by a bigger company. I appreciate the help. I'm learning a lot on how to handle this kind of situation and it's given me great insights. Update: Gave my boss a text message and he said he'll double check and give me an update shortly. Will keep everyone posted. Final Update: Boss quickly apologized for the delay of the paycheck. He’s transferred the money and has given me the proof of the said transfer. Thank you again everyone for the advice. I hope this discussion helps people who find themselves on a similar boat. <Q> My August salary doesn't seem to have made it into my bank account yet - could you check on this? <S> Thanks! <S> I'd be pretty sure you'd then get a response which is either "Aaargh. <S> Sorry. <S> Slipped my mind. <S> I'll get it paid ASAP" or <S> "That's strange, I'll check with the bank". <S> As other answers and comments have noted, if you start getting any sort of evasive response, it might be time to be start worrying about whether your employer can meet its payroll. <A> Your work contract should not only include how much your salary is, but also when it's due. <S> Keeping in mind that money transfers can take up to 3 days, it's appropriate to check in with your boss 3 - 5 days after the salary was due. <S> You don't need to give any reasons for asking where the money is, it's part of your contract and should be transferred automatically. <S> Watch out for additional warnings and don't let your boss delay your salary for more than one month, ever . <A> To add to the other good answers, just because it's "crunch time" or people are busy, your paychecks should still be on time. <S> Late paychecks are a sign of several things to watch out for: <S> They need an accounting firm to handle the money for them <S> They need more help/people/employees <S> They could be out of money <S> They could be trying to get free labor from you Too many other options to mention. <S> There's a lot that could determine if it's 1 or 2, and this could just be growing pains of the company. <S> They might know the problem, or they may need it suggested. <S> If it remains a problem for you, make it a problem for them, but without burning bridges. <S> Don't make an ultimatum, "I need to get paid on time or I'm outta here". <S> Instead suggest options and state facts, "Have you thought about letting someone else handle the bills? <S> I need a steady paycheck. <S> " <S> Let them decide what to do about your question and also let their imagination decide what your statement means. <S> Option 3 is something that you will have to decide if you are OK with. <S> Are they going to make it up to you later? <S> This isn't just about coming current on the paycheck, but can include stock or other equity in the company, a large bonus, percentages of sales, or a whole host of other possibilities. <S> If you think they can "make it big" and reward you fully for it <S> (I'm still talking about more than just a paycheck), then go for it. <S> If not, look for a new job. <S> For option 4, get out now. <S> Find a new job and hound these people to pay you for the work you did. <S> If it's worth it, get a lawyer, since it's usually against the law to not get paid for work you did when you were told you were going to get paid. <S> There will always be options 5's out there that we can't consider. <S> The reality might be a combination of what I've suggested or things no one could reasonably consider. <S> As Philip Kendall suggested, first talk to you boss and see what the hold up is and then make a decision. <S> Just make sure your BS detector is on so you can make a determination, based on what your boss says, whether the situation is 1 through 5. <S> Good luck! <A> Not sure how it works in Philippines, but given that you are a team of four and spent a year working together, I'd suggest more involved and constructive approach. <S> Other than what Philip Kendall suggested, ask if the company is doing alright financially and if there are any problems you can help with. <S> Your boss is probably doing a lot of things by himself and he might have simply forgot. <S> Or something indeed didn't add up <S> he doesn't have the money on the bank account to transfer to you. <S> A client delayed payment or costs were greater than revenues and something needs to be changed? <S> Maybe you can help? <S> Normally, there is little room for passengers on a boat of four.
| Another fair warning: delayed salaries are a sign that: Either your boss is transferring the money manually every month and should really setup automatically transfers, or The company is not doing well and might become bankrupt very fast, especially in the Startup scene. Just start with whatever you use for general informal communications with your boss (instant messaging, text messaging, whatever) and just say: Hi Boss.
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How do I politely refuse scheduling phone calls and redirect to email instead? At my job I regularly receive calls and emails from people who want to make certain kinds of offers to sell my team some services, which don't interest me 95% of the time, although they could be interesting sometimes. Note that it's not part of my job responsibilities to take calls, or to accept or process these offers, it's something that I could do or not (I don't want to provide too many details about my job but let's say I manage a small group and have a large degree of autonomy). I don't want to waste time talking on the phone to these people. I'm a busy person and I find that the phone is an extremely inefficient use of my time: if a call is unscheduled it interrupts whatever I'm doing, and even if it's scheduled, I have to allocate a slot for it, probably with some slack just in case it gets long, so it creates a large disruption in my calendar for something that in the overwhelming majority of the cases I could dismiss in 2 minutes if they just emailed me with their offers. Maybe in the 5% of the cases where I'm actually interested in the offer, a call might be worth it, but definitely not in the other 95%! My problem is that, while when they phone me directly I just say that I don't take commercial calls and hang up, as I find totally rude to just phone and interrupt someone who you don't know (yes, clearly I'm not a phone person...); sometimes I get very polite emails asking me to arrange a time for a call. I don't want to do it for the reasons stated above, but I'm a nice person and it feels bad to respond to a polite email with a blunt denial. I would be grateful for any tips on how to handle this kind of email requests so as to not have to waste time on the phone, while not coming across as a jerk, as I'm not good at this kind of diplomacy. <Q> How do I politely refuse scheduling phone calls and redirect to email instead? <S> You have a couple of choices. <S> First you can ignore them . <S> People who do this for a living are used to not getting a response . <S> The other, perhaps more polite way is to respond back via email with something along the lines of: " Thanks for reaching out, but at the moment I cannot take your call. <S> Please email me the details and if I am interested, I will get back to you at my earliest convenience. " <S> Short and sweet. <A> and i'll take a look - <S> If I'm interested I'll contact you. <S> This way if they send the product you can either ignore or read and they will just assume you're not interested and move on. <S> Of course you'll often get follow ups which you can also ignore. <S> As Mister Positive has mentioned these people are used to being ignored, they'll get the point (although annoying). <A> I would be grateful for any tips on how to handle this kind of email <S> requests so as to not have to waste time on the phone, while not coming across as a jerk, as I'm not good at this kind of diplomacy. <S> Just say something like: <S> "Sorry, I can't talk now. <S> Please send me an email instead. <S> I'll read it and if interested I'll get back to you."
| To redirect to emails instead, simply say: I'm not interested in a phone call however if you have anything that you believe may be of use send it through in email
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My friend, together with his bosses, is inviting me over for dinner. Accept or reject invitation? I have a colleague-turned-friend who's inviting me for dinner together with his bosses. He said they want to have a chat with me. I have a hunch it's about my plans regarding my career progression. I said this because when I graduated from college, I was very close to joining them but I grabbed a different opportunity. And my friend has been vocal about his hope of us working together (which I am flattered about as I have huge respect for him as well) someday. Now, I just recently joined a startup last July and I love the projects we're working on. I look up to my bosses and their vision for the company. Although I have one mishap with them (which I am now resolving), I still want to work here and stay. I don't want to reject the invitation but I'm also very worried on how the dinner would go. Also I'm afraid I could burn bridges if I reject the dinner invitation. But if I do accept it, they might hint about an offer, which I know I would most probably reject, which then could burn bridges? But I also don't want to give an impression that I'm closing my doors in the future. I know in any workplace, jumping ships gives you that edge for career progression. So I want to make sure that I make a wise decision. How does one handle this kind of situation? <Q> Attending something like this doesn't oblige you to anything at all, but it does allow you to network and to explore your options, if there are any on offer to you. <S> You don't have anything to lose by going. <S> If you don't go, you won't know what you may have lost out on. <S> And there's free food. <A> There's no downside to going to this dinner. <S> As previous responders have pointed out, there is value in this as a networking opportunity. <S> If you are thinking about it in relation to your current position, going to this dinner doesn't give you any new obligations, and it doesn't force you out of your current position. <S> What it does to is give you more options and contacts in the future. <A> In general I agree with those that advocate going... <S> as they say "it costs nothing to find out. <S> " <S> Go and see what it's all about. <S> One potential negative to watch out for: sometimes situations like this are used by a company to get free advice/information from someone. <S> If you feel like you are being pumped for information, you can politely dodge the questions, or just say "I'd love to go into more detail with you about this... would you be interested in setting up a part-time consulting arrangement?" <S> You may end up with the best of both worlds- developing a relationship with another employer, and making some extra money. <A> While I agree with the other answers mostly, and would say "go", it's not quite that simple. <S> You have something to lose by going, though that is just inside your own head. <S> Meeting these people will affect you. <S> There might be some genuinely great people there, or there might just be charismatic people there. <S> Many manipulative people can be very nice when they want to. <S> This could be outright intentional manipulation, but also just normal human interaction, we are all affected by the people we talk with after all. <S> So do some self-inspection before going. <S> How susceptible you are to being affected by stuff like above? <S> If you ended up quitting your current job, could you live with it? <S> If you ended up turning down a superb offer, could you live with that ? <S> Or, if things really would go the way of you joining them, would you be fine with it in the end? <S> These are questions only you can answer (or try to). <S> And if you decide to go, go knowing you made the decision to go accepting the possible consequences. <S> I would go, but I am not you. <S> Most likely it is just a dinner, where you get to meet some people and do some networking, and that's all there is to it. <S> But you won't know for sure without going. <A> Looks like your only worry about attending this dinner is the fact that they could make you a job proposal, but in my opinion there's nothing bad about this. <S> In fact, if you like the proposal they come up with you might even end up working for them, if you don't like you can just let them know and continue havind a friendly dinner. <S> There also exist the option that your friend is only being social and inviting you to a gather with his colleagues. <S> So in my opinion you should attend this dinner. <A> As with the other answers, I will also say you should go to check it out. <S> As for what happens if they offer you a position (or hint that they are interested in offering you one), just be clear about your plans and your career direction. <S> If you don't want to change companies, say so. <S> The only thing I would advise in this respect is that you shouldn't just give them a flat-out "no thank you", because that could burn bridges. <S> What I would suggest would be a "thanks but maybe later", which allows the opening that if things change in the future you might reconsider. <S> That said, one negotiating tactic would be to tell them, <S> if they get serious about making you an offer, is to tell them what you've told us here: You're happy where you are, so they'll have to make you "a deal you can't refuse" to move. <S> Tell them what you have now, and see what they say. <S> Sometimes they'll say "we understand, and we can't field an offer significantly better than that"; in this case, you haven't burned your bridges, they know where you stand and if the situation changes they can consider you. <S> However, sometimes they might actually field you a significantly better offer, at which point you might have a decision to make. <S> If they field you an insane offer and you say no though, that could burn your bridge.
| Accept the invitation if it doesn't conflict with previous plans and go to the dinner.
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Colleague appears insensitive to the fact I wear glasses now I recently went to the eye doctor, and got myself some nice glasses. They are great, and I paid for all the goodies. Non glare, etc. I have a coworker whose desk is over my left shoulder directly against the window. I had shut the blinds a bit ( you could still see out, just not wide opened ) because the sunlight coming in reflects a good bit and it makes it difficult to see. The way my workspace is configured, it is too small for me to put my PC and monitors anywhere else so the only option for me to see clearly and be productive is for the blinds to be closed somewhat to cut out the glare. This, to my surprise has aggravated my co-worker a bit. I explained the situation, showed how I was limited as to where I could put my monitors and PC, yet he still seemed irritated. We are at capacity so moving cubes is not an option. How can I make certain he knows I am only doing this for work purposes and not attempting to intrude on his work space? Before this incident we had no issues, and even this one is not huge. <Q> It seems like a really trivial thing to get possessive over, but some office workers do claim 'ownership' of an adjacent window (at least in their own minds). <S> From the sound of things, by insisting the blinds are always down a bit, you are intruding on that. <S> This might be further fuelled by the fact that your colleague probably actively tried to get a window desk; many people do. <S> I'm not saying that gives them the right to be angry at your recent acquisitions; that's just how their mind is working. <S> I've seen it happen in other workplaces. <S> The window next to me has one because I like having the window open (to remind me of the world outside...) <S> but we want to minimise glare for everyone, which is what the film does. <S> You could suggest asking your manager if you could find one for your window. <S> If you emphasise to your colleague that you are looking at a way of satisfying both of you <S> and you're not being selfish (even though it reads like he is the one being selfish) , he might simmer down. <S> In the meantime, you must unfortunately have to politely remind your colleague that you cannot do any meaningful work without the blind down slightly. <A> As somebody with finicky vision issues including problems with glare, I've been in this situation. <S> Consider your coworker's perspective: he's happily had his window view for some time and now suddenly a coworker is telling him it's a problem. <S> Naturally he's going to be frustrated. <S> The best way to communicate about your needs and maintain a good working relationship is to show him what you're doing to try to mitigate the problem first, and then ask him for help in solving your shared problem. <S> At one company they put us all in a row along a row of windows because "everybody likes light". <S> I asked about interior spaces but there weren't any. <S> I closed the blinds at "my" window but <S> the light from the one behind me was a problem. <S> Instead of asking my new coworker to keep his blinds closed, I instead built a little cardboard shield behind my workspace, in line with his window. <S> I explained why I was doing it ("no I'm not anti-social, really!"), and he helped me adjust things to block more of the problematic light. <S> At another company I couldn't avoid window glare and asked to move to a place that wouldn't normally be a work space -- I had a table right next to the coffee machine and fridge, space that was considered undesirable because it was kind of cramped and would be noisy. <S> Our office manager was a little perplexed that I wanted to downgrade from a "nicer" space, but by thinking creatively I was able to mitigate my vision problems without imposing on coworkers. <S> Show him that you're trying to preserve his window view while meeting your very real vision needs. <S> And because this is a change, it wouldn't hurt to acknowledge that this is new <S> and you realize it's disrupting him. <S> You can be lighthearted about that -- "sorry, but my doctor says my eyes are no longer mint condition <S> and I need some artificial help". <A> How can I make certain he knows I am only doing this for work purposes and not attempting to intrude on his work space? <S> Just talk to him! <S> Something like <S> "I really want you to know that I am only doing this for work purposes <S> and I'm not attempting to intrude on your workspace. <S> " should make certain he knows. <S> There nothing fancy here. <S> If all else fails, try to find someone willing to swap cubicles. <S> That wouldn't change capacity at all. <A> If you don't mind having the blinds open aside from the glare, you might look into anti-glare filters for your monitors.
| If worst comes to worst, the manager is likely to side with you as your colleague has no productivity issues based on the window whereas you do. A healthy middle ground might be to find a semi-transparent film to go over the window. It is unfair that he is reacting like this, but he is unlikely to formally complain if you insist on keeping the blinds down. Try to do something that affects only you, and ask your coworker to help you brainstorm so you can both get what you need.
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How to ask payment for work done? My company wanted to get a small animation video done on our website. So they were looking for someone to do this job. One of my friends works in animation design, so I asked her to come up with a short sample and if my company liked it then we could go forward with the full thing. So she sent me a sample, which I showed to my boss. He also agreed to pay 200$ for the full completed video. She did the video and my boss wanted a few tweaks, which she did. We finally used her video. Now its been a month since the website is live and my friend keeps asking me for the payment. I have asked my boss a couple of times and he says "Oh! yes! Will put in a word to accounting" Second time he asked for the account details, which I provided, and he still has'nt made the payment. My friend sends me reminders every day and my boss is really busy. Also it feels really awkward to have to remind him to pay for work, which is being used on our website everyday by thousands of users. How do I ask him for payment and to ensure he successfully makes it? <Q> This is not your problem. <S> If she isn't getting paid, she should be calling the accounts department to find out what their payment schedule is, and what - if anything - is causing the hold up. <A> How do I ask him for payment and to ensure he successfully makes it? <S> You don't. <S> Your friend does. <S> Your friend should send an invoice with details on it. <S> The invoice should indicate that payment is required within 30 days. <S> It should go to both your boss and your company's accounts payable department. <S> At the end of 30 days, one late notice should be sent. <S> At the end of the next 30 days, if payment is still not received, your friend should file for payment in small claims court. <S> You made a mistake by being a middle man here. <S> You should have connected your friend with your company, and then stayed out of it. <S> Your friend should have treated this like a business transaction. <S> And collections is a normal business function. <A> This is difficult because she is going through you to ask for payment. <S> Its appears your boss can easily ignore you, probably because I believes you don’t have much stake in weather she gets paid or not. <S> You are not willing to push the issue on her behalf. <S> You should explain to you boss that you find it disrespectful to you that you found someone to help the company and now your boss is not paying this person. <S> After that if your boss doesn’t pay her immediately the arrangement should no longer be informal. <S> You should stop asking in on her behalf. <S> This will allow her treat this arrangement in a more professional manner. <S> This will also protect you from any fallout if she needs to take steps to get paid. <S> She should request the payment directly from the company. <S> She should send them an invoice using the post or mail. <S> The invoice should detail the work done, the amount due and how soon she expects to get paid. <S> If should also mention how she will seek payment if she doesn’t revive prompt payment. <S> If she doesn’t retrieve prompt payment then some options to consider depending on your location are, a solicitors letter, small clams court, or selling the debt to a collections agency. <S> However it may cost more to get paid than the bill is worth. <S> You should probably avoid arranging for people to work for your boss in the future. <A> Verbal agreements aren't worth the paper they're (not) printed on. <S> You arrange payment terms in writing, signed by both parties before the final work is delivered. <S> If there are emails describing the work to be done and payment, for a small job like this, it should be enough. <S> She should copy the emails and send them with her invoice to accounts payable. <S> Your boss could tell your friend she agreed to do this work for free, and she'd be pointing to the email trail to substantiate her claim. <S> Eventually, she might win, depending on many factors. <S> How people behave affects how people should deal with them in future. <S> If your boss actively obstructs payment on this, it tells you something about him and probably about the company. <S> Trust, honesty, responsibility, etc., are critically important in business. <S> Having to sue a client to get paid will make contractors reluctant to work for that client. <S> You can hope it's just not a high priority for him, tho it is for her. <S> If they actively balk on paying her, she should insist on payment in advance, in future (and charge triple for the first job) as well as going to small claims court (in the US) as others have described.
| Your friend should have issued an invoice to the accounts department of your company (together with payment details).
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Is it harassment to ask a person why they did what they did and whether they got paid for it? I get a lot of useless emails in my work mailbox, so, a couple of days ago I received this email, talking about some bank's deposit interest rates. The email came from a person who works at the same company as I do, but in a different office. I didn't understand why I got this email, I am not even a client of that bank. So I was just curious why I was receiving it and I went ahead and asked the person: "Can you please explain why you're sending this to me? Is this bank paying you money to promote them or something?". I must have gotten hundreds of those emails before and decided to finally ask that question. I didn't mean it in an aggressive way, and the person who sent it got mad and told me that I have no respect for my coworkers, she told me I should have first greeted her and been more polite, because we aren't friends, which I also didn't understand, because my company promotes a "friendly environment". She forwarded our conversation to the main manager of the office I work at and to my career advisor, telling me that I should be glad that she's such a patient person and had she been less patient, she would have reported me to my company's " ethics and compliance service " right away, but for now I should be thankful she just sent our conversation to my higher-ups. Then, my career advisor, after seeing this email, messaged me, talking to me in a very condescending manner, insulting me indirectly using euphemisms, telling me things like: "You might seem smarter if you apologize to her", "Who the heck gave you the right to insult another person like this?", "You can easily get a strike if you talk like this here". (Mind you, my career advisor is a man, who told me multiple times things like: "Can you read?!" when I didn't understand something he wrote.). And then my career advisor forwarded our conversation to that woman and the office manager. So, my questions are: 1) Is the tone of my email acceptable? (for the company that promotes a friendly environment) 2) Is their behavior acceptable? I think my career advisor was clearly being rude to me, while telling me I shouldn't be rude to other people, even though I personally didn't mean to offend anyone. Like, I didn't get personal with that woman or anything. I didn't care who she was, I simply asked why I was receiving that email and what the motivation behind sending it was. <Q> Your company seems to be weird. <S> If another employee sent me an email about bank deposit rates, which has nothing whatsoever to do with my job, and I told her to stop it <S> (I wouldn't ask why she is doing it, because I don't care one bit <S> why, I just want her to stop), and she then complained to my manager <S> , my manager would have a talk with her manager about her behaviour. <S> Sending spam to coworkers is an enormous waste of company time and totally unacceptable. <S> Complaining that a co-worker complains about spam is a teaching opportunity for their manager. <S> Your company seems to work differently. <S> Outside a government agency, or a company that has some monopoly position <S> so they don't care one bit about efficiency <S> , I can't see any normal company reacting that way. <S> You really have two options. <S> Either you adapt to this strange environment, or you go and find a different job where you fit in better. <S> (That's in no way meant negatively, I wouldn't fit in at that kind of company). <S> Meanwhile, you might apologise to your dear colleague by sending her a different cat video every day. <S> She'll love it. <S> The worst thing is, I don't even mean that sarcastically. <A> "Can you explain why you're sending this to me?" is reasonable, although I'd have said something more like <S> "I don't understand why you're sending this to me. <S> Could you tell me why?" making the question explicitly about me, not her. <S> "Is this bank paying you money to promote them or something?" is not reasonable. <S> You're suggesting that she had some sort of invalid reason to send you the emails. <S> You didn't mean this to be aggressive, but by presupposing that there's no good reason it winds up being so. <S> You would have been much better off leaving it off. <S> It doesn't ask for any useful information that your first sentence didn't. <S> As far as the greeting goes, observe how other people in the company send internal emails, and emulate them. <S> Emails to me from colleagues usually start "Hi, David!" <S> , so I follow that. <S> When writing emails, always assume that people have a good reason for what they're doing. <S> It won't be true all the time, but it's part of being polite. <S> Never allude to any possible wrongdoing at least until you know what's going on. <S> My impression is that you aren't socially sensitive, so take this farther than you think necessary. <A> Regarding whether the email sender is doing something wrong. <S> Unless the email about bank rates is a officially sanctioned email (i.e. she sent it on behalf of the company) to offer employee discounts, this employee is acting on her own behalf and this email could be considered solicitation . <S> Many US-based companies protect employees from solicitation in the workplace. <S> Regarding good email etiquette, <S> "Is this bank paying you money to promote them or something?" <S> Assumptions, especially those that assume something negative about the other person, are generally considered rude. <S> I feel like reporting someone to HR or management for a singular action that is only borderline rude is a dramatic overreaction. <S> In effort to promote a "friendly" environment, your company has actually created a hostile one where no one can make any mistakes. <A> The harm has already been done, it's best to just shrug these things off as nonsense and don't reply to such emails again. <S> However there seems to be more to this than you're saying as you already have your career advisor against you. <S> The implication is you're ruffling feathers and for the sake of your career at that company it's best you just keep your head down and concentrate on your tasks. <S> No one else saw fit to ask her why she is doing it. <S> Take a hint from that. <A> When you work for a company that is spread over several areas, there are often emails sent to all the employees, or all employees of a specific region. <S> They aren't spamming you directly - it's just the nature of company communication. <S> It's common to get a lot of emails that are of limited or no usefulness, because it is easier to send them to all employees than to make specific mailing lists for all sorts of specific criteria. <S> If the email had been sent to just you, a more polite way of responding would have been to say something like <S> I think this email was sent to me in error. <S> In other words, let them know they probably sent it to the wrong person, but make no assumptions about why you may have received it in error. <S> Responding as you did is a bit rude. <S> You're implying that it is simply spam, not a company email that is useful for some. <S> And you're also implying that you'd like her (and others) to spend extra time, probably a lot of extra time, to make specific lists for emails sent, instead of you spending almost no time deleting emails that you don't need. <S> (All of that 'almost no time' does add up, since a LOT of you are probably having to filter out the noise.) <S> If you are above her in the hierarchy, asking for less useless emails can be acceptable. <S> If below, you kind of just have to live with it.
| If the email is sent to all in your company, or a large subset, the best thing to do is ignore it.
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Are these requests common before redundancy? As background, I previously worked in a development role at my current company. A new development role was created last year to solve a set of perceived issues in one of our workflows - due to my experience in similar situations, I was promoted into this new role. Over the last year, many of the achievable goals have been far slower to attain than expected; and much of the expected engineering work hasn't actually appeared yet. As such, I have been conscious of the possibility that I may face redundancy - although this hasn't been expressed to me from management as yet (I am also not on any kind of perfomance improvement plan). Recently, my manager has made three requests that stand out to me as potentially setting the stage for future redundancy. These are: Request for how integrated I still am with the previous team, and how much my work overlaps with them. Request for an updated 3/12 month roadmap of the specific work to be completed. Request for a technology stack document; specifically detailing which languages I am using and will be using. My question is; are these requests generally standard in preparing to make a role redundant (or when considering to make a role redundant)? I obviously cannot ask anybody to judge whether I am or am not at risk of redundancy. But as these requests were never made in my previous role, and I have no experience of a redundancy process - I am curious whether these fit into "standard things you'd expect to ask your employee, if you're considering making them redundant". <Q> It's certainly possible that those questions would be asked as part of a process of either looking to remove an employee, or a role from the team. <S> As you say though, it's impossible to say from that whether you're at risk of redundancy, and there's many more situations where those questions may be asked (such as looking to move your role into another team, or even looking to hire someone else to work alongside you.) <A> While it's possible someone is trying to gauge the value of the role you are currently filling, it is just as likely (or more likely, even) that they are simply trying to be good project managers. <S> These seem like questions that are commonly asked in order to assess staffing needs, get budget approvals for continuing work, and to make sure there is documentation in place for others to use should the need arise. <S> I don't see any obvious red flags. <S> But this is just a guess. <A> First question stands to me as retention attempt, perhaps to split your focus between current and previous teams while engineering work catches up
| It could be that the funding for your project is in question and they are trying to put things into place to keep it on hold and have you re-join your former team until things open up again.
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Showing up late at workplace I recently (about 2 months ago) hired in a software development company as SysAdmin. The main reason I got hired was to improve my skills in SysAdmin and DevOps stuff, I had my own dedicated server and was selling VMs and hosts to people, but I realize it's time to face bigger problems. But they haven't given me any servers till now that I can work with or even keep maintenance of them which I understand as they're very sensitive so every work that I've done till now is research and giving advice to my bosses about how we can improve our security, speed, reliability, etc. It's not like that I don't want to get to work early, I even installed an alarm app on my phone which starts ringing and doesn't have any snooze button and I should take off my bed and take a picture of my bathroom to stop it from ringing, it works for a few days, but recently I take a picture and tell myself why should I bother myself going to job I don't have any work to do and go back to sleep. It's been two or three weeks that I've got really nothing to do at work and because of that I can't push myself to wake up in the mornings and get to work and Normally I'm late 3 or 4 hours. Nothing has said anything to me till now because of that and I don't get paid based on work hours. Actually it's my second job aside from freelancing stuff and my own servers. The first one was pretty much worse, I was called "IT Manager" and the most useful thing I had to do was connecting wires to my coworkers PCs which they accidentally disconnects. One year I was without a job and I woke up every day at 6 AM to get to my university library to get work done on my own servers and experience stuff on it, so I can tell I don't have medical issue. Should I talk to my boss about getting my some useful jobs or continue researching on my own? <Q> First, you should talk to your boss behind closed doors. <S> Ask him for 30 minutes of his time and make an appointment if he doesn't have time for you right now. <S> Explain the situation to him <S> Apologize for coming so late to work. <S> Explain the reason for being so late. <S> Tell him your wish / plan for the future. <S> This depends entirely on you, but it could be: <S> You wish to have some meaningfull task and finally do what the job advert promised you. <S> You're willing to work for another team as long as they have something to do for you. <S> You wish to solve complicated problems, even if they are not entirely in your job description. <S> You're willing to take on any problem and help any team, even if said problem is not strictly part of your job. <S> You wish to quit. <S> Discuss the current situation together and try to find a solution that satisfies both of you. <S> Listen to the proposals of your boss and offer your own. <S> If he cannot offer a solution, set an ultimatum in 2 weeks. <S> Lack of motivation and drive might be a symptom of depression and should be treated by medical professionals. <A> You will not get into major problems if you canot reliably solve minor ones first. <S> Showing up 3-4 hours late to the job is not reliable. <S> " How can you motivate yourself if you do not need the money " basically this is your mainpoint. <S> Do your tasks and have something interesting to fill while you cannot do anythingeg; read guides,books, start scripting ( automating annoying tasks ) etc. <A> Should I talk to my boss about getting my some useful jobs <S> Yes you should, at least suggest you can look at their current configurations to see if anything could be improved and familiarise yourself with the structure. <A> It seems you have several problems at hand here: <S> You are not getting the tasks you expect from you SysAdmin role and that seems to bore you <S> You are not dependend on the salary that job provides you and that deflates your motivation because of 1. <S> You are showing up 3-4 hours late <S> I would start by asking myself the following questions: <S> Why are you doing this job? <S> If you do live off your own work, What motivated you to apply for the role in the first place? <S> Do you want to keep the job? <S> Otherwise you should get into a conversation with the people who are responsible for the tasks you get and tell them about how your expectations are not met. <S> Tell them what you expected to do in the role and that you are missing something. <S> Ask for feedback why you do not get the tasks you are expecting. <S> Be open for feedback even if you do not like it <S> Addressing your third problem: Bore-Out is a real thing. <S> Doing this that are not nearly challenging enough can drive you mad and depressed, and its probably the reason you are not getting out of bed. <S> Find something that is worth getting up for. <S> If its not work, prepare yourself the best coffee you can make yourself first thing in the morning or something like this. <S> Besides that, depending which of your problems you would like to have answered you might be better of asking your question on a different site. <S> Not getting out of bet is not an ethical workplace issue.
| Tell him that you lack the motivation to get up early because you have no real task at work. Make a suggestion how you would improve your situation. If your boss can offer you an interesting task but you still feel unable to get out of bed, you should really seek the professional help of a psychologist or neurologist. - it could very well be that some people noticed that you show up late and judged you for being not "dependable". Its fair enough to quit and tell your boss it just doesn't work for you.
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Abusive employer and illegal/void clauses in contract: how can I protect myself and my money? I have received a contract with various conditions in it that are illegal/void. They, among others, circumvent employee protection laws, withhold pay and require me to be scanned by those airport full body scanners without offering me an alternative. Note that my question is not about whether these things are illegal. This employer is known to be abusive. They have only horrible reviews on glassdoor and I personally know a few people who worked there. It's not a place you want to work if you have a choice. Unfortunately, I am desperate for a job, so I am planning to sign the contract and keep searching for a new job. While I hate the body scanners and abusive culture, I am not too bothered about those. Those are dealt with by planning to leave asap. My main goal is to not get scammed out of the pay I have a right to. How can I protect myself from (financial) damage and get the pay that I deserve? This is not a start-up. This is a large international company based in Netherlands. They do not have financial problems, in fact they are doing extremely well. I am willing to sue if needed, but I want to keep my job during my search for a new one. Disclaimer: this question is written in first person for readability, but it is really about a friend. <Q> If an employer is known to flout applicable employment laws then it seems unlikely there is anything in particular you as an individual can do to avoid running afoul of their disregard of the law. <S> Your best bet, if you have no choice but to take the job, is to make sure to thoroughly document everything and get everything you can down in writing. <S> You can't stop them from circumventing employee protection laws, but you can document everything to minimise the damage and (hopefully) reclaim any financial compensation owed from their misdeeds. <A> I have received a contract with various conditions in it that are illegal/void. <S> Never accept or sign any contract that has illegal/void conditions in it. <S> Unfortunately, I am desperate for a job, so I am planning to sign the contract and keep searching for a new job. <S> Repeat - never accept or sign any contract that has illegal/void conditions in it. <S> How can I protect myself from (financial) damage and get the pay that I deserve? <S> Perhaps you know a good lawyer who would be willing to take on your case. <S> If so, discuss the contract with your lawyer before you sign it. <S> Either negotiate a contract that doesn't have those conditions, or tear it up and find a different job. <A> Your best bet is to talk to an employment lawyer. <S> This may cost you some money up front but can potentially save a lot later on. <S> The Netherlands have fairly decent labor laws and in general good protection of employees. <S> That means, it's unlikely that they can legally enforce something against you, but <S> they sure as heck can make your life miserable. <S> A lawyer can probably tell you what the bes proactive measures are you can take (documentation, contract verbiage, separate bank accounts, escrows, paper trails, etc.) <S> A lawyer can also tell you what recourse you may have in case things turn bad and what the associated effort, time, cost and probability of success would be.
| It will be difficult if you are an accomplice and knowingly sign a contract that has illegal/void conditions in it. Create a paper trail so that if/when the company breaks the law, you at least have evidence you can present to an employment tribunal/court/whatever to prove you've been wronged.
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Is it common/appropriate to negotiate salary after receiving an offer letter? I recently received an offer letter from an employer. During the interview, the manager said that they cannot give me an exact number before they calculate the budget (or something similar I cannot remember, although I did provide the expected salary at the very first interview and he definitely knew it), which did not leave me a fair chance to negotiate the salary during the interview. The offer letter I received shows a salary that is much lower than I expected. I would like to know: is it appropriate/common to negotiate the salary after receiving the offer letter? Will this affect the offer or make them reconsider whether they should hire me? <Q> If you don't agree to what is in the letter <S> then you have an offer but one that is not acceptable. <S> Yes you can <S> (and should) negotiate. <S> When you are in agreement with what's in the letter then you have the job. <S> If they are low-balling you and will not negotiate then it's time to look somewhere else. <S> If this is how the company operates then what will happen later? <A> Absolutely! <S> They have made you an offer. <A> I would like to know is it appropriate/common to negotiate the salary after receiving the offer letter? <S> It's perfectly appropriate to try and negotiate for more if you think the offer is insufficient. <S> Many folks do just that. <S> Will this affect the offer or make them reconsider whether they should hire me? <S> If might affect the offer - hopefully in a positive way. <S> If might make them reconsider if they should hire you. <S> Although that is rare, it does happen - usually when you price yourself out of their range. <A> Yes! <S> Generally the interview is there for both you and the hiring team to decide if you are a good fit for the position; not the time to negotiate salary. <S> If the team decides they want to hire you they will tell HR or the recruiter to make you an offer. <S> Now that you have an offer you have an opportunity to: a) accept it <S> b) decline it c) <S> negotiate a better offer Congratulations! <S> EDIT:to address your last question " <S> Will this affect the offer or make them reconsider whether they should hire me?" <S> This is situation dependent <S> but it is unlikely that trying to negotiate a better offer will make them reconsider hiring you; they may not agree to a higher salary <S> but i think it is unlikely they would revoke the outstanding offer based on your attempt to negotiate. <A> You could also flat out reject the offer. <S> As that would be a waste of time for both parties, negotiating is the next best alternative.
| If you feel it is too low, or that it could be improved upon, make them a counter-offer.
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Why would a recruitment agent want a face to face interview? As part of the software development industry some things are standard. Asking about your experience, skills, projects you have worked are usually expected. Job agents aren't technical people so a technical test is less common (unless they have someone they use to gauge your skills). But I just got hit with a strange request. A job agent who I had a phone chat with wants to meet me in person. We already went over the usual questions so I don't understand what I can offer in person that I can't over the phone. When I said I am unavailable for this she then insisted we do a "skype chat". I am an experienced developer and the last time I was asked to do this was 15 years ago when I was fresh out of college. Is this common and what can I expect might be the motive? <Q> I would say this is a good sign. <S> Remember that your recruitment agent has to deal with hundreds of candidates. <S> If he is investing the time to get to know you in person, you must already have done some things right. <S> Now why would he do this, there are several possible reasons. <S> For example: He wants to test your soft skills. <S> He wants to explore what your long term career goals are, to maybe get better offers to you in the future. <S> He has had bad experiences in the past, with forged documentation, identity theft etc. <S> He wants to build a connection with you, as he knows good IT staff is always in high demand. <S> He just prefers to do business in a more personal style. <S> I'd recommend to always go for the personal meeting if possible. <S> Who knows what future options you'll open up if you make a personal impression. <S> Right now you are just a file to them! <A> I've had this a few times, and every time it was just because the recruiter wanted to know who they were dealing with so they'd be better able to place me. <S> There are lots of things you can learn from talking face-to-face with someone, that don't come across in a phone interview. <S> Sometimes it really helped them find great positions for me to interview at. <S> Sometimes it didn't. <S> But the motives were the same every time. <A> Not Australia, but Singapore; all the answers given are valid reasons. <S> For some socially challenged people who deal with computers all the time ( eg. <S> software developers & system administrators ); we skin-jobs can be a bit hard to relate to. <S> Even if we are humans as well. <S> A face to face can quickly give the recruiter a good look at how someone deals with new people. <S> It could also be a good time for some quick coaching on how to get the job. <S> And a few little pointers to brush up on your presentation skills. <S> Just remember, the recruiters only get paid if You land the job. <S> BTW... <S> I speak from experience, as I was the one getting schooled! <S> Feel free to laugh along with me <A> There's a large issue right now with a candidate getting a stand in for him and then someone else shows up for the job. <S> Whats going on here is that this recruitment agent wants to make sure that you're first of all willing to even have a face to face really validate that you are who you are
| If he recommends you to an employer, he wants to be sure you will fit there, socially.
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How to handle Senior developer speaking bad over new colleagues I face the issue that one of the Senior developers and actually one of the first employees of the company is regularly speaking bad over new-joiners. First of all it's important to understand, that we make all recruitment decisions together, to actually get the buy-in of every employee for a new colleague. Unfortunately, it has repeated now several times that the mentioned senior developer speaks bad about them in terms of their knowledge, speed and motivation after several weeks. It's of course true that the new employees are not as fast as the people who're already in the company for 2 or 3 years, that's normal and they need time even with a proper onboarding to understand the whole system and also feel safe enough to do critical changes. How would you handle this situation in terms of the senior developer, but also how to support the new employees better as it seems like they don't get enough support from the senior developer, based on their feedback. Best. <Q> It appears that you're dealing with what is known as a " Curse of Knowledge " problem. <S> The senior staff person isn't able to relate to others who don't share his comprehensive knowledge of your workplace. <S> He lacks the empathy to see things from the point of view of others who simply don't know what he knows. <S> This happens a lot in places where expertise is highly valued but is understood to be a trait that is found rather than cultivated. <S> In such places it is easy to mistakenly assume that someone who is highly skilled will also be a good mentor/teacher. <S> Those are entirely separate skills. <S> What you do depends on how many resources are available to you, but I think the best thing would be to give the responsibility of "on-boarding" and evaluation to someone else who can relate better to the new employees (even if that person isn't the best in terms of knowledge). <S> That could backfire, of course, but he at least would have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and become a much better mentor for new folks. <A> Is (he|she) concerned that individual workload will be increased because of the need for mentorship or training? <S> There could be some internal or external pressure and as a result, the developer is lashing out, either consciously or subconsciously. <S> For example, if there is a deadline to hit or specifications that need to be completed, and the senior developer is also working with bringing junior developers into the fold, can you work with the senior to ensure that there are reasonable expectations or SLAs in place for some of the other work? <S> A key role of a senior developer is to mentor and guide more junior ones, but if that is being done without a reduction of other responsibilities, it could be a reason for the attitude. <A> I would start by talking about the issue with him, trying to align your concerns with his. <S> Does he see something you don't see? <S> Do you see something he doesn't see? <S> Is he aware that the new people will not feel welcome because of his behaviour, making it more difficult to them to adapt and be a productive member of the team? <S> Or are you not aware of how bad they are, and he can provide examples that are strong enough to make you consider the fact that maybe the new employees are actually not good enough to stay? <S> This question can not have a specific answer, but consider that high quality software developers like to work with high quality software developers. <S> Be careful choosing bad developers over good developers. <S> Also, be careful choosing toxic good developers over nice average developers. <S> You have a tough situation. <A> Your company's culture is defined by the worst grievances that are permitted. <S> If you do not act, or act only privately, your employees (junior, senior, and management) are going to believe it's a place where seniors can treat juniors like dirt. <S> While keeping quiet and hoping that things blow over might seem like a good idea, it is important to remember that silence is consent. <S> At a minimum, I'd lightly reprimand the senior dev, and ask him to apologize to the junior after making the senior developer aware of the company culture he is promoting and getting his support for promoting a better company culture . <S> If he repeats, you now have a documented broken agreement. <S> It can sometimes be hard for people to change in certain ways. <S> I'd give him a few more mistakes in this manner, using the same approach. <S> Eventually you'll find out if the senior dev is going to change, and if he's attempting it. <S> From there, you'll probably have built up more experience and a better plan than I could offer here. <A> These things tend to sort themselves out over time. <S> Either you take the senior seriously and start disciplining people, or you don't. <S> What usually happens is he gets a rep for being a cantankerous chap and people work around that. <S> I've met plenty like him who are very valuable employees and perform excellently under pressure and when they do dispense a bit of praise to a junior it makes their day. <S> But when you get one like that that is NOT good at their job, then you get rid of them, they're bad for morale because there is no respect for their skills. <S> You may have to do this periodically.
| You can mitigate it somewhat by having a quiet word with him to take it a bit easier on the juniors, if you do, make it private. Alternatively, the senior person could be assigned a more intense onboarding role where the success of onboarding becomes one of his key performance measures. I would definitely pull (him|her) aside and try to get to the motivation behind the questions.
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How to apologise for how i said things but not the content? A colleague of mine has gets on my nerves, half because of the way she does things, half because of the way I'm wired. Recently she brought up an issue which I think was just a waste of time and an artifact of a derailed process, and also she negleted an, IMHO, really important issue. My response was bad. I responded with irritation and then snarkyness about other things that were also bothering me. This eventually drew in one other coworker and our manager and I'm really sorry they had to endure all this irritation between us going back and forth. Edit : This happened in the late afternoon in an open-plan office when most of our co-workers had gone. We were 'arguing' (restating our positions in increasingly irritated voices) for about 10 mins and then the other 2 joined in for another 10 - 15 mins. In the end we reached an agreement on what needed to be done, with the help of the other two. I would like to clear the air (maybe gauge if the air needs clearing first) between myself and said colleague and maybe also apologise to my other coworker and manager. The way a handled it was counter-productive. I still feel i'm right though, so I want to apologise for my handling of the situation without taking back the content of what I said. There is a vaguely related question on the inter personal skill forum, but my question is about a workplace setting. <Q> Don't overthink it. <S> Keep it short. <S> Your choice on wording but along the lines of 'Sorry about xxx time <S> , I was having a bad day and got a bit out of line. <S> I didn't mean it how it sounded.' <S> Most adults would take this the right way. <A> I would approach them, maybe make casual conversation. <S> If they seem like they're upset, apologize for the way you reacted to the situation. <S> I would also keep in mind, for whatever reason, your colleague thought it was important to bring up that issue and though you believe it was a "waste of time", they didn't. <S> In these moments you should listen <S> then politely and concisely disagree and/or make your point. <S> The moment you begin to be "snarky" is the moment your colleague stops listening to the point that you're trying to make. <A> It would be best for you to start with an apology and learn from this experience. <S> If you have a bad relationship with a collegue, do not bring it to the workplace comment on the person's ideas not the person that way you will have more sucess in the workplace. <S> thanks,Yun Fei Chen
| Next time you see her just apologise for your tone.
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How to communicate co-worker sharing company code on GitHub I'm a software developer at a well-known financial company. My team consists of three junior software developers, and our team lead has taken more of the manager, hence there is really no supervision on the quality of the code. About six months ago, we were asked to work on a relatively large project and decided to get the help of another team. We instantly regretted collaborating with the other team due to their attitude, work ethic and lack of communication. I think they probably feel the same about us, but that's a different story. We divided responsibilities (different applications/different code sources that work together as one, basically micro-services) and until about a few weeks ago one of the best developers of the other team (I am not going to hide it but she is very smart) was talking to us about a number of her GitHub repos and their stars. I saw she has a lot of repos, to the point that she is like full-time open source project contributor. Fast forward to last week, I saw she has contributed to the application and that wasn't her responsibility, but I saw she deleted a lot of code, and added a reference an external package to replace them. I got curious and I saw all the code that was deleted is in her personal GitHub. We confronted her recently and she got very aggressive but she argued that we use random people's open source library and it's not different. I am concerned that not only this behavior will not professional but we dangerous as it paves the day for hackers to find security holes because a lot of security utilities codes are also shared in her public GitHub. By quickly glancing her GitHub, I see a lot of code that is obvious that it has been taken from the company. I will have a 1-1 meeting with my manager in a few days, and I am wondering what should I exactly say. Is this behavior professional? is it even legal? I don't want to be responsible for someone else's actions. Update : I sent an email to the manager and requested a few minutes of 1-on-1 meeting to explain the situation. She got fired immediately after the meeting. The manager said it is too late to take back the code and the company will not attempt to take back the code. <Q> You definitely need to tell your manager this, as this is (unless she has gotten permission and you don't know about it) <S> a major issue that needs to be stopped immediately. <S> It's virtually certain she'll be fired, but that's not your problem. <S> It's not bad to open source internal utilities and then use them <S> - we do it - but that's a decision that requires management and legal signoff, not to be done at the whim of a given developer. <S> Don't editorialize - just say " <S> Hey boss, so I noticed it looks like Smartypants1 has been taking chunks of company code and posting them publicly on github, that seems unusual <S> and I thought you should know. <S> " If he's like "it's fine we let any senior devs do that" then that's the way it is. <S> He won't. <S> When he/people in your company authorized to investigate this (not you) look into it, they’ll determine what happened and the right course of action. <S> Your responsibility starts and ends with passing on what you’ve seen as something likely to be an issue. <A> Email your boss immediately with links to this developer's "contributions" to your company's private repo, and links to their public library. <S> Say that you think something is odd, but then let your boss handle it. <S> Don't talk to the other developer any further on this issue. <S> Side note: it is one thing to use libraries of other developers, or even of company developers who build those libraries outside of work. <S> It is quite another thing for a developer to take code from their company and claim it as their own (without permission) <A> The code is the intellectual property of the company, not of the developer creating said code. <S> That means the company is the only one who can decide to share the code. <S> All work contracts I ever saw (I work in central Europe) always contained at least an entire paragraph about any and all code belonging to the company. <S> Using Code that the owner decided to share (open source) is OK, but publishing code without the explicit permission of the owner is illegal. <S> They might give her a written warning and have her remove the code immediately, but they might as well terminate her without notice. <S> The important detail here is that you become an unwilling accomplice if you don't report her. <A> Yes, it is unprofessional, and depending on your contract even illegal. <S> You should not wait until your meeting but take immediate action and contact your manager. <S> This is not only theft, but a high risk for the project altogether. <S> Imagine if she deleted the repository your product relies on. <S> Sure, the code is still on your version control, but you'd have to search for the deleted code and it is uncertain there weren't any additions in the meantime.
| You have to report the developer to your manager and let them decide on the concequences. Taking code from a company is equivalent of stealing (even if you wrote this code yourself). Do not wait for the one-on-one!
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How can a back end or full stack developer highlight their portfolio site is only meant to showcase their work? As a back end or full stack developer, one may want to have a portfolio site that showcases their other work. However, not everyone wants to design or build a portfolio site. Is it ok to use a template (like a generic bootstrap template) for a portfolio site? Is it ok to use a service like wix or squarespace? How does one highlight that the portfolio site is showcasing their work but is not intended to be judged as their work? <Q> The quality of your portfolio site will affect the perceived quality of your work Regardless of whether you are a physics engineer, back-end programmer or any other discipline (even those unrelated to development) - the quality of anything you show to a potential employer will influence their opinion of you. <S> This is obviously different from the way it will influence their opinion if you were actively seeking a design or front-end role. <S> That is, you do not need to have a site with all the bells and whistles, or otherwise outstanding. <S> But the quality will affect how the word within it is percieved. <S> As a back-end programmer, I'd recommend either: Using a templated site that is clearly a template, but makes your work clear and easy to assess. <S> Give direct access to a source repository that holds your projects. <S> Although counter intuitive, in my experience - if you cannot create a solid website yourself, you are far better to make this clear (by choosing a template that is visually obvious as a template). <S> This way, you separate the mental judgement of your personal work/skills from judgement of the site you've used to hold it. <S> By doing this, you remove yourself even further from the judgement of the host site - it's very clear what is your work, and what isn't. <S> On an additional note, using a site like Github also enforces the fact you understand these tools and are comfortable working in a technical-facing environment. <S> If you do choose to do this, ensure your work is well organised and easy for a non-technical person to download. <A> I think it's fine to use a template if you're not trying to pass it off as your own. <S> I think that's especially helpful for a more back-end focused developer who is trying to highlight the functionality of their work as opposed to the aesthetics. <A> I think you're better off using GitHub, or similar. <S> That said, a well structured website can act as a good calling card, or sign post people to other places such as GitHub, LinkedIn etc.
| The more simple, and clear a template you can find, the better. Taking that to the extreme, it can also be beneficial to just present your work on a web-accessible source control platform (such as Github).
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Boss asked me to comment on friend's abilities I am a student researcher pursuing an internship (thesis, actually) at a research institute in Germany. I have been working here for a few months now. One of my friends had asked me about my experience here. I told him the truth that I was enjoying my work and learning a lot. So, he also decided to apply for a position under my supervisor. Interestingly, my friend told me that he was primarily interested in this opportunity because it was in Germany and he was mainly interested in travelling and partying. Recently, upon receiving his application, my supervisor asked me whether I knew this person (my friend) and if so requested me to comment on his technical abilities. My supervisor made this request because he saw that my friend and I were from the same class at the same university. I am in a fix now. As a friend, I don't want to spoil my friend's chances of getting a fair shot at this opportunity. At the same time, in all good faith, I cannot recommend him to my supervisor because I have worked with my friend previously and know his technical skills are not great. Add to this the fact that he said he is only coming here to party (if he says it, he means it). I have considered simply telling my supervisor that I don't know him, but in case my friend gets selected or is simply called for an interview, there is a pretty good chance that he will mention to my boss that he and I are good friends and I was in fact the one who told him about this position. Any ideas? What is the "ethically" correct thing to do? I know this is subjective but I am too close to the issue and would like to know what others think about it. EDIT: I have only worked with my friend on a college project (although which was in a closely related field as this job) - what if that's not a real indicator of his skills? What if he was slacking off then and didn't take the project seriously due to some valid reason? I feel the fairest way to judge his abilities would be for my boss to call him for an interview, and am uneasy judging a candidate's abilities due to my own lack of experience in the field. Vouching for him could hurt my reputation later if he does not perform well (which I think is likely), but at the same time hurting his chances seems unfair to me because I do not feel experienced enough to judge his performance, given that he is my peer - it would have been easier if I had to judge a junior hire, for instance. <Q> What is the "ethically" correct thing to do? <S> When confronted with similar situations, I always told the hiring manager that the person was my friend, but that I didn't know his/her professional abilities. <S> That was always the truth. <S> When stated bluntly, without any platitudes about the applicant, the hiring managers usually got the message. <S> Sometimes they went ahead with an interview anyway, usually they didn't. <S> None got hired. <S> In your case, you were specifically asked about his technical abilities. <S> And you have worked with him so you have some sense that "his technical skills are not great". <S> That's the truth and that's what you should say. <S> Leave off the partying aspect, you don't really know how that would play out. <S> Then trust your manager to do a decent job interviewing. <S> As a hiring manager, I always made a point of bringing in friends of folks I worked with as potential hires whenever it made sense. <S> I consider that a great way to find new hires, and also a professional courtesy. <S> But I always asked the coworker first. <S> Most times I got glowing reviews about the friend. <S> When I didn't that always stood out. <A> You could always just tell your boss the truth and then ask him not to mention your input to your friend as a personal favour. <S> Edit for clarity: <S> The Reason I would go this route, is that it would protect my professional reputation from being tarnished due to recommending an individual with poor performance. <S> At the same time, asking your boss not to mention your input protects the relationship you have with your friend. <S> This route may seem a bit callous, because I guess it kind of is. <S> But it is definitely the safest route from a self-protection perspective. <S> Of course, if you have a particularly close relationship with this friend of yours you may feel that this isn't something you want to consider, due to any guilty feelings you may hold afterwards <A> Recommending someone who turns out to be a bad employee will not only reflect on you (get tarred with the same brush, as the saying goes), but also will directly impact YOUR workload. <S> You get to be honest without having to go into details. <S> Additionally, I would recommend you consider what a 'friend' is. <S> Would you invite this person to your wedding? <S> Do you intentionally keep in touch with them? <S> If you can't say an enthusiastic 'yes' to either or both of those questions, this is just an acquaintance and there is not going to be any issue if the job goes to 'a more qualified candidate.' <A> If you recommend someone and they are a bad hire, that most definitely reflects on you. <S> You do not want to use up political capital on someone who you really shouldn't recommend, no matter how much they want a job. <S> In fact, a real friend would not ask you to. <S> You need to tell the boss that you've only worked with him on a project, but based on that very small sample size, you can't recommend him. <S> Boss is welcome to interview him, if he wishes, and make his own assessment. <S> You won't stand in his way, but don't give him a boost he doesn't deserve. <A> First off, I think Jason's answer is the correct course. <S> It might feel shitty <S> (it's a shitty situation all around, really) <S> but it's the option that protects you the best. <S> If your friend is really the easy-going party animal <S> you think he might be, he's more likely to get over your "betrayal" than your supervisor is. <S> Taking into consideration your edit, I'd like to add a bit more: I have only worked with my friend on a college project (although which was in a closely related field as this job) <S> - what if that's not a real indicator of his skills? <S> What if he was slacking off then and didn't take the project seriously due to some valid reason? <S> If this is really how you feel, then this is what you should tell your supervisor. <S> To wit: <S> "In my experience, So-and-So can be somewhat lax and tends to focus on partying more than studying, however , I've only really done one serious school project together with him, so I could be mistaken about his abilities. <S> I think you should interview him for yourself to see what you make of him." <S> Assuming your supervisor is any kind of professional, he probably wouldn't repeat your feedback to your friend anyway, but you could always ask him not to, to be sure.
| The "ethically sound" way to respond is to say that based on the admittedly limited experience you had working with him on a project, you don't think he would be a good fit for the team.
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Providing potential employer with source code for something I made but isn't publicly available I've been interviewing for a QA position with a software company. I had spoke about an (Android) app I have been making and they asked to see the source code. I told them it's not publicly available (in the sense it's not on Github) as the app contains sensitive information like my address and ssn. They said I can redact/remove it, and I think that should be fine. My only concern is, is there something I'm not thinking about giving a software company an app that isn't publicly available? I have no reason to assume this but I wouldn't want them to steal my work or ideas. Also in the future I may decide to publicly release the app (probably open source and free). They asked me to email them the source code, should I use any "legal language" in the email? Should I simply say "please don't share this with anyone?" or what? The app itself is nothing fancy, it basically helps me to fill out a form I have to keep filling out. <Q> Remove your PII, add information in the ReadMe to indicate you are the author and that all rights belong to you. <S> I'm sure there are some great examples online. <S> If you don't feel like this is a conflict of interest for them (like, no red flags about the ethics or morality of the company as a whole or the people who interviewed you specifically), you can see this as a similar exercise to a 'take home test' that all candidates might get where they are expected to submit code based on a specific topic the company provides. <S> My guess is that they're looking to see if the code is well-written and that you laid out the app in a way that makes logical sense. <A> The app itself is nothing fancy, it basically helps me to fill out a form I have to keep filling out <S> and how many millions would they make if they rip you off, change direction and reposition themselves for the enormous form-filling market, leaving themselves wide open for a lawsuit when you prove ownership of the code? <S> Sorry, that is meant to sound humorous and not offensive, but hopefully will let you see that your fears are unfounded. <S> Give them the code, or - if you are still concerned - just the main file, without the actual class files that do the work. <S> That ought to be enough, but I think that you 100% worried about nothing. <S> Btw, if you also have unit tests, give them those; if I saw that, or that you had any design documentation, it would really swing it for me & you would have the job. <A> Sometimes, companies ask for code on a subject of their own and ask you to work on it. <S> After that, an interview is planned in which you can argue arround implementation. <S> IMO, asking for a new interview (even remotly) where you can show code and explain why you did this or why you did <S> that is way more relevant than just providing your code. <S> You'll then be able to show your work, explaining your choices. <S> This is kind of a code review and will prevent the interviewer to miss details/misjudge your work.
| They just want to see if your code is modular, well structured, well commented where necessary, has meaningful variable names and that sort of thing.
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How to write a resume with a 10 year gap 2008 challenged my survival after being laid-off. Three gravely ill family members required me to care for them, sadly until they passed away. Making a few attempts to start a home business and presently I'm struggling with formatting/ writing an eye-catching resume. How can I explain a 10-year gap on my resume? <Q> How can I explain a 10-year gap on my resume? <S> When asked you explain what you did during those 10 years. <S> You cared for three gravely ill family members and you attempted to start your own businesses. <S> There's nothing to be ashamed about and nothing to hide. <S> You can go into more detail in a cover letter if you wish, but not in a resume. <A> Simple: you don't have a gap on your resume. <S> What you put in your resume is... what you were doing at that time. <S> I'd format it slightly differently (maybe italicised?) <S> to make it clear that it's unpaid and therefore different to my other experience. <S> Carer for terminally ill family members 2008 - 2016 <S> I took a career break to care for three terminally ill family members <S> You can even add what you learnt in this "role" if you like. <S> This has helped me to deal with working under pressure and has taught me patience and perseverance <S> For running your own business, put that too. <S> It's a business, not unpaid work, so you can put it as any other job Small business owner 2016-2018 <S> I ran multiple home businesses. <S> From these I gained an understanding of bookkeeping, planning/logistics and consumer legislation <S> Basically, it's the same principle as when you applied for your first "real" office job: you included being the treasurer of your university sports team, and stacking shelves at your local supermarket, as they demonstrate a few basic skills and show that you weren't just lounging on the sofa watching TV all day. <A> As a recruiter my fear with someone with a so long career gap would be that he or she has lost some work habit and some technological skill (if applicable), requiring a longer time to adapt. <S> You don't need to explain why you didn't work in that time in CV or cover letter, but having recent activity, training or projects to relate would certainly help getting hired.
| On your resume, you just leave the gap in place.
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How to deal with colleagues who laugh at me when I study something? I want to advance my knowledge of algorithms and data structures, and sometimes I study them at work when there's nothing to do, because I usually do things fast and no one needs my help. A lot of times when 2 of my colleagues go and have their smoke break, they approach me, see some math symbols on my computer and start laughing. This annoys the heck out of me, because I don't understand what they're laughing at. Like they laugh, and go away talking about this, probably saying: "Oh, he's studying algorithms again". How do I deal with this situation? I want to stop them from laughing at me. <Q> How do I deal with this situation? <S> Why do you care? <S> These folks either don't care about what your doing or more likely t <S> hey don't understand how difficult what your studying is. <S> Ignore <S> this trivial teasing as its a waste of your time and energy. <S> As you progress in life, people are going to tease you over something. <S> People who are weak or <S> just plain jerks will find something. <S> The trick is to not care . <S> Short answer: <S> Ignore it <S> , these people are not close friends or family . <A> There's an old saying, "The smarter you are, the dumber you sound to stupid people." <S> These people are going on a "smoke break? <S> " <S> I think you have your answer. <A> Of course they are laughing because they feel inadequate. <S> One day they will grow up. <A> Yes. <S> Tell them it's rude, tell them to not do it. <S> If its within earshot of others <S> so much the better, as there are negative social connotations to being rude, so it is added pressure to stop it. <A> I see three issues here: <S> Your coworkers crossing the line in evaluating what you personally are doing with your time and being condescending about it. <S> Ignore this <S> Your coworkers looking at your monitor and commenting on it. <S> if you have confidential information on the screen from time to time, talk to your boss about a more private location of you monitor <S> You not getting credit for your good use of the free time which you have at work. <S> This one is straightforward. <S> The next time you see a chance to use the additional knowledge, the use it. <S> There are many occasions where basic knowledge of algorithms will tell you that a certain order of computational time is not ok, then tell your boss which book you recommend
| Most people don't realise when they're being rude, so simply telling someone "that's a really rude thing to do, please stop it" is very effective. If someone finds cigarettes more entertaining than maths, you should feel sorry for them, not be annoyed or upset.
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Should I delete certain academic credentials from my resume? I graduated from my master's program in International Relations just four months ago in May. I went to a top-10 school for my field of study in the US. I am still in the process of looking for employment, but to no avail. Apparently, the US job market is very tight with seemingly many available job opportunities. The problem is that for the jobs that I am interested in, I lack experience because most to all of them require at least a certain number of years of experience. However, for other jobs that should be seemingly easy for me to get, I am overqualified. I got rejected by jobs that I am overqualified for too, such as a cashier position among many other rejections. I know that misrepresenting academic credentials are seen as the worst offense on the job seeker's part, but oftentimes the case that person is dishonestly boosting academic credentials. Would it be okay for me to omit my master's program and undergraduate graduation date (just listing my undergraduate education) from my resume? I realize that my current lifestyle as a job seeker is unsustainable in the long run. <Q> Short answer: <S> You can put whatever you want on your resume, as long as you're not lying about experience and education you don't have. <S> So, sure, you can remove that section of your education. <S> You can choose to share whatever information you feel is directly relative to how you want to present yourself as a candidate . <S> It's not illegal to omit things like that. <S> Longer answer: <S> I've worked with a specific type of individual as a career coach for a while now, and though you are not one of them, that short answer is similar to the response I give some of their questions. <S> I follow my own advice, even: I transitioned from being a flight attendant to a full-stack developer by going to bootcamp, then further niched down into UX Design. <S> For my first job in tech, I had my experience listed as Flight Attendant (and I even included my three years as a nanny), so I could include relative experience that would make me appear as desirable a candidate as I possibly could. <S> It was a hilariously terrible resume, but I got in the door and really showed how smart I was in the interview. <S> I got a chance and I proved my worth. <S> For my second job, I dropped all the references to previous jobs, and focused on the direct experience I got in the first job and all the freelance work I did. <S> My resume was technically shorter and covered less time, but was directly relevant to the job I wanted to get. <S> tl;dr - Present yourself as you want to be received and tailor your resume to get the job you want. <S> You want an interim job that just pays the bills while you get more experience? <S> BE THAT YOU. <S> You want to add the master's to your resume and get a job in your field after you get some experience? <S> BE THAT YOU. <S> You got this. <A> Would it be okay for me to omit my master's program and undergraduate graduation date (just listing my undergraduate education) from my resume? <S> Yes, you can tailor the resume any way you choose by omitting any facts. <S> Removing the end date from your undergraduate education may be problematic though. <S> When I see such a resume, I might wonder why the candidate didn't graduate. <A> Direct Answer: <S> If you depart a previous employer on bad terms, that sort of thing is often recommended. <S> A resume is a representation of you. <S> You cannot directly lie, but you can adjust your resume to better fit different positions. <S> Always use discretion - if they ask you in an interview if you attended college the conversation could become awkward. <S> Long Answer <S> When hiring for entry-level positions, your main goal is to reduce turnover. <S> Take the person who can get on their feet the quickest, and the person who is most likely to stay in that position for the longest time. <S> They are looking for grunt work - and that is all (99% of the time). <S> For short-term entry-level positions do not feel bad that skirted some courtesies to get the job. <S> Turnover is incredibly high and employee investment is incredibly low. <S> Knowing that - DO NOT give the employer ANY indication that you might be a flight risk. <S> Be as boring as possible. <S> These are the people they want to hire. <S> Side Note: <S> If you need to pay bills then you should try to find any work you can. <S> But do not give up seeking jobs in your field just because you have not succeeded. <S> Getting your foot in the door is getting half-way to where you want to be. <S> Market yourself, get new contacts, participate in college research projects or clubs, do some web blogging on current topics. <S> Stay evolved and active in that community. <S> Also in the U.S. very shortly you will see "Seasonal" job openings. <S> These are usually very easy-to-get temporary positions that sometimes offer over-time and could be a great way to earn some income. <S> Usually employers will ask a few of the best temps to stay on-board with them after the holiday season.
| Of course you can omit any experiences / education you wish from your resume.
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Should I worry I was hired but not staffed yet? I was hired a couple of months ago with a permanent contract as a senior software engineer for a company that operates as a software development agency. They hire engineers who then do work for the agency's clients at a billed rate. I was briefed on my 2nd day about a project where I was told I am a candidate for the role, but there was a delay of many weeks until I was interviewed by the client who then rejected me for a matter of specific skills I don't have. Another client refused me as a candidate because I lack experience in their specific field (however, my company thought this was not rational as an excuse). My boss gave me a task I believe to be "busy work," possibly because he felt I was bored. The task was not my domain of expertise, so I had to abandon it. Right now, I am working on an interesting project with a different manager, but it doesn't feel like a formal arrangement. They are planning to deploy this project, however, as the first version seems promising. I am very well paid, so I worry that I "cost too much" and I am afraid they will not want to have a senior engineer doing work that is not directly billable to clients for a long period of time. Should I worry and make a plan B? Or should I trust that they know what they are doing? <Q> Have you spoken to your manager about this? <S> A good way to approach it would be to ask what the next appointment might be so you can start preparing by filling any skill gaps etc and ask him how you can add value. <S> Anything else is speculating and making yourself worry. <S> Having said that it might be wise to be open to other opportunities just in case they don't have anything in the pipeline. <A> Should I worry and make a plan B? <S> You should always have a plan B . <S> As a software engineer you will not work for just one company during the course of your career. <S> Your immediate concern might be alleviated by having a conversation with your manager as this answer points out. <S> solarflares answer <S> Or should I trust that they know what they are doing? <S> You have only been there a couple months . <S> Give them some more time, but pay attention to what I said about a plan B. <S> If you are still uneasy in another month or so start looking around, as I have found it is always easier to find a job while employed. <A> It seems your biggest concern is whether you will be laid off in the short term but probably you should concern more about getting rust. <S> Once I was in a company that didn't have another project for me, I asked for something but only got Small tasks and eventually I was asked just to wait, so I tried to help other projects and was told I shouldn't do that. <S> Anyway, I got bored of doing nothing and quit for a better job where I learned tons of great stuff leveraging myself for a way better salary. <A> I assume you are working for a kind of consultancy. <S> It's not a good news if you aren't staffed for months, but it's not always a bad news. <S> You should: <S> Talk to your manager <S> Discuss with them <S> your situation (e.g. in summer and in December/January just a few projects begin, so not so many new people are needed, which is why your situation may be normal) <S> Discuss what your chances to get staffed are and ask whether there is something you can do to grow your chances <S> e.g. get some new skills. <S> Act
| appropriately: Search for a new position if you're tired of waiting or wait if you can.
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Senior staff member hinted at a promotion to a new position I work in a support role in an expanding company. While I was working, a more senior staff member I've never met before came to me and said there is likely to be a new role soon in a higher position, and told me about it and asked whether I could do it. We wear different uniforms depending on our role and area in the company, so that's how I know he is more senior. I have skills that I don't need for my position and I think the position he described would be more suitable, and I think there is no one else in my section who would be qualified to do that job. He asked whether I planned to continue working at the company for a long time, and I said I do. I told him I could do the job, and told him about my experience in similar roles. He said "great" and walked away. From a game theory perspective, I don't know whether he asked about whether I plan to stay at the company for a long time because he wants to find someone permanent for the new position, or whether he used the story of a new position to break the ice in preparation for finding out whether I plan to stay at the company for some other reason. Each seems equally likely to me, but maybe 1 is more likely than the other. My question is: what should I do now? Assuming there will be a new position and that he just wanted to make sure I wanted to stay with the company for a long time before offering it to me, should I just forget about it? If the new position is created and I'm the most suitable person for it, he or someone else will ask me again. If they find someone else for the position, I don't expect they would come and tell me that it has been filled, and I don't want to be waiting forever. Or should I ask him again after a few days? <Q> Each seems equally likely to me <S> Not if you consider energy spent. <S> Why would he talk to you for a long time if he only wanted to ask a simple question? <S> Why does a senior you've never met before suddenly take an interest in you? <S> You are probably considered for the position. <S> Talk to him in a week or so, but don't take anything for granted in the meantime. <S> Continue your life as normal. <A> Your description sounds like someone unknown to you came to you from an unknown department, told you some news and asked you a question before vanishing again in the mist of mystery. <S> I don't know which work-culture you are in but for this kind of matters, shouldn't there be manager, boss, other superior that you know and who would be responsible to talk to you about these things, instead of someone unknown? <S> what should I do now? <S> Without meaning to sound funny, the first thing you should do is: wonder who this mysterious unknown person is, what they know about you and why they came to exactly you . <S> Plus you should know if the news you were told is really true. <S> Find this out, find this person and show you are interested in what they said, or ask your boss about that. <S> This depends on your company structure. <S> If you know more about this <S> and you want to apply for this job, do what you need to do to apply for it. <S> I hardly can imagine that waiting for things to come is sufficient. <A> Try to find out who this manager is and what role they play in the business. <S> In my experience it is entirely possible that this person wants to offer you an opportunity to shine. <S> This happened to me may years ago. <S> An employee from the same company was getting a cross transfer to another department and approached me suggesting I apply for his outgoing job. <S> He said the applications for the position had closed but suggested calling his manager to see if they would accept a late application which fortunately for me they did. <S> Anyhow to cut a long story short I got the job over 90 other applicants. <S> :) <S> Good work and demonstrating your ability can pay off. <S> Clearly your efforts haven't gone unnoticed. <S> If it was me I'd apply for the job if you wanted it.
| You may have been recommended by your existing manager or possibly your good work has been noticed by others in the company.
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Interviewing someone for the job you applied for We had a managers job open in my department for someone retiring at the end of the year. Several external and internal candidates had applied and interviewed before I submitted my resume. I was given an internal interview with the supervising VP, but no clear indication on when they would hire to fill the position. A week after my interview I was asked to participate in an interview for another internal candidate from a different department. What should I read into that request? Was mine just a courtesy interview to get a pulse of the department? How should I proceed with the other candidates interview? Should I touch bases with the VP on my status as a viable candidate? <Q> You should assume that they haven't made a decision yet and are still interviewing people. <S> You should proceed with the other interview as if you were not applying for the position - be courteous, professional, etc. <S> You MAY want to remind someone (potentially the VP) that you have also applied and interviewed for the job, and want to make sure that no one would view you being part of the interview process as a conflict of interests. <S> Be careful with how that is worded, you don't want to come off sounding like you intend to cause problems in someone's interview. <A> A week after my interview I was asked to participate in an interview for another internal candidate from a different department. <S> What should I read into that request? <S> My guess is that it means you are no longer in the running. <S> It would be very odd to have someone interview a competitor. <S> But you can't know unless you ask - some companies have very odd (and sometimes competitive) interviewing processes. <S> Was mine just a courtesy interview to get a pulse of the department? <S> Probably not. <S> There are far more effective ways to get a pulse of the department. <S> It's unclear what kind of "pulse" this could provide. <S> How should I proceed with the other candidates <S> interview? <S> You should interview the candidate just as you would in any other situation. <S> Dig deep. <S> Be prepared to give your honest assessment. <S> Pretend like you never had any connection to the position. <S> Should I touch bases with the VP on my status as a viable candidate? <S> You definitely should do that before the other candidate's interview. <A> You actually can't interview other candidates since that would be a conflict of interest. <S> Just decline and explain that you shouldn't be in a position to give people a hard or unfair interview. <S> What it means is that your management isn't very thorough. <A> What should I read into that request? <S> Was mine just a courtesy interview to get a pulse of the department? <S> How should I proceed with the other candidates <S> interview? <S> I wouldn't read anything into this request right now without more information. <S> It's possible that the interview panel was set up by someone other that <S> the VP and didn't realize you also applied for the role. <S> Should I touch bases with the VP on my status as a viable candidate? <S> Definitely. <S> I would reach out to the VP to restate your interest in interviewing for the position and inquire about the status of your candidacy.
| You cannot know if your interview was just for courtesy or if you are still being considered.
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Is it normal for a prospective employer to require a reference from the applicants current supervisor? I was recently applying for a job in Australia, and it said It is a requirement that your most recent supervisor is nominated as one of your referees. Nominated referees may be contacted at any time during the recruitment and selection process. I don't want my current employer to know that I am applying for jobs elsewhere. Is this requirement normal? Can an applicant reasonably interpret "most recent supervisor" as the most recent supervisor that you are not currently working for? <Q> I would call them, explain that you're unwilling to use your current supervisor and offer a number of others as potential referees. <S> If they still don't want to budge, then just walk away - <S> that could just be the start of a whole string of unreasonable demands. <A> Could most recent supervisor possibly be interpreted as the most recent supervisor that you are not currently working for? <S> Yes, you're free to interpret it any way you want, and it's not very important at this stage <S> , it's just the application. <A> Interpretation—-I don’t see how that could be read as asking for your previous supervisor. <S> Legal—-If Australia is like the US they can ask for any reference they want, whether they will get it or not is another matter. <S> While it is not uncommon to get a reference from a current supervisor, it is also not uncommon for there to be difficulties with doing so. <S> A company demanding current supervisor is IMO being unreasonable. <S> Given that this is a job you haven’t even applied for, I would suggest just ignoring it and not applying. <S> Let them suffer the consequences of such an unreasonable demand.
| I'm not aware of any reason why it would be illegal (though I'm unfamiliar with Australian law), but there's also no reason why you have to play ball.
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How to tell boss about romantic relationship with coworker I recently started a romantic relationship with one of my coworkers. How do I best inform my boss about the situation? Background: Our relationship has been growing for ~2 months now, we're both very happy with it and consider it a long-term thing. We work in an IT-focused company in West/Central Europe. She's a normal employee without management responsibilities, I'm about 2 management levels above her. She's not working for me. She's in an adjacent group that my boss also manages, so my direct boss is one of her indirect bosses. <Q> How best do I inform my boss about the situation? <S> My goal is to inform my boss before this information reaches him via the grapevine. <S> We are often coming to the office together and leaving together, and every now and then spend time with other coworkers out-of-office. <S> People do/will notice something is going on eventually. <S> I'd like to be proactive about this and avoid the feeling I'm hiding things. <S> So you just talk with him. <S> Find a quiet, private time and say something like "Boss, I wanted you to know about this before you hear it through the grapevine... <S> " Listen to the reaction, and be ready to deal with the consequences, if any. <S> Honesty is often best. <S> You might want to do a bit of research about any company policy and local laws regarding this situation before your chat, in case it comes up. <S> And make sure your friend knows what you are about to do. <S> She has a stake in this and may well be more likely to face consequences than you. <S> You may wish to discuss which of you would leave the company if it should come to that. <A> I would first check your company policies to see if romantic relationships between coworkers are allowed. <S> There are many companies that due to reasons of potential conflicts of interest and or other reasons, company policy expressly discourages / prohibits romantic relationships between coworkers, especially management like yourself, dating a non management employee <S> If relationships between coworkers are allowed I would be very careful by first conducting yourself exactly how you would with her as with every other employee. <S> Do not show favoritism or bias with her that you would not with another employee. <S> I would also inform my boss as soon as possible. <S> This shows you are honest and transparent. <S> If I was your boss, I would very much prefer to have you disclose this relationship to me yourself than for me to potentially find out afterwards, and result in otherwise less than favorable consequences for both parties. <A> First off you need to understand the conditions of your employment. <S> If the organisation frowns upon personal relationships between employees then if you want the relationship to continue you have two options - Tell your boss as you have indicated above. <S> One of you should leave the company. <S> If there is no policy in place regarding personal relationships between employees, then it's nobody's business other than your own. <S> However should the company structure change and your partner shifts into the same department where either of you are responsible to report to the other you should be mindful of potential accusations of nepotism. <S> We can't help who we fall in love with, however in my experience business and personal relationships best blossom when the two are separated. <S> Just my 2c worth..... <A> I cannot think of any reason why you should tell him (or anyone else) about it. <S> Private/romantic life is nobody's business <S> and I wouldn't also care about any rumors. <S> You don't have to justify your private choices. <S> As long as this does not affect the work of anyone of you it's not important.
| Tell you manager clearly that you are in a romantic relationship with another employee and you will try your best to not let this relationship interfere with professional responsibilities. At work, you and her are both employees and should foremost put professional obligations first .
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I want to switch my career path to web development. How do I not start from square one again? I've been doing data engineering/science-type work (before they were even called that) and software engineering for over 10 years now, in fields like security, bioinformatics and engineering. I'd like to switch to web development. I find the web technology stack more interesting, I'd like to be more closely involved in end user experience, and I feel web development gives me a better chance to freelance and start my own firm/startup. How do I avoid starting scratch, career wise? If I didn't have a family, I'd take an entry level job anywhere that'd take me, but that is not very practical with a family. Should I concentrate on a niche skill such as security it visualization of data, so that I can transfer over things I already know? Should I concentrate on specific customer bases? For example, I'm quite familiar with the workflow of security analysts, data scientists, pharmaceutical researchers, etc. Or should I aim to be a generalist, at least initially, and go full stack? <Q> Are you sure? <S> Switching from a highly technical field such as bioinformatics to an amateur web development industry is unheard of, the other way is much more common! <S> Any web development job (junior, senior etc) is essentially "starting scratch" for you. <S> In data science, you generally work with PhD level workmates, whereas many web developers don't even have a university degree! <S> That'll be a big slump. <S> Let's say you're OK downgrading yourself. <S> Your strong data science experience should be a good reason for companies to hire you as a full-stack software engineer in a data-oriented company. <S> Your potential barrier is how to convince you're not over-qualified. <S> Gradually move from there to a specialised web developer. <S> ... <S> Data science/bioinformatics is a good area for freelancing... <S> There're really not many people who can do it well. <S> Going into web development freelancing is a guarantee that you will compete with cheap Indian contractors. <S> If your goal is to establish your company, going out of data science doesn't make any sense. <S> Please re-think. <A> I think you already have described a good way to get started... ... <S> Should I concentrate on a niche skill such as security it visualization of data, so that I can transfer over things I already know? <S> Yes! <S> Should I concentrate on specific customer bases? <S> For example, I'm quite familiar with the workflow of security analysts, data scientists, pharmaceutical researchers, etc. ... <S> Yes! <S> If you "start from scratch" and try to go in a generalist/entry-level direction, you will find yourself competing with an ocean of talent, all with similar skills, in a market where body-count matters more than individual contributors. <S> The advice you see on the blogs, twitter, and journals about "the hottest fields" are more geared to serve the interests of employers. <S> It doesn't matter what the most popular framework, language or skill-set is. <S> What matters to an individual is finding a niche where one can enjoy satisfying work that meets their specific needs (which is different for everyone, and changes over time). <S> The best thing you can do is to not throw away your previous experience, instead try to leverage it and challenge yourself with work or projects that pivot you into new areas. <S> One way to do this is to work for smaller companies or even start-ups where versatility is valued and where you can try different types of work out of necessity. <S> The trade off is stability, but at least you have a chance to try different things rapidly and see what makes you fulfilled. <S> It could be that you're in a rut with your current career and need a fresh start. <S> There's nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that it is QUITE POSSIBLE to make a switch into a new field and find that's <S> it's not as shiny and pleasant as it looks from the outside. <S> Do you <S> really want to keep up with the javascript train wreck until retirement? <A> This is a bit like a rocket engineer saying "I want to become an automotive engineer". <S> There is some knowledge overlap, and while you don't have to go back to high school, you will need some retraining. <S> However, in software, there is more of a spectrum than there is between rockets and cars. <S> Look for jobs in data visualisation - learn the stacks they use - then broaden out to general interfaces, if that is the direction you want. <A> If your aim is to freelance, then put feelers out for that while you have a reliable income. <S> Many people go this route to bypass the necessity of having qualifications and/or much experience as a professional in a field, or even just for extra $$. <S> Start small, make a good name for yourself and the sky is the limit. <S> Hardest part is getting the initial work, so best to do while you have a revenue stream already. <S> Do it cheaply and well and you will build a customer base. <S> Even doing years in a field and certifications out your ears doesn't guarantee you'll get any customers quickly. <S> Freelancing and salary work are very different in many ways. <A> Nowadays you can do it very easily via GitHub. <S> If you already know some web design then just build some cool website and show what you can. <S> I'm pretty sure you can think of some nice project that would let you use all your knowledge in this field and maybe learn something new too. <S> Check it in and add a link to it to your CV.
| If you can impress some people with your work then it'll be a piece of cake to get a new job. In order to not start from scratch you need to show your skills.
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Dealing with Poor Onboarding, Unrealistic Project Edit: this is a not a simple death-march question, because it involves newcomers to an organization and on-boarding. There is an urgent project involved and there is a question about frank feedback, but the project has not yet reached burn-out, overtime, undisciplined software engineering and other characteristics of a death-march. I recently joined a large enterprise as a senior software developer (I know that readers may not be software devs, so I've not mentioned much tech below). In the interview, I was well-spoken and confident. However, I can get quite anxious if not given the "on-boarding experience" that I would give to others. (By that, I mean that I would expect a senior dev to know tools of the trade, but not the specifics of the organization. I would pair a newcomer with a designated mentor for a few days, and spend a few hours at a whiteboard for an intro Q&A session. Perhaps this verges on "hand holding" but I argue that it is simply compassionate.) My first week was last week. Everyone is busy for a deadline. There is no mentor, no Q&A. I was given a document to setup software tools. There are snags, and I'm stuck. I have found other devs and have asked them via email. They are friendly but do not offer to come to my desk and help me for a few minutes. I'm getting quite anxious and nervous, to the point of losing sleep and going into work super-early to atone. On day 4, I was assigned to a new project that has an "aggressive schedule". The small team of developers are all new. I asked for an experienced contact (for questions) and was told there are no resources available. The dept director also said "let me know ASAP if this project starts to go off the rails". My inner voice noted that it is already off the rails . However, I stayed positive and said we would try our best. But I feel sick. (I had explicitly asked in the interview if the team was open to people asking questions, as I know I need that environment to thrive.) Do I mention my concerns to my manager, ASAP? Is it professional to state concern for (a) the project schedule (b) my productivity? Is it reasonable for a senior member of a team to have a mentor/contact for the practices of the organization? (I'm assuming I can't disclose my anxiety and freak-out factor, or that I could use some initial hand-holding). <Q> Yes, you should raise your concerns with your manager. <S> No matter how senior a developer is, it's completely unrealistic to expect the same productivity from a new ployee as from one who worked with the tools for a year and knows the processes. <S> And especially so if said new employee isn't given the slightest amount of on-boarding introduction. <S> Don't argue from your point of view, though. <S> Assume the POV of the company. <S> If this company has some certificate concerning quality management (as many big companies are wont to adorn themselves with), there should be a process and a plan to break in new employees. <S> Ignoring this plan and learning everything on your own wastes the time and money of the company because it's less efficient. <S> Same problem with asking questions. <S> You could research the solution to a problem for several hours or ask a colleague and be able to progress your work within 10 minutes. <S> If your team is not available due to deadlines, your manager should assign someone from another team to help you. <S> Assigning you to a project with a tight schedule is a risk to the project and the company. <S> Request a seasoned developer to be assigned in parallel to minimize the risk to the company. <S> (Personal oppinion, please don't quote in your argument) <S> Don't punish yourself (or "atone") for the mistakes of the company, they are not your own. <S> You can only atone for your own mistakes, unless you are Jesus ;) <S> Tell your manager honestly that you don't think the schedule is realistic. <S> In your experience as senior developer projects with a newly employed team lead have a tendency to take longer. <S> You're not familiar with the development process in this company yet and delayes have to be expected and calculated into the schedule. <S> If your manager gives you grief, you can call to mind that you were promised a company culture open to questions in your job interview. <S> You did your job by requesting an environment where you could learn most efficiently, now it's the managers responsability to provide what they promised. <A> My inner voice noted that it is already off the rails. <S> Then this is/was definitely the time to voice that concern. <S> You have legitimate concerns about delivery of the project from the outset, you don't need to feel bad about raising those with the key stakeholders - my advice is to go do so as soon as possible. <S> That's partly your job as a senior, after all. <S> Now of course, it could be that you raise these concerns and it turns out the project is not as complex as you anticipate for X, Y or Z reasons. <S> That's fine, nobody is going to call you out on raising a concern which turns out to be unfounded (especially not this early into a new role with a new team). <S> Generally people would rather you ask the question early and get a simple answer than not ask it until it's too late. <S> Go speak with the key stakeholders as soon as possible, highlight your concerns and also have a plan to offset your concerns (it sounds like one possible solution <S> may be that they swap an experienced dev on a different project with one of your new devs, at least for a few weeks, until everyone is up to speed). <S> If they ignore your concerns and the project is late, then that's not on you (and they shouldn't hold it against you, so long as you don't "I told you so" them about it - they likely had a business rationale behind ignoring your concerns, perhaps another project had priority). <S> If they ignore your concerns and somehow the project is delivered on time, that's great, they're not going to chastise you for worrying about delivery <S> , they'd rather have that than someone who is perceived to not care! <S> However, if you fail to raise your concerns and the project goes down, they plausibly can/will ask why you never said anything. <A> Most good companies have documented processes. <S> This may not be the case with some smaller startup companies that may not yet have many processes in place. <S> You mentioned that the company appeared to be very regimented which implies to me that it is highly process driven, and as such I would expect it to be well documented. <S> No doubt some sort of induction should have taken place so you are fully aware of your workplace conditions and more importantly who's who in the zoo. <S> Do not be afraid to ask questions and seek guidance from your superiors. <S> That's what they are there for. <S> Pointless having a manager if she / she doesn't manage.
| However in the same vein your roles and responsibilities should have been spelt out at the job application / interview stage where it might have been made clear if you are expected to show initiative and autonomy in your day to day work. If the company cannot spare more resources, the project cannot be that important.
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How to resign but leave door open I have led a department within a large US company over the last 10 years. About a year ago, I got a new boss, who is #2 in the company and has the power to make whatever decision he wants. He is from Germany and is extremely hard to read. He says he supports me and my department but his actions and comments say otherwise. It has gotten to the point where the stress of my perceived lack of support has made me look for another position. I have found another opportunity that seems like a good fit if I decided to leave my current employer. The role would be a slightly elevated role with a larger company. The pay is almost double but this really isn’t about pay. I am so miserable that I need him to be firm and vocal in his support of me with my peers (who seem to be piling on). I am ready to walk without significant changes. I realize this may all be a communication issue since the Europeans have a much different management style. He will tell me directly how valuable to the organization and I’m doing a great job. On the other hand, he will be extremely critical of me in front of my peers. It does not appear to me that he does this to any of his other direct reports. I feel like I could be asked to resign any day, but this also may just be a misunderstanding based on his style. I would want several changes to stay. Basically he could say all the right things to keep me - which he probably will, but I would want some type of employment contract to ensure he is serious when he says he supports me and is pleased with my performance. This is not an unreasonable request for someone at my level, although it is not standard. I really don’t want to leave, I enjoy the company, people and area, but I can’t live thinking everyday might be my last. My kids are at a horrible stage to move, which my new position would require. I can’t hurt my promotion chances since I am already as high as I will go in the company. Does anyone have advice on how I should resign, while leaving the door slightly open to discuss what it would take for me to stay? If he is unwilling, I am 100% ready to move to the next company. I would want to do this in a way that if he is willing to work with me, it would not jeopardize our future relationship. I also don’t want to leave the company on a bad note. This is a tough situation but I feel I have nothing to lose versus just turning in my resignation. Any advice? <Q> I can hear the pain in your description regarding your current position. <S> You are really taking the right steps regarding lining up a new position. <S> You should commit you mind and sanity to the new direction and the opportunity it presents after the 10 year stint that you have been through in your current role. <S> As others have stated the best way to address the resignation and moving on is to communicate that this about you and your desires to move your career in a slightly different direction. <S> There will be no real value to make any bad vibes about your current company or any of the people there. <S> Simply make a smooth move into the transition continuing to execute your current job to the best of your ability to the last day. <S> It has been my experience that once you set your path and mind on a transition that the best course of action is to not veer from that direction despite the possible incentives or counter offers that may be presented when you turn in your resignation. <A> It is very unlikely to happen. <S> My kids are at a horrible stage to move, which my new position would require. <S> Family well being is very important, so your choice is as much as your well being than your family well being. <S> I can’t hurt my promotion chances since I am already as high as I will go in the company. <S> So to reply to your question: How to resign but leave door open <S> You can leave on good term by saying : "after 10 years in the company I feel so lucky to have the chance to work with you and learn so much <S> and now I want to keep on learning that is why unfortunately I will leave this company <S> but i hope to come back one day." <S> This explanation is reasonable and everybody will accept it. <S> Don't mention your boss. <A> If I understood your question correctly you're NOT asking how to leave in good terms <S> but how to discuss this possibility . <S> Does anyone have advice on how I should resign, while leaving the door slightly open to discuss what it would take for me to stay? <S> Simply ask a 1:1 meeting with your boss and straight ask him: <S> You often praise me and my team but you often openly and publicly critiques my work. <S> I understand it might just be a culture clash <S> but I need to know if I should interpret this as an hint that I do not fit our company anymore or as a constructive critique. <S> Slightly stress the word publicly . <S> Be ready to clarify the reason behind your concerns, he may not be aware of these cultural differences. <S> I assume he is aware that there are differences between German and American cultures <S> and he is ready to change his behavior. <S> His management style won't - probably - change quickly <S> but if you're both aware of this then you'll both actively work to solve it.
| If you can't go up in your current company you can just say you leave to find new challenges, after 10 year at executive level it is normal to leave a company, it is healthy. I would want some type of employment contract to ensure he is serious when he says he supports me and is pleased with my performance
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Recommending previous coworkers while new I recently started a new software job in the US (less than a month ago) and want to know when and what is appropriate for recommending previous coworkers. My last company experienced a cultural shift recently (partially the reason for my leaving) and I know that many of my previous coworkers are looking for new work. My question has two parts: What is an appropriate amount of time to wait at the new job before recommending anyone? Is it unprofessional to recommend multiple people, each for a different job? <Q> Speak with your manager about this and see how that conversation goes. <S> If your own work is going well <S> and you have the right approach and mind-set <S> , there might well be a good reception to more from your same mould. <S> Speaking about it first and the subsequent discussion will help dispel any confusion about you mass-recommending all of your old friends to join. <A> What is an appropriate amount of time to wait at the new job before recommending anyone? <S> This is up to you and your performance . <S> If you have performed well and have earned the respect and trust of your team and your manager , I would say go for it. <S> If you're not certain of this, then I would advise against it. <S> Is it unprofessional to recommend multiple people, each for a different job? <S> You should show some restraint and caution here as if someone you recommend performs poorly, this will reflect on you too. <A> I would recommend waiting at least a year before doing this. <S> I've worked at places where I wanted to recommend former co-workers. <S> But over time, once the newness wore off, it turned out those places had a lot of problems, and my former co-workers probably wouldn't have been that appreciative to end up with a job there! <S> If after a year you still feel as good about the place as you do initially, then recommend them. <S> And by then you'll have had time to do good work and earn a good reputation.
| Once you have earned respect among your colleagues, this should be fine. There is no amount of time rule for this.
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Refusing a business trip of an indefinite length for personal reasons My company partnered together on a project with another company, located in another country. In the near future, there may be need to have co-location to expedite debugging of issues that may or may not come up. The other company wants me to travel to their site and stay there until the potential problems are resolved. This may be a week or could be months. I don't want to travel to this other country for many reasons. Among these are my safety concerns (this isn't a country known to honor women's rights exactly), the fact that I have a dog and a cat and plants that need to be cared for, the fact that I have a medical condition (MS) that has a tendency to flare up in times of stress, and the fact that I plainly don't want to be away for an indefinite amount of time. I have no one to leave my dog with. Yes, I could board him, but that's expensive and I think a little cruel. He's still a young pup. I think it's probably possible to have someone from the other company come here. I am also willing to shift my working hours to better match the other company. I will speak with my immediate supervisor about this further, but I was curious what a polite or politically correct way to approach this is? <Q> I will speak with my immediate supervisor about this further, but I was curious what a polite or politically correct way to approach this is? <S> You can always politely say that you aren't willing to travel. <S> Something like <S> "I'm sorry my personal situation is such that I feel I can't travel at this time. <S> I'd like to work together to find an alternative." <S> And then listen. <S> If asked, you can suggest having someone come to your office and/or changing your hours to match theirs. <S> And if your boss digs in and you are willing to do so, you can confide your reasons and counter any objections and proposed workarounds. <S> But be prepared for whatever repercussions might arise from such a declaration. <S> Many companies feel that they can ask an employee to travel when business needs dictate and expect the employee to comply. <S> And refusing can often hinder your situation within the company. <S> Sometimes it means you are simply not a good fit for the job. <S> I've done that at several companies. <S> At certain stages of my life, I traveled when it was required even though I would have preferred not to do so. <S> At other stages, my family situation dictated that I not travel. <S> In the latter cases, I simply told the company that I couldn't travel. <S> I know that I burned up some personal capital in doing so, but for me it was worth it. <S> I also left one job where I felt that regular travel would be required after a re-organization left me with a boss in a remote location and team members half way around the world. <S> Again, for me that was a deal-breaker. <S> Either way, decide ahead of time how rigid you wish to be and how far you are willing to go to avoid this travel. <S> Knowing that will make your discussions go more smoothly. <A> I think you need to look at this as "how can I justify this from a business point of view". <S> The fact that you have a physical medical condition that might require traveling home for treatment would also be a business reason to not travel indefinitely. <S> And of course being remote would mean that your co-workers would have more difficulty contacting you if they needed any information from you. <S> You can make a cold hard case that it makes more sense for your employer <S> that you remain home. <S> Being willing to adjust your work hours to match the partner company sounds like a reasonable approach: it saves money, and makes it possible for you to collaborate with your partners immediately, instead of playing the "email-tag". <S> If the partner company tries to insist that you travel, turn the discussion around. <S> You've already taken care of the major issue by saying you are willing to adjust your hours. <S> Ask what the other issues are and come up with solutions. <A> I will speak with my immediate supervisor about this further, but I was curious what a polite or politically correct way to approach this is? <S> Yes, a meeting with your supervisor is surely needed. <S> However, instead of phrasing it like <S> "I won't/can't go" <S> approach the situation by exposing your difficulties planning the trip (your pets, medical condition, etc.) <S> , so you can then work out how to coordinate and overcome them together. <S> Try to have this meeting as soon as you can, and consider starting with something like this: <S> Hey Mr. Supervisor. <S> I need to coordinate and plan on the possible upcoming trip with Client X, as I have some concerns about leaving, like ... <S> [list and expose all your doubts and difficulties here] <S> ... <S> I want to have your feedback and discuss how we can achieve a solution which would allow us to work closely with Client X. Chances <S> are that you will come up with a compromise and a solution that works for both parties. <S> Be sure to prepare in advance and know exactly what difficulties you need to sort out, as well as what alternatives you propose or what are you willing to commit to make this work. <S> Edit: <S> Seems you are really not willing to go. <S> In that case, I still suggest you approach it in a more constructive way, by exposing the difficulties and issues you have on going. <S> Be sure to have your medical letter indicating your condition ready, so you can back up your claims. <S> Also, I'd suggest that you update your resume and start considering other job options, in case this doesn't seem to reach a consensus or compromise that works for both <S> or if they start pushing you or "forcing" you to go.
| Instead of trying to come up with reasons why you can't travel, make the partner come up with reasons why working remotely wouldn't work. It's going to be costly for your business for you to be living in a foreign country for an indefinite period of time.
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Competitive co-worker changed their job title I work for a small holdings company. I am one of two people competing for work building websites. My co-worker's job title - according to the company - is Senior Web Designer. My job title is Web Developer. There has been no announcement but they changed their email signature to Senior Web Developer. This person is in no way a Senior Web Developer - I have seen their code. They are in no way even as good as me. But I found out from HR that their boss gave them the title bump three months ago. I fear they are presenting themself to businesses within the company as a Senior Web Developer - including to the execs - who are going to pick them over me. What can I do? Recently my business clients are being assigned to them. Should I go to HR? Please don't advise me to talk with them. This wasn't a typo on their part. I think what I am looking for is legal advice. <Q> From your recent comment it seems that the title bump was official, in which case there is nothing you can do about it really. <S> Rightly or wrongly your employer has chosen to give them the title, and I get that it sucks for you if this results in them "winning" more work <S> then you (especially since you feel that they aren't as good at coding as you are) <S> but there's no standard or legal definitions when it comes to "Senior Web Developer" or "Senior Web Designer" and kicking up a fuss to HR about this is going to make you look jealous at best and spiteful at worst. <S> Your options are realistically: Ask your manager for a title bump <S> You've already indicated that you don't think this is the answer as you feel that their title is the problem. <S> I'd suggest reconsidering this stance though because I genuinely think this is the best option. <S> You need to stop wasting time and energy worrying about something that is out of your control and start focussing on something that is. <S> You carry on working diligently and be there to look good and pick up the pieces when they do. <A> What can I do? <S> Discuss this with your manager . <S> Simply ask them <S> , hey I noticed person X's title changed, were they promoted? <S> If not, you can take the conversation from there regarding the title change. <S> Come at it from the angle you feel you are at least equal to them, not that you care about their title. <S> Your only concerned with your title. <S> The other thing I would be tempted to try is to just change your title to match and see if anyone notices. <A> You can't do anything especially for software job title, which are not regulated like 'Doctor' or 'Professor' etc... heck, even the title 'engineer' is not regulated in software development - anyone can say he is a Senior Software Engineer without having a Master's degree. <S> What you can do though, is to discuss about it with the manager or whoever decided for this title 'bump' and explain your concerns about the new work you are not having because of it. <S> Also, talk about having you too the same title - or even another one (Lead Software Dev, etc...) to reflect better the reality (don't do it on your own, but explain to the shareholders the facts about code quality, experience, relative titles, etc...).
| Do nothing If the colleague in question really can't deliver on the sorts of projects they are being assigned with their shiny new title then sooner or later they will crash and burn.
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Strange Task given while waiting to be assigned to a client I was hired a couple of months ago, and the interviewer who was going to become my boss told me I should be available ASAP. It's been two months now, and I have not be staffed yet (that is, our clients haven't accepted me yet on their projects). Today, he suggested to me a 3/4 days task that I have no skills in. This is the second "strange" task they assign me, the first one described on my previous question . Is he telling me to look for another job in such a subtle way or is he trying to take advantage of my availability? I am frankly uncomfortable with this situation. <Q> There are often jobs that need doing where nobody has the expertise. <S> Depending on how qualified you are, you may be expected to figure out what is needed. <S> Of course you will take a lot longer than someone who knows that specific task, but since there is nobody who does, taking longer is unavoidable. <S> It's not a hint to change jobs. <S> It is a challenge and an opportunity. <S> You can get a reputation for being able to handle anything given enough time, and not giving up. <S> You can also get a bad reputation. <S> I'd try hard to do that task properly and come out looking good. <A> It sounds like you're just sitting around twiddling your thumbs doing nothing. <S> Your boss has given you a task that you don't have the skills for. <S> So rather than just saying you can't do it, take the time to teach yourself how to do it, then do it. <S> It will take you a lot longer than an experienced person. <S> But the task will still get done eventually, by someone who wasn't doing anything useful anyway. <S> And you will have leaned some new skills. <S> In the long run, employers don't need single-skilled staff with a can't do attitude to anything they are not familiar with. <A> Is he telling me to look for another job in such a subtle way or is he trying to take advantage of my availability? <S> I'm also against this theory. <S> I rather think that you might have made a good impression on him during your interview like saying you can learn fast or that you like challenges and variety. <S> Maybe you're also the only one who he thinks will manage to complete the task or maybe the others weren't so good at it before? <S> Anyways, I'd see it as an opportunity and would do my best to learn something new and expand my skills. <S> You're on the way to become the new expert. <A> Is he telling me to look for another job in such a subtle way or is he trying to take advantage of my availability? <S> I think it's neither. <S> Your boss seems to be simply delegating a task to you , and in no way can one conclude that he is hinting you to find a new job. <S> This is also not taking advantage of you, as you are currently employed by them (and thus are in a position to give you tasks). <S> Given that you are still waiting to be staffed into some client's project <S> I'd say that your boss is simply making good use of the company's time and resources (human resources, that is, you), <S> so you just don't stand there idling while you wait for clients to take you into their projects. <S> Edit: Seems that this is not the first task you have been assigned that makes you uneasy. <S> Besides considering doing what suggested on the first part of my answer, I'd also suggest you start job-hunting just to be safe , in case you keep getting tasks <S> you don't like or didn't signed up for and consider it's best to seek for a job where you can do what you like and were hired for. <A> From language, you are using (client, assignment) <S> I'm assuming that you are working for a consultancy, agency, or outsourcing company. <S> And this is the perfectly ok situation, people are usually expected to be T-shaped professionals - really good in something, and average and below average in everything else. <S> I'll give you a concrete example: <S> I could hire you as a software engineer, for a project starting in 2 months, legal team could then inform that they need another 4-6 week to negotiate contracts and I have no immediate work for you to do. <S> But I have this R'n'D project where I need a User Experience professional. <S> I would feel no hesitation, and will give you a task to design something, even if you don't have commercial experience or eduaction. <S> If you don't like the nature of the task do communicate it, but I don't think there is any conspiracy, if anything - your manager might be worried that you are getting bored and will be looking for another job and giving you tasks. <S> Also, consultants regardless of their primary speciality should be well-rounded people ideally, understanding how to write documents, presentations, public speaking, and have some knowledge about design, development, marketing, and sales - so that they can understand requirements and motivations better.
| If you feel uncomfortable or unsure on how to proceed, I suggest you approach your boss to ask for guidance and feedback on the task you were given.
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Should I keep in contact with a recruiter? I've recently gotten a job with what I think is a good recruiter. The recruiter works with an independent company than my employer, but she was nice, knew my needs, and knew what kind of position would fit me. I have a friend who keeps in regular contact with his recruiter, but from the recruiter questions I've seen on this site, there seems to be some things I would need to watch out such as the recruiter keeping my resume information. My question is, are there any danger or negatives in keeping contact with a recruiter? Are there any pitfalls I should worry about? <Q> Short answer: <S> If you find a good recruiter, hold on to them! <S> I have had a couple of recruiters over the years who I found went the extra mile for me, so the next time I looked for a new role <S> , I immediately contacted them first. <S> Because of our successful previous interaction, they could speak with confidence to a potential employer about my capability. <S> From my part, I knew that they could close a contract, which improved my confidence in them. <S> Of course, they may not have anything, but I always find it valuable to keep every possible avenue and ally available if I go job hunting. <A> As Jane points out in her answer, it's a great idea to keep in touch with a good recruiter. <S> However, tying yourself down to the one recruiter might not be a good thing as you'll obviously miss out on other opportunities. <S> You also don't know whether "your" recruiter is as effective as negotiating rates/position as any other recruiter. <S> So, I'd keep in touch with this recruiter, but also keep my options open with others <S> should I feel I needed an extra edge. <A> Something to keep in mind is recruiters make their money by putting people in new jobs. <S> If you enjoy socializing with them, by all means, have a good time, but keep in mind they are keeping the relationship going because they want to place you again. <S> If you are happy in your current job and expect to be there for an indefinite period, I would suggest that you keep your relationship with your recruiter quiet. <S> If it gets around you are talking to a recruiter it may be perceived that you are not satisfied and are looking for another job which will mean you will be passed over for things in favor of people who management expects to be around for a while. <A> If you want to maintain a relationship because you like them as a person, all the power to you. <S> From a professional standpoint, the recruiter is not "useful" to you outside of when you are considering new employment. <S> When you are in this position, recruiters are very happy to rekindle any relationship you previously had, as their livelihood is based on matching employees with employers.
| I wouldn't feel at risk of "losing" a recruiter you like due to not maintaining the relationship.
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Company delays interview outcome in order to interview more candidates I've interviewed with a big firm in the software industry and the interview went well, they gave me a good feedback. Once completed all the interview steps the manager said that I would get a response within a couple of weeks. By that day the feedback date has been delayed two times. Everytime they say that I'm in the run and that I'm a strong candidate but they want to interview more people in order to find the best match. How should I handle this situation considering that I'm receiving offers from other companies? <Q> Entertain the other offers <S> The most important thing about job hunting is that words are free and until it's in writing, you only have empty promises. <S> However, if you've been delayed several times for the company to find the 'best match' it may mean that you've heavy competition for that spot and it could easily go against you. <S> I recommend you reach out to the big firm and inform them that you have received offers that you need to respond to and ask them if they are likely to extend an offer to you within a week (or 2 weeks, whatever timeline works for you). <S> Be cognizant of the other offers as well. <S> If those work for you and you wish to compare your best option, you need to give them a response within a reasonable time frame. <S> If the big firm cannot provide an offer within your time frame, withdraw your application and focus on the offers in hand. <S> Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush situation. <A> How should I handle this situation considering that I'm receiving offers from other companies? <S> If one of the other companies makes a good enough offer, accept it. <S> If you think the potential at this company is worth the risk, then reject the other offers and wait. <S> The fact that this company is delaying in order to interview more candidates likely means that you haven't impressed them enough to stop their process and hire you. <S> You might still end up being the chosen candidate, but you might not. <S> The fact that you are getting other offers now probably means that you'll get other offers later, should this particular company fall through. <A> they want to interview more people in order to find the best match. <S> This means you are not the best match. <S> If you can find a job elsewhere, do it.
| If this job you're waiting on is something you really want and the offers you've received are much less desirable, it may be appropriate for your specific situation to wait.
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Increased duties during last 2 weeks I have given my 2 weeks notice to my employer. From what I understand your last 2 weeks is a time to finish up projects and assist in the training and transfer of job duties. Since I have notice, my employer keeps adding more jobs assignments - things I have never done before and have never been trained on. Can they do this? How is this ethical? I feel I am being set up to refuse so they can weasel out of paying me the accrued vacation time according to their policy of leaving in good standing. <Q> I have given my 2 weeks notice to my employer. <S> From what i understand your last 2 weeks is a time to finish up projects and assist in the training and transfer of job duites. <S> Not necessarily. <S> Some employers concentrate on handing off the duties. <S> Others treat the last 2 weeks as just another 2 weeks of work. <S> SInce I have notice, my employer keeps adding more jobs assignments - things I have never done before and have never been trained on. <S> Can they do this? <S> How is this ethical? <S> Yes they can do this. <S> Yes it is ethical. <S> You are still an employee. <S> You are being paid to do the work assigned. <S> I feel I am being set up to refuse so they can weasel out of paying me the accreud vacation time according to thier policy of leaving in good standing. <S> Just do the work as assigned and don't refuse. <S> They aren't going to weasel out of accrued vacation time. <S> In most locales that would be strictly illegal. <S> It's only 2 weeks. <S> Just do the work and put this job behind you. <A> There are norms about this, but no rules. <S> On the flip side, assigning you to work with things you've never touched before is really inefficient, and if they're piling stuff on in your last two weeks, there's a good chance that a lot of it won't get done. <S> What they don't get to do is use the work they've piled onto you as an excuse for why you should stay. <S> So... if you can handle it in the time allotted, do so. <S> If you can't, do what any good employee should do in that sort of a situation. <S> Be upfront and clear about the fact that you won't be able to handle it all, and ask them to prioritize. <S> Mention the value of being able to hand stuff off, and include any hand-off tasks you might have in that list. <S> Then work the same hours you would work if you were not leaving in two weeks, do what work you are able, and debrief them before you go. <A> Since I have notice, my employer keeps adding more jobs assignments - things I have never done before and have never been trained on. <S> I have worked at a place that did exactly this. <S> The manager did this whenever contractor was leaving. <S> They would pile on tasks that were impossible, then on the last day reject all submitted code. <S> The day after the employee left, they would then tell the contracting company that becasue the work was substandard, and they didn't get to the important tasks such as handover, they would not pay the contracting company for those last few weeks of work. <S> The employee still got paid, but the contacting company had to take it out of their profits. <S> Why did the manager do this? <S> who knows. <S> I have seen departing employees avoided by management. <S> I have seen management beg them to stay. <S> I have seen them try to guilt them into staying. <S> I have also seen them treat departing properly. <S> I feel I am being set up to refuse so they can weasel out of paying me the accrued vacation time according to their policy of leaving in good standing. <S> It is possible that HR will make getting your benefits difficult. <S> In a small company the way that management treats you may be an indicator of how the benefits will be handled. <S> But in a larger company the manager may be doing this without anybody knowing. <S> Yes, your manager can add tasks to your assignments to make the best use of your time. <S> As long as the task isn't unsafe or violate some other agreement it is likely to fall under "and other duties as assigned". <S> My advice is do the best you can. <S> Document your activities in a place that you can get to after your last day <S> just in case they try and say that you left on bad terms.
| They are totally allowed to assign you as much work as they like. You aren't being "set up".
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How to choose a job title when I was the only developer working on a project? So a while ago I worked on a mobile game where I was the only programmer/developer. I'm confused as to how to name my position - officially, my title was "Lead mobile games developer", since the company had plans for further expansion in this field once their first mobile game becomes successful. Well, it didn't, and I left before any expansion happened, and now I feel that this title doesn't really suit my experience there, since I didn't "lead" anyone, I was the only programmer. In game-dev slang I would be called a "one man army" but I'm not sure this will look good on a resume I want to send to companies unrelated to game development. I want to stress the fact that I did virtually all of the programming of this app. What title should I put on my resume? I was thinking of sticking with the "lead" one and adding a footnote that I was actually the only programmer on this project but I'm not sure how that will look. Thanks for any advice. <Q> I once worked with front-end developer who really wanted to be a software architect, after he finished a project he chose a title "Web Architect", he decided that since he made a lot of decisions on the front-end they were architectural. <S> He couldn't find an architecture job - because no one is looking for "Web Architect", people look for Technical Architect, Solution Architect etc. <S> The moral of the story - chose a title that passes following test: <S> You will be happy with working at this capacity. <S> You will be competent from the get go, or will be able to acquire competence pretty quickly. <S> Recruiters and Employees actually search for this title. <S> You can say that you were "One Man Army" or "Sole Developer", but no one would look for that. <A> You may be overthinking this. <S> Different companies have different naming conventions so there is no hard a fast rule. <S> As a hiring manager, I don't pay much attention at all to the titles on resumes I review. <S> I care much more about what you did than what name you apply to it. <S> The years of work across your resume give me a better starting point than a title for evaluating ranges of junior, mid, or senior. <A> I live in italy and here I would put it this way: your job position -> in this case mobile games developer (if you really think that lead mobile games developer is too much for what you did) <S> your company a brief description of what you did for the project <S> (ex. Worked with {random programming language} to develop <S> {what you developed} <S> In this way you are saying what you did and you are free to set both mobile games developer or lead mobile games developer as people usually look for the description of what you did.
| As long as your title generally fits your type of work (don't put CEO if you weren't), it shouldn't matter.
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Relocating to different city; 1-month notice given, but workers contract says 3-month required and employer is NOT letting me leave I work at a small private business in USA, California. My family recently decided to relocate to a different city and I cannot keep working at the same company as commute time is unrealistic. I already gave my employer a 1-month notice but my employer says on my worker contract signed, they requires a 3-month notice (this was my very first job and I didn't had much "common sense" on how to protect myself as a worker... No matter how much I regret it's already too late now...). I tried to negotiate with them and promise that I'll be trying my best to train new employee and pass on all the work smoothly to the next person. However, it's already been 20 days, and my family will be moving in 10 more days, my employer still haventn' found a new employee for me to start training. Now the issue is, my employer is NOT willing to let me resign. I tried to negotiate with them saying I'll remotely (via phone or email) continue handling my daily work and meanwhile also help teach future new employee how to do the work; but he BANNED all my suggestions, simply saying I CANNOT QUIT. I really don't know what to do now... If I just walk away, what will happen? Since the worker contract I signed stated 3-month notice, I'm worried that if I just walk away, he may sue me? If worse comes worst he takes legal action against me, what would be the worst scenario that can possibly happen to me? <Q> There is no one size fits all solution to this one. <S> And the first thing you want to do is get a copy of your contract and discuss with an employment lawyer immediately! <S> Please do not take anything in this answer as substitute for a proper legal opinion from a lawyer. <S> Now, you signed the contract and in a simple world <S> you are stuck with it. <S> However depending on your location and the wording of the contract there may be some ways out. <S> This means giving your employer some number of months worth of your salary to have them waive the notice. <S> You would have to see if your contract allows for this. <S> In essence, what I am saying is there are various possibilities with varying likelihood of working and consequences <S> but before you do anything you need the immediate advice of a lawyer, only they can tell you what to do in a manner correct to your situation and location. <A> I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that in California an employee cannot be forced to go on working for an employer against their will. <S> I don't know whether your employer could sue for money damages. <S> If you have enough money to be worth protecting, consult a lawyer. <S> However, most people on their first job and living with family do not have enough money to be worth suing, or to afford a lawyer. <S> At this point, given the employer's refusal to consider alternatives, you have two choices. <S> One would be to continue working, which would apparently involve finding somewhere to live for two months. <S> You could, for example, see if a friend's family will let you rent a spare bedroom for two months. <S> If not, maybe couch-surfing. <S> There is some chance that your offered compromises will look better to the employer once it is clear that the alternative is no help at all from you after the end of the one month notice you have already given. <S> If not, you still walk out. <S> If you do reach a compromise, you should get two things from the employer in addition to your wages for the two months, agreement not to sue, and a reference. <A> It's a bit late for OP, but in general you would try to convince your employer first to let you go (which often makes sense, because the employee will not be very motivated to do a good job, and what can they do if they don't like his work? <S> Fire him? ). <S> OP did that, didn't work. <S> The second thing would be to contact a lawyer and have him check if you can get out of that contract, and what it will cost you. <S> You might have a chance to get out for free if the notice periods for employer and employee are different, or if the law in your location says so. <S> Otherwise, not fulfilling your contract might be expensive. <S> And the third unfortunate choice is renting a cheap place near your workplace, or stay with friends, and be with your family weekends only, until your contract is over. <S> Given the situation, I'm not sure how much enthusiasm at work your employer is expecting from you. <S> And of course everyone should be aware of their notice period. <S> If the notice period is long, then you need to give notice a long time before moving. <S> In the EU, long notice periods (both for employer and employee) are not uncommon, and rarely cause problems because everyone knows to plan around it. <S> And most people see it as protection.
| Many contracts with long notice periods allow one to pay in leau of notice. Second if you are all out of options you may (and this is by no means certain) have a force majeure claim if the reason you need to leave is an emergency out of your control and not doing so would cause you extreme hardship, however if you want to try anything like this you will need a lawyer and will very likely end up in court. The other is to give the employer a letter stating the last day you will be available to work, and make it clear you are leaving at the end of that day, regardless of what the employer says.
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Colleague posted paperwork on group chat My colleague posted a photograph of all the paperwork he'd been left to do to our work's group chat. He is now in major trouble with our supervisor because the paperwork had confidential information on it. However, I am wondering how serious this is as you couldn't read anything from the photograph as the papers were stacked and at an angle. So no info was passed on. Also the group chat is for work and was seen only by the staff. Although it is social media, it is encrypted. Of note, the supervisor was responsible for not completing the paper work the day before which is why perhaps they are so angry. My colleague has been given a formal warning. How would you respond to this? Is the formal warning appropriate or indicative of unprofessional behavior by the supervisor? (There was another incident with them overreacting to a clarifying question from another colleague recently.) If it is the latter what is the best way to go about protecting myself? <Q> Is the formal warning appropriate or indicative of unprofessional behavior by the supervisor? <S> A formal warning is certainly not unwarranted. <S> What you coworker did was incredibly stupid and unprofessional. <S> Let me count the reasons: 1. <S> Publicly criticizing their boss to the entire company <S> You said your coworker was complaining about the work he was given by his boss, who just ranted about how bad it is to put off this type of work. <S> This criticism of the boss is pretty blatant and not really subtle, and it was posted on the company's internal social media for everyone in the company to see! <S> Even if your boss weren't prone to aggressive rants, this would be immensely unprofessional. <S> 2. <S> Photographing confidential documents on a personal phone <S> Regardless of whether you can read the documents in the photo, your coworker now has confidential company information on his personal phone. <S> As was pointed out in the comments, the company has no way of knowing if this information is now up in the cloud somewhere because the phone syncs all photos automatically. <S> 3. <S> HR has confidential documents with my SSN and home address, but that doesn't mean that a random software engineer needs to know that. <S> And that HR person doesn't need to know the inner workings of the company's proprietary software. <S> This was also a mistake. <S> So regardless of whether your boss has a vendetta out for your coworker or not (which isn't really clear either way), they are entirely within their right to formally reprimand him for this hugely unprofessional behavior. <A> what is the best way to go about protecting myself? <S> When you feel the urge, resist it and don't post pictures of confidential information anywhere you're not authorised to. <A> Just one point: The excuse “you couldn’t read these papers” doesn’t count. <S> Publishing them might mean major trouble for the company. <S> If they had a deal with a customer to keep information safe, then they breached the contract, which could mean losing a contract or getting a fine. <S> Importantly, it wasn’t up to your colleague to decide what can be read. <S> He doesn’t know what I can read with the right tools. <S> And you don’t decide because that means you never decide wrong. <S> Even if the data is absolutely not readable, posting this information proves that the company isn't keeping the data secure (because he could have posted it on Facebook, for the world to see and read, and the company wouldn't have stopped him). <S> That alone would likely make it illegal for any EU company to let this company access and process their data. <A> From the sounds of it your colleague's actions weren't too bad if nothing was actually visible in the paperwork. <S> However confidential information is not an area to mess around in. <S> Remember that a posted photo on a group chat (encrypted or not) doesn't tell the whole story. <S> The image had to be taken on a device (likely their phone) which may a) still have a copy b) <S> have uploaded the photo to a cloud backup (iCloud, OneDrive etc) <S> so it's not quite as cut and dried as it seems. <S> An alternative (or possibly even concurrent) <S> explanation is that the Supervisor wasn't particularly amused at the implied criticism of their performance by one of their subordinates in a work group chat . <S> Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the supervisor not doing the paperwork the previous day and whether your colleague had legitimate cause to be annoyed he didn't go about it the right way. <S> Doing what he did was neither professional nor smart - if the supervisor is the sort to "attack" staff as you put it then why on earth would you go around giving them ammunition? <S> FWIW <S> I'd probably have given your colleague a dressing down as well. <S> At this point his best bet is to take the warning on the chin, keep his head down and wait for it all to become ancient history. <S> EDIT: <S> I see from the latest comments that this was on WhatsApp from a personal device. <S> My inner CISO is cringing, depending upon the nature of the information even if nothing was actually breached that could still cause quite a big headache.
| Your coworker screwed up and needs to deal with the consequences. Sharing confidential documents to the entire company Just because your coworker has the right to read this information doesn't mean that everyone in the entire company can. Definitely warrants a reprimand.
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What is the strategically wise answer to the question about impressions after the interview if it didn't go well? I've been interviewed a lot in the last months. I think there's a new trend among employers. Immediately after the interview or several days later when they call you with the feedback, they ask you about your impressions from the interview. What should you say in a situation when you've been grilled, i.e. the interviewer was very confrontational or critical of you or after a typical stress interview? Is it normally better to say something totally diplomatic ignoring what happened like "I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the specifics of the position" or "it was fine, thank you" or to refer to the style of the interview somehow? The goal is to get the best possible result of course, i.e. in this order: Get the job Be considered for other openings Not burn bridges Do diplomatic answers listed above sound ok or unauthentic/ fake? Example : You have an interview and there are quite a few questions you feel you didn't answer correctly, for some you simply didn't know the answer. After 3 days you are called by the company. They say they wanted to give you feedback, but first, they would like to know what your experience during the interview was. What do you answer to get the best possible result? <Q> Regardless of how you feel the interview went, a diplomatic answer is the only answer that has a chance of helping you achieve any of your three stated objectives. <S> A critical (or worse, emotional) response will at best be forgotten quickly, and at worst, burn a bridge you might have been able to cross later. <S> Simply thank them for considering you and for their time, and let them know that you are still interested in working with them (if you are), and that you are eager to learn their decision regarding you. <S> General rule: <S> Be nice, even if you don't feel like it. <A> Your answers to this question will have no bearing on the hiring decision. <S> The hiring decision is made by operational members of the company. <S> The question is coming from the administrative/HR people. <S> "The interview went fine and as I expected. <S> I thought the process and questions were reasonable." <S> Done. <S> HR people have a tendency to fill up the vacuum of their existence with petty questions like this. <S> Don't obsess about it. <A> That question is a nicety. <S> Say your interview was good, get the feedback, and then go in for your actual criticism. <S> "Actually now that I think about it there were a few things about the interview <S> I'd like to talk about". <S> All you need to do. <S> This method will let you know how much a bridge your about to burn.
| While it's possible that they could use your feedback to improve their interviewing process, it's not likely they will unless you are someone they sought out and really wanted to hire, and you've indicated that you're no longer interested as a result of their process. The simplest thing to do is make a polite, perfunctory answer.
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Can I gracefully skip part of a work outing? I have just started a job 4 days ago (hooray!). The model of my team is a "startup within a big corporation," so we work in a coworking space separate from the main campus, people are in and out a lot, and the environment is very casual. Yesterday we got an email from the administrative assistant asking for our availability in two weeks' time for a "digital team celebration," which would be "a group outing, ½ day in the afternoon and a group dinner." (I believe that one of our counterparts from outside the US will also be in town for that week, so extra-big deal.) I responded that I take a class on Thursday nights, so I would prefer any other night. The class is a foreign language that I take for personal reasons, not related to work. It is very important to me and difficult to miss, and it is the only night of the week I'm regularly unavailable. Unfortunately, today I got the calendar invite from the administrative assistant and it is set for a Thursday, 12 PM-8 PM. She said more details were forthcoming. My class is at 5:30 PM, very close to work. Is there any way that I can gracefully do the half-day activity and skip the dinner part, which I imagine will be something like 5-8 PM? On the one hand, I am the new person. On the other hand, she asked for my availability and I did respond, so I feel like I did my due diligence. On the other hand, I shouldn't expect things to revolve around my schedule, since I am the least senior. <Q> Pros - Going to the whole event looks good and you get to know your colleagues in an informal setting. <S> This will have rewards in the future - knowing people in the company <S> Cons - Missing one language lesson? <S> Can you recover from this? <S> I would imagine that you can. <S> Perhaps ask the teacher to get some prep as to what will be covered in the missing lesson. <A> Is there any way that I can gracefully do the half-day activity and skip the dinner part, which I imagine will be something like 5-8 PM? <S> First, be sure that skipping the activity is what you want, and that in no way you consider skipping the class instead in favor of the activity. <S> However, being this basically your "welcome" dinner I'd suggest you consider attending the whole event. <S> If you are sure you can't/won't, then you should talk to your boss about this . <S> You say your actual boss is outside of town, so you could wait for her to return (if it's before such date) or send an email instead. <S> Explain to her about this language course you have, and that it will interfere with the last part of the activity, and ask if you could leave earlier so you can go to class. <S> Most likely what you will miss is "just" the dinner, but the core activities <S> it's likely you will be able to participate. <A> Depending on the size of the team, you may not be the only person unable to make it to the entire outing. <S> Someone with kids would likely have to leave at the normal time to pick them up from daycare/school. <S> If you are comfortable explaining the personal reason, then feel free to add a few sentences. <S> Most companies (and bosses) understand that any day they choose will inconvenience at least some people on the team. <S> If the boss says things like Everyone but you will be there the whole time <S> On the other hand, if you here something like A few others will have to leave early too <S> that is likely indicating you can go to the class with few if any professional repercussions.
| I would go to the whole event. You'll probably have to suck it up and miss the class Go to your boss and explain the situation, just like you did here.
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Can I resign without notice due to unhealthy working conditions? I've been working at a fast food joint part-time for about 2 weeks and I'm doing the job of cashier and janitor. For the janitor part, I have to deal with cleaning sprays that give me day-long migraines and medicine isn't helping. Can I quit this job without the regular 2 weeks notice (of course giving letting my boss know why)? <Q> Assuming you're US-based, you have almost definitely not signed a contract, which means yeah, you can quit at any time. <S> Is it the most professional thing you could do? <S> No. <S> But you're doing fast-food grunt work. <S> Here's the likely way you handle this: <S> "This just isn't working out, the cleaning chemicals keep triggering my migranes. <S> " <S> Don't be rude, and try to give them as much notice as you can--For instance, if you're scheduled to work monday, thursday, and friday, let them know after your shift Monday, or call in Tuesday, so they have a couple days to get backup. <S> Start looking for a new job, and don't list this one as experience on your application. <S> They'd probably give a bad reference, and also just the "only worked 2 weeks" thing looks super bad. <S> It's a short enough gap in your work experience that anybody looking at you application will just think you were unemployed <S> and it won't be a big deal. <A> You can - after considering the professional and financial consequences and making sure you specify your reasons in writing - <S> but I don't think you're at the point where that needs to happen. <S> At least, not yet. <S> It's worth exploring with your manager (who may not be your immediate supervisor, but involve them too if that's the case) <S> whether there would be any way you could continue to work there - even if just for the notice period. <S> Some ideas might include duties that don't involve exposure to the product, or the employer switching to a different cleaning product. <S> Document this discussion. <S> Make a note of the brand name of the cleaning product - it's possible that others elsewhere may have experienced similar symptoms. <S> If there's no reasonable adjustment the employer can make, your health comes first. <S> The employer is likely to understand this, and may suggest no notice period before you do, in which case you'll have left by mutual agreement. <S> If the employer appears not to understand, you'll have written evidence that you made every reasonable effort to fulfil your obligations. <S> Using the approach that you want to stay (even if just for the notice period) but that you can't is likely to give the best outcome. <A> To be honest I never heard of a 2 weeks notice in fast food. <S> I worked at two fast food jobs in my youth and in each one I quit the following day. <S> I never heard of a employee giving a 2 weeks notice while I was there either. <S> Most people just up and left. <S> It's a minimally paid job so most people don't care <S> and they know it's a high turnover position. <S> Also, don't expect the manager to really care about your problems. <S> The cleaning products are given to him by corporate suppliers and I don't think he has much choice. <S> Now I recommend asking your manager if you could simply not do the cleaning work. <S> That is if you like every other aspect of the job and explain to him that the cleaning product is too strong for your senses. <S> If he disagrees, then simply quit right there and tell him you cannot work with that condition.
| Let them know you're quitting, politely.
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Is it possible to revive an offer a few days after not accepting it? Recently I was in negotiations with a company after getting an offer. During the initial call of this interview process I was given a number that I was quite happy with, so when offer time came around I assumed I'd get something close to this number, accept and be done with it. Turns out the actual offer was much lower than I expected and I was not prepared for this. The reason for the lower offer was the differential between the needs of the position and my current skill set. Nonetheless they said I showed potential. Anyways, me and the recruiter go back and forth trying to figure something out. I was mainly trying to get back to the initial number I was teased with but no cigar. As a final resort I gave the min number it would take for me to move and they were unable to reach it. I had no leverage except for the fact that I currently have a job and salary is not that much different than whats being offered. The company would be an upgrade with respect to stature though. After thinking over the decision I made. I regret taking an absolute, ultimatum approach during my effort to ask for more. At this point I wish I would of closed, so I have been considering emailing the recruiter and letting them know that I would be happy to take the offer if it was still open and they were still open to the idea. I understand that this is wishy washy, which is why I am here asking for advice. My basic question is: if for some reason they are okay with me going back after closing negotiations, how bad will this stain my character if I work there? Is this a terrible look? I don't really care how I'll look if they decline, but worried about the situation where they accept. <Q> Let me start by answering the question as asked. <S> The company may have already made an offer to their second choice. <S> If you really want to do this immediately call the recruiter (don't email) and ask if the position is still open. <S> If they say yes tell them you have changed your mind <S> and you are prepared to take their last offer. <S> However from a psychology point of view this sounds like a classic case of buyers remorse (Or technically non-buyers remorse). <S> What you are feeling now will probably go away in a short while. <S> If the amount you were offered is a pay cut, or below market value be especially careful. <A> Sure it's possible - there is obvioulsy no law against it. <S> Howeever, as I hiring manager, I would not consider you any more. <S> Sure, you can change your mind, but maybe you change it again the next day, and again the week after? <S> Someone who doesn't know what he wants in such an important discussion is not someone I would want to to hire. <S> Others may think different, sure. <S> My recommendation would be to learn a lesson from it and move on. <A> It's possible but you shouldn't. <S> Let me explain. <S> When changing your mind in this situation you need a really good reason why you are changing it. <S> So if you didn't want to move to another city, which you would need to do if you accepted the position, you could call them and tell them your wife/husband/ significant other has now found a great opportunity in the city so you can move together, which is why you would be interested in the position. <S> Then you could ask whether the offer is still open. <S> But with money, it's more tricky. <S> You came to the conclusion the salary is too low. <S> What arguments would you use to explain to the company that it's not too low anymore? <S> I can't think of any. <S> Whatever you say it will make them feel you're not reliable. <A> Not going to strike a different note. <S> From their perspective the negotiations broke off because they could not meet your compensation requirements. <S> This happens all the time, and isn't a big thing, because compensation is a important thing when considering a new job. <S> So important that they'll think that if you were to accept the job now, you'll still aim for the higher salary soon , and will be unhappy if it doesn't happen. <S> So you'll quickly leave them, resulting in an overall negative from the whole thing on their side.
| It's possible to change your mind, but not a sure thing.
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Is it wrong/unethical to continue looking for Internships even if I already have one To preface, I am a junior in college with in-progress Computer Engineering and Computer Science degrees. This past summer I worked for a large company doing software work. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and was offered to come back again between my Junior and Senior year. The company I worked for was amazing, I loved the work, the people, and the atmosphere I was in, It's a short drive from my parents house (where I live over summers) and the area I want to live in post graduation. The company looks very good on a resume and is instantly noticeable. I believe I would be 100% happy working there after graduation and beyond. Even though I was already offered and accepted this opportunity, I still want to continue looking for different internships this coming summer, in case I find something that I might enjoy more or lines up with my skillsets better. I highly doubt I would find something that works better for me, but I also enjoy searching, going to job fairs, applying, and doing interviews. My biggest gripe is that while working at this company they have invested a significant amount of money into me since most people that do intern there continue after graduation. Due to the nature of my work, I still work 2-6 hours per week for the company and will until I start back up next May. At the end of this, I have 3 questions a.) Is it unethical for me to continue searching for internships either way despite already accepting the internship. I wasn't really in a spot to say "Give me 6 months to think about it" b.) Should I get an internship that I think would suit me better, would it be unethical for me to take it regardless of what my company has already invested in me and that I already accepted the position c.) If I do accept the new position, should I immediately tell my current company/should I continue working with them right now. It is not an insignificant amount of money and is a great help to a college student with limited income opportunities. Edit: I am in the United States Edit 2: I just rechecked the wording of my contract and it states that once I accept I am locked in due to the nature of my work. It seems like a messy legal situation or at the very least burning a bridge I don't want to burn. <Q> The real question is whether or not you're good with poisoning the well / burning bridges with the company you've accepted. <S> The same applies to everyone you get an offer from. <S> I work with college recruiters looking for interns. <S> Their time is limited and they run into inappropriate candidates constantly. <S> Ergo <S> they min/max. <S> Turning down an offer, especially one you've accepted, means in the future it will be a mistake on their part to waste time on you because odds are good you'll do it again. <A> Ethics, like social standards, can vary from culture to culture. <S> I also can't speak to the legal ramifications of a change of plans, since that may be different depending on your country. <S> However, in my experience (software engineering, United States) it would be considered unethical to change your mind at this point. <S> You have already accepted the offer, and it sounds like they have already begun investing resources in you as a result of you accepting your second internship with them. <S> So in other words, B is unethical because it would mean you are backing out of your commitment, which makes your initial acceptance dishonest. <S> A is unethical by extension because you shouldn't pursue an opportunity you cannot accept, thus taking time and resources away from potential candidates and the emoloyer. <S> If you don't agree with my points about A and B, you should at least tell the company you're working for about your decision (should you secure other employment). <S> They are employing you now with the understanding that you will work for them in a full time (internship) capacity in the future. <S> It would be dishonest to lead them on by not informing them if that changes. <A> Unethical? <S> Maybe so, should it stop you from looking? <S> Definitely not. <S> Like all jobs <S> - Employers go through people changing their minds and rejecting offers last minute. <S> Especially with an internship where young persons and applicants are unsure of what they want to do in their future career. <S> The whole point of an internship is to develop your skills and learn what you want to be doing in the future whilst getting a hands on experience of the role. <S> In this stage of your career you need to be thinking about yourself and the best way to be efficient in developing for your future. <S> You don't want to be following a career path you do not enjoy or want to be doing in the future simply because of Ethics or <S> at least if you think you can get better and want to do so - then do it. <S> Just make sure that you do hand in your notice when accepting another job and letting both parties know of your situation as stands <A> I personally think that it is not unethical to continue searching for internships, even though you've been accepted by another one, AS LONG AS you will inform them that you will still search for more opportunities to the other companies. <S> Otherwise, I do think it is unethical, because that is not a professional way to keep a good relationship with the company that has accepted you for the internship. <S> Especially you mentioned that they have already invested an insignificant amount of money to you, the ethical way to deal with this is to inform your situation, since they have done so much for you, I do think talking with them with what you have in mind is not a big problem at all. <S> Also, see what is stated on your contract, see if you are violating any agreements that you have signed with the said company. <S> I don't know anything about the law of your country, but this is purely based on my opinion. <A> Unethical no. <S> If the boot were on the other foot and they had too many interns (because of teams reshuffling) <S> they would have no issue with turning around and saying the internship had been cancelled. <S> Burn your bridges. <S> Maybe, but unlikely. <S> Being ticked off or even slightly annoyed and not getting a better opportunity will make you less effective (not on purpose <S> but we all have feelings). <S> It is in the best interest of both you and the company that you both have the best fit possible. <S> So find the position you like and let the company find a better alternative than you for the position. <S> Unless you tell them a day before or just don't turn up you are unlikely to burn bridges. <S> a.) <S> Is it unethical for me to continue searching for internships either way despite already accepting the internship. <S> I wasn't really in a spot to say "Give me 6 months to think about it" <S> No. <S> Not unethical to look for a better fit. <S> b.) <S> Should I get an internship that I think would suit me better, would it be unethical for me to take it regardless of what my company has already invested in me and that I already accepted the position They are paying for you to do useful work. <S> This may include investment but it is no different from any other employee. <S> You get payed for doing a job. <S> Do that job to the best of your ability. <S> c.) <S> If I do accept the new position, should I immediately tell my current company/should I continue working with them right now. <S> It is not an insignificant amount of money and is a great help to a college student with limited income opportunities. <S> I would tell them immediately (but normal 2-4 week notice still applies). <S> If they still want you to work that is up to them. <S> But if you are doing useful work they are unlikely to let you go.
| If you find another internship that fits you better then go for it.
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Mobbing by changing job requirements outside skill set? First things first, I'd like to state a clear intention: I am not trying to post a rant, I just want to know if I am suffering some kind of mobbing. Thank you for your understanding beforehand. I've been working as a software developer for a company since 3 years ago. I think it's safe to say I am a quite respected developer as long as many people comes to me to search for advice, maybe because I gave some trainings about complex areas and solved a few tough developments. In May, the company placed a new colleague above us. (It might be important to say that it is the first time that this colleague has a management-related role.) Apart from that, a new Product Owner (new in the company) took over. We're supposed to work under Scrum Agile Method, but: I've been working in just writing business specifications for almost two months. Didn't write a line of code in two months, being my job software developer. My manager assigned me a huge task two months ago, but another manager is constantly telling me to do the opposite. If manager A tells me 'do this', manager 'B' will say 'do that different thing'. (Both managers are new in that job description, if it helps.). Thus, this huge task is a never ending one, so today he come over my desk and have a chat with me, suggesting I was not working properly/I was lazy. I am constantly working on business-related stuff instead of development. (i.e: "let's brainstorm about how can we force users to do this thing related to business.") I am starting to be worried about my coding skills getting lost. I am practicing at home in order to avoid this, but it feels like I am some kind of analyst instead of developer. I spend 5 hours in meetings some days. We are always starting new tasks instead of finishing that ones close to an end. As far as I know, Agile Development is actually the contrary way around. I am starting to believe that my effort is on doubt, which is quite sad for me as long as I am trying my best in a Product Owner-like job which is not mine, nor am I an expert on it. The following sentence is not objective, but it seems like I have to be a one-man team sometimes. (Is this normal?) I've got a one-to-one meeting with my manager on Wednesday , and I don't know if it's recommendable to say this. Anyone with experience in similar situations? I've been trying to be as objective as I could, but please let me know if I didn't and I'll happily edit the question. Thanks a lot. <Q> The one-to-one meetings you have with your manager should be a time in which you're able to raise any issues affecting you / your work. <S> I know the feeling only too well but sometimes an organisation needs people to be flexible and do something new / different for a while. <S> That said, don't hesitate in your one-to-one to say to your manager something along the lines of <S> I'm concerned that over the last few months I have not done any coding / development work but am doing a lot of higher level project work which is taking me in a direction I hadn't expected to be heading in. <S> Will it be possible for me to go back to coding soon; or is there a reason I'm being asked to do what I am? <S> ...and take it from there. <S> It might be that there's a lull in your current project load or that management want to give you some additional experience and that's why you've found yourself in your current position. <S> Likewise the conflict between the two managers. <S> If your one-to-one isn't with one of those two managers it should be easy for you to ask for help. <S> If your one-to-one is with one of the conflicting managers then be honest and tell them <S> I'm having trouble knowing what to do for the best when you ask me to do a task but manager B seems to then contradict that instruction. <S> The one-to-one would be a great time and place to air your concerns and find out what's happening with your role and hopefully to start the process of resolving this little conflict :) <A> This isn't "mobbing" in my opinion - it actually sounds a lot like the fairly common practice where a more senior staff member is given more responsibility. <S> That said it doesn't sound like it's in the career direction you would like. <S> What I would suggest is that in your upcoming one-to-one that you discuss this with your manager in a positive way. <S> I've been doing a lot of work recently that's fallen into more of a Business Analyst/Product owner role. <S> I'm grateful for the opportunity to progress my skills and position <S> but I feel that it would be of more value to the company if I were to take on more of a Software Architect-type role as I feel this would better leverage my technical skills. <S> If you can give some examples of the sort of things you feel you could do as an Architect and what benefits this would bring to the company. <A> I just want to know if I am suffering some kind of mobbing. <S> No. <S> You are perhaps being asked to perform tasks that you would prefer not to have on your plate. <S> But there is nothing here that appears to be mobbing. <S> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobbing
| It appears that while you may feel you're working out of your comfort zone and not doing the work you want to be doing, no one is telling you you're doing a bad job.
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How to politely suggest a co-worker needs to try to find the answer on their own before coming to me? I am a senior-level developer in a large corporation in the US. Two of my co-workers on the same project work with me and sit in the same office, right by me. We'll call them Bob and Jim. They are both "mid-level" developers. Not senior, but also not junior. The rest are in other offices scattered around the country, including our boss, lead developer, and several other team members. The project we work on has been around for 5 years, so a lot of our time is spent learning the ins and outs of the existing system and finding our way around the code to complete stories and fix bugs. I came in a week earlier than these other two guys, but basically we are all starting from the same place. For whatever reason, I pick up things a bit more quickly than the other two, and helped them a lot early-on when they got stuck on a piece of code or with unfamiliar technology. Both Bob and Jim needed a lot of help early on, but after a few months Bob has pretty much stopped asking anyone for help and seems to be doing fine without much assistance from me or anyone else. Jim, on the other hand, is constantly sending me IM's, emails, Slack messages, or coming into my cube asking for help. This goes on all day long, every day I am in the office. If I don't answer an IM or email in 2 minutes, he is in my cube. When I do help him, if I don't solve his problem or I don't have the answer right away, sometimes he'll just stop working on that task. Moreover, he makes the same mistakes over and over again on subjects that we have covered before, multiple times. I just can't understand. If he does manage to solve a problem, then he comes into my cube first and Bob's cube next to tell us the story of how the problem is solved. While I'm happy to help from time to time, I'm constantly being interrupted by Jim in one way or another, which hurts my productivity and keeps me from getting "into the zone". I feel like Jim should have been here long enough by now to try and figure out things on his own. Bob and I certainly have. I also feel like I'm being taken advantage of by being too nice and willing to help and not being firm by saying 'No' sometimes. I've had a history of being toxic to co-workers at previous jobs and I'm trying my best to not do that here. I also have not discussed this with our boss either, because I'm trying really hard to build positive relationships with my team as a new member. How can I discuss with him that he needs to A. Respect my time B. Try to put in the effort on his own first,before coming to me. C. Not "giving up" if someone else doesn't havean answer for his questions. UPDATE: So far today, the "Don't give them the fish; teach them how to fish" method is working really well. <Q> I've had a history of being toxic to co-workers at previous jobs and I'm trying my best to not do that here. <S> I also have not discussed this with our boss either, because I'm trying really hard to build positive relationships with my team as a new member. <S> How can I discuss with him that he needs to A. Respect my time B. Try to put in the effort on his own first, before coming to me. <S> C. <S> Not "giving up" if someone else doesn't have an answer for his questions. <S> You'll need to be careful not to slip into toxic lecturing here. <S> I'm a firm believer that it's almost always fair to ask "What have you tried so far? <S> " <S> when asked for help. <S> And then I think it's fair to make a quick suggestion about possible avenues of investigation that the asker can then work on. <S> Sometimes I'll even ask "Can you think of anything else to try?" <S> Hopefully over time the developer will anticipate your question, and try more things - eventually needing less of your time. <S> It's not hard to do that in a positive, helpful manner while still not having all of your time co-opted. <S> Many times it's as much about the way you say it as it is the words you use. <S> If this is becoming a regular pattern, you may want to casually discuss it with your boss. <S> It's quite possible that your boss expects more senior developers to help less senior folks. <S> And your boss might have a preference on how and how often to do that. <S> It's also possible that your boss doesn't want you to spend much time helping/ <S> mentoring less senior developers and wants your full productivity aimed at your assigned work. <S> You'll only know by asking. <S> When I do help him, if I don't solve his problem or I don't have the answer right away, sometimes he'll just stop working on that task. <S> Unless you are this person's supervisor, you likely aren't responsible for his completion of tasks. <S> Leave that worry to his boss. <A> Moreover, he makes the same mistakes over and over again on subjects that we have covered before, multiple times. <S> I just can't understand. <S> In part I think I can understand why. <S> It's basically due to the "Don't give them the fish; teach them how to fish" phrase one often hears. <S> Perhaps you have been "spoiling" him by constantly helping him, or doing the hard-thinking parts and chewing for him. <S> So, some pointers on what I recommend you try doing next time <S> : If you are indeed busy, or about to get "into the zone", don't feel bad to <S> decline his request for help, or ask him to come back when you are less busy . <S> No need to be rude, just something like "Hey Jim, I am currently really busy. <S> Please come back in X minutes <S> and I'll gladly help you." <S> Instead of <S> just "giving him the fish" try to encourage him to do the searching and thinking before coming to you . <S> In a way assuming a Socratic attitude would help here; try asking things like <S> "I see... what have you tried so far?" <S> or "Did you try doing Z yet?" <S> ... if Jim hasn't tried anything before coming to you these questions will make him realize that he has to at least try before asking. <S> You could also try redirecting him to Bob if you are too busy to help him or if he has already asked you several times. <A> Just to add one more suggestion to the others here. <S> Try scheduling meetings with the co-worker to discuss “progress”. <S> During these meetings, make yourself 100% available to the coworker, outside of the meetings refer any requests, unless genuinely urgent, to the next meeting. <S> Over time, you should hopefully find the coworker becoming more proactive as he will want to show you progress since the last meeting. <S> Even if not, at least you get to limit the interruptions while still providing support. <A> Be Frank About It, in a Polite Way Be frank about it while actually telling the reason behind afterwards why you did that approach, make him understand that it is for his sake, and for the benefit of the others that he will actually deal with in the future. <S> And that is giving them actual respect as a co-worker/professional, because you don't want them to be a person who does his career in a incompetent level. <S> Base on my personal experience with the senior developer <S> (I am a junior developer, this is how he treats me) <S> I am currently working with, it is okay to tell it your suggestions straight away, no need to work around it, just be careful not to hurt their feelings completely by not telling the reason why these is needed to be done. <S> (because it is okay to sometimes hurt someone's feelings by telling the truth, so they would at least remember it, like spanking the children on the butt if they have did some bad behavior, to correct that said behavior which will be bad on the long run)
| Tell them that you are saying all these 3 things that you mentioned (the A-C), for them to learn how to act professional and in order for them to not waste anyone's time like you have experienced yourself.
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Is it reasonable to expect students to always eat lunch with the other employees? For 3 weeks I've been doing a project with my school team for another company (it's unpaid). We make biweekly (twice a week) visits to the company. It's a company with around 8 employees. The way lunch works at that company is that they put everyone's name in a randomizer. The one who gets chosen has to do the groceries. But on the two days that we go there they only put the name of me and my school team. They expect us to do the groceries for them before lunch. We have to pay, but they reimburse us. So last week we said that we as a team were going go eat lunch outside. A woman that works there came to us and said, that it's not nice and actually we are supposed to eat lunch here and that we should eat lunch with them. I think she was more upset that we didn’t do the groceries for her. She is not even the boss there. I felt like she has no right to tell us where to eat. Is it reasonable to expect us to eat lunch with them every time? I've worked for different companies but this is the first time I'm hearing this. I'm there as part of my software engineering course. Rather than doing a project for the university, the university want us to do it for a company. Bunch of different companies came to the university at the start of this school year and presented what they do. We had to rank which company appealed us most to least. The company I chose didn't mention anything about doing groceries, it was only the technical aspect of what they were looking for. <Q> Is it reasonable to expect us to eat lunch with them every time? <S> One should be free to eat wherever and whatever you want ; sometimes one may bring lunch from home, or are in the mood of going out to a restaurant, or just want to have some time alone. <S> But on the two days that we go there they only put the name of me and my school team. <S> They expect us to do the groceries for them before lunch. <S> This is not OK, not to mention unfair for you and your team. <S> Every company has it's own culture and "rituals". <S> However, it seems to me that they are taking advantage of you and your team by "forcing" you to do the groceries. <S> They are bending the rules of this tradition they have in a way that will benefit only them. <S> It's not like they are abusing physically of you, but surely they are crossing the line by only having you on the random pool. <S> It would be less unfair if they included all people and not just you , and this is something you may consider telling them if you are willing to join the tradition. <S> Still, you are not employed by this company, and you will be there only for some time. <S> Adding that to the fact that "The company I chose didn't mention anything about doing groceries" , then by all means don't feel obliged to follow this "tradition". <S> If this lady, or any other worker, keeps pushing you and your team to do the groceries politely turn them down . <S> If they insist and this starts to become a bigger issue I suggest you tell this to the person/teacher from your school in charge of this project , so they can take proper action and have this potential abuse to stop. <A> You are asking the wrong question. <S> The problem isn't that you are eating with them, the problem is that they are trying to enforce a totally unfair shopping arrangement. <S> Most days of the week when you are not there, someone from the group of people having lunch is picked at random to do the shopping. <S> But when you are there, they change the rules: One of a small subgroup (your school team) is sent to do the shopping. <S> That is deeply unfair, and they are trying to take advantage of you. <S> The correct way to solve this would be to remove the unfairness of the arrangement. <S> But you are absolutely fine to not join the lunch and not go shopping, because when you have lunch with them, they try to enforce their unfair arrangement. <S> There is one (deleted) answer that worries about your relationship. <S> Your relationship will be best if you stand up for yourself and don't let anyone exploit you. <A> That is just an initialization ritual on the company for new people. <S> I guess something similar to what happen in university fraternities. <S> (My university doesnt have fraternities <S> so only know what I watch in movies) <S> They did it to me on my internship too. <S> They put all the names on a hat and surprise my name was choosen. <S> (of course all the papers had my name). <S> My task was go to McDonald during lunch and pickup Ice Cream Sundae for everyone. <S> A litle cumbersome <S> but I did the task. <S> Next Friday they try to do the same, and I just said "that wont work again" and went back to my job. <S> They did a show about how ofended they were and how irrespectuful are intern those day (or at least I decide to think was a show) <S> but I just ingore them and the topic was never touch again <S> and I finish my internship without any problems.
| No, it is not reasonable to expect that every time.
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Should I tell my new employer I feel incompetent to do the job? I'm a software developer with 4+ years of experience. I'm socially awkward and always try to avoid daily meetings in my agile work environment. I'm planning to move out of my current company and I have got a better offer (both in pay and role) from another company with a role of technical lead. I believe I'm not ready for the tech lead role yet. But still I want to give it a try as it can be a game changer for my career and me. I have even planned to fake it till I make it. Again, I think it may not be fair not to inform about my incompetency to my future employer. So will that be considered dishonesty if they find out about my shortcomings in future? How can I inform them politely, I may not be a great fit for lead role but would be great addition to the team as I'm technically strong. PS: I was already able to fake it in the interview. So it wouldn't be a problem for me. <Q> My own experiences might be relevent here, I too am a developer who dreads daily meetings (I'm a high-functioning autistic and calling me "socially awkward" would be like calling a hurricane a "slight breeze") and some years ago I moved into more technical lead/management roles, twice by accident and once by design. <S> My technical skills and general nous were more than sufficient for roles of such seniority but <S> my social weaknesses and poor people skills were a major achillies heel. <S> Now there's no saying for sure whether you'll experience the same and with some work on your soft skills you may blossom into that side of the role. <S> However if you're already taking steps to avoid daily stand ups then the omens aren't good. <S> Getting on to the question of whether you are being "dishonest" with the new company, <S> well that sort of depends on exactly what you mean by "faking it" in the interview <S> , if we're talking about acting more confident then you felt, well I wouldn't call that dishonesty, more standard operating procedure in interviews. <S> If on the other hand you've claimed experience that you don't actually have <S> that's quite serious <S> and I'd expect any offer to be withdrawn once they find out about it <S> (and the chances are quite good that sooner or later they are going to find out). <S> Assuming you have presented your technical skills and experience accurately to them (and given you've already gotten the offer on the table) <S> then I'd suggest giving it a shot, just go in with your eyes open and be prepared to put a lot of effort into the soft-skills side. <S> I'm not saying it will be easy but taking any substantial steps in your career is going to require you to step outside your comfort zone a bit. <A> You don't really know if you're incompetent as a lead programmer. <S> You haven't tried yet. <S> "Faking it" is a perfectly legitimate approach to new challenges, and nobody's going to complain if you can fake it well enough to be productive. <S> Don't succumb to impostor syndrome. <S> Assuming you didn't lie about something in your interviews, then the decision to offer you the lead job is your new employer's. <S> Like any such decision, it may be a good one or a bad one. <S> If it turns out that you're a bad lead programmer, as long as you're doing your best, that's not your fault. <S> Even if you fail, you can learn things that may serve you (and your employer) <S> well later. <S> You probably want to talk with your manager before stepping into a new role. <S> Your manager knows you don't have any experience in what you're doing, and will expect you to have problems at first. <S> Don't take them too seriously, and don't be afraid to ask for guidance. <A> The question that you ask is if you "should tell the new employer that you feel incompetent for the job". <S> What is the effect of doing this? <S> For sure it will be negative, as you will loose some of the employer's trust, which you may or may not recover later. <S> The benefit is that you will get back to your risk free comfort zone. <S> Is this what you want? <S> Reading between the lines, it seems that the real question that bothers you is if you should take the risk you already planned to take. <S> If you want to advance in your career, you should be ready to take risks. <S> There is no difference here. <S> You will take the risk. <S> If you succeed, you will get into a new comfort zone and your career will be at the next level. <S> If you fail, you will have to take more decisions then. <S> Good luck!
| You don't have to be confident, although, depending on the job, you might have to appear confident. Since you want to be a lead programmer, and you have the opportunity, go for it and do your best. There will be situations, even as a developer, when you will not have the option to say "I don't know" - you will have to say that you know and find a way to learn behind the scenes.
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In Germany: Covering the costs of a job interview when the candidate rejects an offer If a job seeker goes to a job interview some hundred km away and gets a job offer following the interview, which she rejects (for whatever reason - personal or professional - but not related to the company), should she still have her costs covered? <Q> See this article (in German) for example. <S> There are some exceptions though: <S> The hiring company may with the invitation to an interview inform you that they won't cover travel costs. <S> However this information has to be made very clear. <S> You didn't show up for the interview but there have been costs generated up front, e.g. for a hotel room or flight tickets which could not be returned. <S> In that case the company can refuse to cover the cost or, if they already paid for it, can ask you for compensation. <S> I'm however not sure whether this applies for any 'no-show' or only ones where you have no concise excuse. <A> Aside from your actual obligations, the reason for paying travel regardless of an accepted offer is that it benefits you as the employer. <S> Firstly, you have the option to not pay anybody's travel. <S> Clearly, the disadvantage here is that you are excluding any applicant who cannot afford to travel for interview - and you will recieve a smaller number of offers, that are likely of lower quality. <S> Paying for travel at all, is an effective use of recruitment budget to encourage high skilled candidates to apply. <S> If you have decided to pay for travel costs, it's then even more important that you do so for all people (whether they are rejected, or reject you). <S> By requesting repayment of travel costs, you are putting candidates in one of two situations: Candidates that otherwise would not be comfortable working for you, are now being pressured to take the job. <S> If you already decided that you want high-skill staff enough to pay travel at all; you've just undone that by pushing staff who aren't a good fit to take the role. <S> Candidates that haven't yet interviewed, but are weighing up their options (when you inform them they will have to repay the travel cost), will now see this interview as a financial risk. <S> Importantly, you're also signalling a red flag to them, that as an employer you are tight on money and will potentially exploit them as an employee (whether this is actually the case or not). <S> If you cannot afford to pay travel costs for those that reject an offer, I'd suggest you cannot afford to pay them for anybody. <S> Simply not covering travel costs is a much less offputting position, than telling a candidate you expect repayment if it doesn't work out. <A> If it's part of the agreement then yes. <S> Normally these things are made clear before anyone starts spending money. <S> For obvious reasons it doesn't hinge on whether an interviewee accepts an offer or even if they get an offer. <S> It would be a huge red flag if a company expected interviewees to pay if they don't accept whatever offer they're given.
| In general: yes, in Germany the interviewing company is obliged by law to cover the costs of interview related travel no matter what the outcome of the hiring process is.
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Second interview, interviewers mentioned about experienced other candidate On the last interview for a position, the interviewers have told me that I have done very good so far, and the other candidate they have been interviewing is a 20 years experienced person, and if I wouldn't get selected I shouldn't be feeling bad for it. I have been given the coming week as the week that they are going to inform me on a decision. I was wondering if they were just kind, to tell me that I am the second choice in this way, or this is a negotiation style for a probable offer next week? update: i have just received the offer and accepted it. <Q> Typically what this means is that they thought you were a great fit, but given the opportunity, they would rather have the person with more experience. <S> he/she will accept the offer. <S> Personally, I would proceed as if you will not get the job and keep interviewing. <S> It was really nice of them to tell you that. <S> A lot of interviewers will not give that type of feedback. <S> This was a win for you. <S> They seem to really like you <S> and you could get a job out of it. <S> The only problem is that job is contingent on someone else saying no. <A> In your career, you'll run into manipulative people sometimes, and into decent and honest people most of the time. <S> I would take this at face value. <S> They have one candidate who is more experienced than you and therefore should be better. <S> He might not actually be any better. <S> He might ask for more money than the company wants to pay, or even more money than he is worth. <S> He might have a better offer elsewhere. <S> He might turn out to be a total dick that nobody wants to work with. <S> Of course they tell you to continue looking for jobs elsewhere. <S> If you find something better, take it. <S> If not, keep looking until they make a decision. <A> Were they kind? <S> Maybe, but clumsy. <S> How do you feel now, knowing that there will always be someone with 20 years more experience than you, that you can't compete with? <S> Neah, it was not pure kindness. <S> Did they try to prepare for negotiation? <S> Using arguments like "we have candidates 20 years more experienced than you, so you cannot ask for too much money"? <S> Again, clumsy. <S> You can say this when the offer is on the table, no need to give a warning to the other party in the negotiation 1 week in advance, so he can prepare for such argument.. <S> Most <S> probably you will not get the position and they will not feel bad that they did not choose you, because "he was such a nice guy, but we did not let him be disappointed, since we gave him a good reason that he cannot be guilty about this interview". <S> In other words, they told you so, so that they don't feel guilty about you. <S> Your take from this? <S> Nice experience, learn something and move on. <S> If they call next week though, then they probably failed the negotiation with another candidate, so if you like to take a risk, ask for more money than you initially thought to ask, as they may feel weaker in the negotiation for fear of losing you too. <A> seems to me to be a position of power. <S> if you're offered the job, it's because the other candidate dropped out. <S> If that's the case, they probably don't have a great third option, so you can press for more. <S> If you don't get the offer, well, you know why.
| So there is a chance that you get the job, even with the more experienced candidate, or maybe not. They realize that the person with more experienced has probably interviewed many places and there is no guarantee
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A decent stack-exchange score for resume I am a fresher, and I have been working on my resume for sometime now. I have a 500+ reputation on stack-overflow, that I gained in a year. I am not sure if I should put this reputation on my resume. What could be a decent score on stack-exchange? I am not a beginner for sure, somewhere on the intermediate level. I don't want to look like a beginner with a low reputation on the site put on my resume. Read below, before pointing that the question is a duplicate... I had read the following question, before posting the answer: Should I include information about my reputation on professionally-relevant Stack Exchange (or other Q&A) sites on my resume? This answer is more general, mine is specific about the reputation. Although, it seems like the answers that I am getting are probably similar(all efforts are welcome and appreciated though). Any guidelines/advice/suggestions on this, will be helpful <Q> I wouldn't include it. <S> While that's a solid amount of reputation it would strike me as irrelevant information for a resume and even then, I would put it as a side note for the reader. <S> Only in the most extreme cases (top .01% for example) would I think it appropriate to highlight on your resume. <S> When I review a resume I'm looking to see: what the last company they worked for is, what did they do there? <S> what skills do they have listed that are relevant to the job <S> what kind of educational background do they have? <S> if you have any more questions, checkout Is "Stack Exchange use" a valuable skill on my CV? <S> regarding stack exchange and your CV. <A> Your SO reputation score shouldn’t go on your resume. <S> Although it shows your technical expertise, it also highlights how much time you spend online helping others, and by implication not developing for your own employer. <S> Your employer doesn’t directly benefit in your high score, they’re liable to be less interested in you and prefer another candidate who can demonstrate adding value to their employer rather than everyone else... <A> You can include a link to your profile, but don't just include the score. <S> I've factored people's SO profiles (questions/answers) into a hiring decision before. <S> The reputation by itself isn't as useful though (it could have been gained through knowledge in something irrelevant for the position, for example). <A> How long is a piece of string? <S> Personally, I feel that nothing less than 10k would impress me, but others may disagree. <S> I am currently in the top 3% on S.O, but I don't put that on my CV. <S> I think that %age might be a better measure than sheer points, and while you are in the top 6% this quarter, which is quite impressive, you don't have a great %age overall, so I wouldn't, if I were you. <S> At most, perhaps, a throwaway statement, lost in a general summary at the start, along with github projects. <S> As @bharal said, interviewers look for passion (I know that I do), so perhaps it will help a little, but I would still try to get it past 5k before mentioning it, and even then, only as an overall %age. <A> It might work. <S> One thing employers want to see in their hires - especially their graduate hires - is passion . <S> If you put your score on your CV in the section on hobbies then that's fair. <S> It shows mentorship and communication skills, which, hey, you might as well list as skills on our CV seeing as, as a fresher, you don't have a lot else, right? <S> But listing the stack overflow score first - with an explanation of what stackoverflow is and how you getting those points reflects your passion and communication skills will help you. <S> For example: Hobbies: Stackoverflow score of 400 <S> (Stackoverflow is an online q&a site for engineers, I regularly contribute to the site to improve my coding and also my communication and mentoring skills). <A> Be aware that not all companies appreciate the guy that is overly active on internet message boards. <S> Even in the IT industry, some may view it as a time waster.
| Having a high stack overflow ranking doesn't really pertain to your fit for the role nor does it demonstrate a capability as a software engineer.
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Is it bad to bring an Android phone to an Apple On-site Interview? I know Apple employees are passionate Apple fans. I do have an old iPhone that I can use. Should I just bring my old iPhone with me to the interview? <Q> It doesn't matter. <S> Ideally, you won't be taking your phone out of your pocket during an interview anyway. <S> So don't worry about it and concentrate on your interview. <A> Should I just bring my old iPhone with me to the interview? <S> That way nobody will notice or care what operating system it uses. <A> In general, I agree with Snow. <S> You're applying for a position at Apple though, questions about your favourite brand may show up. <S> Answer them truthfully. <S> You don't want to say, "I'm currently using an iPhone", refering to your old phone, when in reality you're using an Android on a daily basis. <S> They'll notice on your first day anyway. <S> Try to spin it around in a good way. <S> As an example, I heard someone mention this in a conversation just yesterday. <S> I wish I had gone for another iPhone instead of this Android. <S> It seemed good on paper, but I really miss features X and Y from iPhones. <S> If it is relevant for you, you could use this phrase, or another one that is positive and true.
| Keep your phone in your pocket or your bag or leave it in your car.
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How to organise a Friday lunch for 80 people We are a company that likes having free lunches on the last Friday of every month. However, we have grown from 20 to now 80 people in our office! We are finding it difficult to fit in our kitchen at once and some people dislike only speaking to the 2 people next to them. How can we organise an effective lunch-time event for 80 people in a small office? <Q> However, we have grown from 20 to now 80 people in our office! <S> [...] How can we organise an effective lunch-time event for 80 people in a small office? <S> In a few words, you can't . <S> Unless everybody ate on their desks, but that would have little fun and heavily limit the interaction you may have. <S> You basically grew a 400% in personnel, and perhaps what you (or your boss/owner) should be considering is finding a bigger office where you can all fit comfortably. <S> Consider having your event at a conference room or hotel , where you will surely fit comfortably and can organize for a catering service for you all to eat. <S> You could also make your event in the open (like a "field trip" or "picnic"), perhaps some open space or field near your office that can be used. <S> There you can rent some chairs and tables (or well eat on the ground like a real picnic), or also some tent or awning to cover from the sun and elements. <A> Our company has similarly grown to where we can bring in lunch for the company (I'm eating such a lunch now) but the communal kitchen only has seating for 20 or so and there's no way to seat everyone together. <S> This makes everyone default to going and eating at their desks. <S> Things you can do (assuming the goal is teambuilding and not just feeding people <S> so they work harder by not leaving the building): <S> Designate several communal eating areas - reserve conference rooms and such for the lunch hour. <S> Have assigned people (execs, whatever) manning them to make them more of a "destination." Or have some common video (company, training, something) running in all of them to make it more of a destination and communal experience. <S> In general just communicating your goals (which I notice was not done in this question) can help too. <S> If there's just a pile of food in the kitchen, then "what's wrong with just taking it and going to my desk to eat" in the lack of any other expressed expectation or norm? <A> If space is a limiting factor, what about having lunch outside, in the open? <S> Depending on the time of the year it can be quite enjoyable, getting out of the regular office space to socialise with colleagues and "chill". <S> Another possible solution could be to have 20 people go for lunch, and then have the next 20 go after the first have returned. <S> Of course, that only works if having all 80 employees together at once is not required.
| So, alternatives to having lunch that I can think of include: Make a reservation at a restaurant where you can all fit and chat comfortably. I see that the core issue here is that your office is now less adequate for the number of people in it. If it's important enough to the company leadership, you can embargo other activities at that time - maybe not to the degree of "internet's off you freaks" but socially encourage "laptops closed" (and by booking all the conference rooms you discourage other meetings) during the time.
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What is the worst that could happen if I keep my conversations only work related with team members? My Situation : So the office I work, I happen to be part of a team where there is more gossip (Teammates talking about what he/she did funny the other day on a skype call or near the cafeteria etc etc.. and more about otherworldly stuff that does not concern office work) and less work, at least of what i see with my fresher eyes. As for me, I am a fresher who likes to concentrate on my work, and if I run into some roadblocks then reach out to team members for a solution. Afterall, that's what i am paid for right? My Characteristic : I would not go so far to say I am completely an introvert guy but I do feel uncomfortable starting conversations with random people unless they are funny, like to discuss work-related stuff or they happen to be men. ( Just so if you get any ideas about my sexuality, I'm straight as an arrow I also respect women.) Not that I can't chat with a woman or start conversations, I just don't feel spontaneous starting conversations with them. Since I am straight out of college, I find doing the same old good morning or hi, how are you? very monotonous after a certain number of days. I mean, I greet my friends with a joke that would be something clever about the thing he/she dressed etc.(Picture Chandler but just without hi, hello etc) Hope you get the gist. Having said that I do greet my Managers, Directors because they hold a very high position and it is not that often I would run into them unless its work. I am very choosy when it comes to making friends. It's not that I don't like others, but I consider keeping a neutral stance with people I don't feel like talking to. My Problem : I wouldn't say it's a problem but with time it may turn into one. But apparently, I noticed many people on my team have started ignoring me. It's not that I did not see that coming or I have a problem with that but I want help from this community on what I can do from my side to improve the situation. Please understand that I am not a negative person, but is the world too cruel to even stand the sight of introverts? <Q> To get good technical help you need smooth, comfortable interactions with your colleagues. <S> Routine greetings and other small talk are a way of getting to know people, and getting comfortable talking with them. <S> The less attention you pay to your colleagues, the less attention they will give you. <S> Answering your direct question, the worst that can happen is that nobody tells you anything unless telling you is a required part of their job. <S> Establishing smooth relations with colleagues is an important skill you will need throughout your career. <S> It may help to think of greetings and small talk not as something you are doing for fun and entertainment, but as part of your job. <S> Like many work skills, you may be able to compensate for not developing it by being outstanding in other areas, but you will never be as effective as you could be. <S> You do seem, from comments, to be treating women differently from men. <S> That you really do have to work on. <S> Non-discrimination is an absolutely essential skill in the modern workplace. <A> Being an introvert is not an excuse. <S> As every dad has told their kid at some point, "it's called work for a reason; if it was all fun and games they wouldn't call it work." <S> I'm sorry you don't feel comfortable talking to people. <S> I don't feel comfortable getting up at 7 AM and wearing pants. <S> Nobody cares. <S> It's part of having a professional job. <S> You can be as introverted (or extroverted) as you want. <S> But you are required to greet people, speak with them civilly, and observe basic social mores if you want a job working with people in an office. <S> Ideally you'll also show initiative and progression, if you want to advance. <S> (This question seems to show a fair amount of resistance to the idea of learning/change, which is a huge red flag for employers.) <S> Having said that, there are other kinds of jobs. <S> They may not pay as much or be more irregular (work-from-home contract programming) or not use your current skills (become a blacksmith and just make swords in your garage), but you can make those tradeoffs and decisions yourself. <A> If you want people to talk to you, then you need to talk to them. <S> If they try to be friendly with you <S> and you ignore them, then soon they will stop trying. <S> It sounds as if you’d like people to say “Hi” to you, without your needing to respond, but it just doesn’t work that way. <S> Chandler Bing is a character on a television show. <S> Again, society works a certain way, and you have to go along if you want to be accepted. <S> Finally, I will note that everyone is choosy with their friends, to some extent. <S> The people you work with have already demonstrated that. <A> I feel the pain too. <S> For many reasons, I don't make personal friends at work, and I am an introvert at heart. <S> Having said that, you do spend a good bit of time at work, so it is best to make some kind of social connection. <S> What I typically do is when I get in the office I participate with any sort of chit chat that is happening at the time. <S> Usually the mornings are a bit of a hello/good morning session <S> so I take the opportunity to engage in the conversations. <S> In short, the best way to achieve a social balance at work is to engage socially on limited basis, even if you don't see the immediate return on the time invested. <S> It will come back to you, as when you need help, co-workers will be inclined to be responsive to you.
| It will make your job easier down the road if people like you a bit. In real life, if you are rude and acerbic all the time, people won’t like you.
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Work contract in one country and work in two countries for a multi-national company? Is it possible for a multi-national company present in multiple countries to arrange a work contract in one country and have the employee work in the other or both countries? In particular, the two countries in mind are France and the UK. And I am interested in maintaining a status in one of those countries. Will tax laws complicate this as to where I will end up paying taxes? Are there any resources you suggest to read? Should I discuss this in an HR interview? PS: The company is offering a contract in of the two countries. <Q> Yes it's possible, but there are few things to consider. <S> Both UK and France are in EU. <S> If you have citizenship in any of EU countries, you can move and work freely. <S> When Brexit happens and UK leaves EU the free movement/working may end. <S> You (typically) pay taxes to the country where you have permanent residence and work contract. <S> If you spend enough time within a year in another country, you may need to start paying taxes there as well as to your home country. <S> And this double taxation is usually resolved by the tax agreement between the countries. <S> In the cases I'm familiar with, this limit was over 180 days, or 6 months, within a year. <S> Also, you didn't include this in your question, but your social security is also affected. <S> I'm not sure if this is EU wide regulation, but as far as I know after spending 3 months consecutively in another EU country, social security in your home country ends. <A> Is it possible for a multi-national company present in multiple countries to arrange a work contract in one country and have the employee work in the other or both countries? <S> I worked for such a company (although the two countries were different than in your specific case). <A> The labor, social security, and taxation laws are complicated and different when even moving within EU. <S> Contract and place of employment might affect the situation separately in social security taxes and actual taxes. <S> Your company needs to ask a specialist in this task if their accounting department does not know much from similar situations. <S> An exampleMy sister’s husband has a contract with a German company but because of a project he had with the same German company in a chemical plant in France, he had to pay something differently while being in France with the same company. <S> Taxation has also to do with the country of closer connection (where are your financial interests), so things get complicated.
| But the details depend on the laws of UK and France, as well as any mutual tax agreement they have. Yes, it's quite possible.
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Do people being interviewed need to be informed they are part of an investigation? I'm looking for some guidance, hopefully from a HR professional but any advice is appreciated; for context, this is in the UK so will be subject to our laws/guidelines. I, along with many colleagues in my department, were recently 'interviewed' individually by a member of senior management. We were each told this was an informal discussion, and that all answers would be anonymous and confidential. The purpose of the interviews was stated as to perform a 'baseline' of the mood of the organisation, and whether there were any concerns about attitudes. It has recently been revealed that in reality, a member of the department had received a grievance notification against them and the true purpose of the interviews was to see if anyone would voluntarily substantiate the claims made therein. The testimonies were in fact used to bring a formal charge against the accused colleague (confirmed to me by the senior manager). I take issue with this approach, as; Participants were not informed their testimonies would be used ina formal capacity Participants were actively misled as to the nature of the discussion The questions asked were (in my experience) leading questions by nature, with long periods of silence held when no immediate answers were forthcoming No opportunity was extended to bring in a representative or 3rd party support/witness. It has emerged that the senior manager's actions were sanctioned by HR; whats more, the head of our companies HR Department, meaning that should anyone take issue they would be seeking redress against the head of HR for their actions. Is it possible that the investigation was performed in an unbefitting, or possibly legally dubious manner? While I am not the aggrieved party, I feel as though my testimony was gathered without my consent. Does 'anonymising' the feedback received go any way towards upholding confidentiality, or is the lack of disclosure (and statement of informality) mean confidentiality is not assured by certainty? <Q> Is it possible that the investigation was performed in an unbefitting, or possibly legally dubious manner? <S> I do not work in the UK and IANAL, but this sure seems devious and underhanded to me. <S> And, based on the way this was handled, I would not be confident in the confidentiality aspect of it either. <S> Since you are not the aggrieved party, I am not certain what actions or outcome you are after other than perhaps to protect yourself from collateral damage. <S> Unless you somehow feel at risk, your best bet is to let this situation die down and don't stir the pot further. <S> That being said, if you feel you need to do something , I think any next steps you are interested in taking probably should be done with the consultation of an attorney . <A> A stretch <S> but they may have just been protecting the person that had the grievance filed against them. <S> They were not sure to honor the grievance or not and wanted to gather unbiased input without disclosing personal information. <S> Even if they said we are investigating a grievance it would have been a disruption to the office. <S> IANAL <S> but I doubt this is against the law. <S> Yes I get you were deceived but not much you can do about it. <A> Just in case you haven't realized it yet, investigators often misrepresent who they are and why they are asking questions. <S> It prevents people from refusing to cooperate or saying what they think will benefit them or their friends instead of the truth. <S> Whether your rights were violated in the UK, I can't say. <S> My guess would be that there is significant leeway in how the company can gather information from you if you aren't the target of the investigation. <S> You should assume that almost any conversation that is prefaced by "this will remain anonymous and confidential" may come back to haunt you. <S> Even if the person sincerely believes the conversation will remain confidential, they may not have the ability to keep it that way. <S> When someone is informally interviewing you and it is not clear that there is any benefit to you to provide the information they're asking for, you should just smile and say something equivalent to "I don't really have anything to say about that. <S> " unless they're asking about a simple verifiable fact. <S> Don't be confrontational, just don't volunteer anything unless you understand how your statement will be used. <S> If the company needs your cooperation, they can explain the nature of the situation, and if they want to compel you to answer, they can make it a more formal interview. <S> The simple fact that they were using more aggressive techniques to prompt answers (like the long silences) should be a red flag that they were misleading you about the nature of the inquiry. <S> That said, you have a moral obligation to come forward if you witness serious infractions of company policy (and illegal stuff, but that goes without saying). <A> Who revealed the "true" nature of the interviews? <S> Secondhand information or something concrete from management? <S> Keep in mind whenever sudden interviews pop up, there are a few "tin foil" teammates that think there is some sort of ulterior motive behind the interviews. <S> Over the years, I interviewed HR randomly with the rest of my team. <S> There is one guy on the team who comes up with conspiracies ranging from we're going to be laid off, to somehow government taking over the company and starting Jade Helm operations of a UN take over by calming the staff down. <S> It's wild. <S> So unless you heard about it from HR, I wouldn't do anything. <S> Imagine if you went to HR and said, "I heard you interviewed me falsely to help your own lawsuit by figuring out if anyone else would help collaborate the individual filing the suit. <S> " And there isn't a lawsuit. <S> You'd either be the laughingstock there or fired on the spot. <S> Think of it rationally. <S> If there is a lawsuit, the lawyer for the person filing it would seek out teammates that could help. <S> By HR figuring out individuals who can collaborate, they risk exposing that person and potentially aiding the person filing the suit. <S> "I just got fired for knowing X, and now I'm helping person A."
| If someone without the legal obligation to keep your conversation confidential approaches you and offers you confidentiality, you should be very cautious about what you say until you understand what is going on.
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What resources exist, or how should a woman describe the details of sexual harassment (assault)? A female friend of mine is telling me about a sexual harassment, which was in reality a sexual assault involving a coworker physically grabbing her backside with both hands, from upper hip with the assailant's pinky touching her perineum The office she works at is pressuring her to have a report describing the incident in the next two hours. She is in tears telling me the details of the situation and once I recognized that this was an assault, she is having more difficulty than before at composing what's needed. She doesn't like to feel like a victim, or want to acknowledge that fact. She has no interest in ruining her career, as it's reputation based and word of mouth. Because of this she declined to fully describe the first incident to her supervisor who is financially motivated to keep the offender on payroll. What I need (she needs) is a way to calmly structure and organize her thoughts and accurately describe what happened to the employer? She has reported his multiple offenses to her immediate supervisor who passed off his behavior as ignorable / "boys will be boys" and is connected to a family who has a history of covering this stuff up. How can I help her calm her thinking so that she can accurately describe the events that transpired without feeling overwhelmed by feelings of victimization or prescribing justice? She is a W2 employee. He is a 1099 contractor if that makes a difference. United States. // Aside: She is living month-to-month on her income and supporting a child. Any resources or ideas on how to survive in this complicating situation is really helpful as well. <Q> Getting with HR is a good call given prior reports were not forwarded. <S> Now she should just settle down and write a factual report of all incidents to the best of her recollection. <S> She should include all the email to and from her boss on this matter. <S> Do NOT discuss with her boss at this point. <S> Even if they take action you can still file a criminal report or consult a lawyer. <A> Then immediatly go get a lawyer who specializes in workplace harassment of this nature. <A> This is in case she is in US IMHO, this link should help https://www.womeninresearch.org/sexual-harassment-workplace-resources/ <S> On the other hand, word of mouth and reputation should be protected. <S> She needs to ask the lawyer about " <S> I don`t know what its called" notice / letter or what it needs to be, insuring the discretion of the matter at hand. <S> Tell her not to let it go. <S> Would be nice to her the results of the matter <A> How can I help her calm her thinking so that she can accurately describe the events that transpired without feeling overwhelmed by feelings of victimization or prescribing justice? <S> Walk with her to the HR office. <S> Do it now. <S> When she is done, walk with her back to your workspace.
| And, given that there is a habit to sweep these things under the rug at her place,tell her not to send anything in writing to management until she talks to him, given any information she will provide can be used against her should it reach litigation. If they fail to take action then consider filing a police report or consulting a lawyer. Make sure she has everything documented, in writing and has copies of her own that the company cannot delete or withhold from her. Also, she should retain a lawyer that specialize in these kinds of matter.
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Use of malfunctioning company car In of my business trips to USA, I was directed to use one of the company cars. The car seemed to have a severe brake issues and not having an oil changed for a year and a half after the deadline. I was warned to be careful and leave a distance from the cars ahead but it was scary when I had to decide to turn abruptly. If am asked to drive a car in a similar situation, how I can politely say that there is a severe safety concern and they need either to fix it or rent me a car? Because of the crisis in the company, the local employees many times try to fix up things by themselves. Should that fix be requested to be handled by licensed persons and only? Note: the cars are pretty old (manufactured in 1991) <Q> If am asked to drive a car in a similar situation, how I can politely say that there is a severe safety concern and they need either to fix it or rent me a car? <S> Say no. <S> In this case, I would simply say no , and either take an uber or rent a car -- period. <S> My safety is worth more than any job. <S> A vehicle that is not functioning properly (mechanically) is a danger to yourself and to your fellow drivers. <S> You could say something along the lines of " My apologies, but this vehicle does not appear mechanically sound/safe. <S> Perhaps there is another vehicle available, or I will take alternative transportation. " <S> Another point I would like to make is since it is a company car, the company itself will be liable <S> should there be an incident. <S> Short answer : <S> Driving a poorly maintained, mechanically unsound car is not wise for you or the company. <A> Afraid I'm going to take the harsh approach here. <S> If am asked to drive a car in a similar situation, how I can politely say that there is a severe safety concern and they need either to fix it or rent me a car? <S> Screw being polite. <S> I'd hit the roof if I was told to drive a knowingly unsafe vehicle, and simply refuse, something to the effect of: <S> There's no way I'm going to set foot in this vehicle, <S> let alone drive it, and <S> I'm frankly appalled that you'd put both my life and the lives of other road users at risk by suggesting as such. <S> You then suggest that you're going to take a cab / rent a mechanically sound car <S> / whatever else may be appropriate, and claim that back on expenses. <S> Longer term, quite honestly I'd take a serious look at whether you wanted to remain at a company that's prepared to knowingly endanger lives in this way for the sake of budget cuts. <S> I cannot emphasise enough how terrible a request this is. <S> (As an aside: I'm reacting so strongly here because this is a massive safety issue. <S> If it was a case of "the AC doesn't work", or "it's got a big dent in it", but the car was otherwise fine, then obviously that's a completely different matter.) <A> Your car must be capable of doing an emergency brake at any time. <S> There are dangers that you can mitigate by driving carefully, others you can’t. <S> A child might step into the road five meters in front of your car. <S> Good brakes = bad injury, bad brakes = dead. <S> No way you can take this risk. <S> There is absolutely no need for politeness, quite the opposite.
| If you knowingly drive a car with brakes in a bad condition, you are legally responsible. Refuse in the strongest possible way.
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Intern I am working in pair with is slacking and disrupts our work I am two months into my last internship as a Software Engineer, and the workplace is fine, except for one other intern, who I happen to work in pair with. We work on our own project in the company, so we do not have a real hierarchy above us that works on that project, we only have two or three other people to check on our global progress, and to ensure we are applying the right project management techniques. The heart of the problem lies in the fact that that other intern slacks all day, ends up blaming his computer, or the network we are working on, or the different frameworks or software that we use. Plus, but that is totally personal, I don't like him but he seems to like me.So my first approach was to help him through those "problems", so that he can get to work. But that did not help that much, because I lost a lot of time on that expecting him to know at least the basics (which he clearly does not, and that is unacceptable after 5 years studying for that kind of job), and because he always ended up blaming something else. Now I am not a cocky person, but I manage. I work hard, I get rid of my own problems without disturbing the workplace, and I generally like to keep it professional.But this guy really endangers the well-being of the project : we only have 3 months left of internship and we are expected to have a finished product at that time. That would be an accurate timing if it wasn't for the fact that I have to work more than double, because I have to pick up the slack AND help him just to try and get a real work partner. I already confronted him about that but he dodges the question, or acts like I am joking even though I assure him that I clearly am not. So here's the real question: is it OK to go to my acting superiors and clear that out, so that we can try and work from there, or should I bite the bullet and just endure those last 3 months? <Q> One of the golden rules is to just mind your own business, do your work and don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. <S> It should be your manager's responsibility to notice this, not yours. <S> And if you don't have anybody who oversees you or the project on a regular basis, then that's a conscious decision made by somebody and not your fault. <S> However, you can protect yourself otherwise. <S> Keep track of what work has been assigned to you, how it has progressed, leave paper trail of the communication, focus on your work and do it well. <S> And don't stress about the (failing?) project. <S> If there are just 2 interns working on it and nobody manages it actively, it's not super important. <S> This is just excellent opportunity for you to learn a lot. <A> The "golden rule" of "mind your own business" that has been quoted is being misapplied in this instance - because, in this case, it is your business. <S> Simply waiting for management to notice is not enough, for a couple of reasons: a) you appear to have minimal oversight (which is not great for a pair of interns) - so your individual contributions may not be monitored all that <S> closely;b) you appear to be covering for the other intern, and management may see your combined output as adequate (while you are exhausting yourself with your effort). <S> If your project is not delivered on time, it will not look good for you even if you belatedly protest your partner's lack of contribution. <S> Management will ask why you didn't bring it up before. <S> If you're not comfortable taken this directly to a superior or whoever assigned the project to you, then discuss with your mentor (if you have one). <S> In any event, the time to fix a potential roadblock is before the deadline, not after. <A> I suggest you don't try to appear toxic indeed, but still do take this up with your supervisor. <S> Don't say that you think he is slacking, instead say you're feeling overwhelmed by having to help the other employee, and you are unable to get your work done on time because of it and feel like he would receive better guidance from someone with more experience. <S> You are there really to learn, not to teach someone else how to do things, and its unnecessary stress. <S> There are limits to how much guidance/help you can give to a person which is suppose to be on the same level as you.
| While it's true that you should be more concerned with your own work/performance than that of others in your team and/organisation, you should also be concerned about anything that may impact the delivery of the project you are currently working on. If you complain about the other intern you can easily be seen as toxic person who throws others under the bus to their own benefit.
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4-month internship and likely job afterwards: how hard should I negotiate wages now? Context I am considering an offer I have received. It consists in a four-month internship, paid hourly, leading explicitly to a full-time position (if all goes well, obviously). Being intern prior getting hired seems to be a company custom — and I'm fine with it. I think their team is facing rather a shortage than an excess of potential employees — they are quite pressing me to start asap. I am new on the field (development) but I have quite a few advantages (my background is quite rich, and I know the industry they work for) and I am confident I will well perform at this position. I thus assume I will get an offer at the end of the internship. I am about to receive an offer for a similar position (developer) in a start-up — but for a real job and not an internship. Question How hard should I negotiate the internship wages now? Indeed, I am considering the long-term move (i.e. what matters to me is the long-term position) and I am not sure what is the good strategy to adopt to maximize the long-term job salary: I should set the bar high, straight from the beginning and show them I won't undersell (touchy when you're actually accepting an internship?). Moreover, my other offer won't be valid anymore in four months. Yet I fear could appear "over-caring" for a few-month thing (and not choosing the right battle to fight). Moreover, the internship package may not be that much negotiable, and it's still true I haven't prove my value already. I should wait to over-perform during the internship (I can commit myself to it) to have more cards to play — plus I don't spoil already all my arguments (to which they could say: "Oh, yes we know, but we already made an effort last time, and this is already a salary increase; so we can't do much more" ). But it could weaken my leverage if already I accepted to do a low-paying internship. Other benefits (remote working, continuous learning, childcare, etc.) seems ok to me, i.e., I don't see how I could be more satisfied. I can imagine working for this company for the next 3–4 years, at least. <Q> How hard should I negotiate the internship wages now? <S> In many companies, interns typically have little to no leverage regarding wages. <S> When I hired interns for software positions, it was for a standard wage. <S> There was no negotiation. <S> If the intern wanted more, they would have to look elsewhere. <S> If you were specifically sought out by the company for this internship (perhaps via a nationwide search) it might be different. <S> But in general, you'll get to work for the company's "standard intern" wage. <S> So if you want to work for this particular company, your best bet is to get the internship and demonstrate how superior you are. <S> Then when you are offered a full-time position, you can negotiate with some leverage. <S> Presumably, you would have the ability to go somewhere else at that point in time and get hired, too. <S> On the other hand if you are being offered a full-time position by another company now, you could negotiate hard for that job with that other company and skip the whole internship uncertainty. <S> Unless the first company offers significantly more potential with their internship than the second company offers with their full-time position, it's not clear why you would go the internship route. <A> How hard should I negotiate the internship wages now? <S> Given that you are new to development, it makes sense to lean toward your latter strategy ("wait to over-perform during the internship"). <S> In order to negotiate effectively, you must have an alternative, such as another job offer, or simply the ability to walk away from the offer. <S> You also must have something the other party wants. <S> In this case, you have some skill, experience, and ability, but nothing that truly sets you apart from other applicants, at least not yet. <S> That way you'll be better able to compare and negotiate full-time positions when the time comes. <A> how hard should I negotiate wages now? <S> Not a lot, you're still raw. <S> The actual number doesn't mean much at this point unless it is really low. <S> Negotiate once you have leverage - which in this case means being able to point to projects you've performed well on in your new field (development). <S> If you're confident that the start-up has sufficient funding, I'd take the 'real job'. <S> You'll likely do more types of things in a small company; you'll learn more areas because things aren't in silos. <S> Those experiences will be great material to use when looking for future jobs (especially during the interview process). <S> To succeed at the start-up you'll have to learn more on your own, which isn't a bad thing. <S> If you feel you really need the mentoring <S> maybe the internship is better, I've never been one or had one, so I don't know much about it. <S> I have however worked at a number of startups and they're a bit more fun especially when you're young or early in your career (or both). <S> Choosing between offers is never easy, but at least you have a choice. <S> Do put some thought into which one <S> you'd regret not choosing later in life if you didn't choose it. <S> The exception to the 'regret' comment is vast wealth because of stock options (99.9 percent of the time [or more] those don't work out for you). <S> It does happen... a friend of mine is retiring at 50 because of that, but you aren't her <S> and anyway she isn't in software. <S> Save that kind of hoping for lottery tickets, keep it out of your career decisions. <S> Hope that helps, -Chris C.
| If you are interested in maximizing your earnings, explore other job opportunities during the course of your internship.
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I mistakenly took someone else's lunch; how should I proceed? I've been working at my present job for 5 years now, and I maintain very good relationship with my colleagues. Last week I accidentally took someone else's catered lunch, thinking it was left-overs. This week the company sent an internal email because they received complaints of people getting their lunch stolen from the fridge. They said some generic stuff as a warning, and then specifically mentioned that caterer's boxes are not to be taken from the fridge because they can be reserved for someone else. I really want to come forward and apologise, offering to pay back the caterer's fee. Or would it be better to not mention it, since they don't know who did it? What would be the correct way to approach things from your perspective? Edit : Hi everyone! I would like to thanks all for your answers and your help! I came out clean and was honest with both HR and my boss. Guess what? I wasn't the culprit and the e-mail wasn't entirely targeted toward me. We had multiple people in the past few weeks get their entire lunchbox stolen. The caterer's plates that i took were in fact meant to be given away later that day, but HR thought they got stolen by the same person too, hince the aforementionned e-mail. Both HR and my boss accepted my apologies and the fact that i was honest, despite it being a none-issue. Crisis averted! <Q> I really want to come forward and say something among the lines of <S> "I'm really sorry, I meant no ill intention, it was all a mistake and I can even offer to pay back the caterer's fee if you want.", since I'm a very honest person. <S> That is exactly what you should do. <S> You are an honest person and honest people admit their mistakes. <S> And everyone makes mistakes. <S> A heartfelt apology is all that is needed here. <S> And almost without exception honest, heartfelt apologies are accepted graciously. <S> They don't know who did it, learn about your mistakes and never do it again". <S> I agree with the part about learn from your mistakes and never do it again. <S> The rest isn't honest enough for me (and perhaps for you). <A> What would be the correct way to approach things from your perspective? <S> You say you want to come clean, so I suggest you listen to yourself and do it. <S> I am sure that if they wanted to find out who actually grabbed those plates they could, so no point in denying it (as per the ill advice some people gave you). <S> Ask your manager for a talk, and explain the situation. <S> After that you can discuss with your manager how to work this out, possibly resulting in just a reminder of the use and rules of the food and cafeteria, or well in you replacing the dishes you took. <S> Anyways, not a life or death situation... <S> Next time, try to be more careful when taking food from the fridge, and double check if it has no owner. <S> When in doubt, it's best to leave it and avoid a possible misunderstanding. <A> There seems to be two issues here: <S> The food is being stolen regularly for a longer time. <S> OP has accidentally stole one of the food boxes. <S> The first is indicated by the quite bitter internal email. <S> Usually one does not use this tool if it happened once a year or for the first time. <S> If you know whose meal you ate or if it is possible to find the one (somebody has written the send-to-all email and somebody has to complain about it) <S> you can go find them, make the apology, clearly state it was a mistake that you do not want to make again. <S> You can offer a meal back of their choice. <S> If they are sane, they will understand and accept the apology. <S> If they storm you should avoid them. <S> In both cases it is win scenario for you. <A> "I accidentally took a lunch from the fridge, thinking it was leftovers. <S> I'm sorry for the mistake. <S> To whoever's lunch it was: <S> Can I buy you lunch or reimburse you for the lunch I took?" <A> I would simply apologise anonymously. <S> You could leave a note to explain that it was an honest mistake and that it won't happen again, which will give them the comfort of knowing that it wasn't out and out theft, but without invoking the complication of them knowing who it was - which they don't need to. <A> If HR will allow you to repay the cost of the meal through them without revealing the identity of whoever complained, then that could be done without ruffling any feathers. <S> If you must publicly own up and your complainer must also make themselves public, this becomes a much more difficult situation and it may be too disruptive to make right.
| Admitting a mistake and making it right is a good thing to do when it is not disruptive. Do it similarly to the way you did it here with us; explain you did not intended to take anyone's lunch, and mistakenly took that plate assuming they were leftovers. But I've talked about this to several people outside my job and all of them told me to basically "shut the hell up about it and to not mention it.
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I've been looking for an out-of-state job for 6 months now, what else could I do? I'm currently attempting to locate a job in another state (NYC if that's relevant) and have been for ~6 months. What's further complicating my search is that I'm trying to shift careers at the same time (from engineering to product management which I do have some experience in) and it's not going well - In four months I've only managed to get 3 phone interviews and 1 on-site interview and I'm running out of ideas as to what else to try. What I've tried so far: Had my resume professionally revised. Had my resume reviewed by Product Management hiring managers. Exhausted all applicable contacts in my network. I had one recruiter send my resume out and they all rejected me. Other recruiters simply said that they'll contact me if they feel I'd be a fit somewhere and nothing. Put NY as my location in all my applications The planned move is so that I can be with my significant other so I'm fairly set on location and thus staying where I am isn't really an option. Can anyone suggest other tactics or options for me to try? <Q> Having done the transition from Engineering to Product Management and back to Engineering, I can tell you the transition isn't easy. <S> While you may have some experience with product management, if you didn't formally hold a product management title or have a business education, company will tend to screen you out. <S> This may have to do with stereotypes about engineers or there are more experienced or more traditional candidates to hire. <S> My recommendation is to take an engineering position, then transition to product management internally. <S> You could also start building your network in NYC for your next move. <A> I don't know what else I could do other than staying at my current company and making a lateral move to PM. <S> You could work with an agency in your desired locale that specializes in the kind of job you are seeking. <A> The planned move is so that I can be with my significant other <S> so I'm fairly set on location and thus staying where I am isn't really an option. <S> If you've been searching for the last 6 months, then that means you saved a significant amount of money. <S> You'll take a risk but with the saved money you should have buffer room to adjust for errors. <S> It's unclear how many interviews you did. <S> If during the interview be sure to say you're planning to move within the month. <S> However, my thought is you need to be in the area to get hired or interviews depending on the industry. <A> Well, it sounds like the issue here is mostly about the "change in gears. <S> " <S> You are going to have to do some homework. <S> What are the core competencies of product management? <S> What are the features and accomplishments one might expect to see in an extremely well-qualified product management professional? <S> Then you're going to have to take a scalpel to your resume and shed all of your experience and accomplishments that don't track directly to emphasizing those core competencies and accomplishments that you've identified. <S> Also, in regards to what your resume looks like, if you are in a more strategically-business-assessed field, vs a technical one, then your emphasis is going to change, as well. <S> It might be important to list tasks and technical knowledge and experience for engineering positions. <S> It's more important to show results (though, really, any resume should be emphasizing tangible results). <S> As it may apply to product management, what key initiatives were you a part of that made money, cut costs or created measurable productivity improvements? <S> ("I was part of the redesign of product line X at my company, where we increased revenues by 40%, cutting costs by 30% and decreased the defect rate to .5%, leading to a $800K profit gain for my company" - stuff like that). <S> Just being on a successful project isn't enough, though. <S> You'll have to be able to tell them why your contributions were important. <S> Have several bullet points for each position that will grab their attention and be unambiguous in showing your bottom-line value to an employer. <S> Maybe you've already done this. <S> It's hard to advise on generalities, but, if you haven't done this already, do that. <S> There are also career consultants who are not recruiters who, while costing some money, are focused on the potential job-seeker, and not a client company. <S> You might have to go that route in getting door opened for you and aligning your presentation of yourself in a way that will allow potential employers to look past what you've been doing, and see what you can do.
| My advice is to simply move into the area you want, and search for a job.
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Office manager repeatedly produces loud distracting noises (tics), what to do? Working in a small co-work space, the current office manager constantly and repeatedly (every 10 seconds approximately) produces loud noises (mostly tics ) when not engaging in a conversation. A few examples: clearing his throat; knocking on the table with his knuckles; teeth whistling (to mimic the sound of birds); horse hoof sounds mimicking (with his tongue)... These grew in their frequency and intensity since I started working in this place and I am sure I am not the only person being disturbed by these (there is a person sitting right on the same table working on a computer most of the day). I rarely talk to this manager (a few greetings and very few office related topics, that's all) and I am working on a nearby room, but the sound propagates so well in this office that it is as if I am listening to these sounds right in the same room. Moving to another place is currently not an option. I always used headphones and recently I started placing head muffs (proper hearing protection) over them, but still some of these sounds are clearly audible. These have been literally ticking me off more often than I'd be glad to admit to, but I never approached this person about this issue (no other person from this co-work space did, I believe). Only one colleague and friend of this person tried using a shushing sound one day they were together, but still there were no audible results. I do not want to upset this person, since this manager is the main responsible for the space I am working in, but if I were to approach this subject, how should I do it? Edit This question: What can I do about a very loud coworker? Is similar but (from my comment): this manager does not belong to my company and he manages the space I am working in... I have read the answers there but they are targeted to 1) a co-worker's case and 2) using something I am already doing (noise-cancellation/protection muffs). <Q> If your office manager has a condition that causes him to constantly produce noise, I don't see how bringing it up to him or anyone else will solve that problem. <S> Noise cancelling headphones should do the trick here. <S> A good pair will eliminate any outside noise. <S> They are definitely worth having the ability to concentrate on your work without being driven mad. <A> If it is loud and repetitive as you say it is, it is probably due to some cognitive deficiency. <S> He almost certainly knows about it and cant control it. <S> "Confronting" him in the wrong way might frustrate and the problem will just get worse. <S> Its not unreasonable for you to ask for different behaviour <S> but i think you will have better luck with better headphones. <S> Ive found that people accept some sounds that are socially acceptable but get angry at other sounds that arent even though both sounds are of equal volume and or duration. <A> If it is that bad, honestly I think you need to just talk to him about it. <S> It may be some kind of Tic he can't help, but it may also be just something he does out of habit due to being restless etc. <S> I used to do a similar thing, I would constantly be tapping on my desk (I used to play the drums and due to that developed the habit of drumming along to whatever song was stuck in my head that day on the desk). <S> I tend to get a bit restless when just sitting at a desk, so it was just the natural thing I started doing to keep my hands occupied when not writing/typing/whatever. <S> Someone eventually called me out on it by just saying "Can you give the tapping a rest? <S> It's pretty distracting". <S> Up until this point I hadn't even realised how loud it was <S> /how often I was doing it, it was just a natural habit that I'd kind of tuned out <S> so wasn't fully aware of it myself. <S> Eventually I managed to find quieter ways to keep my hands busy when they started to get a bit restless (Spinning a pen around in my hands, and as hated as they seemed to have become even a fidget spinner, as the name suggests it's the intended purpose). <S> Bottom line, just talk to him 1 on 1, away from anyone else so if it is some kind of tourettes/cognitive disorder he doesn't have to discuss it in front of the whole office. <S> If it isn't and like me it's just habits <S> he's picked up like mine <S> was, it might make him more aware of them <S> so he can try control them a bit better/find alternatives. <S> if you know who they are, they may already be aware if it is some disorder, and if not they will know them better than yourself so may be able to approach them in a way he will be more receptive to, rather than someone they don't really know too well speaking to them about it. <A> Have you tried talking to him? <S> He might not even be aware he is making noise. <S> Depending on your work culture this might need a varying need for tact, at my place I could go "het Alan, could you knock off the noise, its annoying" <S> but you might have to asks something along the lines of "hey Bob, the sounds you are making <S> are distracting me a bit, do you have a particular reason for making them?" <S> or something even more deferential.
| You might also ask yourself if there are other sounds in your work environment that are equally loud. If you're not comfortable in talking to him about it yourself, maybe discuss it with his manager
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Co-worker letting coding standards drop again after large refactor - how to enforce better practices? After we spent 4 years cleaning up the code and it is working OK again, my colleague started to get messy again. Ignoring Reviews with the usual phrase "I have more important tasks to do atm" means that reviews are only for show. An unused variable, so what? Copy/Paste, perfectly OK practice! I'm responsible for code reviews in the team and while his code works it is messy and I fear we may be throwing away the last 4 years of cleanup efforts and ending up right back where we started. How can I get this coworker to understand the importance of what I am trying to enforce or at the very least how can I ensure compliance? <Q> Depends on how much authority you have in the company. <S> In general, the way the code review process is supposed to work is that the code reviewer is supposed to be a "gatekeeper"; if the review isn't approved then the code doesn't get pushed to production. <S> Even if you are a lower job title than your coworker, as the reviewer, you (are supposed to) have the power. <S> If he says "no that's dumb <S> I'm not going to fix my code", then say back to him " <S> no, THAT'S dumb <S> , I'm just going to block all your pull requests until you do what I say" (obviously not in those words, you can be more diplomatic about it, but that's the point to get across). <S> That said, it's possible that this coworker will just stop sending you code reviews and start sending them to someone he sees as less "nitpicky", as it were. <S> In which case it's your job to make sure everyone on your team is as nitpicky as you are, and you should treat that as a challenge. <S> Then, make it your boss's problem, and present it to him this way (again, diplomatically) <S> : Either he can back you up and make your coworker write good code, or he can spend another 4 years refactoring. <S> He'll know the right choice to make. <A> You should put into place a system that enforces adherence to the coding standards. <S> In our development environment we use SonarQube, you can find plenty of alternatives if you look around. <S> If your code fails the configured quality gates then you can't commit. <S> This way it's not you being picky its the system. <S> It also means code reviews can concentrate more on the functionality instead of looking for standards infringements. <A> Messy, unreadable code is a form of technical debt that only gets worse with time. <S> You can do style linting and put in hard blocks to prevent code that fails linting from getting merged. <S> But given you've already talked to your colleague and he is ignoring code reviews, the situation seems better handled by the tech lead or engineering manager. <A> This is less an issue with a particular person as it is an issue with programming in groups. <S> If people don't have to, there will always be accidental slips and purposeful laziness on the part of some developers. <S> Not to mention some group dynamics that can lead to certain team members being obnoxious with their sloppy code. <S> There's always someone like this eventually. <S> To address things in the short-term I would advise taking this person aside and telling them privately and diplomatically that their code needs to be up to standard in order to pass code reviews. <S> If they continue to fail at this you may need to speak with their direct supervisor about the wrench this is throwing in your process. <S> Since you are responsible for code reviews, I'm assuming you have a little room to implement changes to the review process. <S> As jcmack mentioned, my current web-dev team also uses lint and yarn to great effect, ensuring coding conventions are followed not with your annoying coworkers complaining about indentation, but a program automatically rejecting things that don't fit into your defined ruleset. <S> These tools make it mostly impossible for a branch to be merged if it doesn't pass the checks. <S> This is obviously a more long-term and involved solution, but it has been very nice and saved a LOT of time not having to point out every trivial flaw that a computer could find much more easily. <S> So you could likely sell it as beneficial to management and look like a superstar if you implemented it.
| Presumably, after 4 years of refactoring, nobody wants to do that again; explain to your boss and to your coworkers that in order to make sure that this doesn't happen again, there need to be tight code standards and everyone, including this other coworker, needs to follow them. There are tools that will check your code against your rules and block any commits that don't meet the standard.
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My company sends honeypot phishing email; should I automatically junk them? My company sends honeypot phishing emails from within our organization in Microsoft Outlook. e.g. hr@mycompanyname.com , ithelpdesk@mycompanyname.com , etc. I fell to one of these in a lapse of judgment while working late (I clicked a link in a honeypot email, hr@mycompanyname.com asking me to fill out an HR form, which told me to do some remedial security training). Now I want to block that bad email, so as to not fall for any more of them from that source. I found that I could not block the email as it was from within my organization (it's some outlook admin setting I think). However I may be able to set certain senders be sent to junk through the "rules" setting, as to save myself time/attention or possible falling for any more traps. I would consider a fairly normal and reasonable reaction to phishing emails to be to block the sender and delete the email. Would automatically sending emails from known honeypot addresses from within my company to junk automatically be a bad idea? I feel it would be a bad idea for the company to use previous honeypot email addresses on legitimate emails for important information. I would also expect that important information can be escalated beyond email in person, or through work phone or other channels of communication (company instant messaging, company HR system, etc) The company is somewhat small ~100 people. I know legitimate email addresses belonging to the company can be compromised and bad stuff sent through them. Thus always constant vigilance is important regardless of sender, and I'm not practicing my "security mindfulness" if I just block my known encountered honeypots, because I'm not playing the game.However with my knowledge and due diligence of these appearing to be dedicated honeypot email addresses (never/not used for anything else), I feel blocking known dedicated honeypot email addresses serves to benefit myself and the company's interests (letting me just work). <Q> Would automatically sending emails from known honeypot addresses from within my company to junk automatically be a bad idea? <S> First, one should not have to block emails coming from your own company, as you never know when one will have relevant or important information that needs your attention. <S> If you start blocking company emails, you may miss one that could be important and get you in trouble. <S> Now, with all due respect, I think you are missing the point here ... <S> you say you "fell" for a security test/check coming from your HR email, by attempting to fill forms online or doing some insecure action, and thus gave you some security training... <S> Blocking this email will not solve the core problem , as it will not help you learn from this nor undo the (simulated) threat you opened and fell for. <S> This is why taking this approach would be ineffective, at best, or even result in you missing relevant information coming from within your company. <S> The best you can do is to learn from all this situation . <S> Try to be more aware of the emails you get, both from your company and from outside, so you can avoid falling into simulated or real traps seeking to compromise your information. <S> Fortunately for you this time it was simulated... <A> Nearly every company has this scheme set up. <S> Where they send fake phishing emails then see how many clicks on links or attachments. <S> These generally take you to a training page or flag your manager. <S> With that said at my company <S> I simply forward it as an attachment to the spam account. <S> It's actually favorable behavior by the company. <S> I even send them emails from high CEO who sends me a survey monkey link which I consider junk as well. <S> It doesn't sound like bad behavior to me, and should be considered good behavior to block known aliases of things you know are spam. <S> Edit: After re-reading your question I realize you may have clicked on a spam email. <S> You should go ahead and do the training to comply then in the future, forward such emails to the spam alias for investigation as well as deleting it/report to spam. <S> You shouldn't treat it as a big deal and simply learn from it. <S> Never click on links in emails and never open attachments. <A> Thus always constant vigilance is important regardless of sender, and I'm not practicing my "security mindfulness" <S> if I just block my known encountered honeypots. <S> Exactly. <S> Your strategy is unwise because you are denying yourself the opportunity to learn the types of emails and strategies used by potential real cybercriminals. <S> As someone who works in cybersecurity profession, I have seen how subtle and advanced phishing attempts have become such as by substituting lookalike characters that are easy to confuse (0 <S> vs O , l vs 1 etc). <S> In the past at my company, I have assisted management in designing phishing / social engineering defense strategies using simulated malicious emails containing website links with subtle differences such as the examples names above, compared to legitimate websites and results have been telling. <S> Whether its targeted attacks ( spear phishing / whaling ) or general attacks, the failure rate was almost always inversely correlated to the amount of end user education and awareness. <S> Successful phishing scams rely on the ignorance of the end user, making awareness training essential - section 6.4 . <S> Take the training opportunity offered by your company seriously. <S> The answer from @DarkCygnus rightly states to be more aware the types of email you receive. <S> While you have not asked for this, there are certain characteristics of emails that more often than not tells you that the email is malicious. <S> However, by no means should this list be interpreted absolutely or exhaustively. <S> The answers to this question from the Information Security SE site lists other common characteristics of phishing emails. <S> Emails with wording indicating urgent action is required or threatening negative action if not responded to in a certain amount of time. <S> E.g: IMMEDIATE , URGENT etc. <S> Emails sent with lots of grammatical or spelling errors <S> Emails requesting you to send money or confirm your sensitive information such as passwords Emails sent at unusual times of the day
| I would take it a step further and email every single one of them to the spam account your company has if they set one up. I don't think it's a good idea...
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Applying directly on employer website after rejecting recruiter offer for similar position I was contacted by a recruiter about a job, and my resume was presented to the company. I interviewed but rejected the offer because it was a temp-to-hire position. As much as I like the job and the company, my family needs the benefit that comes with a permanent position. A few days later I checked the company website and applied to the same job but in a permanent position. I don't mean to cheat on the recruiter, but now I'm a little worried. Have I hurt my chances by applying to the company directly? <Q> Firstly you have done nothing wrong here. <S> If you have already applied for the permanent position and didn’t mention in your application why you’re applying directly for the same role <S> then I’d suggest you contact the firm to explain. <S> They might be a bit confused at first and not make the connection having just offered you the temporary contract. <S> And don’t worry about the recruiter. <S> They’re only in it for the referral fees <S> so there’s nothing personal about it. <A> You have rejected a role because it doesnt suit your needs or requirements. <S> You then have applied for a job that does. <S> The fact that it is different is fine. <S> I would mention this to both the recruiter and company that you have independently sought and applied for this position after discovering it on their website a few days later. <S> This will stop the recruiter mistaking the company for offering you a different role to potentially get out of paying them. <S> This clears up any misunderstanding. <S> No doubt they will understand and wish you the best of luck. <S> Not to say that this is the case, but i have seen recruiters take companies to court for similar breeches. <A> What to do Explain the situation in an email to the company (briefly, like you did here) and let them handle the technicalities. <S> Why Sending an email will provide transparency on the issue. <S> This achieves at least two following goals: <S> Removes the feeling of hiding anything, <S> In case the company has a agreement with the recruiter, the company can take the correct steps to deal with the sitaution. <S> In other words, the company would know the full picture and that allows it to deal with it proactively.
| Its worth mentioning that you have done nothing wrong. If a company is seen to be rejecting candidates but then purposely taking them on for other roles they havnt asked the recruiter to recruit for this could be a potential breech of any agreements they may have.
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Working additional hours as a Software Engineer hurts my productivity I don't know how to approach my management team about this issue without sounding 'elitist', or like I have a bad attitude. Quite often deadlines and requirements are handed to my team at the last minute. Discussing with my Senior Developer, we agree we need to set our own expectations, but we also need the support of our managers. We've talked about a minimum of two weeks notice with the exception of an 'act of God', however in practice requirements are still sent to us at the last minute to the extent that we often work additional hours to get things done. Now. I've worked in numerous roles over the years and full time development needs downtime. Lots of it. How would I express this without feeling like I am 'better' than the sales or dispatch teams -all of whom work very hard and feel the same pressure- that working back three hours to meet a deadline kills the rest of my working week? <Q> Frankly, this comes down to the dilemma of context switching and how it can have a negative impact on productivity. <S> There are plenty of articles you can review that support this claim (a quick google search will yield many great results, such as this one , or this one , or even this one ), but maybe the best representation of the problem was done by Scott Adams via a Dilbert comic: (via http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-04-26 ) <S> How would I express this without feeling like I am 'better' than... <S> Leave it up to your manager to decide if this is actually impacting your productivity or not. <S> You don't want to imply your performance is suffering here, rather you just want to raise a concern. <S> An important note here is that you do <S> not bring up other departments during this discussion. <S> Don't make this a you vs. another department or person problem. <S> This will immediately put your manager into a defensive posture when talking about this. <S> Just discuss how the increased context switching is making you feel that your productivity isn't optimal. <S> Ask your manager questions about ways to handle this differently so you can ensure a high level of quality. <S> If you go about the conversation this way, the issue becomes an us vs. productivity loss issue and no one comes out looking like the bad guy. <S> Done properly, I've found this approach often will help raise awareness of the issue without making you look like an elitist or coming across as having a bad attitude . <A> You can not explain this to non software development people without coming across as elitist. <S> The closest I've been able to come to explaining what we do is to compare our work to solving very complex maths problems in new areas <S> we're not familiar with 8 hours a day. <S> Not really the same as doing paperwork making calls and following well documented procedures 8 hours a day. <S> Unfortunately saying this comes across very patronizing and condescending. <S> Don't do it. <S> Your manager should be setting the boundaries and giving you down time. <S> If not, thats not a good place to work. <A> How would I express this without feeling like I am 'better' than the sales or dispatch teams -all of whom work very hard and feel the same pressure- <S> that working back three hours to meet a deadline kills the rest of my working week? <S> Everyone is different. <S> Some folks can handle a few hours of extra work without getting cranky and frustrated, being short with people, making mistakes and having the rest of their work week killed. <S> Others cannot. <S> This clearly has nothing to do with feeling 'better' than the other teams in your shop. <S> It's just about individual capabilities. <S> Just be honest with your management team. <S> Tell them that these extra hours just don't work for you and that you strongly prefer to work a more typical work day every day. <S> Be aware that some shops would expect their Software Engineers to be available for this sort of extra work while others could be more flexible. <S> If your shop expects everyone to occasionally work extra, this may not be the right workplace for you. <A> Dear manager's_name_here, Working on tasks that are not part of the project plan on short notice has had a measurable and significant impact on project deliveries. <S> I would like to set some time to discuss the issue and come up with the framework for the team to better handle ad-hoc requests. <S> This will allow us to deliver more work on time and to higher standards. <S> (Optional) <S> I propose that the all requests come via X after it has been triaged with the Y team. <S> Best RegardsP.C Gben <A> Working four extra hours, a middle day because other teams do not organize their work is actually counter- <S> productive. <S> You efectivily either are not communicating well with your manager or he is not doing his job, which is protecting you from other departments <S> Ask your manager for priorities, and also suggest t hat any work requests have to be approved by him.
| I would suggest you talk with your manager, one-on-one, and discuss how you feel the additional, last-minute context switching could be having a negative impact on your projects and deadlines.
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How to handle requests at work that are not my department's responsibility without antagonizing users? In my workplace, there are two IT departments, and each handles a different thing. This is not always obvious to the non-IT staff and as a result they often send stuff to my department that should be handled by the other one. Sometimes I know how to fix issues that are incorrectly sent to my department but I'm not sure if I should be servicing such requests or forwarding them on to the other IT department. Recently there was a situation where a user started arguing with me and insulting me when I told him that we didn't deal with his issue, and that he'd need to contact the other IT department. Is it appropriate for me to service requests that are within my capability but not my department's remit? Even if I haven't be directed to do so? If not what would be the best way to handle such requests so as to avoid antagonizing users like the one I mention above? <Q> Work it out with your manager and the other IT department. <S> The situation you're describing is naturally going to lead to confusion by end users. <S> There are basically two potential ways to handle this: Enforce the distinction and educate the users. <S> If there's a good reason to have two similar-sounding support teams, then requiring users to deal with them differently might make sense. <S> If you educate the other staff members in their onboarding and reinforce the distinction consistently, most people will eventually understand the difference. <S> If you go this route, consistency is key: when someone contacts the wrong IT dept, there should be a standard reply where you point them to the other department and attach a simple explanation of the difference. <S> You can choose to either automatically transfer the issue or ask the user to take an action to do that. <S> Either way, you should at least be understanding because this type of confusion is going to be common and people will feel threatened if they think you're blaming them for screwing up. <S> Build a common point of contact. <S> Your departments could separate out the support work but still have a single phone/email contact. <S> Then users wouldn't need to worry about the distinction, but the departments would have to coordinate. <S> If the two departments are suffering from a rift that doesn't really make business sense, this is a simple way they could work together to repair that. <S> However, it will only work if the leaders of the departments can work together well and agree on who handles what. <S> If that's not the case, it could make conflict over who does what a more frequent problem, which would hurt both support staff and the users you serve. <S> There's a third, lighter-weight option between these two: acknowledge, in partnership with the other team, that some user confusion is to be expected, and ask how they've best handled it. <S> Odds are good someone has, at least, a canned message that points a user in the right direction politely. <S> Then get aligned on the message and who handles what. <S> For example, you might decide that the policy should be: always forward to the appropriate team, unless you can resolve in one message that takes you less than 5 minutes to write. <S> Even if you're resolving, include the standard message that support requests for this topic should go to dept X. <A> Is it appropriate for me to service requests that are within my capability but not my department's remit? <S> Even if I haven't be directed to do so? <S> If not what would be the best way to handle such requests so as to avoid antagonizing users like the one I mention above? <S> There must be some reason your company has set up two different IT departments rather than one. <S> So no, you should not be handling requests for the other department without permission. <S> It may not make sense for every individual user to figure out where to direct their requests. <S> Unless it's completely obvious (and it appears that it isn't), they simply don't have the background to understand where to send all their requests. <S> Thus, your company should provide one single entry point for all IT requests. <S> There should be one mail address and one phone number. <S> From there the requests should be triaged and then passed on to the appropriate department. <S> If your company doesn't have the resources to fund this front-line position separately, then each department could take turns with the triage effort. <A> It seems that your users can’t send requests always to the right department, because they cannot possibly know which department is the right one. <S> To avoid annoyance and extra work, the company should accept that requests go to the wrong department initially, and each department should have the ability to pass a request right on to the other department. <S> The department managers should work that out between themselves. <A> I used to work in a place where they separated the IT department in two at some point in time (due to political reasons not worth mentioning here). <S> and if time/workload permitted would escort them to the desk of the person I knew that would be able to fix the rest of the problem (including taking newcomers to the helpdesk which was in a different building) <S> Over time, what probably your firm needs, is an helpdesk with at least 2 elements, one of each team, to receive people in a designated helpdesk place. <S> Slightly off-topic: <S> In my opinion, you being insulted because of a instituitional problem is way off limits. <S> If that happens,a non-confronting solution can be telling someone that they may be able to talk you when they calm down and walk way from the scenario, may be have a cup of coffee and come back.
| What I used to do when having users that were coming with problems that were not under my responsability, either on their own, or sent by helpdesk, or users with mixed problems that belonged to the two groups, was: acknowledging their problem and have an idea what they were talking about if something that would be a mixed responsability, I would at least debug my part, if not fix it explaining to them who could next handle them explaining them where to go, No one has ever the right to insult you at work EVER; at least that is almost tabu in my culture between mature people.
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Contract Extension is being left to the last minute I am a contractor and I was told my contract has been extended, but haven't signed anything yet. There are 10 days remaining until my current contract ends. I asked the boss for the new contract 4 days ago and he mentioned that HR was being slow, but I am in a panic because there are only 10 days remaining and I haven't had any new contract to sign. Do I push for a new contract or wait a bit longer? <Q> You should probably give it a few days. <S> If the company has already confirmed that your contract has been extended that means that they're going to get it to you (assuming you have this in writing, if not then follow it up ASAP). <S> and if you have no reply follow it up and just nudge them to see what's happening and whether or not it is being processed. <S> If your boss says HR is slow that means he's already notified HR <S> and it is likely being sorted <S> so <S> hopefully you have nothing to worry about. <A> As a contractor, you should charge enough to be fine with a few weeks of unplanned holidays. <S> You should also look for different positions say a month or six weeks from the end of the contract if no contract is signed. <S> If your current company then says “here’s the new contract, please sign”, and you have signed elsewhere, that’s just bad luck for them. <A> I've been in your shoes a couple of times, and my usual position was 'Look guys, if I don't have a contract extension within 30 days of the end date <S> then I'm going to start looking for the next gig, as my contract requires 30 days notice.' <S> This usually lights a fire under managers to get this nailed down. <S> That's an advantage of being a contractor is that you can update your LinkedIn and start looking for the next gig without worrying about an adverse reaction from your current gig. <S> Seems odd that the manager is waiting on HR, as in my experience contract extensions do not require a signed piece of paper, but your situation may be different. <S> Good luck.
| I'd say give it at least another 3 days
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How to explain why I know the company's employee conditions? I'm looking for a job. I used to date this person who worked for a small company. He shared with me information about working there, so I have a bit of insider knowledge (I don't mean business secrets of course, but their focus points, organisation, benefits and similar). He's left the company a few weeks ago. We are not seeing each other anymore and we don't keep in touch, but there was no drama involved in our splitting up. I've applied for a position with the company and will have an interview shortly. I'm quite sure they will ask me how I found them since they are small and relatively unknown. Also when answering the question on why I want to work for them, I would love to include some details they don't write about on their website. How to answer this question smartly? If I tell them I used to know a person who worked for them, they will probably ask whom I mean. I'm not dating their ex-employee anymore and he would be super surprised if he learnt I had applied there. If I tell them I found them "on the internet" I will be less convincing. <Q> Don't Mention it! <S> Find other reasons you want to work there and keep the other reasons to yourself. <S> There are other ways to secure a job and either way you will have just as much chance as any other candidate. <S> So if you want to work there for reasons that are not published online then that's good as you'll hopefully enjoy working there <S> just don't let the company know. <S> You never know whether gossip gets about and some people still keep in contact with your Ex <S> and then you may receive questions that you don't want to answer <S> and he may even find out and ask why you applied. <S> Depending on the previous status of your relationship this may not end well either. <A> You could say something along the lines of " A former Employee and acquaintance of yours spoke highly of that place" if you realy want to bring that up. <S> There are some Points to consider however: <S> Do you know why he left the Company? <S> It might not be wise to mention him if there was some heated stuff going on. <S> 2.Your relationship with him is your own Business, the Company doesn't need to know you where Dating. <S> Might not be relevant in your case but consider the Terms on which you stopped seeing each other because they might still contact him (unlikely but still) <A> Not revealing information is one thing, lying is something I avoid at all cost <S> and I recommend you do the same. <S> If they ask how you found out about them, be honest up to a point where you're not lying. <S> The only thing that matters is whether the person is likely to bad-mouth you or not when asked about knowing you. <S> Unless you and your ex left on negative grounds I see no reason but to state the simple fact: the company got recommended to you by an ex-employee <S> and you started looking into the company and you decided that it would be a good candidate to apply for a position and that you liked what the previous employee had to say about the company, its culture, the processes, etc. <S> They'll probably ask who this previous employee is. <S> If you guys separated on positive grounds there should be no harm whatsoever revealing his name, you don't even have to mention the relationship, saying that you're acquaintances is more than sufficient. <S> If you don't feel comfortable sharing his name you can say that you used to date this person and unfortunately you didn't separate on positive grounds <S> and you'd rather not reveal his identity. <S> If they can't respect that, you'll be better off anyway if they reject you for the sole reasoning of not revealing his name. <A> There will be probably a question "Why you want to work for us" <S> And this is the place when you answer <S> I knew somebody working for you some time ago and they said good things about you. <S> So when I was looking for job <S> I checked if you we're hiring. <S> You don't say if that person was male or female and you mention you don't have any relationship with said person any longer. <S> That should be enough.
| It does not matter whether an ex-employee that recommended the workplace is a random person you met at a meetup, a friend or an ex.
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