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A Lisp programmer trying to get in the software industry- how to move forward? I went to university but I didn't finish my degree. Eventually, I discovered programming. I started with the classic textbook "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". So, I am comfortable using Scheme - I can express my ideas clearly in this language. Currently, I am studying Python and Deep Learning by Goodfellow. Concurrently, I will be studying CLRS and solving algorithm and data structures problems. Given all the above, how should I move forward to start my career in the software industry as a software engineer? <Q> Python is the 4th most widely used language at the moment , so just apply for jobs. <S> Not all companies will require a degree, and even those that say they do may still talk to you if they don't get many other applicants. <S> Most junior programmer jobs don't actually need degree-level knowledge, companies just ask for it <S> so they don't get swamped by people with no knowledge at all. <S> Job hunting is a numbers game, some companies may ignore you, but you only need one to get started. <A> So the best answer would be to get a degree in computer science, as this opens up a lot of doors early on in your career (and some places won't even hire a senior developer without the degree), but if that is not feasible, it is possible to get a position if you can demonstrate that you posses the knowledge to do the job. <S> I would advise writing some applications and putting them into a publicly accessible git repository (such as Git Hub or Bit Bucket) or somewhere that employers can see your work, your coding style, and your methods to solve problems. <S> Good Luck. <A> Start by learning one of the languages that is in demand today. <S> Next, learn how to use the framework that is associated with that language. <S> Usually learning a language alone is not enough. <S> You need to actually learn the frameworks that use them as well. <S> For example if you were studying java then you would also be learning about android. <S> If you were studying C# then you would be learning about .Net, and so on. <S> According to this article , the most in demand languages in Jan 2019 were: Java Python Javascript (don't learn this by itself, <S> this is usually combined with something else). <S> C++ <S> C# <S> PHP <S> PERL <S> Finally, you will need to start programming something in your chosen language. <S> This is so that you can actually talk about something in your interview, and display some skills. <S> If you are serious I would take it one step further and try to create a basic work history for yourself. <S> For example by working for friends, family, online marketplaces and so on. <S> This will only increase your chances of getting hired, because a lot of employers are hesitant to hire someone with no work experience at all. <S> Once you have some skills, you could also apply to launch-code . <S> They often help new developers break into the career. <S> You don't have to take their classes in order to get their help.
| If you are able to apply for a junior level position and show the employer some of your work it will be much easier to get in the door than showing up with nothing but a resume and answering questions.
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How to explain a year long gap in the resume during interviews? I did my Master's degree in materials science in 2013. I eventually wanted to pursue a pursue a PhD, so I stayed at home and started applying for positions. However, I managed to join a position in September 2014, a year from getting the masters degree. So, there's a gap of 1 year in my resume. Now, I have completed my PhD and am searching for positions with both industry and academia. Though I have not got any interview scheduled yet, I was wondering what would I say incase an interviewer asks me the gap year. I know that this is going to be a big problem for securing a job. How to tackle this effectively? What to say when the question arises? Additional information: There's more to it. I had worked in an research and development company for 4 months (from July to October 2013) post graduation from my masters. But, I had to leave it as I did not find the work suitable. I did not finish the probation period, so did not get any experience letter. That's equivalent to not having a job. I was supposed to join a lab in an university as a research fellow immediately after. But, that did not happen as I got sick for 3 months. Eventually, when I did get the PhD position, it was already January 2014 and the position was supposed to start in September 2014. So, I couldn't just join a company for such a short time and leave it. I spent the rest of the time spending time with my family and traveling. <Q> Why do you think it's a big problem? <S> You're a PhD dude. <S> How can they tell you "Well, you spent 6 years in the highest, most rigorous academic program afforded to you, but OH---here's this gap <S> I know nothing about, you must not be motivated!" <S> Bull-oney. <S> Don't explain. <S> If they ask, tell them exactly what you said here. <S> That's academia in a nutshell. <A> "I know that this is going to be a big problem for securing a job." <S> "From conversations with friends and acquaintances who have been employed since their undergrad or masters, they unanimously conceded that a year of gap is a red flag in hiring. <S> I don't have any concrete evidence." <S> Do not listen to them. <S> I have had a good 4.5 yrs of career break and now I am employed in my desired field. <S> There are many more related questions posted here. <S> Search with career break or employment break. <S> You'll get enough positive information. <S> You can always mention the entire 1.5+ yrs of gap labelled as career/educational break in your resume. <S> If you are asked about it, mention personal or study related etc. <S> Employers would be bothered about the break only if you are. <S> If you show them that it has nothing to do with your abilities or the way you have updated yourself with the latest technologies, they would be more than willing to recruit you. <S> A good cover letter also helps. <S> Stay away from negative advices. <S> Good luck. <A> The best way to answer the question about the gap (if asked): Be truthful. <S> There is nothing, which you described, is a deal-breaker. <S> Just stick with the version you mentioned above. <S> A timeline like Completed Masters in early 2013 Worked in the R&D company for 4 months. <S> Application for PhD accepted in Jan 2014, joined the program on Sept 2014. <S> Should be more than enough to answer any questions about the gap. <S> (They may not even ask about the gap). <S> Even after this if anyone asks about the remaining gaps, you can mention the sickness (if you wish) and the travel time. <S> You should be covered.
| Prepare for and attend interviews with a mindset that past is past and that simple one year break will not impact your future employment.
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Is there any formal etiquette for establishing your availability at the beginning of an interview, not the end? I had an interview recently where I thought things were going well, until asked about availability, and I had to say that I wasn't available immediately because I've booked travel home. Then the interview was over, because they needed someone to start ASAP. Is there any protocol to say at the beginning of an interview something like "By the way, just to let you know that if you were looking for an immediate start, I wouldn't necessarily be available, but I'll be available in January if that makes a difference?" or something similar. Just to avoid getting to the end of a good interview and then realising your availability and the employer's doesn't match. Or would it be seen as rude and potentially starting the interview off on a bad note? This is in England. <Q> I'm not sure if the availability needs to be discussed at an interview, it should be discussed during the application process itself. <S> If the position requires to join immediately (or in a span of 7-14 days), that should be highlighted in the job description itself. <S> So, usually the applicant would be aware of that as a requirement for the job and decide whether to apply or not. <S> So, there are two possibilities: <S> The condition was advertised and you missed it: <S> You're to blame, next time be careful. <S> The condition was not advertised and was only mentioned to you after the interview process: <S> Not your fault, nothing you can do about this now. <S> Bottom line: <S> The joining timeline is something not to be part of an interview process, it's supposed to be part of the job criteria and should be finalized even before the job application is accepted and processed. <S> To avoid this, you can mention you availability and earliest possible date of joining after receiving an offer (or notice period, or any other commitment) in the application or cover letter - just to be double sure that there's no missed requirement. <A> You've got a few options. <S> One is to write about it in your covering letter . <S> The key with this that you need them to be interested in you anyway . <S> This means you need to be sure you have discussed the reasons you're great before you bring it up. <S> In my experience, it's best to bring things up in an interview when they come up naturally <S> (i.e. try to make the interview a discussion, rather than saving all your questions until the end). <S> And equally with the first point, if you bring this up during an interview, then when you do, make sure that when you do, they're interested in you anyway. <S> Talk about why they want you. <S> Talk about your experience in the technologies they want. <S> Describe how well you work in a team. <S> And only then tell them that they'll have to wait longer than they want to get you on their team. <S> A third is to wait until you get an offer with a start date, and respond with a date that works for you . <S> Similarly, for this to work in your situation you need to have laid the groundwork for why they want you more than anyone else. <S> If you're worth waiting for then they'll wait. <A> IMHO, there are certain availability expectations according to candidate situation. <S> For example, if candidate currently employed, it should be understood that there will be some sort of notice period, depending on the industry and location <S> You haven`t stated it, but i glean that your trip home is planned to be longer than two weeks <S> In that case i think you can always address it in the form of question when appropriate during or at the start of the the interview.
| Another option is to bring it up during the interview .
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An exodus of software engineers is taking place at my company. What are the pros and cons of staying and what should I be considering? I’m a junior developer just a few months into my first full time job. At full strength, our department is at 10 developers, including the lead. We were down one developer who has yet to be replaced a week after I joined (recruiting is still trying to get a replacement). Three weeks ago, our lead left (he didn’t like management). Another quit a week ago. We are losing another next week and another in two weeks. One of the survivors is being promoted to lead, which is also transforming away from a direct coding position (the past lead caused a lot of friction by holing up in his office). Two of the survivors also do exclusively mobile. So while we will be down to 4 out of 10 devs, it’s down to 2/8 in operations. The lead will help out as much as he can, but that’s maybe 2.5. The other problem is that I will be the only dev left working on a core system for our business. For context: this is not at a podunk startup. It’s government, so we aren’t going down due to a lack of an investor. The particular projects we work on are also the money making kind, so it wouldn’t be part of a recent budget cut. I’m thinking of leaving because I don’t want to be in a mess, but it was pointed out to me that I’m now the only dev with much working knowledge of the system and thus it could quickly become my project. Problem is, I am not sure I actually have the skill required to complete it myself. I’ve held my own in sprints, but who knows what else they might want? The reasons they left aren’t really to do with the department. A mix of reasons. One guy didn’t like management. Another didn’t get the lead position, so is leaving over that. A third got married. What opportunities and risks exist to staying? Specifically, what are the risks and opportunities of being (at least for two months) the only developer on a project as a junior? <Q> Now this has become like a startup environment, In which you work on solving multidisciplinary problems. <S> It would be good opportunity for you to learn. <S> You find the problem and solve it, or if they assign you the project then first map the depth of it and accept it as a challenge. <S> With this approach the experience you will gain is extraordinary withing short amount of time. <S> Now the question about whether you are ready for that responsibility or not, 1) <S> Now a days you can learn many things from internet (Youtube, Online courses, etc.) <S> 2) <S> There is a huge internet community for your help like stack overflow, if you are stuck in some project. <S> 3) Give your best and even if failure comes you learn from it. <S> that is the best part of learning. <S> Plus point is that you have working knowledge of system. <S> Also you can master the art of executing projects from root to the branches. <S> Rather than just getting assigned to work on mid branch or small parts of project. <S> In short you will get a project management experience. <S> Team size is also important as per project requirement, as you said recruitment is going on, your team size will also increase, definitely it will take some time. <S> With this, every new member will also bring some knowledge and expertise to the table which will help you in executing projects with team work which further increases efficiency. <S> Maybe in some time management will learn from the current situation of churn and update their policy. <A> Pros: <S> You will get lots of hands-on experience <S> You might be able to shape the code the way you want <S> You might get lots of visibility <S> Cons: <S> It might be very stressful <S> in case you can't handle some stuff in a timely manner <S> Since it is your first job, not having people to learn from is a big con, IMO <S> I'd make sure that your boss/lead is well aware of your capacities and limitations and that he knows that some stuff might take some time to be completed due to your lack of experience. <S> If he takes that well, that's a good start. <A> Specifically, what are the risks and opportunities of being (at least for two months) <S> the only developer on a project as a junior? <S> It sounds like <S> what you're really worried about is if you'll be stuck doing tasks you can't do <S> or you can do the tasks but overburdened. <S> Chances are the management knows the team isn't 100%. <S> They may come to you and ask you what you are capable of <S> but they wouldn't be expecting you to do miracles or take over the entire project. <S> They are looking for other developers to get on board. <S> My guess is they'll be in maintenance mode and tell the shareholders that they are in maintenance mode. <S> Chances are the government won't be happy with not delivering products. <S> Most government contracts have option years, so each year they can review if they want to continue the contract to full term. <S> So I would watch that closely especially if the team isn't 100% by then. <S> Personally I would go talk to your manager. <S> Express that you are eager to learn and want to do work but know that for the next two months you know you'll be the sole developer. <S> Ask what they expect of you. <S> It's a great way to figure out why the others left as well. <S> If your manager says he/ <S> she expects you to know everything and expect you to commit to the deadline for big projects, then you know why the others left. <S> Based on that conversation I would determine if it is wise to stay onboard or leave. <S> At the end of the day, if you're paid, you're good to go. <A> I can give you an answer based on close experience - not my own personal experience, but that of employing two junior developers who were in your exact position with their previous roles. <S> One of them was already a long-term friend, the other has since become a close friend too. <S> I can tell you that, in both cases, they found the experience quite damaging to their confidence, though interestingly in both cases it has resulted in them being very hardworking and diligent to fear of inferiority. <S> As a result, it's difficult to say that their experience was without positive value, though I suspect neither would choose to be in that position given the choice. <S> What you should do depends quite a lot on your own personality. <S> If you are highly self-motivated, love problem solving and are strong enough to stand up to some pressure, it could be a great opportunity to learn a huge amount and quite quickly. <S> The flip side, of course, is that you will be working in an under-resourced team and likely to be under increasing pressure to compensate for the lack of other developers by being highly productive. <S> If not, prepare for unreasonable expectations and figure out how you can deal with them. <S> I would advise against working long hours and basically giving up your life for the job - the lack of resource is their issue, not yours.
| If you are lucky enough to work in an organisation with flexible deadlines and understanding management, they may give you the time to learn and do the job properly. As the other answers suggest, you will likely be exposed to a wide range of tasks on a host of systems and technologies and can use this to learn valuable skills to take forward. The question of should you also leave your current job, I think No, you should give some time for the system. If your company can't find replacement or constantly having high turn over, expect the government contract to lose in the next bid. I wouldn't quit based on assumptions until at the very least you talk to your manager.
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LinkedIn recommendations for some former colleagues but not all At my previous place of work a lot of people had to leave, including me. We stay in touch. Of the people still working there some will probably have to look for new jobs soon. A few of my former colleagues I intensively worked with were really really good at their job, both soft- and hard skills. I would like to post a recommendation on their LinkedIn, because they deserve it and also because they may need it. However, i'm worried about the interpersonal component. We all keep in touch more or less and everyone looking for a job will be on LinkedIn, so they will see my recommendation. I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings or write recommendations for others only because they are nice people. Is there any etiquette on this? <Q> Just write the recommendations for the people you think deserve them. <S> As for the others, they're all adults and they can handle it. <S> Chances are, they won't even find out unless they have a habit of stalking other people's profiles. <S> People who'd get upset about something like this probably aren't the kind of people you'd want as friends. <A> It would then be up to them whether or not they want a recommendation and whether or not it would be public or private. <S> I would not worry about people who you believe may have their feelings hurt, you are not obligated to please everyone you used to work with. <A> Is there any etiquette on this? <S> Not really. <S> There is no etiquette that applies to every situation. <S> I know some folks who write recommendations for pretty much everyone they know. <S> Sometimes, this appears to be in hopes of a reciprocal recommendation. <S> As a hiring manager, when I see that happen, I tend to discount the recommendations for the candidate. <S> I know other folks who write recommendations for a select few. <S> And of course plenty of folks never write any recommendations at all. <S> Do whatever you are comfortable doing, and what you feel best suits your needs. <S> Only you know how mature your connections are, and if they will feel overly hurt by not getting your recommendation.
| Rather than publicly posting recommendations for selected individuals, I would approach them privately and let them know that if they need a recommendation that you would be willing to give them one.
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How to give notice when everyone is gone on vacation? I will be starting a new job mid January, and to meet the two-week notice period, I would need to put in my notice on the 27th. However due to other circumstances (finalizing a home mortgage), I cannot officially change jobs (accept offer / put in notice) until after the paper work's cleared (so no 3 week notice). The issue is it is currently the holidays in the US, and my boss, his boss, his boss's boss, etc. Are all out of office untill the first of the new year. I'm not sure how many people from HR would be available either, though I know my main contact will be out as well. So, I'm at a bit of a loss of how to provide notice. I could blast out an email, but I'd rather not bother people on vacation, nor could I guarantee that they have received it. I would also prefer to give them fair notice (10 business days as opposed to the 8 if I give notice on the first), since I foresee a lot of tasks to hand off. So, how can I give notice on a particular date when (presumably) no one is around to receive it? <Q> So, how can I give notice on a particular date when (presumably) no one is around to receive it? <S> First of all, forget about the notion that nobody is around to receive your notice. <S> Yes, your boss and other important persons may be on vacation but that does not mean that they are all 100% disconnected from any form of communication. <S> An employee's resignation could potentially be in the same category as an emergency <S> so I would go ahead and try to let your boss know. <S> I would call the boss and then follow up with your boss and all of the appropriate parties with an email. <S> This will ensure that if they are intermittently checking their email, your message will stand out. <A> Even if you could comfortably contact your bosses and your main HR contact on Dec 27th, they wouldn't implement any decisions about you until they return around Jan 2nd or 3rd anyway. <S> They'll just have to make do with the eight days. <A> Send your letter of resignation as Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested, addressed to the HR Department of your employer. <S> Make sure to provide plenty of lead time to ensure the letter arrives before your notice period. <S> Remember that the postal service will be working at overcapacity over the holidays. <S> While Certified Mail with RRR does not provide proof of content, you will at least be able to prove that you sent something in time.
| In the meantime, cover yourself by giving notice to somebody in HR on the 27th. If you cannot speak with your boss for whatever reason, I would still send the email to the boss and all of the appropriate parties and make sure that the subject clearly indicates that you are resigning from your position.
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How do you keep a controlling freelancer under control Recently my company hired a freelancer to take on some of the workload. While I wasn't there the freelancer has started to manage the entire project and messed up the original plan. The other guy managing him was a little inexperienced and has let the freelancer basically become his manager. Freelancer is now starting to question the methods I am using, and is constantly banging on about how his previous companies did it another way. - a way I don't agree with. I was happy to explain why, but he refuses to listen. I have made the final decision however, it annoys me that he continues to think i'm wrong which makes me think there was a better way to handle it. What are some better ways I could of handled this situation? <Q> You will need your boss to clarify with the entire team what the contractor’s role is so that folks have a general sense of what he can or cannot do. <S> Currently, you have certain expectations from him, and so did your front end guy... <S> both of you could be right, or both of you are wrong, or somewhere in middle. <S> Also, judging from your description, it looks like the contractor has certain expectations on what he’s supposed to do <S> and it’s different from your expectations. <A> Given that you are not the team leader/owner and do not have the capacity to make decisions then there is very little for you to do besides to explain your view and try to convince the contractor (or others) to your point of view. <S> If you think what he does is more than a blunder, but an actual danger to the project, then document that and raise that with your boss, the person actually in charge. <S> As you are not running the team, you've voiced your concerns and should keep doing that <S> and that's it. <S> Focus on getting your work done with the rest of the now-free time, and if the contractor is as bad as you claim, soon enough the bad will seep through the cracks and boss will have to eat crow for ignoring your warnings. <S> On a side note maybe then the boss will realize that a tech team needs a technical lead, though that may not be you. <S> And I say so as explaining stuff to your teammates should be something that a team lead cherishes, not looks like a waste of time and a chore. <S> Similarily by the same part sometimes you just have to let a teammate go down the wrong hole to learn the hard way, but then also hold them accountable for that. <A> I’ve been in your shoes. <S> Some contractors are like locusts; they enter a place, destroy the morale, and find another place. <S> The best thing you can do is to talk to your boss about the potential clash of roles you play and how it will impact the work. <S> You can talk about the repetition of work, which doesn’t serve the purpose of bringing him in. <S> You may request your boss to define KRA to you and all others so that the contractor will know his place. <S> You may also get a clue on how much your boss rates his work. <S> Ideally, if a leader doesn’t lead the floor, KRAs must. <A> In the UK (and in other places) a contractor is not an employee. <S> A contractor MUST NOT act like an employee or there can be legal / tax related problems for both company and contractor. <S> So in principle you can't tell a contractor how to do his job. <S> You can make polite suggestions and tell him that if he doesn't listen to your suggestions you will cancel his contract and hire a different contractor :-) <S> (which is effectively the same as giving an order to an employee, but not legally the same). <S> That's one of the points of hiring a contractor: <S> If you don't like him, you hire a different one. <S> You don't have to be very polite. <S> " <S> I don't like the changes that you made whatsoever, so I suggest you undo them <S> or we'll have to find another contractor" <S> is absolutely polite enough. <A> Your highest goal is the quality of the product and the avoidance of any issues that might cause your company lost revenue. <S> In the long run that revenue is yours and your colleages' wages and perhaps even their jobs on the line. <S> It's not about control, particularly as you do not have seniority here. <S> Even if you did, the needs of the company you are working for and of the product you are creating are the most important. <S> If this freelancer is wrong, you should be able to explain to your boss what the consequences of the technical decisions will be. <S> Even, and perhaps particularly, a non-technical person should see that when you demonstrate a security hole or a lack of one that would require wasted time to 'plug' that it impacts the business. <S> On the other hand if you can't demonstrate any of that, are you that sure of your position?
| So what you can do is to make polite suggestions what you expect him to do, and tell him that you will have to find a different contractor if he doesn't follow your suggestions.
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How do you work with a flat earther? I work at a gas station. This home schooled kid is a flat earther and talks non stop. He's generally a nice person, but his views are awful and polar to mine. I try not talking, but he continues to talk to me. <Q> No one is going to read your mind, unless you speak about it. <S> Be polite, but be straightforward. <S> Mention that whatever be the case and irrespective of their opinion, you are not interested in a conversation about it. <S> Also mention that you both are at work, and it will be for best interest for both of you if you can concentrate on work related matters. <S> Next time they approach you for a dialogue or monologue, mention the same and also the time after. <S> Simply don't encourage them by listening to what they have to say, if possible engage in other activities and say, "as I mentioned earlier, can we not talk about this please?". <S> Repeat couple of times and they should get the point. <A> To supplement the already good top answer: some general actionable advice for this and any other topic that comes up at work that you don't want to discuss. <S> Ramp up slowly. <S> I suggest the following levels, with roughy 1-2 times per level before moving to the next. <S> Polite question <S> Could we not discuss this? <S> Would you mind if we don't discuss this? <S> Polite statement of feelings <S> I'd (rather not / prefer not to) discuss this Indirect command <S> Let's not discuss this Direct command <S> Do not discuss this Just to deal with the unlikely case that it continues beyond this, the next step is to escalate to management as harassment. <S> There is zero chance that anyone reasonable would continue beyond this point, and if they choose to do that, they choose to face the consequences. <A> Make him a "sandwich". <S> Explain to him that stating his beliefs derail your capacity to rely on him at work. <S> I feel you are a nice guy, and I respect you having your opinions. <S> But in this matter, I disagree so strongly that I doubt if I'll be able to rely on you acting sensible and to-scientifically-proven views. <S> And we are handling shit that explodes here! <S> I appreciate your company, but talk to me about anything else, no more flat-earth thing, please. <A> Just a few ideas: 1) <S> Maybe just humour him. <S> I talked in detail to a flat earther once and his general point was that while there's supposedly scientific evidence for a round earth, none of this is things you can directly verify. <S> For example, the blue marble photo could be faked. <S> Even Eratosthenes' experiment can't be reproduced by an individual; it depends on knowledge of the distance and direction between Alexandria and Syene. <S> 2) Fight fire with fire. <S> I heard of an anti-vaxer who was won over by being persuaded that anti-vax was actually a Russian conspiracy. <S> Potentially you could do something similar, I don't know, maybe flat earth is a rumour created by NASA because they found platinum reserves on the South pole. <S> 3) Use body language. <S> If you don't want to talk, avoid pointing your body towards him, tut and look distracted while he's talking, walk off without explanation, etc. <S> I don't think any of these are brilliant, but I hope they give you some ideas.
| Express your opinion about it, mention that you are not interested in either talking or listening about it. When they start on the topic, cut in and stop it, but don't go all-guns-blazing straight away.
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Can/Should I apply to client directly after agency failed to negotiate salary with client? Some agency found me on linkedin and sent me job offer with a fixed rate of £380/day. Upon receiving specifics about the job, I sent my CV and they said they forwarded it to the client. The guy that sent my CV, said the he put me for £360 - that's where I started being suspicious about the rate. He came back to me saying client is interested, but "my manager told me that client is not taking for £380/day". They clearly either lied in the job offer or tried to get as much money for themselves as possible. Either way, my recruitement process stopped at this stage. There was no interview with the client. That was about 3 weeks ago. Now, I found that the client is directly advertising the same job offer (with no specific rate) on linkedin. I didn't sign anything with the agency and they only asked me to send this to them: "I'm happy to be represented by XX via their client YY to the end client at the rate of £380/Day for the position XYZ.". Is it ok for me to approach that client directly now? <Q> The guy that sent my CV, said the he put me for £360 - that's where I started being suspicious about the rate <S> You should've ran, and ran fast at this point. <S> He came back to me saying client is interested, but "my manager told me that client is not taking for £380/day". <S> This is where you ask what are they taking, and if you don't get an answer consisting of 3 numbers, run. <S> Is it ok for me to approach that client directly now? <S> Absolutely! <S> Do so and good luck with your application. <S> Maybe explain in the cover letter about the bad recruiter before, as your name may flash some lights in the client's name. <S> I say may because bad recruiters, like the one who approached you, often try to, badly, censor candidate name. <S> The things that some other suggestions that you may not be allowed to do so is rubbish as You've signed no document to state so. <S> Even if you were it would be extremely unlikely to be binding, as you are waving a lot of right for nothing in return. <S> And in UK uneven contracts like that have generally not been recognized as binding. <S> But you didn't, so even that's not a worry. <S> So go, apply, good luck! <A> The main question to ask yourself is - <S> Can it do any harm to apply? <S> My thoughts are, probably not. <S> You have already tweaked your CV and cover letter for this role and the recruiter has already said that it's been turned down and therefore cut ties. <S> As motosubatsu said, it could cause issues with the agency, but that assumes that the agent was genuine and send in your application. <S> Provided you make sure you mentioned that happened, it's the companies responsibility to ensure they aren't breaking their contract with the agent. <S> To clarify, it's the agent and the company who may have a contract, I'm not suggesting you could get into any deep water here. <S> Another consideration, is no applying directly for the role, but sending a CV & cover letter, saying: I've already applied to X through the agent and was told I wasn't a good fit <S> but I am interested in working for the company and would you have any similar positions? <S> If not please do keep me in mind if anything opens up. <A> That's pretty much the point of that sort of thing. <S> Or more accurately it likely prevents the company from hiring you directly. <S> If the company were to subsequently take you on for the position directly they would be opening themselves up to a potential claim from the agency - <S> assuming that the agency has actually been engaged by the company in some fashion.
| The e-mail you sent agreeing to representation by the agency most likely prevents you from applying directly for that position.
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Is it an issue for background checks, if my previous employer has closed? I have total 4 years of experience and so far I have changed organization twice.Until recently, I have been working at a Company A, however I have resigned due to personal reasons. I have received an offer from another company, Company B, but have heard they have a very strict background verification check. My worry is that Company A is going to close next month, and that it may cause problems for the background checks. I do however, have a copy of all the relevant documents from that (soon to be closed) Company A. Should I expect this to be a problem, and if so - what steps can I take to mitigate this? <Q> I won't comment specifically on the company, as I don't believe this is necessary, but more broadly: <S> This happens all the time. <S> Background checks can be really thorough going back ten years or more. <S> Lots of people will have worked for start ups and alike which have gone under, non of them would be able to be verified if it was a problem. <S> Two things for you to do if you're really worried: Contact company B and just explain that company A will be closing and ask if that is going to be an issue and if there is anything you can do to steam-line. <S> For example, if there is any specific documentation required from company A. Company A must know you're leaving if they are closing - ask for paperwork. <S> I would suggest a letter of recommendation - which will also double as proof of employment. <S> Ensure you have a copy of your contract etc. too. <S> It might be a good idea to get your managers contact info, the company who does the vetting for company B will probably ask. <A> No, I don't expect it will cause any problems for your background check. <S> The same thing happened to me, and I had no issues with my background check for the US Department of Defense. <S> I'm sure it happens all the time. <A> Companies close all of the time. <S> This isn't your fault. <S> This is not a reflection on you. <S> At worst they might ask you for additional contact information for someone at your former company who can provide a reference and work history on your behalf.
| I would assume that the new company would assume that you were truthful, even if they can't verify your work at your former company.
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Include customer feedback on my resume? I work in technical consulting on projects that include 1, maximum 2 people. At the end of each project, my firm sends the customer a feedback form with 5 simple questions - it is a KPI for the whole department and for single employees. The result is a score between 1 and 10 plus a short positive comment, which are both usually very dependent on the lead consultant, due to the team size and type of work. Is this feedback something that could be included in a resume? How? The goal is to prove that clients are happy with my work, without sounding like a potential employer is reading an Amazon product review or a humorous dating profile. I am currently not looking for a job, but I could not find similar questions on the site and could be useful for others. Edit based on comments Over one year I carry out and manage 10-15 projects; I would not include the single comments in my resume, but a one-liner in the description of this role (e.g. "90%+ customer appreciation over 20+ projects") just like I would write something along the lines of "Project manager for a total of $500k with a 30% margin" <Q> They filled in the form for a specific use. <S> That use does not include your CV <S> The survey was done for the company. <S> Its results and data belong to the company and <S> not you <S> Would you employ somebody that does not care about personal data? <A> I don't think individual comments would be appropriate but an overall score would good especially if it is high. <S> One thing I know about these call centers is that at the end of the call, they give a survey. <S> That survey is then used to measure your rating that is then used to rate you as a employee. <S> A score of 98% is usually really, really good <S> and I think that is a good thing to put on your resume. <S> A 98% customer satisfaction score, as one of the bullet points. <S> Edit: It sounds like a star system is used. <S> If your score is 4.8 out of 5, that is pretty good. <S> Something like, "Rated 4.8 out of 5 in customer satisfaction." <A> If you have an intro on your resume you could mention it there. <S> Something along the lines of lauraapresa is a project manager experienced in carrying out projects over $100k with a 30% margin.... <S> -something in between- <S> Over the past few years over 20 projects have been completed with a 90%+ customer satisfaction.
| No no no Think of the privacy of the individual.
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Should I correct factual error I made during interview? I am a doctor interviewing for a new job. Interviewer asked me how many beds the hospital I currently work at has. I guessed it is around 200 beds. I was only thinking the beds in my area of the practice. The hospital in fact has 700 beds in total. I found that out just by reading about the hospital website. Should I contact them and tell them about my errors and apologize? Probably "I don't know would've been a better answer. Thank you <Q> I would be inclined to leave it alone. <S> Probably they will not check. <S> If they do, it is an easy error to make and does not reflect badly. <A> The answer to this question depends on whether the fact actually matters. <S> In this case, I'd assume that your hospital has crossed the "Not small" threshold and there probably isn't much difference between 200 and 700 beds. <S> There is no need to bring it up , especially if you properly conveyed that you were guessing how many beds. <S> At the same time, if a chance comes up naturally in conversation, it wouldn't hurt to make the correction either. <S> If your job is to clean <S> every bed, then 200 vs 700 might matter though! <A> The interviewer asked me how many beds there are in the hospital where I currently work. <S> Has <S> This question was asked to find out how big your hospital was, not to get the right number of beds. <S> In this case, the difference between 200 and 700 is not that big. <S> This clearly indicates that the hospital you worked at is quite large.
| So I would not contact your interviewer in this case.
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Any advice on how to create a solid, *realistic* cover letter? The frustration I'm facing is that every sample cover letter I look at seems to go "I was a rockstar at Company X where I accomplished amazing things and I achieved Y results at Company Z"... on and on and on, as if you have to somehow be exceptionally gifted and accomplished in order to write an effective cover letter, and I'm just... not that, yet. I have certain skills & abilities I guess I could highlight, but right now I'm just a recent grad straight out of college whose looking for a job that could fit. I have a Master's in Math fwiw. But the idea that I have to have some spectacular skills and accomplishments especially tailored to the job I'm applying to is kind of just discouraging rather than helpful. I'm just looking for some guidance on how to structure what I do have (some basic programming skills & a slightly overkill degree) into a compelling argument for my potential rather than magnifying all the things I don't have (experience & accomplishments). Writer's block is my perennial bane. Any tips/advice? <Q> You don't need to be world best at anything, you just need to be better at things useful for the job than other candidates applying for it. <S> Say for example you apply for a programmer position. <S> Maybe some other candidates will outdo you in programming skill or experience <S> but you have a math degree, most other candidates probably don't. <S> What are you good at that looks useful for the position? <S> How does your math degree enable you to do things that non mathematicians would find harder to do? <S> As a general principle for math degrees. <S> Nobody in industry hires a mathematician for the specific higher math they know. <S> Mathematicians are hired because they can learn and understand anything you give them. <S> So you get them when you don't know exactly what skills will be needed but you need someone who can figure out what skill are needed and then just learn them. <A> Like your CV, it is a marketing document designed to convey the best impression of you. <S> How to go about this? <S> Your description of yourself as "a recent grad straight out of college" is generic. <S> The first thing to do is to realize that your profile is not actually that generic. <S> By the time you finish college, the combination of skills and experiences you posses is unique - even if you have no work history whatsoever. <S> Your cover letter need to convey why this unique combination of skills and experiences makes you a "a good fit" for the job at hand. <S> A cover letter must therefore contain: <S> Some details about relevant projects (including hobbies/volunteering/etc.) <S> that you have done, Some reason as to why you applied for this particular job, and <S> Some reason as to why the above makes you particularly suitable for the job at hand. <S> The best way to improve your cover letter is to ask recruiters for feedback - though they are not always willing to give it. <S> That said, cover letters are often not read, or only after a round of CV checks. <S> A "risky", i.e. unorthodox, cover letter can be a reason to be rejected, and is rarely a reason to pass through to the next round. <S> A "safe" cover letter that merely rehashes what is already in your CV, is therefore usually the better choice. <S> As a result, it is more important to spend time tailoring your CV than your cover letter. <A> Ok <S> but let's suppose for the sake of the question that they do expect a cover letter... <S> You're overthinking this. <S> Keep your cover letter short and to the point. <S> You're not applying for a writing job. <S> Just make sure that your resume is addressed to the hiring manager, not the HR department. <S> When I worked for HR, the resume that were forwarded to us from an employee automatically had more priority than other resumes. <S> We didn't want to get blamed for losing or screening out a resume that someone in the company had already seen. <S> And if you're told to apply through a portal, your cover letter is the area where you say who told you to apply through that portal. <S> For us, mentioning the name of a hiring manager in your cover letter had the same effect as receiving it from that person. <S> Again, we didn't want to receive a call from that person asking if we had lost your resume. <S> much of the advice seems to say that cover letters are important and should not be discounted... <S> Maybe you should follow their advice, not ask ours. <S> This isn't to say that cover letters aren't useful. <S> For instance, if you need to highlight a special circumstance that can not easily be gleaned from your resume. <S> Or if you want to highlight the fact that your experience meets all the major job requirements. <S> By all means, write that cover letter. <S> But my point is. <S> Don't overthink it.
| The key to writing a good cover letter is to make you look as though you are exceptionally gifted and accomplished. Try to think of what you have relative to what the position requires or what you imagine other people applying for it to have.
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I missed an important client meeting and hurt my standing. How can I recover? I work for a medium-sized software consultancy in London. The company employs 300-500 people across multiple locations in Europe. For the past month or so I've had a lot of trouble with my sleeping schedule, which often causes me to be late. I've been missing dailies regularly, to the point that I've already had a meeting with HR and my boss. They are taking a soft approach with me, showing a lot of flexibility which is appreciated. But they're not happy with the situation. Since then, my punctuality has improved to the point where I don't miss meetings, but I'm still barely making it in for the core hours (10am or earlier). In that same meeting my boss he had the idea to include me in a new project due to kick off soon, because of my experience with a certain technology. I would be working directly under the CTO. The meeting with the client was today. My manager, our CTO, another colleague and myself were invited to the client's HQ on the outskirts of London. The CTO and the colleague arrived yesterday afternoon from abroad and we all went for a pint. This morning, I missed my train. I called my manager from the taxi to let him know I would not be making the meeting, and he asked me to go to the office - which is the only thing that he could say. I've started seeing a professional about the sleep issues. I'm also experimenting with lifestyle changes, but I haven't identified exactly what causes the issue. From my manager's perspective I'm a resource who can work with a technology, but I'm also someone who indicated that I want to progress my career further in this company, so he did me a huge favour - and took some personal risk - in adding me to the project. I've just proven him wrong. My credibility is in the toilet. I'd like to re-establish it. I don't want to update my CV, and I hope there is a way to do this without switching jobs. What steps can I take to do this? Update Just had a meeting with my boss. I received a written warning, for not showing up on time, and for failing to bring up the potential problem the evening before, therefore preventing alternative options. Further, some concrete goals were set, none of them unreasonable (ie. be in by 9:30 latest). Despite the severity of receiving a written warning, I consider myself as having got off light. <Q> My credibility is in the toilet. <S> I'd like to re-establish it. <S> I don't want to update my CV, and I hope there is a way to do this without switching jobs. <S> What steps can I take to do this? <S> Your credibility took time to erode. <S> It will take time to recover. <S> Apologize for missing the important meeting and for repeatedly being late. <S> Explain your plan for rectifying the situation and ask that the company bear with you during this period. <S> Next, get to the bottom of your sleep issues. <S> Work with your professional to determine if this is a medical issue or something else. <S> Do what you have to do to cure the problem. <S> Finally, do whatever you have to do so that you are no longer late. <S> But meanwhile you still need to avoid being late. <S> Don't miss any core time. <S> Get to work when you are expected to be there. <S> It may be hard and it may take a while. <S> But you need to demonstrate to your employer that you are serious about not letting this affect your work. <S> Then, and only then, will you regain credibility. <A> Oof... that's got to hurt. <S> As someone who has struggled with sleep issues for basically their entire life I feel your pain. <S> The bad news is that, as you've already determined this incident stands a good chance of hurting your professional standing. <S> Even the most understanding boss is going to feel a bit irked when an employee misses a client meeting in this manner. <S> The good news is twofold, firstly they have already shown understanding that this is a medical issue and one that you are actively addressing. <S> Secondly you've realised why missing this meeting is important - this means you have the opportunity to be proactive. <S> Don't wait for your manager to come and see you - go see them first. <A> My credibility is in the toilet. <S> I don't think it's that bad, <S> while not showing up is not the best thing in the world, a single incident is not going to tank anything, especially as there were other people in the meeting who, hopefully, carried it on without you and did a stellar job. <S> I don't want to update my CV, and I hope there is a way to do this without switching jobs. <S> Good! <S> Caring about your job and wanting to fix things, rather than moving on from the problem shows motivation. <S> Also, it would be a permanent solution to a likely temporary problem. <S> What steps can I take to do this? <S> You already seem to be on the right path by both speaking about the issue with HR and the boss and also seeing a professional. <S> This is some sort of health issue you are dealing with, and it seems that the company wants to support you along the way, so make sure to use it. <S> On top of that keep the lines of communications open, be brutally honest about the condition, the steps you are taking and trying to overcome it and see how it goes. <S> Also, make sure that the boss keeps in mind that meeting morning appointments for you currently is an iffy thing, so maybe he should keep off scheduling you for those, at least for now. <S> You can always go back to it when you are better. <S> And as long as you keep honest with the boss about it, I really think you will do fine. <S> Clearly they want to keep you, and this is just a temporary issue. <S> If it turns out to be a permanent one, then that's a whole other problem, but no need to solve for it now. <A> I've started seeing a professional about the sleep issues. <S> That is most important thing. <S> Although it might be something trivial, you should not take chances. <S> I highly recommend that you do a good (full) health check with this occasion <S> , do not focus only on the effects of (not) sleeping. <S> I have similar problems with regard to sleep and being tired. <S> From this experience I can share with you some information: sources of insomnia: improper food, some (yet) <S> undetected illness / disease / affliction, accumulated stress <S> , some strong expectations about the (near) future, love, ... aids to counter the sleep patterns: avoid coffee / tea / energy drinks in the evening, prefer relaxing "teas" (lime tree, roiboos..), avoid excess of refined sweets (cookies, chocolate), finish the evening shower with the coldest water you have (arms, legs, face should suffice). <S> My credibility is in the toilet. <S> Probably not. <S> Of course, people around you are not happy about it, but do not think the problem worse than it is. <S> From my point of view, the best course of action is to have a F2F meeting with your boss, explain him the situation, together agree to a "roadmap" for you to come back to good performance. <S> On sleep and health issues, I made some statements here and here also. <S> The other answers are useful too, on those pages.
| Ultimately, the cure for your sleep issues will help. First, talk with your boss. Explain that you're sorry for missing the meeting, that you understand that this could have put them in an awkward position with the client and reaffirm that you are taking steps aiming to prevent this occurring again and that you are committed to project and the company. Don't miss any dailies. Skip the pints if necessary, get to sleep earlier, set alarms, use your smart speaker, have someone call you in the morning, engage a wakeup service, whatever - take responsibility to be at work on time.
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Continue at relatively low paying job over a new job offer? I am working in high-sized organization with 50K employee as a software developer. I am working on very boring project. As I am happy with the project I started job hunt, I got new offer with around 50% raise with some other high-sized. Yesterday I resigned from my role stating primary reason as I was not happy with the work and money is secondary reason. Due to company policy my existing employer cannot counter the offer. However, my manager has offered me a role in some exiciting project. What could go wrong if I stay? will I always be perceived as someone who could abandon the ship? or should I take the new offer? [Edit] 30-50 % is an average hike in the country where I work. To answer "Why would I want to raise after receiving the signigact offer?" I like the people with whom I work. <Q> Ask "Why should I stay?" <S> You have an opportunity to work somewhere else where you will get a healthy raise and potentially exiting new projects. <S> What would keep you at your current company? <S> Do you enjoy who you work with? <S> Are you sure you won't just get one good project and be put back onto boring stuff? <S> Are you always going to resent turning down that raise? <S> The decision is ultimately not one that can be answered on this site, but asking the right questions is a good first step! <A> What could go wrong if I stay? <S> will I always be viewed as someone who could move anytime? <S> or should I take the new offer? <S> You have already resigned, so if you stay you would at best be seen as someone who is indecisive and a flight risk. <S> you may not like the new project and will be stuck in the same situation <S> A 50% raise in salary doesn't often come around, so while you may not be too worried about money at the moment, carefully consider the long term ramifications of having that extra income before you make a decision. <A> We can't really give you advice on whether you should stay or not - that's a personal decision that you'll have to make for yourself. <S> But we can answer your other questions, <S> What could go wrong if I stay? <S> will I always be viewed as someone who could move anytime? <S> Yes - generally, people who threaten to leave and then decide to stay are often seen as a risk in the future. <S> Perhaps worse, you may be seen as having bluffed, and used the external offer as leverage to get what you want. <S> No one likes to be deceived, and although your current manager seems to want to accommodate you, their positive attitude might not be shared elsewhere in your company. <S> Give your bosses a chance to fix problems. <S> If they value you as an employee, they should be willing to do this. <S> If they don't value you enough to solve your problems, well then - you have your answer. <S> But forcing the issue by mentioning an external offer will often leave you with a bad reputation, since you may be perceived as having not even bothered to give them the opportunity to fix things. <S> You haven't mentioned in your question if you tried to resolve these issues prior to seeking an external offer, but if you hadn't, it may be appropriate to do so in the future. <A> Here are the risks: <S> You'll be paid less money <S> You'll be asked to remain with the old boring project for a couple of weeks to transition it to someone else <S> Once you've burned your bridge with the new potential employer, the old employer will rescind his offer because he really needs you and no one has as much knowledge on the old project as you do. <S> Or the new project won't be as exciting as he promised. <S> And to work on that new project, you may be moved away from the co-workers <S> you like so much. <A> You're asking whether you should play the "counteroffer game." <S> That is, you get a better offer, then your present employer counters the offer. <S> It's a risky game to play for the obvious reasons. <S> Your loyalty becomes suspect at your old employer. <S> At the new employer, you waste their time by turning down an offer after they have decided they want you, which hurts your reputation. <S> It's a small world, and accepting or declining job offers is one of the most visible things you can do in that world. <S> Play it more than that and you damage your personal social capital. <S> Plus, it makes you feel like a slimy toad. <S> Ask me how I know this sometime. <S> You have a very weak counteroffer. <S> There's no extra pay associated with it. <S> It's not worth the risk of playing the game. <S> Say, "thanks, but I have made my decision" and don't look back. <S> You can maintain good relationships with former colleagues, so all is not lost.
| Don't ask "What could go wrong if I stay". What else could go wrong if you stayed: you will continue to be paid less money Ultimately, if you have problems in your current workplace (whether that's being underpaid, or not liking your projects), it's best to raise the issues and seek a resolution independently from threats of leaving. You can play the "counteroffer game" maybe once, or maybe twice, in your entire career.
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Someone in my workplace is being anonymously harassed by another staff member I have recently become aware that a co-worker is being harassed via anonymous Instagram messages. The harasser has cited in their direct messages that they do not like this person in the workplace, and has been sending messages to their ex-partner and a current partner of another staff member claiming that they have been having an affair and threatening to inform those around them at work that this is going on. The victim, I and several others have a very strong suspicion as to who is sending these messages. They have noted on several occasions to multiple people that they do not like the person in question, and has also previously mentioned that this person is "sleeping around". My thinking is that this is quite a serious offence and that something should be done, however the person in question has contacted HR which has prompted a company-wide email which makes no specific mention of the incident, rather directing people to the company Code of Conduct. Line managers have also been informed. I feel that this is not a strong enough action for somebody who is willing to do this, and could even bolster their confidence in not getting caught or investigated. This person is willing to take other people's personal relationships into their own hands without any sort of evidence to back up their claims in order to justify some sort of work unpleasantness. That, I feel, should be punishable to some degree, or at least investigated further. What is the correct course of action in this situation? <Q> My thinking is that this is quite a serious offence and that something should be done, however the person in question has contacted HR which has prompted a company-wide email which makes no specific mention of the incident, rather directing people to the company Code of Conduct. <S> Very clever: maybe the bully is stupid enough to continue, and then there will be this email which very specifically mentions the behavior, so there is no <S> "i did not know that this is a problem", which means no second chance. <A> This doesn't seem like a workplace issue, in the sense that I don't see a strong reason for the employer to get more involved than the email HR already sent out. <S> Unless the harasser used company equipment to send the messages. <S> The harasser may know the victim primarily from work, but it sounds like they are using their personal Instagram account to communicate with other employees via their own private Instagram accounts. <S> If the harasser were spreading malicious rumors, in person, to other individuals outside of work, would that still be a workplace issue? <S> From my reading of the question, even if the (suspected) harasser were fired that would not do anything to stop these messages. <S> It might be properly handled by the employer, but the connection to actual workplace issues would have to be pretty strong. <S> Otherwise, this is more firmly in the wheelhouse of Instagram (the company), the local police, and legal actions (like cease-and-desist orders or restraining orders). <S> It sounds to me more like a question of <S> what should I do if my friend is being harassed on Instagram than anything about the workplace. <A> The target has reported the issue, and presumably the front-office people are taking action. <S> Please keep in mind that these situations are terrifying for front-office people. <S> They expose companies and people to great liability and other trouble. <S> So don't be too quick to judge how they handle it publicly. <S> For example, don't judge them on their public email message. <S> They aren't going to tell everybody about each action they take. <S> If these attacks make the workplace environment toxic enough that your own work is affected, then you, yourself, are a target of the attacks and can follow the reporting procedure in your company's code of conduct.
| Unless you personally are the target of these attacks, or a supervisor or HR or executive, your personal course of action is to take no further action , unfortunately.
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Should I Write Brainf*ck in My Resume? If so, How Should I? Should I write Brainf*ck in my CVs? I know this is a weird question, but maybe the interviewer thinks "Hmm, this kid writes esoteric language." Or as an alternative, I would say BF or BrainF instead of Brainf**k. What do you think about it? Note: Brainf*ck is an esoteric programming language notable for its extreme minimalism. Edit: I found a Brainf*ck library named BrainF.Net . So I decided to pronounce like BrainF. <Q> Should I write Brainf*ck in my CVs? <S> If you have absolutely nothing else going on for you, then sure, because you would be rejected anyway. <S> This way at least your CV will be passed along as a joke across the office first. <S> If you have something to offer though, write about that instead. <S> When hiring developers you are seeking dozens of CVS every day, and the random strings of characters (as I won't bother to decipher what that means before deciding whether to call you or not) will at best be ignored, at worst seen as not bothering to even proof-read the PDF you've sent me. <S> The magical world where including BF in your CV is the difference between being hired or not is naive at best. <S> Sorry. <S> Put that effort into getting a buffy GH portfolio instead. <S> I wouldn't even put it under the skill list, as it has zero practical use and, again, a beefy practical GH portfolio will get you much further. <S> Or extra line describing your previous actual experience. <A> NB: This answer tries to answer the more general question, rather than specifically "BrainF*ck" <S> I'm not sure if the question is about using a profanity or just if adding this language is beneficial. <S> The latter will depend on the type of job you are applying to but as a general rule of thumb (assuming you're a programmer of some sort): <S> If it's a language that is a bit different and you are proficient in (i.e. makes you stand out) add it. <S> To address the other question: Is it ok to use a profanity in a CV if it's the name of a Language / Company / Website (etc.)? <S> I don't see any issue in this, although of course it will vary from country to country, company to company and person to person. <S> Provided <S> Follow your nose with this one though - judge based on the type of company. <S> BF is probably ambiguois. <S> For companies you want to avoid swearing go with BrainF. Final thought <S> As many of the comments mentioned, listing Code Golf as a hobby would generally look pretty good on a resume and this is a fairly well established term. <S> Unless you're a complete whizz, specifically at BrainF, just list that. <A> To those of us that are actually familiar with brainfuck . <S> Including it in your resume would send the wrong message. <S> Not because it's a profanity, but because it's a purposefully obtuse and unreadable language designed to show off more than anything else. <S> And for software development, I would want to hire the opposite kind of developer for my team. <S> I would want the kind of developer that values communication and readability over his own ego or clerverness. <S> So for that reason, I would only advertise code golf in your hobby section, not brainfuck. <S> Now, should they ask, what languages did you use when code golfing? <S> Then, I would tell them all the languages I used, including brainfuck. <S> I think that would be fine. <A> I would suggest not including it, unless it's relevant for a specific type of job. <S> There are probably more relevant things you can include and draw attention to. <S> Also, a lot of people haven't heard of it, including programmers. <S> You don't want to be screened out potentially by a non-technical person or recruiter just for the sake of listing this. <S> Profanity on a CV looks unprofessional and (most) employers don't want to read that, even if it's the name of a product or technology. <S> BrainF sounds okay, but I don't think it's worth listing on a CV. <A> It's like saying you can solve a rubix cube within seconds. <S> I'm saying this because when I was younger I could solve the rubix cube within seconds <S> and I add this in my firsts resumes, and a lot of interviewer said "I don't care!". <S> Specially nowadays, all this side-skills doesn't matter anymore... <S> it would be much more valuable for your resume to say you gave lectures for a large audience (meaning that you are able to speak in public and comunicate) or something like that. <A> If I will read such a CV and nothing else will attract the attention, but it would more or less conform to a job description, I would invite the person even out of the interest to talk. <S> However, if the person possesses multiple years of experience and still writes that, the question would rather be if he/she is (over)enthusiastic or (extremely) bored. <S> //you <S> can't imagine things I read last year hiring Java developer... <S> oh dear... <A> It would be more than sufficient to list CodeGolf as a hobby and esoteric languages as a skill. <S> I would probably provide a brief description on what these concepts are, because even among programmers its a pretty unknown practice. <S> I think esoteric programming languages with some description what that actually means would be enough. <S> I think what it comes down to is this -- Nobody is hiring Brainfuck developers. <S> So specifically calling it out as a skill wouldn't do you any favors. <S> But what provides value to you is not the specific language you use, but rather the proficiencies that using such a language has developed in you. <S> That should be the key takeaway, not the specifics. <S> Hell, a good option might just be putting a similar language down that has a less offensive name. <S> Its a safe bet that no interviewer is going to say "oh you know , go ahead and show me how you would implement X with it for me", but it would get the same message across.
| I don't see how this can add value to your resume. Personally, I'd use it as in the title of this post (UK based, tend to apply to more casual small companies). it is clear what it is, it adds to your experience, (and that you're not using just to say "f*ck" on your CV) then it's ok.
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As a manager, how best to communicate the internals of the annual review process to the team? I'm a new manager of about 6 months to a small software engineering team and we, like most companies, have recently started our annual review process. I've been in the field long enough to know that this is mostly a Dog And Pony Show but, be that as it may, it still needs to be done. As part of the process each team member is given a rating of 1-3, 1 being under performing, 2 being successful, and 3 being exceptional, with most people falling on a 2. A couple of my team members in particular have been killing it, and I tell them as much in our 1-on-1's. So for their reviews I gave a 3. My manager was in agreement. A couple weeks pass and my fellow managers and I go to a meeting with corporate HR. In this meeting we're told that it is expected 15% of employee reviews will end up as 3's and our department has around 30% so we need to "calibrate" that to 15%, and change any wording in the free-form part of the review "as appropriate". This means I need to pick one of my two over-performers and give them a 2. Frankly I feel a little disgusted but I don't know if this is common or not. I've been on the other side of the table where I was told I was doing exceptional and going above and beyond only to land a review that was right in the middle at the end of the year. In my early days I got huffy and fought it, to no avail. As I got older I learned it was BS and looked only at the compensation change. I'm expecting a similar response from my team members. Eg. "How could I get a 2 if you've been telling me I'm doing exceptional?" So my question is: How do I effectively communicate this rating to my team member while remaining professional? I could come right out and say "the company made me give you a 2" but I don't feel that's a good idea. In the past I would be told something along the lines "Oh, 2 is actually really good! 2 is right where you want to be!" But that never worked on me and I don't expect it to work on any of my teammates. I asked my manager for advice and he said basically the same thing; tell them that 2 is actually really good. He's been here a while and seems resigned to HR's decision. In fairness, in not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things but, probably because I'm new to this, it doesn't sit well with me. I brought my concerns to HR and got back a boilerplate response of "we need to calibrate to 15%" with no recommendation on how to handle the communication. I escalated within the HR chain of command but have not heard anything back. Notes: Both team members in question are getting a promotion which comes with a compensation and title change. So that's good. This will have the largest impact on their compensation. The change from a 3 to a 2 will impact how much of a merit increase I can give, though I haven't been able find out exactly by how much. <Q> I've seen this happen before. <S> I had an old employer with a 1-5 rating system. <S> When I was a manager we were told not to have too many rated 4 or above as this would "mess up the numbers". <S> It is discouraging that this type of thought continues. <S> Management is thinking that this will incentivize those in the middle to "work harder". <S> What really happens is those who exceed their goals for the year but are rated "average" will take their talents someplace else that does reward hard work and dedication. <S> I don't know if I'd ask this way <S> but my feeling would be "if only 15% can be exceptional than should we hire more like the 85%? <S> who are not exceptional?" <A> Frankly I feel a little disgusted <S> but I don't know if this is common or not. <S> Sadly, it's very common. <S> If it makes you feel any better, your disgust is shared by most middle managers I know (including me). <S> How do I effectively communicate this rating to my team member while remaining professional? <S> I asked my manager for advice <S> and he said basically the same thing; <S> tell them that 2 is actually really good. <S> Particularly with something as important as the annual review process, I believe in being as open and transparent as possible with your team. <S> Talk to your manager about that first. <S> Unless prohibited, have a meeting with your team to explain how the process actually works. <S> Remember, you didn't invent these rules, so you don't have to justify them. <S> You are just conveying the information about the rules that constrain you in the annual review process. <S> And since you were basically told what to say by your manager, make sure you include the point that "[your manager says] 2 is actually really good". <S> You don't have to like the process, but you owe it to your team to be honest. <S> In most cases, they won't like it either, but they will appreciate your honesty. <S> I brought my concerns to HR and got back a boilerplate response of "we need to calibrate to 15%" with no recommendation on how to handle the communication. <S> I escalated within the HR chain of command but have not heard anything back. <S> Sadly, many companies have budgeting/annual review processes that end up this way. <S> You could end up with a team full of exceptional performers, some of whom will end up with mediocre raises, and made-up reviews to justify the numbers. <S> I've tried to argue the point all the way up the management chain and all the way up the HR chain, to no avail. <S> It sounds like you've given it your best attempt to. <S> Now, it falls on you to do the best you can with what you have been given. <S> There's not much else to be done here. <S> Anything different would have to originate from the top. <S> Hopefully next year's annual reviews will go more smoothly now that the "15% of employee reviews will end up as 3's" rule has been made known to all managers. <S> You'll be able to calibrate to HR's expectations up front. <A> Try to solve this in three ways: <S> Patch: <S> You need to communicate back to the team about company rule of 15% and at the same time take Team's suggestion on your problem. <S> Like "As per my review I considered 30% of people to be of 3 however due to <S> company rule now <S> I have to make that 15% in the system (Not in my mind), Please help in defining criteria on which I sort the 30% list to get top 15%. <S> " This will help in two ways team won't blame you for misfortune and at the same time they will be happy about they know how 15% is getting created. <S> Medium Term: use the criteria created in Patch as rule for your team for evaluation and at the same time improve on-boarding of Managers in your company about the policies. <S> Long term: <S> When you go for hiring you don't hire talent to fit the review cycle rules. <S> use this to convince your Manager and HR to create exception list to 15% rule in certain cases.
| Discuss with HR team for communicating any change in rules to all managers before the start of next review cycle.
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Employer screwed up yearly raise offer On my annual review with my employer, I was offered a decent amount of raise initially(5k), but turned out, they did the math wrong when calculating my current salary. So a week later I had a second conversation to clarify, and I was told it was a mistake and the raise is only half (2.5k). Few employees left the firm lately and I was taking up more responsibilities. When brought up, I was told they really appreciate my extra work but that's what the budget allows to give me 2.5k raise. The employer is known to be cheapskate. So I didn't push further, but there was an awkward silence from both sides during the conversation. They can't afford another 2.5k, seriously? Should I re-negotiate or just ignore and start looking elsewhere? Mere appreciation for the extra work doesn't help paying bills buddy. That's what I really wanted to tell my employer. UPDATE It was a mistake on the salary. The person in charge of the accounting messed up and passed in wrong number as my current salary. (2.5k less) So it turned out the final number was 5k on top of current salary, when it was only 2.5k. It would be the right thing to do by honoring your initial offer, unless you are really a cheapstake which they are. So they came back apologizing multiple times for the screw up instead of honoring the amount. I get raise yearly, so the number is just the norm, but considering the extra work being done for compensating for the ex employees, I was expecting a higher raise. <Q> Should I re-negotiate or just ignore and start looking elsewhere? <S> You have this to consider: <S> You were given extra responsibilities but told there is not enough budget to properly compensate you <S> The company incorrectly calculated your salary ( don't mess with an employee's money ) <S> Your employer is known to be cheap. <S> You can try to re-negotiate, but given the above information it doesn't seem likely that you will get very far. <S> If you are not compensated what you feel you deserve and <S> your current company cannot ( or will not ) compensate you <S> then it is time to start looking elsewhere. <A> I was offered a decent amount of raise initially(5k), but turned out, they did the math wrong when calculating my current salary. <S> So a week later I had a second conversation to clarify, and I was told it was a mistake <S> and the raise is only half (2.5k). <S> That's a very weak move, whether intentional or an actual mistake. <S> All said and done 2.5k over a year is not that much, and going back on this will be shattering for morale. <S> Mistakes happen, don't punish employees for them. <S> Should I re-negotiate or just ignore and start looking elsewhere? <S> Both. <S> On one hand explain to them that while you appreciate that they may have only budgeted for 2.5k your contributions are greater than that, around the five kay mark. <S> They will have a choice to either counter offer somewhere in between, agree or outright refuse, though they will likely expect you to leave if this will end in refusal, even if you won't say that you will. <S> Which you absolutely should not do, let the implication hang in the air without speaking the words. <S> Meanwhile, update your cv and start hunting. <S> Finding a better job takes time, and if they would rather save 2.5k than stay true to their initial promise, you have no future with that company. <A> It’s really up to you to say whether or not this is a fair raise. <S> Would you have been fine with it <S> had they originally told you the correct number? <S> If you like the job overall and have a relationship with your manager/whomever to have the conversation, I suggest framing the discussion of a larger raise in the context of a promotion or recognition that your role has grown. <S> Before you have that conversation, be prepared to leave. <S> If they are as cheap as you indicate and have already said, “no,” it sounds unlikely they’ll do better. <S> And once you’ve raised the point, you’re announcing you are dissatisfied. <S> It does not guarantee they’ll seek to get rid of you, but it at least opens the possibility that you are a flight risk.
| You do not toy with employee salaries like that, and if somewhere a mistake was really made, they should've honored the original raise.
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Putting tools you use (but can't configure) on resume? I'm a software developer. There are a few tools that I know how to use, but can't really configure. Example: I use Jenkins. I can set up what I need to setup for my project - I know my way around the user interface. But I couldn't set up an entire Jenkins server from scratch to get it to the point where someone could use the user interface. So could I still put that I can use the tool on my resume? If so, would I put some type of disclaimer? <Q> Yes, put it in. <S> Don't put a disclaimer. <S> Just don't lie in your job description. <S> People can tell the difference between "Used Jenkins to do regression testing" vs. "Installed Jenkins from scratch to set up a CI environment." <A> Short answer: Put the technology/tool in the resume, and keep its discussion to the interview. <A> Yes. <S> Put it in without a disclaimer. <S> You’re applying for a software developer position <S> so in most cases, there wouldn’t be any expectation that you know Jenkins from an administration perspective as that is more suited for roles like build/release engineers, devops engineers, etc. <S> All those roles are sometimes done by a single person in smaller operations so it’s something that you can clear up in the interview if not clear on the job posting. <S> you are familiar with source control high likelihood that you’re familiar with automated tests <S> you’re familiar with what happens next when builds break from a Software developer standpoint <A> Resumes need to get through HR's bots and keyword searches to matter. <S> Throw it on there. <A> I split the technical experience part of my resume into 3 sections Proficient in Familiar with Tools and Technologies <S> That way (if someone actually reads it) the reader can at a glance get a feel for how much experience I have with anything listed. <S> For your case, I'd put Jenkins in the "Familiar with" category.
| For your specific case, putting in “Software Developer” plus Jenkins will also communicate the following: you are familiar with automated builds
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Couldn't attend holiday party. Should I ask to get the gift offered to remote employees? My company hosted a nice holiday party that I would have liked to, but was unable to attend due to conflicts. I RSVP'd that I would not attend. The party has already taken place. From others accounts it was very nice: nice hotel, catering, open bar, Uber credit, etc.. They just sent out an email for remote employees in other parts of the country who were not able to attend because of the time and expense of travel to respond and receive a gift in lieu of the party. The email was sent to everyone as far as I know I am not remote in a geographic sense, although I do work in another office and never go to the headquarters, and could have attended the party if not for prior commitments. I have not been at this company very long and I don't want to make a bad impression (I hardly ever interact with them, all interaction is through the client). Would it be bad form for me to reply to the email and explain the situation or because it is for remote employees should I drop it? <Q> Depending on the "value" of the gift I'm leaning towards "just drop it" because it may come across as a little greedy. <S> Imagine friend <S> A giving friend B a gift <S> and you saying "Can I have one too?" <S> Ultimately, you chose not to go to the party because you had a prior commitment rather than being physically unable to attend due to a situation of your employment. <S> Unless the prior engagement was a company meeting etc. <S> , I'd just drop it. <A> These are typically written into your contract. <S> Not getting them when you should is something you should of course address. <S> Others are ad-hoc, right-place-right-time type deals. <S> Sometimes you get them, other times you miss out on them. <S> This situation is firmly in the latter category - as a rule of thumb all social events and gifts are. <S> You were invited to the party, but were unable to attend due to conflicts. <S> The fully remote workers weren't and so received a gift instead. <S> Nothing unfair has happened here, and implying it has absolutely will create a bad impression. <S> You missed this one, but there will be other parties in future. <S> Just drop it and move on. <A> I don't think I would ask If you qualify, ask if it was specifically just for remote workers or everyone who couldn't attend the party. <S> I know at some companies <S> I've worked for there was a small gift given at the party and a slightly nicer gift given to remote workers, people who couldn't attend but were local still received the normal gift. <S> I've also seen companies fly in remote workers to attend company parties, while head-office employees had to drive 3 hours out of town to the resort hotel the party was held at,(the room was covered for two nights so that people treated it like a company assisted vacation, where driving to the hotel was not covered, but people still wanted to go.) <S> so it entirely depends on the culture of your company. <S> They don't even need to invite everyone to the party if they don't want to, I've worked for companies that only did company parties for employees that have been with the company for a certain number of years, I've heard of companies that don't invite entire segments of their business because they aren't as "valued" by upper management. <S> right? <S> Head office employees that couldn't attend are not included because they got an invite, correct?" <S> That way you don't sound greedy, and it gives you the plausible deniability of saying that one of your co-workers had asked you in some water-cooler chat if you were going to receive the gift even though you received the invite and you just wanted to clarify that you weren't. <S> They might not have even thought about people who rsvp'd No <S> and the simple question causes them to decide to include them.
| Maybe reach out with something like, "Hey, This gift is just for remote employees Some perks at work have a definite, predictable, repeatable financial value and should be considered part of your overall compensation package. There is no upside to doing so.
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Is it reasonable to ask for a raise after six months in a company when I feel like I'm underpaid? I started a new job in september as a DevOps Engineer working with AWS technologies. The company offered me a decent salary considering I had no experience in this specific field. I feel confortable working in this company, as it offers benefits such as one remote day per week, flexible hours and casual dress code policy. Also, the atmosphere is really nice and everyone is helping each other, so I don't plan to leave any time soon. However, six months later, I feel like I am worth more than at the beginning, as I learnt a lot about the technical subjects they hired me for, the fact that I successfully completed a project for a client by myself, helped an intern on some development tasks and achieved an AWS certification (the Architect Associate one for those who are familiar with it). The company does annual meetings with each employee on February (so it will be six months after I started working there) and I think it could be a good time to mention the fact that I'm more qualified than on my first day, and that I feel like my salary is no more relevant to my qualifications. But at the same time, I do not want to sound greedy by asking for a raise after only six months in the company. So would it be okay for me to mention that or should I wait another year to bring it up? <Q> The company does annual meetings with each employee on February (so it will be six months after I started working there) <S> and I think it could be a good time to mention the fact that I'm more qualified than on my first day, and that I feel like my salary is no more relevant to my qualifications. <S> Your annual review might be a good time to talk about a raise. <S> Most companies have a particular time of the year when annual raises are calculated and handed out. <S> For many, it would start with the annual review process. <S> If you aren't sure ask. <S> Remember, if you are at all good, you will always be more qualified after each 6 month period. <S> This one is no exception. <S> But most companies don't hand out raises each time someone decides that they are more qualified than they were 6 months ago. <S> It most likely won't hurt to ask. <S> But you might want to temper your expectations. <A> You are almost certainly worth more now than at the beginning. <S> However, what you need to ask yourself is whether you are now worth what the company expected you to be worth when they hired you, or have you exceeded that. <S> What I mean to say is, you seem to have been hired to do a particular job, but without the skills or experience for that job. <S> You have subsequently gained the skills and experience, you are now qualified to do the job you were hired for. <S> It's likely, in the company's eyes, that you are now doing the job they hired you for at the rate they hired you at . <S> It's possible that asking for a raise above what you were hired for, just because you only now feel that you have the skills to do the job you were hired for, is potentially going to sour the relationship. <S> From their point of view, they took a chance on you, gave you the opportunity to learn on the job, and it seems to have paid off. <S> None of this is to say you definitely shouldn't mention it in your review, it's going to be a judgement call on your part, ask yourself: <S> do you think you're doing the job they hired you for or <S> do you think you're massively exceeding the job they hired you for? <A> If you're a 100% confident that you are contributing more and deserve a raise then there is no shame in asking for it during the annual meeting. <S> Since you said they do annual review <S> I believe you still have time to do more and note the points on why you deserve more. <S> The only thing you have to take care is the way you make your point. <S> Be polite and be confident. <S> You might also want to check terms and conditions of employment, employee handbook etc so that you can check if you're eligible for a raise and channels to raise such requests.
| Depending on how you (honestly) answer that question, you may or may not want to hold off a little longer on asking for more money, given everything else about the role that is appealing to you.
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Do I need to reply back to CEO Seasonal greetings email for everyone in company? I am a bit confused with this situation. I have received the company's seasonal X' mas greeting from the CEO in my company email, which she sent to everyone. Is it appropriate to reply back in person for her greeting email? <Q> It depends on the size of the company -- if it's small enough that you meet the CEO regularly, then yes, you can reply or send your own greetings email (a reply kind of looks as if the CEO had to remind you). <S> In large companies, that would just lead to the CEO receiving a lot of emails, so it wouldn't be expected there. <A> Is it appropriate to reply back in person for her greeting email? <S> If you happen to come across this person in the hallway, break room, or what have you, then definitely feel free to extend a thank you back to this person. <S> If you feel so inclined, you could even stop by their office and say thanks in person. <S> Personally, I would only do this if I had spoken to them in the past in some capacity. <S> ( having a relationship of some kind ) <S> I would definitely skip the email reply , as they most likely will get a ton of them and it won't be read. <S> ALL as pointed out in another answer. <A> Is it appropriate to reply back in person for her greeting email? <S> Yes, it is appropriate to respond , but most likely, it'll get ignored anyway. <S> Unless you happen to know the CEO personally or you communicate with the CEO on a regular basis, in any mid-to-large sized organization: <S> The email you received and alike are sent via automated scripts, and it's sent to all. <S> Sometimes, the emails are sent by the team managing the CEO's office (Personal secretary/ PR team). <S> The same way, many times, the emails that actually reache the CEO, are pre-filtered and only the ones which need their time and attention are passed on to them. <S> So, to answer the other question <S> Do I need to reply back to CEO Seasonal greetings email for everyone in company? <S> No, you don't need to . <S> As suggested by the other answers, you can wish them in-person if you bump into them, or if you feel too obliged, you can pay a visit to their cabin and greet them back. <A> Is it appropriate to reply back in person for her greeting email? <S> Yes, it's perfectly appropriate. <S> Just make sure that if she CCed everyone in the company you don't do a Reply All. <S> It wouldn't be good to start an avalanche of email replies.
| Feel free to email a reply, but most likely it'll not reach the CEO. Whatever you do, do not REPLY
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I am a target for constant mockery from a colleague I am new at this great company, 2 months now and loving the project I am working on with three other developers. But one day, after making a point to one of them about stop playing with a stress ball, stop hitting it on the wall, repeatedly, every now and then, that it doesn't help for my concentration; and that we are in an office not in a backyard; he become arrogant and always mock me in collaboration of another colleague. He didn't accept it easily, tried to make fun of me and our little chat ended in situation where we stop talking to each other. Now, every time, someone in the office make a somehow disturbing sound he talks and sarcastically say something like 'stop that sound, you make him (me) distracted'.I do not answer him, they are in front of me, I heard them laughing at me I choose not to face them and ignore them especially him with mocking. I don't know if it is starting to become a bullying act from him but I cannot work with ease in such electric context. I try to control my anger towards him and just ignore his talk. Talking to manager is not an option to me because, it will reflect that I couldn't handle it myself and that I am somehow not social person. I could use a sarcastic comment and answer him back but I want to make it professional; and the only thing that is between us is work.Any ideas? <Q> Sarcasm is rarely best in such situations, as his comments are proving out. <S> They are intended to bait you and unfortunately, as the new employee you’re the one who doesn’t have any social credit built up with the group. <S> And you didn’t help yourself by telling him <S> it’s not a backyard. <S> Whether or not you feel like you owe one, your best course of action may be to apologize to him. <S> From his standpoint, you attacked/demeaned him. <S> That is, the new guy told him what to do and belittled him. <S> Polite and contrite is a better option than attempting to out-sarcasm him, especially at this point. <S> [Joe], do you have a minute? <S> I wanted to apologize for how I addressed you last week. <S> I was having trouble working through an issue and <S> it was rude of me to handle it the way I did. <S> Can we move on from it? <S> Edit <S> My apologies if I'm getting too preachy, but sarcasm in anger rarely turns out well. <S> Sometimes you can win the specific argument with it and shut up the other person. <S> Even then you've usually damaged the relationship, which almost always is bad overall. <S> In this case, not only was the fight not won, but now the overall relationship is bad. <A> You obviously stepped on some toes by addressing your distress about the sound of your colleagues method for stress-management (throwing his stress-ball repeatetly against a wall). <S> While you are completely entitled to demand some peace and silence in the office in order to concentrate on your daily duties, your approach wasn't the best in this case. <S> While telling him ..that we are in an office not in a backyard <S> You could have tried it in a more diplomatic way bay saying: <S> Dear John, While I fully understand that your job here is quite demanding and can be stressful at times, I would appreciate if you could repsect my need for concentration and restrain from bouncing your stress-ball against the wall every now and then - I would really appreciate it! <S> But since the milk is out of the jar, I suggest you try and talk this situation over with him. <S> Do this in a polite way and hope for his understanding so the both of you can move on having a professional and friendly relationship at work, but do point out that his sarcastic comments are not appropriate. <S> Good luck! <A> As you'd rather handle this situation by yourself, it may be worth trying to speak with this colleague again and attempt to maintain a civil conversation with this person. <S> Perhaps apologise if you came off rude to them the first time and explain why their actions are a distraction for you and ask if there's anything else they could try to do or limit these actions. <S> Maybe even moving desks to an area further away from these colleagues? <S> Another option is would it be possible have earphones in so you can listen to music as a way to deafen out the sound of your colleagues actions? <S> If none of these succeed then it may be best to speak to your manager about it, explain the situation, how it escalated, how you've tried to handle it yourself and go from there.
| Sit him down in a quiet minute without your coworkers around and have a one-on-one explaining him why his behaviour makes you uncomfortable and offer him an apology for the tone you used in your initial complaint.
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How to handle privacy when sending out an email blast I want to inform all 200 owners of vehicles that the site office will be closed for one weekend. Access will not be affected. How should I send this email so there's no breach of data protection? <Q> The best way to send this kind of email blast is to some sort of preloaded company email list, like everybody-downtown@example.com . <S> Ask your IT person if they have such a list, and how to use it. <S> Second best: put yourself on the To: line of the message, and your 200 people on the Bcc: line. <S> The way email works, those people won't be able to see each others' names. <S> You may find it easier to send the message to 25 people at a time. <S> Keep in mind that email messages are impossible to keep confidential. <A> Consult IT for this. <S> There's several reasons for this. <S> Two big ones: <S> Companies don't all handle this the same way. <S> For instance, oncecompany I worked for had mailing distribution lists - and the properprocedure would be to BCC the mailing list. <S> But another company hada specific mass-mailing app that would be used to send out theemails. <S> And a third preferred to use a non-email mechanism foralerting, with emails being a last-resort. <S> There may be company policies on the email itself. <S> Forinstance, where I currently work, I'm not supposed to send a massemail to customers (or for that matter, to large numbers of internalemployees) <A> Before sending this out, make sure that there is no current policy against emailing the whole company, regardless of the method. <S> Your company's email system should have a distribution lists to cover both everyone working at a particular office as well as the entire company, and you can usually find that in the address book. <S> But the ability to send email out to those lists should be limited to a select few, and usage reserved for relevant communications to those groups. <S> From your description, it sounds like this qualifies. <S> Check with your IT group, specifically the email administrator, to find out if such a distribution list exists. <S> If it does, find out if you have the ability to use it and if not, who does. <S> If no such list exists, use BCC: and in the email message, state that the whole office is being included on the communication. <S> BCC will prevent Reply All storms and hide the recipient list, which should address whatever data protection you're worried about.
| - I should go through our corporate communicationsgroup, which would proofread/format/template and take responsibilityfor the actual sending of the message. If there's something secret about the content of your message, don't use email to distribute it.
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How to politely decline the request by the employer even if they offer me the desired salary after resigning I have resigned my current organisation and got an offer with another company with 25% hike But the managers are pressurizing me to stay here currently. But I don't want to stay here as I don't like the work environment After my manager asked me many times that what would make me stay in the current company, I told that I have an offer with 25% hike and succumbed to pressure and hiding the actual reason, I said, if you can provide the same or near to the current hike as the other company, I would revert my resignation. But that's not the actual reason. I just don't like working here. I just thought that If I hide the actual reason and say that I have received a 25% hike, they would not be able to match that hike and make me stay here. But will they go to that extent to give a 25% hike? My questions : Will the current company provide me a 25% and make me stay here itself or they won't? Suppose, they provide the desired hike, But I don't want to stay there, how to politely decline and move out? <Q> I would say act quickly. <S> If your manager goes to bat for you, explaining to the CFO how important you are and why she should release extra budget, and then you still leave, that will cause offence no matter how you word it. <S> Walk it back before he gets that far and things will be better. <S> As to how, you are allowed to change your mind. <S> Think about the pros and cons. <S> Even better talk it out with someone (husband / wife / parent etc). <S> Then you can honestly go back in and honestly say " <S> I know I said that thing about 25 percent, but I was talking to my wife and she mentioned some personal reasons the new place would be better. <S> I wanted to let you know as soon as possible so that you don't waste your time pushing for this with the higher ups. <S> Sorry about all that, and please let me know what I need to do to train my replacement. <S> " <A> Polite doesn’t have to be devious or untruthful. <S> It may still hurt their feelings, but that’s not necessarily wrong or bad and you at least provide a small opportunity for them to learn how they might improve themselves. <S> Also, by succumbing to the pressure you’ve already backed yourself a bit into a corner. <S> They’ll already be offended that they gave you what they perceived you wanted only <S> to have you turn them down again. <S> Be honest, but constructive. <S> Instead of, “I hate this place!” <S> phrase more like, “the new environment is better suited to me.” <S> Where possible, speak more in terms of whatever challenges you have with the company not suiting you or better yet you not being suited to it. <S> “The company doesn’t suit me,” sounds like you’re telling the company doesn’t meet some standard and it’s their fault. <S> “I don’t think I’m quite cut out for how we do things,” softens it more to accepting that it’s you that would need to change, but that’s not going to happen. <S> Consider something like the following: <S> “[Manager] <S> , I do appreciate the efforts to keep me here. <S> After some consideration, it’s a move I need to make and the compensation is not the main factor. <S> There are some aspects of how things operate here that I am just not well suited to <S> and I think the new job is a better fit for me.” <S> This may not be as emotional as a personal or romantic relationship, but you’re still ending a relationship. <S> The emotions are different levels but the basic principles still apply. <S> By making them think there’s a chance to retain you, you’ve already started stringing them along. <S> There’s a cliché about breaking up a relationship <S> , “It’s not you. <S> It’s me.” <S> It not only takes the blame from the other party, but also implies that they have no control to change things. <A> Your question is about how to say "no" politely. <S> A polite way would be "Sorry, but I made up my mind and will change to new company. <S> I agreed to this and I wouldn't break my promise". <S> A less polite way would be " <S> You agreed to a 25% raise now. <S> That means you paid me 25% less than I was worth for the last year. <S> I made my decision not based on what you offer now, but on what you paid me over the last year. " <S> If they continue to try to convince you to stay, you repeat the polite answer or the less polite answer. <S> If they still continue, you repeat the same answer and so on. <S> Nobody forces you to come up with more or different answers. <S> They may try; that's a negotiating tactic. <S> You counteract that tactics by just ignoring it. <S> You have one answer, and you stick to that. <S> Some people feel uncomfortable repeating the same answer again and again, and then they use a different answer and put themselves into a worse position. <S> So don't feel uncomfortable. <S> Stay with your initial answer. <S> Don't think for a second that you can only leave if you can tell the previous company why you are leaving. <S> That's not a requirement. <S> The only requirement is that you want to leave. <S> PS. <S> There have been quite a few posts recently about leaving and counter offers. <S> Personally, at the time I start looking for a new position, I have mentally divorced the old company. <S> So there is no going back. <S> For tactical reasons and as a professional, I will continue doing my job, and not tell that I will be leaving until things are ready, but I will leave. <A> You have handed in your notice, so don’t rescind it. <S> If they actually match it then that will be a surprise as they tend to “lowball” as they think you don’t want the hassle of changing. <S> Since you have decided then stick with it <S> - they may increase the money but the other issues won’t change. <S> So if you have handed in the notice, then say “Sorry, I’m not changing my mind, I’m still resigning”.
| Just mentioning that "no" MUST be your answer; don't even think about taking their offer.
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What to do when I'm being blackmailed by an ex I have a crazy ex, We have been together on & off for a few years before I finally managed to leave her and call it off for good, that was a couple of years ago. She recently approached me (via linkedin as I blocked her anywhere else) & let me know that she's still in love with me & wants me back, she did so in a way that made it clear that should I not agree to it she will be "forced" to tell my employer & colleges about the extent of our BDSM based relationship (I was the Dom if it somehow matters for the answer) as "she does not feel comfortable letting other woman hang around me while I continue to have my unmet urges without them knowing" (bad translation from our native language but that's the jist of it), I'm not as worried about her telling my friends as the good ones already know about this side of me nor my family (as my relation with them can't get worse for unrelated reasons). I have a very good job that I don't want to quit or for them to know about my kinks mentioned above (it will not go well in my area). Now clearly she's nuts as she actually thinks blackmailing me is a good way for us to get back together (and I'm ashamed to admit is not unexpected from her past behavior) but I'm at a loss as to how to handle it. I can't go back with her but I also don't want anyone at my work to know about this side of me. Throw away account because my main one might be known at work. <Q> (depends on location) <S> Blackmail is a criminal offence, so go to the police. <S> Also I doubt your employer would give her the time of day. <S> No employer will be interested in hearing this. <S> If she tells your colleague, then just say she's a crazy stalker you've been trying to get rid of. <A> Describe her or show a photo to the doorman and security detail at your employer's premises and instruct them to deny her access to the building. <S> Say that she's stalking you and will cause a disturbance. <S> If possible, let your supervisor or boss know that you've done this. <S> You might want to tell HR also. <S> The point is not to keep her away but to establish a mental picture in the minds of your employers and co-workers -- you have a stalker who might do or say anything and is not to be trusted. <S> This is a debate technique called "poisoning the well". <A> You should save all the evidence and turn it over to the police. <S> May have to pretend to meet her demands while the police investigates. <A> No answers provided a clear and complete approach, so here is what you should do in my opinion. <S> Do not wait , you should do that today. <S> The main issue I see in your case is that you entered in the game of your ex. <S> From the first threatening message, you should have kept a neutral and constant answer: <S> I recorded your message, I will now go to the police to report the offense. <S> I warned my relatives and close collaborators someone is blackmailing me, I'm confident they will accept to testimony in the scenario you decide to talk to them. <S> (n.b. <S> you don't have to say anything to your colleagues, the idea is just to emphasize no matter what she does, it won't affect you, and there will be repercussions) <S> Your mistake is to have shown her that it is affecting you, now she thinks she has a means of pressure on you, and she will keep using it until you take control of the situation. <S> I think you also need to be reassured: <S> For now, it's only threats (and that's why you have to react now), and it will probably stay like this as it's usually the case. <S> Just imagine the situation where someone would contact you to say your colleague has a sexual life, and he is into BDSM. <S> I wouldn't care personally, and most people will do the same. <A> In case you are in Germany, you may ask a lawyer to draft an "Strafbewehrte Unterlassungserklärung" which you send to your former girlfriend to sign (she would have to pay if she does, if not you would have to pay and can sue her). <S> She attempts something which could be considered "Sexuelle Noetigung", which could bring her a few months in jail.
| You have to: Collect all evidence of the blackmail Report to the police as soon as possible (assuming blackmail/harassment is an offense in your country).
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Is it okay to apply for a closed job? I was about to apply to a full-time job through LinkedIn. I just found the job and was working on my resume and cover letters but unfortunately, it was already closed when I finished (which is unusual since I remember it said it's been posted only for 3 days when I found it). However, the company still has the job open on another portal but this one is only on contract*. I'm still looking for the full-time though, so my question is: Is there any possible way(s) that I could still apply to the full-time opportunity and if there is, what's the best way to do this? And also, would this look okay to the hiring managers? *They actually stated that they're looking for full-time positions OR months contract for the position on LinkedIn. Thank you for your advice. <Q> Is there any possible way(s) <S> that I could still apply to the full-time opportunity and if there is, what's the best way to do this? <S> Certainly. <S> At worst you'll be told that the job is closed. <S> At best you'll get the full-time job. <S> Somewhere in the middle you'll be told that it's now a contract position and asked if you want to apply for that. <S> And also, would this look okay to the hiring managers? <S> It should look just fine. <A> It's no problem applying after the official closing date. <S> And you apply just as you would have applied before the official closing date. <S> Of course applying three months later will be a bit pointless, but a few days late is no problem. <S> Look at it from the point of view of the employer: They want a good employee. <S> They don't want to interview forever but make a decision soonish. <S> So the plan is to get applications until date X, interview people until X plus some days, make a decision shortly afterwards, then hire the best person (or the second best if the best one started elsewhere). <S> They are going to get some applications late. <S> If they didn't get many applications, they'll be happy about yours, late or not. <S> As long as they can fit you in for an interview, or if your application looks really good, you should be fine. <S> If they got tons of applications, yours won't have a chance, but chances <S> where low anyway. <S> Worst possible case is that they ignore your application. <S> Nothing much lost. <S> And nobody will hold it against you. <A> Is there any possible way(s) <S> that I could still apply to the full-time opportunity and if there is, what's the best way to do this? <S> Applying to the post will most likely result in you not getting a response (but, if you already drafted your application, why not send it anyways?) <S> The best chance you got is to keep your options open and continue job-hunting and interviewing for other jobs that are of your interest. <S> Also, if this one was really interesting to you, consider keeping an eye on the company in case they open future opportunities, so you can apply timely next time. <S> Additionally, consider browsing other jobs offered by that company in case there is one there that will also be of interest to you.
| If the application is closed, as you mention, then there is little you can do to revert that situation so you can apply for it. Just apply as you would for any other job.
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Is it okay to count overtime hours when deciding to go home for the day? I work as a software engineer in a relatively nice office, with several benefits and a great working environment. Sometimes I decide to work overtime to get some things done before leaving for the day, and so do some of my colleagues. These overtime hours get registered on the company's system, but do not count towards my paycheck. My contract specifies that I must meet a certain amount of hours each month, which I do and then some more. I've recently asked my colleagues about using my overtime hours to leave early sometimes, which would help me sort things out on a personal level as well as managing meetings on my freelance jobs. Their response was that it technically is possible, but looked down upon by the higher ups. None of them do this either, not because they can't, but because they don't want to put up with our bosses. My question, is it okay to approach this with higher ups? how can I do so? I'd like to make use of this benefit, but at the same time I don't want to damage my current position here as I really like this company. Hence the question. <Q> My question, is it okay to approach this with higher ups? <S> how can I do <S> so? <S> Certainly it's okay. <S> Just ask for a few minutes of your bosses time. <S> Mention that you would like to work extra hours early in the month, so that you could take time off later in the month to do personal things and manage meetings for your freelance jobs. <S> They will tell you if that will work out or not. <S> Asking is the only way to know for sure. <A> Their response was that it technically is possible, but looked down upon by the higher ups. <S> Naturally, because the higher ups want you to continue to provide free labor. <S> Don't buy into the sucker culture that's so prevalent in today's work culture. <S> If you sold cars for a living would you sell a car to a customer with options that they didn't pay for? <S> Of course you wouldn't. <S> Every time you work overtime without being compensated you're giving your employer "options" that they haven't paid for. <S> Stop doing that. <S> Working overtime occasionally is understandable... it happens. <S> You're enriching the company owners/share holders without extracting any benefit to yourself. <S> Have a read here: https://daedtech.com/the-beggar-ceo-and-sucker-culture/ <A> Is it okay to count overtime hours when deciding to go home for the day? <S> The real question you should have asked is: ( emphasis mine ) <S> Will the company be willing to consider the previously-clocked unpaid overtime to compensate for the shortfall at a a later date? <S> The answer is: Only the company / management can answer that. <S> Talk to your boss (and / or HR partner, if asked by boss) and inform them that: You have worked some amount of overtime previously (which are recorded and unpaid) <S> You'd like to leave early on an occasion <S> when/where you're done with your assigned work , and The time difference in shortfall is less than or equal to the overtime you clocked-in, and it does not fail to qualify you for the minimum work-hour requirement. <S> Based on their reply, you will have your answer. <S> Whether you'd like the answer or not, is a different story - if it's a negative, then as suggested in other answers, simply stop putting extra efforts as overtime.
| If working overtime is the norm then your company is taking advantage of it's employees and is getting free labor. If you are afraid to ask, then you already know your answer.
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How do I convey that I'll leave if I don't get promoted? I work in a medium-sized company on a team that takes on special projects and kind of struggles to explain and define its role in the wider office. The team has been without a manager for a year, the previous manager left for personal reasons. I started working on this team about 2.5 years ago and it's my first job after uni. A slightly more senior colleague is leaving and they're hiring for his position. The role in question is called something like 'project coordinator' and would come with only marginally higher responsibilities than my current one. The lack of management and problems with the team's wider mission have driven away some very talented and experienced people. I have applied for the internal opening and decided I'll just change company if I don't get it. The people that I learned from the most over the past years have all left, so the pace of learning in my current role has slowed down a lot. In truth I might leave in a year's time even if I get the promotion because the environment is quite difficult overall. But having this title would look great on my CV and give me the chance to acquire important communication skills etc. Over the past years I have accumulated certain tech skills that are very important to the team, so if I did leave they would be in a very difficult position. However I'm worried the guy currently heading the team (and also conducting the interviews) doesn't realise this because he's way too high up in the company to actually spend time with us. My question is how I can convey that I'll be actively pursuing external opportunities if I don't get this promotion without it sounding like a threat. I should note that I have in fact already had a first interview and didn't really emphasise this, but there might be more interviews or another opportunity to talk to the interim manager. How do I approach this? UPDATE: Not that it really helps to answer the question but I ended up getting the promotion. I avoided making any sort of threat or obvious comment to the interviewers <Q> My question is how I can convey that I'll be actively pursuing external opportunities if I don't get this promotion without it sounding like a threat. <S> You can't, because it is a threat. <S> In reality, you gain nothing by announcing that you will be actively pursuing external opportunities. <S> In fact, you are more likely to hurt yourself by doing so. <S> If you are unhappy with your current role, then you should start applying to other opportunities ( internal and external ). <S> If you are unhappy with your current company's overall environment, I would not even bother with the internal position as you have indicated you would likely leave regardless. <S> Unless your overall work experience is very small, one year of experience with a new title will not be that significant when searching for a new job. <A> There is no value to be had for you to tell them that you will leave if you are not promoted. <S> It just sounds like you are trying to determine how important you are to the organization. <S> If they are not doing a good job keeping good people, they likely are not concerned with individuals in general. <S> If they aren't attempting to keep the people you trust, you have no reason to believe they will make any efforts to keep you. <S> There is nothing wrong with you applying for the promotion, and there is nothing wrong with you looking for other opportunities, and there is no reason to reveal your reasoning until you decide to act. <A> how I can convey that I'll be actively pursuing external opportunities if I don't get this promotion without it sounding like a threat? <S> By describing your goals, not your tactics. <S> You'll likely be asked why you're going for the more senior position. <S> Answer something like: <S> I've been in {current role} for 2.5 years now. <S> I've learned a lot, and I feel prepared to and want to step up to the next level in my career and take on the extra responsibilities of {new role} . <S> Notice, it's very general. <S> You're simply describing what you want, and are ready to do. <S> This particular opportunity at your current company could fulfil that, but should it pass you by, naturally you're going to be looking at other opportunities. <S> You don't have to spell this out concretely, because it just follows. <S> What also follows is the question of if they're willing to give you this promotion to keep you. <S> Bear in mind they may not be, and that's fine - you can then look elsewhere as implied. <S> Just be straightforward about your goals, and put the ball in their court. <S> I should note that I have in fact already had a first interview and didn't really emphasise this <S> This is not ideal, but unless you said anything directly contradictory to the above then just lean the conversation that way in any further interviews, or even informally if there won't be any. <S> However you do it, just be sure they get the message that you want to step up, and soon, as a general career goal. <A> My question is how I can convey that I'll be actively pursuing external opportunities if I don't get this promotion without it sounding like a threat. <S> Follow the sequence below: <S> Ask for what you believe you're worth of (promotion, salary revision etc.). <S> Start finding other opportunities when it's time <S> * and make sure you have a written offer. <S> Submit resignation, (serve notice period, if any) and move on. <S> [*] <S> : Note about the timeline: <S> As you mentioned, [...] I'll be actively pursuing external opportunities if I don't get this promotion [...] <S> and In truth I might leave in a year's time even if I get the promotion because the environment is quite difficult overall. <S> [...] <S> So, it's immediate, if they cannot match your expectations, in a year, if your expectation is attained. <A> You are focusing on the promotion as a means to your ends, something which has turned up now and which you feel is the best recourse to remodel your work situation to one where your efforts pay off with sufficient reward. <S> The problems you are describing and that you want to see addressed are not resolved by you getting more pay or a title. <S> That's just gratification. <S> Indeed, you state that it is not unlikely that you'll leave in the course of a year even given the promotion. <S> I think it would be good to focus on the changes you want to see, and your relevant experience that would help implementing them. <S> And also focus on the resources and reorganisation it would take to get them done. <S> And that's what you need to pitch, for the company's sake. <S> If you feel that you are in a better position effecting such changes in the open job slot, that's something you should bring up. <S> If you feel that a different kind of reorganisation would be more conducive, that is something the responsible management should get to know. <S> Do your best pitch at promoting changes to the company that will lead to them becoming a more productive workplace. <S> It may fail, independent of that particular promotion, or because you are "overstepping the line", but you are already prepared to leave. <S> Giving your current employer your best shot of making them successful is a good idea because it will benefit more people than just you. <S> The promotion you are eyeing may be a step towards that goal but it has to be part of a larger plan, not just more compensation for a job that keeps sucking.
| If you feel that somebody else getting that job/promotion should be in a better position effecting such changes, you should have the talk with them. You don't need to convey anything about leaving at this point.
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Can you collect california short term disability if you only have to stop working one of two jobs? Background: 1 Full time in office job 1 Part time job, working remote from home Situation: Surgery with 4 week recovery time. Will not be able to work full time job because it is a physical job. They are able to keep working the remote computer based job. Question: Does California Short Term Disability Insurance allow for one to collect for just the full time job while they are still working a part time 2nd job? <Q> As per EDD for california : <S> In order to be eligible for DI benefits, you must: <S> Be unable to do your regular or customary work for at least eight days. <S> Be employed or actively looking for work at the time your disability begins. <S> Have lost wages because of your disability. <S> [..] As you are unable to do your regular hours and are actually wages, it seems that under those circumstances, you may be eligible for something, maybe even the ordinary amount, if otherwise, you would keep both jobs and not use the part-time as a replacement. <A> For all part-time, intermittent, reduced hours, and reduced wage situations, the Employment Development Department (EDD) suggests that you file a claim, and after we receive your properly completed claim, we will determine if you are eligible for Disability Insurance (DI) or Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits. <S> ... <S> If you return to work on a part-time basis because you are unable to perform your regular or customary work, and have a continued wage loss due to your disability or family care, you may be eligible to receive continued DI or PFL benefits. <S> https://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/Part-time_Intermittent_Reduced_Work_Schedule.htmThis <S> is arguably not the exact situation you describe, but the general principle seems to be that you can collect benefits even if you're still working, if you're getting less money. <S> In a comment, you say: I'm just having trouble figuring out the rules and if there's a point to file for it at all, or if they'll be rejected since they still have income or not, and trying to figure our what kind of income they need to plan for. <S> For the question "Will the application be accepted", I would say "Probably", but for "Should I submit an application and see what happens", I'd say "Sure". <A> It depends. <S> Depending on what type of job duties you have, it could be a situation where due to the surgery, you might be able to perform one job and not the other, but I would expect that such a case would need to be readily apparent or easy for them to verify.
| To be eligible for disability you have to meet certain conditions including being unable to perform your job duties.
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Supervisors complaining to me about disappearing (On bathroom break) I work in a manufacturing company where I am required to basically monitor machinery and process paperwork (not giving too much detail to keep anonymous). It is generally expected people be on the floor around their machinery in case anything goes wrong and the machines require manual input here and there. I work 8 hour shifts a day with 4 hours total travel to and from, making me out of home for 12 hours. Usually I will take a bathroom break (bowel movement) as I'm there for majority of the day, I find the walking around a lot I do on the floor will also stimulate this. I basically cannot help when I have to go. I try not to take more than 10 minutes when I do go, but it can depend. I've had two supervisors sit me down and ask about being absent from the floor, saying they were running around everywhere trying to find me (melodramatic and unnecessary about something that was not at all urgent and could wait). I usually tell whoever is around I'm going to the bathroom but if there isn't I'm not going to wait around. I've also had them say this about taking my lunch break, that I couldn't be found anywhere despite taking my lunch break same time everyday. I find it amazing they are unable to deduce this. I find it ridiculous they will pull me up on this, there are many people in the lab that will disappear for long periods of time and get away with it. I've known one colleague go to the shopping mall on their lunch break for over an hour and get away with it. The supervisors themselves often disappear, sometimes for an hour without telling anyone where they are. What is the best way to handle this because so far it's coming across as petty micromanagement and a double standard. I find the management very hard to take seriously. <Q> The fact that your absence creates the problems (or at least, they claim it to be a "problem") indicates two things: <S> There is no proper communication of the break-time schedule. <S> There is no proper escalation matrix both of which are required (and usually mandatory) in a scenario where a continuous monitoring and management is required and expected. <S> As you mentioned: It is generally expected people be on the floor around their machinery in case anything goes wrong and the machines require manual input here and there. <S> and [...] <S> That being said it (the approved break time) has to be taken so that someone remains on the floor while the other is on break. <S> you need to ensure that a proper time-chart / rooster is maintained and followed for this. <S> Sit down / have a chat with your colleagues and peers on the same floor and come up with a time-schedule that everyone will follow to ensure there's always someone on the floor, while everyone get to utilize the break time. <S> Once finalized, circulate this to the supervisors and have it approved. <S> Prepare an escalation matrix (or backup responsibility rooster), if possible / feasible. <S> For example: In case, at any point of time anyone has to leave the post for any reason for a relatively short amount of time, check if someone from the nearby post can handle the responsibility of overseeing the post/duties and can be contacted for any emergency. <A> People in this thread have given some very good answers so far. <S> If this is a case of micromanagement I would keep a record of when you go on breaks. <S> Keep a small notepad in your pocket and write down the date, the time you left, and the time you returned from any break. <S> Distinguish between a break and when you had to use the restroom so they can't accuse you of taking too many breaks. <S> After they give their answer pull out your book and say where you were at. <S> If they don't have an exact date or time and just make a general statement like "you're just gone all the time <S> " you can tell them you keep very good records of your breaks <S> and you know that you only take one one-hour lunch, two fifteen minute breaks, and one ten minute restroom break per day or whatever your routine is. <S> This notebook method can both protect you from false accusations and make management aware that any accusation needs an exact record and cannot be the product of hearsay. <S> If you choose to share your entire book with them I would not surrender the book. <S> You don't want it to be lost. <S> Suggest they make photo copies and <S> immediately return it. <S> If you are fearful they may loose the book intentionally or alter it in any way tell them the photo copies must be made in your presence or say you will make photo copies at home and bring them in tomorrow. <S> Good luck. <A> I've had two supervisors sit me down and ask about being absent from the floor <S> Tell them that you'd like to fix the issue that's been raised, and ask how you should handle your bathroom breaks in the future. <A> Based on: running around everywhere trying to find me (melodramatic and unnecessary about something that was not at all urgent and could wait). <S> and that I couldn't be found anywhere <S> It seems like the problem is getting in contact right away rather than the breaks themselves. <S> The complaints centre around getting in contact with you and finding you when needed. <S> Were the breaks the problem, they would focus more on you slacking or taking too much time off. <S> Could you give them your cell phone number so that you can always be reached at a moment's notice? <S> Seems like that would allow them to get in touch with you within seconds while still allowing you to leave the floor. <S> Or perhaps request a walkie-talkie/radio/pager if those things are used at your facility. <S> there are many people in the lab that will disappear for long periods of time and get away with it. <S> Ba careful with comparisons. <S> Are these people also responsible for monitoring machinery? <S> I am a software developer and virtually everyone except the dev team is out of office. <S> We are here because things break and not just on scheduled days. <S> I can't reasonably complain about HR getting the time because they have no critical work to do over the holidays. <S> What is the best way to handle this because so far it's coming across as petty micromanagement and a double standard. <S> I find the management very hard to take seriously. <S> I don't think this is the problem. <S> Assume malice only after incompetence has been ruled out. <S> Assume incompetence only after exhausting the other potentially reasonable but poorly communicated reasons have been ruled out.
| If management accuses you of being absent ask the specifics: what are the dates and times you were absent. A good place to start would be with either your line manager, or these supervisors (I'd talk to my line manager, but you'll have to judge who is the most relevant in your workplace).
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Do I have to use my legal name on my CV? Name discrimination in job applications is rife in certain countries ( The United Kingdom , France and Germany to name a few). As an applicant, can I change my name to a "native" one on my CV in order to minimise my chances of not being rejected solely due to my name? It's not an option for me to just nativise my name ( such as what this person proposes ). I did have a "native" name given to me partly as a joke, but one that also kinda stuck so it's not entirely a name that I'm not known by. Also, please no answers such as "would you want to work for a company that does it etc. etc.", the problem is far more pernicious and widespread than just a few bad apples, it's also not something that somebody with a "native" name or looks ever has to consider, so why should I? Answers applicable to any country are very welcome, but for my personal case I'd like to know what the situation is in the UK. <Q> As long as it's a name your previous employers and/or google/linkedin will correctly link to you for verification/background checks, you can use whatever you like. <A> From my point of view it's okay to do that. <S> I know a friend in UK who doesn't like to put his legal name in his CV, or LinkedIn profile either. <S> At the end of the day, CV is a tools to get you into the interview and not issue you with an official offer. <S> Before a company issue you an official offer, they require you to provide them things like Social Security Number, Full Name, and few other things that you can't find in candidate's CV. <S> Having said that, if you get into an interview, and they ask you to introduce yourself, you can say: you are [Your Legal Name], and your friends and colleague call you <S> [Your nick name]. <A> (Not specifically UK applicable) <S> For example, if your name is Jinping Xi <S> (because that's really the only Chinese name I know without making one up, sorry XD) <S> but you found people can't pronounce Jinping correctly so you go by Frank, you would name yourself Jinping (Frank) <S> Xi on your CV. <S> As a side note, I have a hard time believing a company would exist which would take exception to your native name, but then not take exception when you come in and obviously look like someone from that country. <S> They're going to find out you're ethnic eventually, may as well frontload <S> that cost and not deal with it later. <S> That's my opinion. <A> No such thing as "Legal name" in the UK (more specifically England and Wales <S> , Scotland is different). <S> The only thing you cannot really do is hide any of your names <S> if they matter, that's why on all sorts of credit applications you are asked if there are any other names you are known by. <S> So go with whatever name works best for you on cv and very much your daily life. <S> If you want to change the name on passport/driver's license too (which you don't have to do, it's perfectly fine to have Josh Akkerman on your paperwork but day to day go as Peter Johnson), it's a simple deed poll away. <A> I had a friend whose surname would have suggested he was from an ethnic minority. <S> There was no obvious indication of this if you'd met him, he had no accent nor physical characteristics. <S> He was disappointed by responses to job applications, mostly getting immediate rejections. <S> He switched to using his mother's maiden name, which was a traditional English name, and had no more problems. <S> The only time he needed to use his "legal" name was on the employment contract and with payroll, since his bank and HMRC (the tax authority in UK) recognised him by his legal name. <S> Eventually he changed his name by deed poll so as to make his life more consistent. <S> If I wasn't cynical about racism, I'd point out that in the UK the employer is legally obliged to check that someone has the right to work in the UK, and this can be quite a pain for small businesses, so they might reject anyone where there's a hint of having to validate citizenship or visas etc.
| You are free to change what name you go by with very few restrictions. In general, people who have a "native" name and also a "local" name, which is particularly common in cultures where the native name may be hard to pronounce (specifically, east and southeast Asia), usually use their native name on their CV, and then parenthesize their local name.
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Reasons for leaving good companies I'm just wondering, but let's say you are working in financial industry for a big corporation, where there is room for growth, management encourages personal development, pay is good but employees still decide to leave. At my current job I work with individuals that have worked at some of the big corporations in the area, doing the same thing pretty much. Every few years they go to another company. I just wonder, when asked at the interview, "Why do you want to leave your job", what do these people say? Like what are some of the reasons for leaving? I understand if someone wants to leave a small company for big corporation because of stability or something along those lines. But other than that, what can possibly be the reason to leave one corporation and go to another, in the same industry? What would you say if asked at an interview why you want to leave a job? I understand people want to make more money or get bored but this is not something you would say to an interviewer, is it? <Q> In my field, I am lucky to get a 2% cost of living raise yearly, even with good to excellent performance reviews, but can get a 5-10% raise by switching jobs, even at the same title/level. <S> I value other things, including stability, somewhat more than strictly maximizing salary at all costs, but it's pretty widely known that a good segment of employees will bail after 2-3 years for the primary purpose of getting a salary increase. <S> Most people don't come right out and say "because you're stingy with the raises" at exit interviews, but it's generally understood. <S> Other reasons that I, or someone I personally know, have left an otherwise good job: Boredom Too much responsibility or too much stress Not enough responsibility or a feeling of stagnation Found an opening in a more desirable (for prestige or <S> just personal preference) company Personality conflict with manager or team Wanted to work in the Big City (or wanted to avoid the big city) <S> Wanted to obtain a specific benefit (like remote work or flex hours, short commute,educational stipend, etc), or better benefits in general <S> Wanted to change careers or industries <S> Moving. <S> Wanted or needed to live in a different area, for family reason or just preference <S> Opportunity to work with someone they like/admire, a former coworker, friend or an expert in the field <S> Although these reasons vary in how 'good' they sound when leaving an employer, I think what you really wish to know may be better covered by question about What to say in an exit interview . <S> In general, exit interviews are very little to no benefit to the departing employee, and only marginally more to the company they are leaving. <S> The usual guidance is to be positive, brief and vague. <S> Focus on how much you enjoyed and/or learned from your current job, and that you got another offer you just couldn't refuse ( <S> no explanation of why is needed). <S> If you like, you can name a manager or coworker who really made your time at the company pleasant or productive or educational, but you should avoid out-the-door complaints in most cases. <S> If you are leaving for a reason like outright abuse, ethical concerns, etc, you may wish to mention this on exit, but it's not a good idea to air minor grievances. <A> what would you say if asked at an interview why you want to leave a job? <S> The truth. <S> There is a reason why I'm looking at this opportunity, otherwise I wouldn't get the question. <S> Could also be just curiosity. <S> A perfectly good answer is <S> "I'm quite happy with my current job but your opportunity looks interesting <S> and I'd be open to explore this a bit". <S> This gives you a very strong negotiation position since you are signalling the new employer that they need to make it worth your while. <A> Job searching is an instant market evaluation <S> Take my company/government for example. <S> Because of economic and political conditions, they decided that there will be no raises this year. <S> I don’t know when performance reviews are, but the fact that I have no idea after 4 months is telling. <S> Things are stuck to a timeline <S> and it is difficult to break free from that timeline, except by leaving. <S> Anyone who wants a raise who works here will either need to wait a year at least or leave. <S> Plenty of software engineers here have done just that. <S> None of this matters to me yet as I am a new grad and the starting salary is good, but devs only last 9-15 months here despite good benefits, good pay, paid development, and some growth. <S> They do it to grow on their own timeline, not a rigid enforced timeline.
| Could be something particular attractive about the new gig or something detracting about your current job. Large companies often have limits of raises and promotion opportunities.
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My superior has been giving gifts to only one employee I have an awkward situation at my workplace. My male superior is very friendly to one of the female employees and of late I have observed that he has given two holiday gifts only to her like a box of chocolates and also another item she likes since she keeps talking about that subject a lot. On top of it there is an appearance of favoritism in this case since the person was hired for a junior role and within 2-3 months she has been kind of given better duties whichs is more like a promotion. And at the same time, there are 2-3 more experienced folks who just mind their work and not necessarily super close to the superior and they are given different duties which are somewhat subpar meaning kind of demotion. The fact that he has given exclusive gifts only to her, does this amount to unhealthy favoritism ? Do other employees who feel affected by it have sufficient grounds to complain to the HR? In such cases how to make sure there is no retribution? <Q> On top of it there is an appearance of favoritism in this case since the person was hired for a junior role and within 2-3 months she has been kind of given better duties which is more like a promotion. <S> It could also be that she just did an excellent job and was more motivated than the other employees. <A> ... <S> she has been kind of given <S> better duties whichs is more like a promotion <S> You don't know why this has happened. <S> Yes, it could be favouritism however it could equally be that she performing at a high level <S> and it was felt she could tackle more complex tasks. <S> Alternatively, maybe she was career-driven enough to approach your manager and ask for the opportunity to take on some extra responsibility. <S> ...does this amount to unhealthy favoritism? <S> Maybe it is - only your manager really knows for sure. <S> Since it will be almost impossible to prove , I don't see how complaining to HR will achieve anything. <S> Your manager needs to make the decisions he thinks best for the team and the organisation. <S> If he says that, in his opinion, she was the best person for the job (for whatever reason) <S> that's likely to be all that matters in any dispute. <S> If his superiors perceive inappropriate favouritism, then it becomes a serious issue. <S> When it comes from one of her peers, it's likely to look like nothing more than jealousy or resentment. <S> It's not worth it. <S> Let this go and focus on your own career. <S> Figure out a way you can prove your ability/enthusiasm/drive to your manager and <S> earn that extra responsibility. <S> Also, consider having a career discussion with your manager. <S> Set out the career path you'd like to follow and how you want to progress within the organisation. <S> Ask what you need to do (or what they need to see from you) for that to happen. <S> Agree goals and metrics to measure your progress <S> (google "SMART goals") <S> Arrange regular follow ups to review your progress <S> Get your head down and deliver on the plan. <A> Favouritism in this situation sounds perfectly legal (check for your location), and your superiors prerogative. <S> However, favouritism is never good, it's a sign of bad management which leads to a very toxic culture of back-stabbing and aggrieved employees. <S> Maybe this person did more than you are aware of, and complaining could label you as a trouble maker. <S> If you make a complaint to HR you should not fear retribution. <S> In most places that is illegal. <S> Just explain that it looks like favouritism and is affecting moral. <S> It is likely you aren't the only one that feels hard done by, so raising the issue could help your superior correct things to avoid a toxic culture. <S> Generally I agree with the other reply, instead of making a complaint about it, focus on yourself and your own career progression. <A> So don't do that. <S> You might want to mention the situation to HR and/or to your boss's boss and let them know it is affecting your morale though (and the morale of others, with respect to the other experienced people on your team you mentioned, although you should get their direct approval before involving them in any action you pursue, no matter how small it is). <S> They would probably like to know about this, as it is a warning sign of potential problematic favouratism that they, whose responsibility it is to keep an eye on this sort of thing, can then keep an eye on. <S> Don't make it an issue of favouratism, or potential misconduct, or gossip though; be very careful to centre the discussion around your personal feelings towards what you are seeing. <S> You don't want to come off as accusatory towards your boss (or anyone else), and you want to let them know what's in it for them to look into it; "my boss is playing favourites" is like, "ok so what?", but "I'm feeling low morale and so are the 3 other most productive team members" means "we're about to lose a bunch of our most productive workforce over this and have to spend company resources replacing those people", and that's way more convincing.
| As other answers have said, you have no reason or proof that your supervisor is doing this for any reason other than appreciation for this employee, and so you have no leg to stand on if you try to make a formal complaint of favouratism or anything like that. I would be tempted to talk to HR (or even your superior), but not make a formal complaint.
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I have communication problems, what to do? Today was the last day at my current job. I have been working with them for 9 months. As a data analyst I have to meet with other departments senior managers / directors. Today I asked my manager to give me feedback about my time with them. He said many good things. I asked about the things that need improvement. He told me that he got feedback from other dept. management that I have a communication problem; to be more specific I am abrupt. I know that I am extremely nice with people, very polite and well behaved. I think what happened is this: I have high pitched voice. When I get stressed (which happens when I am in meetings) I lose words and don't know what to say. Taking my technical role, my terms are technical and not clear. I am tall and don't have friendly face features. How can I improve my communication? Is there things I can practice or do to improve my way of talking to become more acceptable? Is this something you born with or something you learn? <Q> To address each of your concerns in turn: I have a high pitched voice. <S> I very much doubt this is a problem, but it's obviously something you are self-conscious about. <S> When I get stressed (which happens when I am in meetings) I lose words and don't know what to say. <S> The best thing you can do to combat this is to ensure that you go into meetings very well prepared. <S> The more prepared you are, the less likely that you will get nervous about what you are going to say. <S> Taking my technical role, my terms are technical and not clear. <S> This is part of your meeting preparation. <S> Find ways to describe what you are doing in a way that is appropriate to your audience. <S> Unless they need to know the technical details, explain what your role does in terms of the outcomes for the people in the meeting. <S> I am tall and don't have friendly face features. <S> Again, I think this is more that you are worried about it than anyone else. <S> Remember, you got good feedback from your manager, so most of the things you are doing are right. <S> It really sounds like your biggest issue is not really preparing as fully as you could for these meetings, and then you tend to withdraw and stumble. <A> Communications at work is not just how you speak, it's about explaining your plans before you start, asking for approval, sending timely progress updates and warning of problems before they become serious, and that sort of thing. <S> It's no problem if (for example) you stutter or have a strong accent and take longer than others to explain something. <S> It is a problem if it embarrasses you so much that you don't tell me something that I need to know. <S> Of course, it's equally important not to overload people when they're receiving similar detail from 100 other people. <S> If you were unaware that this other manager wanted more information, the failure to communicate was actually his mistake and not yours. <S> In future, all you can do is ask people whether you are providing enough detail. <A> From your question: He told me that he got feedback from other dept. management that I have a communication problem; to be more specific I am abrupt. <S> It sounds like your direct manager didn't have any problem with your communication, but that other people did have this feedback. <S> Don't waste any time discussing it further with your manager. <S> "Abrupt" to me sounds like improving your listening skills may help. <S> Examples to consider: Do you tend to talk over other people, cutting them off before they are finished speaking? <S> Is your tone when answering their questions harsh, coming across as if you are annoyed with them or their questions? <S> If approached when working, do you stop what you are doing to acknowledge and focus on the speaker? <A> I do think you should continue seeking feedback. <S> The feedback you've gotten thus far is not very detailed or actionable as is. <S> When I get stressed (which happens when I am in meetings) I lose words and don't know what to say. <S> My recommendation is to join a ToastMasters public speaking club. <S> http://toastmasters.org/ <S> They're everywhere <S> and they can all be very different. <S> So my advice is not to join the first one you go to. <S> Visit more than one. <S> Taking my technical role, my terms are technical and not clear. <S> Practice in front of friendly coworkers, friends, or family. <S> They can give you some feedback. <S> If you can stand it, you could even video-record yourself during those practice sessions (obviously, only do this if you can stand it. <S> If you hate your voice that much, you may not be able to). <S> I have high pitched voice. <S> If you really think this is really a problem for you (personally, I'm not so sure), you could hire a voice coach. <S> The worst-case scenario is that the voice coach teaches you how to sing properly. <S> I am tall and don't have friendly face features. <S> I really don't think that's it. <S> Some of the best comedians I've seen on HBO don't smile and don't have friendly face features.
| Take the time to do more preparation for those meetings, in particular, who else will be attending, and try to focus your discussions in terms and language that is appropriate for them.
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Job offer description vs reality - how to verify potential project? Some time ago my current employee posted a job offer to find new team members. When I saw tasks description and requirements I was surprised and pissed of. I am in this project for nearly two years, so I know the nature of the work and tasks which I am doing myself and which are done by my teammates. I understand that the offer should be encouraging and my manager wants to build a team with strong competences, but what if 30% of the description is fake? especially I am thinking about fancy key words (machine learning, sensor fusion). In reality, my team is mostly doing maintenance and writing tests / fixing bugs. When I started working in this place I also believed in promises and I was fooled. I would like to avoid similar situations in the future. How can I verify the potential project next time? What is the best way to find out false information and get the most realistic info about the project?What are your methods? To better understand my situation I will add that I am working in Europe in a global company, which does not have its own product. (outsourcing) PS:To all who are downvoting my question: 1.5 years ago I was applying for a junior position. Of course, I checked reviews about a potential employee and did the most obvious things, but everything depends on the project. (It was completely "new" project). During the interview, I asked a lot of questions, but now I understand that it was not sufficient. <Q> Interviewing is a two way street. <S> Your best bet is to ask a lot of well thought out questions that give you the data information you need. <S> Make a prioritized list of all the stuff that's important to you: compensation, commute, culture, benefits, technology, work hours, growth paths (money, skills & career), business outlook, location(s), etc. <S> That's different for each person and situation. <S> Do your research up front <S> : check linkedin, glassdoor, company website, google searches, ping your network etc. <S> Make sure you have questions for each of the important topics on your list, ideally informed by your research. <S> During the interview ask the questions. <S> Be polite, friendly and collaborative but insistent. <S> Ask for specific examples. <S> Ask open ended questions (avoid yes/no questions) <S> Follow up if needed. <S> If the answers are evasive or fluffy, ask for clarification and specific examples. <S> If you run out of time, follow up after the interview. <S> Analyze the answer and the behavior and make your decision. <S> Most good companies will genuinely appreciate you for your homework & preparation. <S> Some companies may take issue with that level of questioning but these are companies you probably don't want to work for anyway. <A> Make it clear that you want the role because of that technology, and ask questions about the technology in the interview, ask how they are using it, what they are hoping to achieve with that technology, how much time you’ll be spending using the technology day to day. <S> If they can give you clear and in-depth answers, then you at least know that they know something about the technology you’re interested in using. <S> If they give vague and short answers about the technology, then they are probably not using the technology you’re interested in. <S> and I’d ask them the same questions. <S> It's not in the company’s best interests to lie about the role, a new started who joined specifically to work with a new technology, who then finds out they won’t be using that technology in their new role, is (in my opinion) likely to start looking for a new role immediately. <S> If you can’t trust the company, to be honest about the job description, what can you trust them about? <A> That would be glassdoors, linkedid and similar pages where you can find reviews. <S> Second thing is to ask for such thing during interviews. <S> "Can you describe how the team is doing the machine learning?" <S> "what type of sensor you are specializing in or in what fields/industries you are mostly participating?" If you are interested in part of the job description ask "what would my typical day look like if I were responsible for the ballyhoo fadoodle?" "what is the typical lenght of a task for an employee and department". <S> Separating the grain from the chaff at the "reading offer" level require some knowledge about the industry and words used. <S> For example if company is stating the use "waterfall/agile" development it give out that they don't use either. <S> If a job description require to know Ruby and C++ <S> and JS it may mean they have no specialization <S> , they go for different jobs very quickly and thus cannot/don't want to focus on one technology. <S> Remember that there is a difference beetwen lie and polishing an offer. <S> For examply it make no sense to fob potential candidate because they would want to leave as soon as they realize the trickery. <S> You, as a company, would rather write in nice words how the maintenance is stable, uptiming, caring and so on. <A> This happened to me a few years ago when I was interviewing at a company. <S> I was familiar with the job title and description of the work being advertised, but I suspected the narrative was inflated and not accurate. <S> During the interview, when they asked me if I "had any questions for them", I asked if I could interview some of the people on the team I would be working on. <S> After I spoke with them, I found out that in reality, 80% of their time was spent on the phone or in the ticketing system (aka, they were actually help desk support roles) and not as technical as the job posting sounded. <S> I politely let them know that I was looking for a more technical role, and the description didn't match up with the actual ground-level work. <S> On the flip side, when I have accepted jobs in the past that I found not to be accurate until after I started working there, I let my superiors know how I felt, and that I felt slightly tricked, and if they want to improve employee retention, they should update the job description, or include ground-level workers in the interview process. <S> Doing all of these things will actually help the organization gather more relevant talent, and the employees will be happier, too.
| I’d always want to speak to my team lead / manager during the interview process, if they aren’t part of the process, I’d ask to speak to them
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Observing bank and public holidays while working remotely for a foreign company Which countries bank and public holidays do I observe if I work remotely in one country for a company in another country and where both countries do not have identical holidays? Do I observe the holidays for the country I live in or the country the company is based in? <Q> Only your reporting manager/HR can answer this Would likely differ on a case-by-case basis <S> You should consider consulting your reporting manager/boss on this. <S> Depending on the work culture and your roles/responsibilities, HR personnel may need to be consulted/involved in the decision making too. <S> By leave, a general understanding is that you would be taking a day (possibly paid) off. <S> The number of leaves you'd take would also need to be in line with the total allowed number of days of leave in a given period (month/year) as per the norms defined by the company for your role. <S> For example, if it's a festival/national holiday in the company's country of operations, it would be a day off, and you'd not be expected to work. <S> But it <S> it's a festival/holiday in your country of work/residence <S> , you'd have to request a leave explicitly (if needed). <S> A general advise when confronted with such a situation is to discuss the same with your manager well ahead of time, so the necessary action could be planned appropriately. <A> Ask your manager . <S> The two companies will have these things set out in the contract. <S> If they don't, your manager is still the one to figure this out. <A> It happened to me once. <S> I asked the company at home and the guys I worked with for four weeks in the foreign country. <S> We decided that what makes most sense is working the same days as the people you are currently working with (I wouldn’t have been able to work in an otherwise empty office anyway), and your amount of available holiday is calculated based on the rules at home. <S> Whether that’s legal or not, I have no idea, but everyone involved thought it was reasonable so that’s what we did. <S> If you are forced to take a holiday you didn’t want to take, you need to discuss this with your manager or HR at home. <A> In these negotiations you can see what the company expects from you and at which days they expect you to work and at which days they don't expect you to work. <S> You on the other hand, you can tell them your requirements: what salary you want, and what holidays you really can't miss. <S> After negotiating, you and the company reach a deal and that's when you know which days to work and <S> which days you are free. <S> Don't leave these things implied. <A> The correct way is you take your leave based on the norm there = <S> for example in the UK Scotland and Northern Ireland have different public holidays. <S> All the answers don't seem to realise that if you working in country A you have to follow that countries rules - we do this at my place with teams working in the UK, Russia and Ukraine
| The exact answer would also vary depending on the leave type. This is something which has no clear answer but needs to be clear from the start, so if you want to settle this right, you do this before you start working for the company in your contract negotations.
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Working in the software industry does not seem rewarding anymore I was always an ambitious, jack-of-all-master-of-none kid with above average skills and interest in technical topics. Working for the software industry was always looked upon from where I grew up and ended up naturally getting into it. I like it and it is a definitely challenging domain to work in. I now work for a company that makes cutting edge products for Healthcare. Somehow the work that I am doing doesn't seem that rewarding. There are physics researchers studying new aspects about universe that will eventually help mankind in interstellar travel, scientists coming up with new ways to grow artificial food so that the world doesn't die of starvation in future. My work seems irrelevant, brings no change to where mankind is headed. I for sure am lacking some motivation to keep going at my work as I feel my work has very menial impact on the society and its well being. Have you ever been in a similar situation? How did you make yourself better again? <Q> Understanding what excites you at work is a universal challenge - we've all felt like you're feeling now at many points in our careers. <S> You might consider different "sources of meaning" as your reflect on your current role or potential future roles: <S> Self - <S> "What's in it for me?" <S> Do you enjoy improving your own skills, learning about new topics, or developing as a leader? <S> Are you energized by personal rewards and recognition? <S> Team - Do you enjoy helping your team succeed? <S> Is it more fun to see your whole team win than it is to have a personal victory? <S> Organization - Are you excited by seeing your organization grow in reputation and impact? <S> Are you energized by working for a "name brand"? <S> Customers - Is the impact that you and your organization has on customers and end users a strong motivator? <S> Society - Do you feel energized by contributing to a positive impact on society (e.g., addressing global warming or disease)? <S> Different people have different sources of meaning. <S> Your sources of meaning could change between projects and in different parts of your life. <S> Reflecting on which types of meaning give you energy can help you know how to contribute at work to feel most engaged and energized <S> (e.g., if you care a lot about "team", then spend your time teaching and developing your colleagues, and spend less time on solo projects). <A> And what is stopping you from applying for jobs in companies where you think you can make a impact? <S> If you can't leave your job because of money (or any other reason) maybe you can start working as a volunteer on something that might have a more immediate effect, like helping feed the poor in your city, or maybe teaching people in the poor part of town how to program so they can have a better chance to have a better life? <S> You don't need to be a scientist to make a impact on society. <S> You don't need to build a rocket to make a difference in someone's life. <A> Working in the software industry does not seem rewarding anymore <S> Are you sure this is the actual problem? <S> There are physics researchers studying new aspects about universe that will eventually help mankind in interstellar travel, scientists coming up with new ways to grow artificial food so that the world doesn't die of starvation in future <S> One of the beautiful things about working in software is that you're not tied to any one industry and all of the fields you mention would certainly involve software in some way. <S> Another way to look at it is to derive your meaning from something other than your career. <S> It's great when everything aligns and our jobs bring us a wonderful sense of accomplishment and meaning, but it's not always the case, and that's okay. <S> It can be easy to forget that each of us is so much more than how we make a living. <S> Consider creating or contributing to something of interest in your own time.
| Personally, I've been in your shoes and have found moving between industries keeps things fresh and interesting.
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Asking to be exempted from travelling because of impairment I’ve been working as a software engineer for a company for one and a half years. When I joined, the likelihood of travel seemed small and I did not think to ask for an exemption or mention that traveling can be hard for me. Now, the company has asked me to undertake a 20h+ journey to a client by airplane. Because of problems with my hearing, I avoid loud environments since they are disconcerting to me even with hearing protection and I am afraid that they will exacerbate my problems. The 20h+ trip with multiple noisy airplanes would push me far, far beyond what I have pushed myself since starting to have my hearing problems. Under these circumstances, would it be ok to ask to be exempted from this trip? <Q> See a doctor, get a formal diagnosis of your disability for your employer. <S> If you’ve gotten a formal diagnosis of a disability, your employer is obligated under the ADA to offer reasonable concessions to compensate for your disability; if you’re not from America, most OECD nations should have similar laws. <S> So, my advice to you would be to get a doctor to formally diagnose you, then present copies of this documentation to your boss and HR. <S> After that, you can work with your boss to discuss reasonable concessions- <S> maybe you could telecommute to work with your foreign clients instead of flying halfway around the planet, for instance. <A> What you gotta do is get in touch with your boss first thing in the morning, explain that you would rather get out of the travel and ask if that would be a lot of trouble. <S> To the question of "why": be honest. <S> Explain that flying makes you uneasy, and 20h+ trip is way past your comfort zone. <S> You can add that it's very likely that after 20h out uneasiness like that you will be very much useless for days, <S> so nothing good will come from the trip anyway. <S> No need to get into specifics of your condition and this will almost certainly be the end of the matter unless your presence on the client site is very crucial to the job. <S> In case it is, or despite the above, your boss decides to say no, your most likely out is to start the process for getting disability paperwork. <S> Although whether you qualify, and can get this sorted in time is not something we can answer on an internet forum. <A> This would go in stages. <S> First follow Tymoteusz Paul's answer. <S> Just because they picked you to do this trip doesn't mean it has to be you. <S> Your boss may have two people who he thought equally suitable to do this trip and picked you since he wasn't aware of the problem. <S> If you tell him, he may say "no problem, I'll ask Joe to do this". <S> Joe might not be quite as suitable as you are, and the boss might push back asking "are you sure you can't do this job? " and give in if you make clear enough that it is a real problem for you. <S> And that documentation goes to your boss and/or to HR. <S> That and expressing strongly that you can't go on that trip, that you will likely have to interrupt your journey or will not be able to do the job <S> should get you out of it. <S> If the company is unreasonable at this point (or for some reason there is no choice because you are the only one who can do the job, and it absolutely must be done at the other company and can't be done near home): <S> There are three choices. <S> You go on the trip. <S> You don't go and stay with the company. <S> You don't go and don't stay with the company. <S> Up to the company whether they prefer (2) or (3). <S> And up to the company to convince you to go. <S> Everyone should investigate how to best cope with it. <S> Maybe long breaks between flights. <S> Good <S> noise cancelling head phones. <S> A quieter flight. <S> A seat in a better position. <S> Possibly contacting the airline, they would have more experience with this.
| If the boss cannot be convinced then you need to see a doctor, and get documentation that says either you cannot do this journey, or that it would be an extraordinary hardship for you.
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What kind of responses are they looking for when asking very open ended questions in application? I'm applying for a tech support job. The application is done through an online form. It has several questions I'm having trouble answering, such as: describe your related experiences developing computer reports and user process documentation; including scope of your user documentation responsibilities and years’ of experience I'm not sure why but I find these types of questions very difficult. It's like I just draw a blank and don't know where to start. Another is Tell us about your insight into [department name] operations related to this role I'm tempted to just copy and paste the mission statement as a response. This is for a city job so the info is public. Also Describe your education and training that could be related to this job Should I just list my degree? What exactly do they want when the say "tell us about" or "describe your experience"? I recently got my degree in computer science, and while I did some internships, haven't really had a permanent job related to the field. How long of a response should I give? How much time should I spend preparing my answers considering I'm also giving them my resume and cover letter? <Q> Most of those questions are to tell interviewer about some soft skills. <S> describe your related experiences developing computer reports and user process documentation; including scope of your user documentation responsibilities and years’ of experience <S> Here you should explain how you deal with documentation, company processes. <S> For example you can explain (in free text) <S> you read, edit create such documentation. <S> If applicable you can mention the projects and how you create, update, structure the documentation. <S> Tell us about your insight into [department name] operations related to this role <S> Here you should explain how you communicate, email, IM, calls, meetings, tasks, how is organized separation of responsibilities, etc. <S> For this you can explain which disciplines from your education, courses, certificates you get (those related to the job). <S> If you have problem talking, explaining such things will be good to selftrain. <S> You can use your family members and create small talks (not sure 100% if this is the expression) and talk freely about such things. <A> I didn't actually see these as very open ended questions. <S> Take describe your related experiences developing computer reports and user process documentation; including scope of your user documentation responsibilities and years’ of experience <S> For me, the answer is very simple: I don't develop computer reports, and I don't develop user process documentation. <S> My boss and marketing create the documentation for users. <S> I don't. <S> (My manager might get loaded with that kind of tasks if he doesn't watch out :-) <S> So that's what I would answer. <S> If they want/need someone doing these things, it's not me. <S> Find someone else. <S> We will both be happier that way. <S> If you have done the things they are asking for, tell them. <S> If you haven't, tell them. <S> Some jobs are not meant for you. <S> That's fine. <A> You'll need to be honest. <S> If you can't "describe your related experiences" because you've never done anything remotely related to what they are asking, then you'll just have to say something like <S> "I have never done anything like that". <S> If you don't have any "insight into [department name] operations related to this role" then perhaps you don't yet have the background that makes you well suited to the role. <S> And if you are unable to "describe how your education and training that could be related to this job", then either you don't understand the job well enough or you are a poor fit. <S> You may need to look for a different job opportunity.
| Describe your education and training that could be related to this job
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How does being involved in a lawsuit affect career and job hunting? I took my old landlord to court and we reached a settlement agreement. He lied and did not honor the agreement so now I'm considering going back to court. Where I live court records are public and published online. I would expect if an employer google searched my name (I have a very unique last name) they would find the lawsuit. I'm the one initiating it so of course I think I'm in the right, and there's not many ways to look at it when someone breaks a settlement agreement. Could it still be seen as a red flag that I had to get involved in the legal system? In response to the comment about being certain if I win, there's always a chance the judge wouldn't give me 100% of what I'm seeking. Court rulings can't be predicted with complete certainty. Though give my circumstance I can't imagine getting 0% of what I want. <Q> Your legal dispute with the landlord is not unusual, and I do not think that an employer would look negatively on it. <S> You initiated the lawsuit not vice versa. <S> If you landlord was suing you, then it might raise red flags. <S> Given that the information is public, any potential employer could get the information on the case through public record to see what prompted the dispute. <S> On my job applications, you are required to indicate if you have had dealings with the criminal justice system (parking tickets, misdemeanors, felonies, etc.). <S> Your lawsuit against the landlord involves civil law; I can't think of one job application that asked me if I was in a civil suit of any kind. <S> I think you are probably okay! <S> The legal system is there for a reason, and we are all allowed to use its tools to seek remedies when we are wronged. <S> I doubt any employer would hold that against you <S> (unless, of course, it meant that it was keeping you out of work so often that you couldn't do your job -- now that would be a problem). <A> Could it still be seen as a red flag that I had to get involved in the legal system? <S> Of course it could be. <S> It could be that someone would see this and conclude that you are a lawsuit-happy individual, and worry that you might come after their company. <S> But that's exceedingly unlikely. <S> First, they would have to somehow discover that you are "involved in the legal system". <S> I assume you won't be telling an interviewer about this, nor will you include it in a resume or cover letter. <S> So the only way they would know is during a thorough background check or online search. <S> And that background check/search would also discover the nature of your involvement, and that you are the plaintiff rather than a defendant. <S> Second, they would have to care about it. <S> That seems very unlikely to me. <S> Nothing about what you said is work-related, not indicative of a potential problem employee, as far as I can tell. <S> I'm assuming your lawsuit won't require you to take significant time away from work. <S> It's not something I'd worry about. <A> Could it still be seen as a red flag that I had to get involved in the legal system? <S> Anything else, why would I care? <S> That's your problem, not mine. <S> Matter of fact, where I live, we have to neither inform a potential employer about that, nor would a question in the interview be well taken. <S> Someone asking me for my private legal business raises a red flag to me as the one looking for a job. <S> If I'm working with minors, asking for a certificate from the authorities that I have no priors is expected, but everything else is creepy. <A> old landlord to court <S> No good company would be concerned about this. <S> When a company does a background check which can include a credit report, they are only concerned about judgements against you for a huge amount of money where you did something unethical. <A> If your position (finance? <S> health care? <S> security clearance?) requires a deep background check they probably will find this kind of legal record. <S> But deep background checks cost money. <S> They probably won't do one until they have decided to hire you. <S> You can explain the situation if they raise the question: "My former landlord is trying to cheat me." <S> Or, when they tell you they're doing the deep background check you can proactively give them the information about all this. <S> That being said , suing people takes lots of your money, time, physical energy, and emotional energy. <S> I assume you've decided suing this landlord <S> is worth it. <S> It might not be.
| Taking legal action doesn't mean anything negative about you. The only raised eyebrows you might get is if your dispute somehow involves one of your former employers or if the outcome of the dispute could affect your ability to do your job (for example the possibility of losing your license for severe traffic violations for a delivery driver or charges that concern abusing minors when supposed to be around minors as part of the job).
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Is it ethical to apply job now although the requirement said "fresh graduate"? Now I am in 7th semester in computer science faculty and currently working on my thesis and being an intern at company XYZ After graduating, I want to immediately work full time. If my company does not offer me a full time job, then I'd need to apply before I am graduated, so I can start to search for full time jobs as programmer or software developer or data analyst. I see all the requirements said fresh graduate, but I haven't graduate and I want to apply, is it ethical? or am I likely to get rejected if I apply before graduating. <Q> What is the worst that can happen if you apply now? <S> They may reject you. <S> But I don't think that any company will then ban you from future application. <S> They are more likely to see your keenness in a positive light. <S> How long until you graduate? <S> Personally, I would probably interview you. <S> I like to plan projects in advance, and knowing that I have you planned for a slot 6 months from now (or whenever) is one less thing that I have to worry about. <S> Saying that they are looking for a new graduate is way of indicating the salary range and the nature of the duties. <S> Personally, I would take someone with 1 or even 2 years experience in a new grad position, if he were happy with the salary & job description. <S> Especially, if they had had the poor luck to land a bad first job, so were effectively still at new grad level. <S> Tl;dr - I don't see how it could hurt, it will probably look positive and the worst that is likely to happen is that you are invited to reapply closer to your graduation date. <A> This has nothing to do with ethics. <S> Clearly state your current situation and if HR is as super smart as people on workplace think they are, they will figure it out. <A> Is it ethical to apply job now although the requirement said “fresh graduate”? <S> Yes, you can apply. <S> To add, this is more about whether it is practical , rather than ethical . <S> As you mentioned, you are supposed to finish your graduation in ~3 months, you should start applying for positions now onward . <S> Basically you have two options to land at a full-time job as of now: <S> Either the organization where you're an intern offers you a permanent / full-time position: <S> The current organization might offer you a position after your graduation is complete, however, it's not certain whether they're going to extend an offer until you receive it and even if you get the offer, the compensation might not be a fit for you. <S> Or, you look for other opportunities elsewhere: <S> You can start exploring other opportunities for fresh graduates and attend interviews for various positions that suits your skills. <S> As we can see, exploring options at this point is the best course of action for you. <S> The interview and hiring process takes some times, and you may want to be interviewed for more than one opportunities - <S> so, you can start applying now, go through the process and by the time you are graduated, you'll have the start date in close proximity. <A> Yes, apply for this job. <S> When they specify "fresh graduate" in the help-wanted posting, it often means they want people like you to apply. <S> Near the top of your resume and in your cover letter, be sure to write " <S> I expect to receive my Bachelor of Science degree (or whatever) from the University of California (or whereever) in June 2020 (or whenever). <S> Hiring managers and recruiters know exactly what this means. <S> And some of them get incentives for recruiting people like you immediately on graduation. <S> (I've been on university recruiting teams. <S> Hiring new grads is a big deal in some companies.)
| Apply for any job you wish.
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Should I apply to Junior Developer jobs despite being in my penultimate year of my Software Engineering studies? I am 19 and am a student in my second year of Software Engineering. Although I have no experience, I am trying to build programs using Unity and put it on Github to show employers that I have a portfolio of work to compensate for my inexperience. I am meant to be applying for placements for my second year but I am having little luck as there are hundreds of applicants and a sparse number of placements around my location. I am reluctant to move out due to other problems but I see a lot of junior developer jobs. Is it possible for me to work as a junior developer for a year, do my last year then continue working? Maybe I can ask if they can take me on as an intern? Or is it not even worth my time or theirs for that matter that I apply to junior developer jobs while still studying? <Q> Should I apply to Junior Developer jobs despite being in my penultimate year of my Software Engineering studies? <S> You can, <S> but mostly it'll be of no use. <S> To elaborate, as it appears, you are looking for an internship role / position. <S> You need to first understand the fact that the internship and full-time employment (including the junior positions) are not considered same. <S> The former is targeted towards making the participant aware of the industry process and gain hands-on knowledge which otherwise would not be possible to gain from institute curriculum. <S> Usually the work assignment and performance review is based on the learning from the job, not only based on the actual outcome. <S> The later is a full time employment where the employee is expected to work as a part of the organization and deliver certain work assignments. <S> The primary focus is on the fulfillment and delivery, the learning is over and above. <S> The process / method of work and the expectations out of these roles/ positions are not the same, and there are valid reasons why organizations do not treat them as equivalent. <S> Unless it's mentioned in the contract, an internship is not an employment and also vice-versa. <A> I tried this and didn't have any luck <S> I gave this a shot, also during my 2nd year. <S> I stuck out completely. <S> If your university has a one year long internship program, you might give this a shot, but it probably won't make a difference. <S> The funding strategy for interns and the onboarding process for interns is quite different from that used for junior developers, so going from one to another is something many companies didn't want to do for me. <S> Results may vary by country, but it didn't work for me. <S> I fired off piles of applications for junior developer jobs and did not get a response. <S> It didn't help that I didn't have prior development experience. <A> That's commendable that you want to contribute work to Github to show your stuff. <S> But what you should really do to gain a good internship or job in general is network with those who can hire you or work at a company that can recommend you to a hiring manager. <S> That will increase your chances much more than only applying with so many other applicants.
| If it's an internship - you need to apply for one and get one.
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What to do when you're expected to respond to a mail involving several people, but you've expressed your position in person in the meantime? Consider this scenario: A colleague from work (be it a boss or another coworker tasked with coordinating something) sends an e-mail to several people including you, whereby it's expected that all of you respond and put others in cc. Now you go to the restroom and by chance meet this mail sender and express your position to him in person, such as "About that e-mail - everything works for me". Now you're in an awkward situation: If you respond via mail "Everything works for me", it's weird to this person why are you writing this again because you just told them that a minute ago in person. If you don't respond to this mail, other people involved see you didn't respond and might think that's to show disdain or due to negligence. What to do? <Q> What to do? <S> Follow the process. <S> There was an email, requiring an email response. <S> Send it. <S> The fact that you met them in person is not really relevant here. <S> There are two reasons why you should still send the email response: <S> If for any reason, the reference of the answers are needed after 6 months down the line (or even after 6 hours), the email will still be there, the memory of discussion at the restroom will / may not. <S> You met one person (the original sender), but if you're expected to CC all others from the original email, they won't be knowing your opinion unless you send the reply. <A> Even where it's just a one-on-one, I will often write emails anyway. <S> Something like: <S> Just to put our discussion in writing: <S> This is [What we've agreed / what we're doing / what I need from youby [deadline]] <S> etc. <S> This is because things mentioned in person are easily forgotten, especially once any amount of time has passed, whereas emails are archived, searchable, and an immutable record you can refer back to. <A> It depends: What kind of question is it? " <S> hey who wants to go for lunch?" is a different question from "hey <S> could you bop the fizz for Bigclient?" <S> does this conversation need your express consent or does it just need a lack of opposition? <S> If it is the latter you can avoid emails, if the former then a paper trail is nice for everyone involved. <S> Does it matter to the other CCs what you answer? <S> If you got part of a task and someone else got the other half its a good idea to communicate with your partner. <S> The combination of these three factors means that there are only one kind of emails you can answer verbally: the kind that doesn't matter to the business, where you don't need to communicate with the mailer and where nobody cares if you do. <S> If that is the case, please use those. <S> There are clear advantages to separating "serious" and informal communication streams. <A> You should still respond with your answer. <S> To avoid the "awkwardness", you can add: <S> As we discussed earlier, … or <S> Per our earlier discussion, … <A> Even if you already expressed yourself verbally, the email serves two purposes. <S> 1) <S> The CC list of people are all notified of what you said, and who else knows that you said it. <S> So it is also an easy way of making sure everyone knows who knows. <S> 2) <S> The written email creates a written document of what you said that can be referred back to at any time by anyone to verify/remember what you said. <S> In general redundancy doesn't hurt anything. <S> The lack of it can.
| In this case, because there are other people in the email conversation, you should still reply-all so everyone is up to speed. Many workplaces have other tools for the informal kind of communication: Slack, MS Teams or something similar.
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is It normal for employees to need to pay for their own background check? I just applied for a new job and one of the requirements is that I needed to take a background check. I have no problem with doing background checks, however they are going to make me pay for the background check out of my first paycheck if I am hired. Is this a normal practice? <Q> they are going to make me pay for the background check out of my first paycheck if I am hired. <S> Is this a normal practice? <S> It's not common in my experience in the US. <S> I have never had to pay for a background check. <S> Nor has any company where I have worked required new hires to reimburse the cost of background checks. <S> But I've always worked in the software domain. <S> That said, it's legal in most states. <S> Check with your state's laws to see if yours is one of the few prohibiting that practice. <S> I'm guessing that the company knows and is obeying the local laws. <A> Depends on the place you're working at. <S> My expectation is that a very large company would be able to absorb the cost of the background/drug tests. <S> On the flip side, a very small company, such as a small family owned shop, would need to pay for the background services and may ask employees to absorb the cost. <S> It may also be indicative of a very high turn over position in combination of a very small company. <A> Since you only have to pay for it if you get the job you might as well not worry about it. <S> Whether it's normal or not, if you argue with the employer over this, you risk losing your chance at getting the job. <S> So what if you lose $100, or whatever it is, if in return you are getting a job which should hopefully pay you at least twice that per day. <S> As to if it's normal, I've heard of it several times. <S> Some sectors even require that you pay for these kinds of things in advance of even applying for a job, so your case is much more preferable.
| Seems like a very odd practice to me, but it may depend on the domain of the employer and the nature of the job.
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Signed up to be a full stack developer, have done next to nothing but React in the 6 months of my first job. How screwed am I? I work for a company which for the longest time did not have a consumer facing application. That meant that frontend was a second thought and that they have never hired for skill in it. I was not tested for it in my interview with them as while they wanted the skill, they had nobody qualified to test it. Things have changed to the point that a lot of applications need frontend work, so in my 6 months here, that stuff has been my entire day. It has even got to the point where most of the backend Java devs are being used to write frontend JS code and ship it, even though they admit it is garbage. By the end of my 9 month initial contract, I may get only 5-6 commits of substantial backend code despite wanting to be a full stack dev. The backend work I am getting is only when I deliberately slow down my frontend work to try and be equally unproductive as the rest (as otherwise I don't even get to work with the API calls), so they may be giving me backend work which is easier. How screwed am I if I need to search for a job in a few months? <Q> You currently talking about couple of months you were only doing frontend work. <S> From my point of view that's not unreasonable. <S> You cannot expect equal proportions of frontend and backend work for such a short timeframe. <S> Your employer hired you as full stack dev, so you can pick up any work currently needed. <S> You may have more insight on the roadmap of your employer, so you probably can estimate, if more backend work is in the pipeline for the next months. <S> Regular review meetings with your boss are a good time to discuss the plans of the company, your wishes and the alignment. <S> If you are unsatisfied with this outlook you can switch to a new job of course, but switching every couple of months, because you are not completely satisfied with your work assignments may look bad on your employment record in the long run. <A> If you understand the backend stuff, can talk knowledgably about it, and have done even a little, you should have no problem getting though an interview for another full-stack job. <S> In your position, the professional thing to do is to help the people who are new to front-end code. <S> Do code reviews, offer advice and short demos, or post links to useful tutorials. <S> Get the team to discuss coding standards and write them up. <A> Full Disclosure: <S> This answer shamelessly plugs previous posts of mine <S> In my previous project all the Java devs were asked to pick up React as we had to do frontend. <S> We had a very experienced frontend lead, who - although occasionally disagreeable as a character - managed to pull us into shape so that "complete garbage" is now rare. <S> This is something you'll need to sell to your manager the same way I sell it to you: I recommend focusing on code reviews and knowledge transfer to get the rest of the team up to speed. <S> Then, the rest of the team would focus on the frontend and there should be enough backend work for you to pick up. <A> Company projects come and go - but look for the trend A few months of doing frontend doesn't in itself prove that it's going to be just frontend from here on out. <S> But from what you describe the company has mostly pure backend people and is moving to build more frontend stuff. <S> Don't be passive-aggressive <S> The backend work I am getting is only when I deliberately slow down my frontend work to try and be equally unproductive as the rest <S> If there's one thing everyone hates it's passive-aggressive colleagues. <S> Seize the opportunity... <S> If the company's newfound frontend needs are there to stay, they're probably going to end up hiring more frontend people. <S> You write that your colleagues are worse at frontend than you. <S> This creates an opportunity for you to become the key player in coordinating front- and backend people. <S> This would probably be more of a technical leadership role than a pure developer role though. <S> Could be a good career move but you do have to like it. <S> ... <S> Or decide that you'd rather go elsewhere <S> If you'd rather be a pure developer then you might want to jump ship. <S> The market is good for it. <S> But you do need to keep in mind that employers are wary of people who switch jobs often. <S> It costs a lot to hire someone, because you need to do a whole hiring process and then they also need time to learn the code base and any weird software platforms the company uses. <S> Companies would rather not blow all that money on someone who'll be out the door again soon. <A> It's the exact opposite for me: I'm hired as a full stack dev (also a contractor), but all the work I got is backend staff. <S> One of the reason I signed up for this position was to learn a different frontend framework than the one I'm familiar with. <S> But I don't feel screwed at all. <S> Because 'full stack' means you are able to do both frontend and backend. <S> It doesn't implies that you SHOULD be doing both. <S> My 5 cents.
| The short term benefit is that you no longer have to do all the front end stuff on your own, but the long term benefit is that you improve your people skills, raise your profile and are more likely to impress a future interviewer as a team player and potential team leader.
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How do I deal with comments from the CEO around pay? During a conversation between myself and the CEO of the small startup I work for; We had been discussing a particular area of the business that needed some additional processes. I was explaining how a software feature that I had designed to help the process run smoother had not been delivered because the other founders in the startup were not on board with my idea. The conversation went like this: he then said: Me: That hasn't been delivered yet despite my repeated attempts CEO: Why not? You know you are paid more than the founders! Me: Easier said than done for x, y & z reasons I brushed this off at the time and responded with a few reasons about why it is so difficult working with the other founders of the company to deliver changes. I want to raise this with my line manager to find out why he made the comment and if they perhaps have an issue with my performance or lack of faith in my ability to deliver maybe. How should I approach the situation, directly with the CEO to find out why he made the comments or take it up with my line manager? <Q> The CEO's comment seems like a non-sequitur since the issue is your authority rather than your pay. <S> ignoring non-sequiturs is a valid response. <S> Asking them what they mean is better in case you missed something. <S> Founders of startups typically hope to make a large amount of money from the business in the medium to long term. <S> How much salary they are taking at the moment isn't really relevant. <S> Trying to make a, presumably, non-owner feel bad about their salary <S> doesn't strike me as very classy move. <S> If I were you <S> I'd ignore that. <S> Pointing out the difference between an owner and an employee probably won't go down well. <A> I think you've handled this quite well. <S> The comment may simply indicate that he was unsatisfied with the overall results, and you were simply there to take the heat. <S> It does not need to mean that the CEO is unsatisfied with your performance - he would've made that more clear if it was really an issue. <S> Some CEO's shoot from the hip. <S> In these individuals I observe an ability to cut the crap, quickly form an opinion, pick out problem drivers and pressure the right individuals. <S> They judge situations and make decisions quickly - occasionally too quickly. <S> I find this type of CEO to be a bit... abrasive - and sometimes intimidating. <S> But I also think that it makes them effective, at least in the small organisations I've been a part of. <S> After all: The first thing you did in response to his comment, was open up about impediments. <S> The manager wasn't part of that conversation <S> and I'd be disinclined to give him a full play-by-play. <S> (If you identified your manager as a blocking factor, he may have gotten an earful.) <S> And I'd hate to come across as needlessly insecure (which you aren't). <S> So I'd prefer to frame it as an investment in the success of future projects. <S> If you have the opportunity to talk to the CEO directly and informally, do so. <S> I'd open with something like: <S> "I got the impression that you were not satisfied with the results. <S> Is there something I could have done differently?" <S> But it isn't his job to manage your performance on that level. <S> He may not be the right person to give you feedback. <S> That is why I would definitely talk to my line manager about this. <S> We regularly evaluate projects where either of us felt there was room for improvement. <S> I would schedule a one-on-one and basically ask him the same question. <S> Is he satisfied? <S> What can you do differently? <S> It helps to bring a specific issue that you would like his advice or backup (in future projects) on, such as your difficulty getting the co-founders on board. <S> Prepare by listing how that was an issue and what you tried to remedy it. <A> I had designed to help the process run smoother had not been delivered because the other founders in the startup were not on board with my idea. <S> If your idea is good, and yet people disagree with you, then the fault is at least partially on you. <S> It can be because you didn't explain it well enough, spoke a different language than the founders (not in literal sense, but technical "better" is very different from business "better", and you have to make sure that people who speak business understand how it's better in their language), or just didn't push hard enough. <S> It's very easy to make remarks in style of "oh the idea I suggested 2 months ago <S> would've saved us so much money now", it's much harder to, 2 months ago, make that idea a reality. <S> It's even truer in small companies where the structure is simpler and it's easier to get personal times of the people making decisions. <S> And if you cannot get them on board still, sometimes gotta go rogue, <S> deliver some proof for your idea and then try again. <S> There are many ways to convince higherups to your ideas. <S> Me: That hasn't been delivered yet despite my repeated attempts CEO: Why not? <S> You know you are paid more than the founders! <S> Me: <S> Easier said than done for x, y & z reasons <S> Seems like your boss is telling you that you should accept at least partial responsibility for not getting the feature delivered, despite beliving in it so dearly. <S> Take a lesson from it, and next time you will have a similar idea that can help the business, push for it harder and get it done.
| You could have asked them if they meant in future you should override objections from the other founders and how they suggest you get them to support you. In your position, I would feel hesitant to ask feedback on the specific conversation with the CEO, or to ask my manager what the CEO thinks of me.
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How do you deal with psychological harassment at work? How do you deal with psychological harassment at work? How can you identify it, prevent it and what can be done once it happens? <Q> I later realized that this is psychological harassment. <S> Now that I'm aware of it. <S> How do I deal with it in the future? <S> I feel that your premise that this is psychological harassment is not necessarily true, although I understand that it can be frustrating. <S> It seems more like a communication problem that was left unattended... <S> Anyways, more important than to tag this situation is on how to deal with it in the future, as you mentioned. <S> Next time, when you are given a new task or are added to a new team, make sure to ask for a clear account of the technologies/knowledge <S> you must get up-to-speed as soon as you are assigned to that task/team . <S> Do this in writing ; an email would be fine. <S> Each time (if any) <S> your teammates complain you "don't know", politely ask for feedback so you can improve . <S> If your manager complains about you not knowing how to do your work, politely ask why and how can you amend it . <S> If he replies something like "because your teammates told me", then politely ask again why they think so <S> and how can you fix it... <S> This will either make your manager notice that your teammate's claims are unjustified (ending this negative cycle)... or it will tell you that you work in a place where the manager and teammates have a habit of making unjustified complains/ <S> claims (case in which I suggest you think if that is a place you want to work). <A> Psychological harassment is not a useful cause <S> I am not contesting your claim, although I feel it is certainly possible to discuss what is and is not harassment, but that is not the crux of my argument. <S> The point I am going to try to make, is that assigning an external cause to your difficulties is not useful for you in any way other than that it is comfortable. <S> Assigning an external cause to a problem, takes away any initiative you have or can have on solving the problem. <S> You cannot solve that you are hindered by harassment, only other people can solve that problem for you. <S> And because of that dependancy, the problem will likely remain untill you quit. <S> Even with harassment, I am certain you can learn something from a failed project that leads you to improving your next project. <S> But you have to look for it, reflect on it and be willing to change your own behaviour as an experiment to improve. <S> When we assign external causes, we stop looking for other causal factors, we stop reflecting on our own behaviour, and we are unlikely to experiment to improve. <S> Stop assigning external causes to problems - always internalize a problem. <S> What did I do? <S> - look for your own deficiencies, that is where the road to self-improvement lies. <S> Self improvement becomes twice as important when you have a lackluster manager, because feedback is rarely precise enough (and even if it was, usually it is very hard to accept constructive feedback from someone you do not trust). <S> So, my advice - stop trying to explain what went wrong with external causation. <S> Ask yourself, honestly, what you could have done better. <S> Investigate how others achieve their tasks and see if there is anything you can adopt and learn. <S> Be aware of your own weaknesses the next project and try to understand the link between them and the outcome. <A> An important part of any job is letting people know when there are problems. <S> When you have problems with another team, your boss can help you - but only if he knows. <S> Equally important: if he knows there's a problem, he's going to blame them <S> and not you when the task isn't finished on time. <A> I suggest: talk to your supervisor directly to sort out this issue, politely ask him to stop using this kind of language (or write him an email), and tell him that if he continues this kind of communication, you'll write something on his Linkedin asking questions around sucks - even they encourage it, the only reason to ask questions is to learn, yes, but also to minimalize mistakes - <S> this means it's not your responsibility solely, but somehow this becomes your own problems, that's why it sucks. <S> Performance reviews shouldn't be one-way, this forces people to work "collaterally" and the ones that don't fit would lose their jobs - which creates fear, nothing really works if fear is the operating force. <S> They never thought what if they are the problems - this is typically manipulative and one way thinking. <S> If nothing works and it affects you psychologically, don't be too hard on yourself, move on, it's the only way out
| If you can't do a job that your boss has assigned because you haven't been trained or are waiting for an answer from another team, you should warn him. Make sure you follow-up , so your teammates are also aware that you are learning and improving (perhaps you are improving but your teammates haven't had the chance to notice it). What you can do is try to find internal causes that ARE actionable.
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Sending sensitive documents over email I am applying for a financial company and had been selected but before they can send out a contract to me. They are asking for my Personal ID, passport, driving license and bank statement via the Recruiter. which IMO is very personal. Should I send them as an email or is it my right not to send it because it is all of my information. I have never been asked so many things prior to signing a contract. <Q> It's somewhat normal to need this sort of documentation to perform background checks, credit checks, or other steps required for new employees in some industries. <S> Of course, you want to be sure you are talking to a legitimate employer, not a scammer pretending to be hiring new employees. <S> This should be pretty obvious if you've performed interviews with a legitimate company, versus, say, having responded to an online add for a company name you've never heard of, and then meeting someone in a temporary office set up in a hotel room - or anything else sketchy. <S> To get to your actual question - you asked, <S> Should I send them as an email <S> , at least not email that isn't somehow secured. <S> If the employer cannot offer a secured mechanism (i.e. a secured online portal, or a secure messaging or email system), then you may want to do some quick googling to come up with your own method. <S> At the very least, a password-protected archive (zip) with the password supplied separately via phone call provides at least basic protection, in case anyone has access to your emails. <S> You also asked, or is it my right not to send it <S> You certainly have the "right" to refuse sending it, but the employer also has the right to tell you they can't hire you as a result. <A> Most of the material is required for any standard UK job (financial or not) - I have been asked for my passport for proof of right to work in the UK for every job I've had. <S> Here is a good article on what to expect and why. <S> Here is a link to the FCA website. <S> Just to quickly address the issue of sending it over email as I didn't realise it was such an issue when I first answered: Clearly ensure with the company you interviewed for that they want these documents sent via the recruiter. <S> This in itself doesn't raise a red flag to me as I believe a lot of recruiters offer a sort of end to end service to companies <S> Ensure the files are password protected in a zip. <S> Ask them if they have an SFTP you can upload the files to. <S> I would assume they have something in place for you to securely pass on those files <A> Other answers address whether or not you should send them, however if you do decide to send these, and send via email, then I would strongly consider sending via password protected PDF, or better yet put them onto an online storage account such as DropBox or OneDrive, as this way you can ensure the information is only directly accessibly by the correct party. <A> Email is absolutely not a good medium to send sensitive information unencrypted. <S> However, putting everything in an encrypted zip archive is sufficiently secure. <S> Then use another medium, like sms to send the password. <A> This is quite dubious. <S> A financial company doesn’t need your driving license. <S> You usually bring your passport and banking details on your first day at work. <S> I don’t know what you mean be “personal id”. <S> This should most definitely not be sent to any third-party recruiter. <S> And I’d be curious how much evidence you have that this company is legit, because that information gives them all they need for identity theft. <A> I'd also be rather suspicious if all I ever did was a phone interview and/or electronic communication with the company. <S> I don't know about the UK but every place I've been hired for ask that I physically bring the documents with me on my first day. <S> If they need to scan it they do it with whatever secure apps they have. <S> Never been asked to provide these sensitive documents and any bank would know how sensitive information can be given they are in an industry where people regularly take false loans out using stolen credentials that people get from the dark webs that they got from people who did the very same thing you're doing now.
| I would also ascertain as to whether you should send the documentation direct to the employer, rather than the recruiter. Sounds like they are just doing a FCA check on you (specifically they need some of that stuff for credit) which is pretty common in the UK for financial jobs (regulation). Email may not be the best choice for sensitive documents
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Should one stay in a software development company having considerable attrition level I am working for a private software development company where there is a staff of roughly 100 odd people. Recently the management changed, as in old managers left and new managers have joined the company. The CEO is new. Since the company is not profiting as intended the new management decided on a layoff, which I personally believe the worst option a management could take, as it tarnishes the company image. That period is over now. But the remaining employees have started to move from the organization. As senior most employees leave, their expertise is a lost to the company, which I believe cannot be replaced immediately by the juniors. Its the current trend in my office now. Even though the management keeps promising on new projects and client engagements, there seem to be very little new projects coming into the company. We as employees, are not completely aware of the profits and losses of the company. When should I decide that its good time to look for other opportunities outside? Is it when the company size shrinks to a certain amount or is it depending on the financial stability of the company? <Q> Whether to leave is dependent on the other options available <S> Every stay or go question is a comparison of various costs and benefits weighted for their relative risk or probability. <S> Do you have equity? <S> Would you need to move for another job? <S> Are you an unusual presentation for a developer where you are which might make finding another job harder? <S> All of these questions need answers. <S> Assuming you are a typical developer: <S> Do you have an offer from Google? <S> Go immediately. <S> Are you stuck using Java 6 and that is your only skill? <S> You probably want to upgrade your skillset a bit. <S> Are you a junior developer? <S> You will want to start looking more quickly because it is harder to get hired as one. <S> When should I decide that its good time to look for other opportunities outside? <S> Really, why would you ever stop? <S> Indeed sends me a daily listing of relevant developer jobs every evening after work. <S> I read it on the train home. <S> Start looking now, even if it is just reading the job boards for 5 minutes a day. <S> Software is a volatile industry. <S> Besides the time put into it, there is no disadvantage to job hunting now. <S> There is a big disadvantage to job hunting when you are just laid off and need to be watching your savings (if you have them) creep slowly downward. <A> When should I decide that its good time to look for other opportunities outside? <S> That depends, at least partially, on your goals. <S> If your goal is to stay where you are as long as possible (perhaps because of the advantages of your current job, role, commute, etc), then you should be networking with an eye toward possible future jobs, and putting aside emergency funds to carry you through an unemployment period in the future. <S> If your goal is to maximize your income, then you may need to leave soon - but it depends on your current salary, your marketability, and the overall market for your skills. <S> It's a complex decision. <S> I've been laid off twice. <S> The first time, I got the sense on an impending layoff, had a young family that depended solely on me for family income, and so I was already actively looking when I got laid off. <S> I had my next job within 2 weeks - well before my severance pay ran out. <S> The second time was a bit different. <S> It was a startup company that had recently had a rapid growth phase and had gone public. <S> The stock started to tank and the company had a big layoff. <S> I was spared. <S> But it was reasonably clear to me that if I could stick around long enough, the company would be acquired by the biggest competitor in the field. <S> That company was a very desirable employer on the opposite coast and was known to pay relocation expenses. <S> I felt that it was a worthwhile gamble. <S> I lasted through four additional rounds of layoffs, but was let go in the final round. <S> Oh well. <A> When should I decide that its good time to look for other opportunities outside? <S> You are a knowledge worker. <S> If you want a long career as a knowledge worker you must always be learning. <S> If you're learning a lot in the present situation that's a reason to stay. <S> Evaluate the personal growth opportunity that opens up when senior people leave. <S> Can you step up and help fill the gaps in the senior ranks? <S> If so, that's a reason to stay. <S> Evaluate your loyalty to your company, executives, and supervisor and their loyalty to you. <S> Have they asked you personally to help them get through the present transition? <S> Have they helped you understand the part you, personally, play in the future of the company? <S> Or are you just one of the people they didn't lay off, yet? <S> Evaluate your personal comfort with the current situation. <S> Are they making you work longer hours because they laid off too many people and the work still needs to get done? <S> Are the new executives running around threatening to lay people off unless blah blah blah? <S> Personal comfort is a reason to stay. <S> If you stay, be personally clear on the reasons you stay. <S> If you are not learning, have no opportunity to grow in your job responsibilities, don't have a sense of mutual loyalty, and feel threatened by the situation .... <S> Go.
| If your goal is to never be unemployed, then you should be seeking your next job aggressively, in hopes to leave before the next round of layoffs. Decide what your preferred outcome would be before you act. Loyalty is a big reason to stay.
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I've decided to leave my job entirely over ergonomic reasons. How honest should I be at the exit interview? I'm leaving because: My desk is far too high, nearly at shoulder height. I go home every day with wrist, elbow, shoulder, and back pain. I'm 30 and this has never happened before in previous offices or when I worked from home in my last job. The monitors have built in, non-adjustable stands, so they sit another 6 inches above the desk so the bottom bezel of the monitor is pretty much at eye level. This causes neck strain because I'm looking up all day. The office is very poorly lit with no windows and almost no indoor lighting. The company has immediately shut down any suggestion I've provided, like a lamp for my desk area, a higher office chair, a cushion for my chair, etc. and would not let me bring in a cushion because they said it's a "safety hazard" because I could fall off the chair. They said I could purchase my own office chair and they would "test" and approve it downstairs, then I could bring it in. I thought that was fine. (I'm also not allowed to work from anywhere but my desk.) Then I looked at the price of an office chair. Then I started looking for a new job. 3 weeks later, I've accepted an offer and will give notice tomorrow (Friday). It's been 5 months. This will be my first short stay in my career. Except for these issues, the work is fine, the people are great, my boss is fantastic, etc. and I wouldn't be leaving. But this isn't sustainable. I'm resigning for ergonomic reasons and ideally I want to explain this at the exit interview, so they know it's nothing personal, and hopefully they will take action for others if they see that someone is actually leaving over it. Since it's nothing personal, is it professionally safe to explain my ergonomic reasons or should I just keep it vague like "it's not a good fit"? <Q> I'm resigning for ergonomic reasons and ideally I want to explain this at the exit interview <S> , so they know it's nothing personal, and hopefully they will take action for others if they see that someone is actually leaving over it. <S> Since it's nothing personal, is it professionally safe to explain my ergonomic reasons or should I just keep it vague like "it's not a good fit"? <S> Why would it not be professional to tell them the reasons you're leaving? <S> Yes, tell them. <S> There's nothing to gain by not being straightfoward with them. <S> There's nothing to lose by being straightforward with them. <A> The moment you decide to leave a job, their problems stop being your problems. <S> If they ask "what can we do in future to make life easier for other people who work here? <S> " that's an opening to give them some feedback about problems in their building. <S> But you cannot fix their problems. <S> So you have nothing to gain from offering unsolicited advice . <S> They've already proven to you they have no interest in that kind of advice. <S> Avoid saying anything negative. <S> Instead of saying, "not a good fit," say "I have an opportunity that's too good to pass up" and let it go at that. <S> You don't want the HR person conducting the exit interview to check the [] do not rehire box on the exit form. <S> Leave 'em smiling, not frowning. <S> Good luck. <A> I'd still say - do not go into details, <S> As you mentioned in another comment that when you wanted to discuss <S> / report this issue, HR folks got angry , so most likely citing the same reason for leaving is not going to be taken positively and appreciated. <S> Most likely it'll be taken as a rant and the interview report will go to bin. <A> However - don't leave it at that. <S> If you're going to be honest and deliver some bad news to them, you should also deliver good news. <S> Make sure they know that you enjoyed everything else about the job, and single some items and people out for special mentions. <A> it was not a good fit, as I mentioned earlier. <S> My body does not fit the workstation, I was going home with a lot of pain, and my doctor told me to stop immediately. <S> It's too bad. <S> I liked everything else about the company. <S> That's what you say. <A> The monitors have built in, non-adjustable stands, so they sit another 6 inches above the desk so the bottom bezel of the monitor is pretty much at eye level. <S> This causes neck strain because I'm looking up all day. <S> This looks like an OSHA violation. <S> If I'm reading [the OSHA documentation] right, the top bezel should be at eye level, not the bottom one. <S> I'm resigning for ergonomic reasons. <S> No, you're not. <S> You're leaving because your employer refuses to make reasonable accommodations for you. <S> Going by you explanation, you didn't ask for anything unreasonable, just for a comfortable working position, to prevent strain and pain. <S> Even it isn't an OSHA violation, your employer has shown a stubborn unwillingness to accommodate you. <S> There is a balance to be found between pampering and tormenting one's employees. <S> Your current employer seems to be leaning towards the latter. <A> It really comes down to the kind of relationship you have with whoever is doing the exit interview or the company. <S> If you think they would be positively receptive to your comments and that it might help them improve themselves and maybe even be reflected positively in their future dealings with you, then tell them. <S> If you think they'll feel like you're just blaming them to get a dig in before you leave or don't think they're at all likely to even try to make improvements, then don't tell them. <S> It comes down to whether you are reasonably confident they'll view you telling them the truth as an attempt to help them. <S> If not, don't take the risk, and tell them something safe about new challenges, new opportunities, job growth, or whatever. <A> Tell them for the benefit of others. <S> They are unlikely to do anything about it, but there may be future similar complaints that force them to fix things. <S> Do it for future employees; nobody should have to suffer in an unsuitable office environment. <S> It won't really affect you as you are leaving (as others have noted), but it may help others.
| There'e nothing for you to gain by providing any feedback at this point. Tell them the reason you're leaving; it's a solid reason, and that knowledge may help them prevent future employees from leaving. give them a very generalized reason and move on.
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Question about becoming a full stack developer I’m currently set to graduate with my bachelors in software development in August. I feel like I am completely ill prepared for a job. So I have been looking into how to hone my skills and came across CareerKarma and they get you into boot camps and supposedly Into a job by the end of the year. My question is: As someone who is receiving his bachelors but isn’t confident in his skills as a developer/coder yet, would It be beneficial to do a boot camp at the same time or to self teach myself? My biggest concern is paying back student loans and also a boot camp loan or Income sharing agreement. <Q> To be cruel, I could say that if you don't have the skills by now, then it is unlikely that you can cram them before August. <S> In reality, I would ask why you feel that way <S> (by not telling us, you make it difficult for us to help you). <S> But my answer is: Don't panic! <S> You are about to "level up" your life. <S> Bigly. <S> Can you remember the jump from school to university? <S> The jump from uni to "real life" is an order of magnitude greater. <S> It is natural to feel a little lack of self confidence at this point. <S> Don't lose sight of that. <S> The reality is (or was, when I graduated with B.SC Comp Sci a "few" decades ago, that 1) university does not prepare you for industry and <S> 2) industry knows that. <S> Generally, having a degree is just a filter that says to us "reasonably intelligent, probably trainable, worth interviewing, should train well". <S> We expect to have to train you. <S> We do not expect university to teach you about requirements gathering & analysis, software architecture, detailed design, reviewing, unit testing, integration testing, continuous integration or test driven design. <S> At best, we hope for you to be able to code and debug (somewhat). <S> When I am interviewing new grads, I am aware of that. <S> " <S> Seems bright and eager to learn" is about the best that I can hope for. <S> It helps if you can explain a project that you did at uni; how you designed it and what problems you faced. <S> Beyond that, we will train you. <S> In about 18 months, you might become productive. <S> Tl'dr <S> ; don't worry, a degree and a positive attitude should land you a job, which will train you, and after that your future is yours to shape. <A> I talk to a lot of developers in your position. <S> I'm a senior back-end and CTO. <S> Boot camps are not worth the money, especially considering you are about to get a degree. <S> You will never feel job ready... <S> I see many developers get stuck in a cycle of trying to learn everything, and as things update so fast in this industry, they never finish learning and never feel ready to apply for a job. <S> After getting a job they realise they wasted most of their time learning things that never get used. <S> Apply to every junior position you can, eventually you will get something. <S> You can think of a junior position as boot camp, except you get paid to do it and learn real industry standards. <S> Companies with junior positions don't expect you to have all the skills, they want someone they can train from the ground up. <S> The same with boot camps. <A> If you went to a decent school, chances are high that they taught you the science of computer science (and not the practical side of programming). <S> If that's the case, don't worry too much. <S> Most employers know this. <S> If you're fresh out of school (and didn't do a coop), you'll be mostly tested on data structures and algorithms anyway and usually on only one language. <S> If you want to test yourself, check out: https://pramp.com <S> https://interviewing.io https://leetcode.com <S> https://www.careercup.com/ <S> (check out the book Cracking the Coding Interview) <S> With that said, if your degree was really on "software development" and not computer science, then it probably means you've already done the coding bootcamp route, you just did it through your school. <S> Second of all, the address listed on the CareerKarma web site is a residential building, not an actual business. <S> And looking at their web site, it doesn't look like they offer their own coding bootcamps, they just cross-promote the coding bootcamps of others. <S> Which brings me to my next point. <S> Be very careful if you go the bootcamp route. <S> Many offer significant commissions to their alumni (or to other organizations like this one). <S> And if an alumnus is going to receive $5,000 for selling you on a $28,000 bootcamp, that person is not going to be honest with you. <S> They have every reason not to be. <S> The same goes for the testimonials on their web site. <S> With that said, I'd suggest you watch this youtube video . <S> It's not mine, but it outlines some of the reasons you should not be going to a coding bootcamp right now, especially now that there are so many of them.
| Don't waste money on a boot camp. Most of what you have been taught at uni isn't how we do things in the professional industry. The only way to learn the skills you need is by getting that first job.
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Can graduating from university and reaching 1 year help justify a significant (>10%) pay raise? I was hired by my current company while I was in the final year of my Software Engineering degree. It has been a year since then and I have graduated and work has been going swimmingly. I believe I have picked up our tech stack quite well and am also much quicker and proficient at performing other tasks that I am sometimes responsible for (general IT[support, builds, etc]) I've also received a Cisco certification and completed optional training directly related to our product. I understand that no-one else knows the specifics of my role as I do.But does my recent graduation and experience so far coupled with what I've listed generally lead to a significant raise? <Q> Graduating from University isn't likely to be a reason to increase your pay. <S> After all, the company likely hired you on, knowing that you would continue to work for them after you graduated. <S> What you should focus on is your skills and completed tasks. <S> The certification is certainly a big deal because that's time, money and effort you and the company sank to make sure you were qualified. <S> The biggest issue with expectations of a high raise, is that it really depends on the company and your manager. <S> Your manager/you needs to create a compelling reason that you deserve a pay raise. <S> Showing you are generating them lots of value, or you are valuable to them for your skill set/work completed. <S> However, don't get your expectations up too fast. <S> Some companies provide fixed pay raises at scheduled times, or limit pay raises/normalize/pool it to help keep their costs down. <S> You might also have a passive manager who isn't good at getting you what you deserve. <S> At the end of the day. <S> You just have to do your best. <A> You are worth whatever you can negotiate for yourself in the job market. <S> Go job hunting, get yourself a written offer somewhere else, and that will tell you what you're worth. <S> Once you have that offer, what you do with it is up to you. <S> If you're willing to take the other job, you probably should. <S> If you want to keep your current job, you should turn down the other offer, take it to your boss (while making it very clear that you are not threatening to leave, you already turned down the other offer, and this is just market research) and have a conversation about what the market rate for your skills and experience is. <A> No. <S> You haven’t reached the next Award yet. <S> You mentioned in a comment that you’re from Australia, and the job offer you accepted <S> was standard for university graduates. <S> This means that it is most likely an Award. <S> For our international readers, the minimum wage in Australia varies depending on the field of work, the highest qualification you possess (e.g. high school vs university graduate), and the amount of experience you possess. <S> These minimum wages are referred to as Awards. <S> Fair Work Australia has an online calculator that can help you determine what yours is; judging by what you’ve stated, your Award should be “Graduate Professional 1.1”, which entitles you to a full-time wage of $25.98/hour for a 3-year degree, or $26.64/hour if you have a 4- or 5-year degree. <S> The next step up is “Graduate Professional 1.2”, which requires no more than 1 year of experience after graduation for pay scale progression to be mandatory; it would entitle you to a wage of $27.09/hour. <A> Graduating doesn't entitle you to a pay rise, and neither does working for any number of years. <S> The question is then whether you're being paid the market rate. <S> It may be that you were recruited with the assumption that you'd do these things, and are already paid the market rate for a useful engineer. <S> Alternately you may have been hired on a lower 'trainee' rate, in which case you should ask for a raise. <S> Some organisations can be caught out by bright young programmers, who go from 'useless trainee' to 'as good as anyone else on the team' in a year. <S> If that's you, it's worth asking for equal pay and discussing your career path with your boss. <S> In any case, you should be regularly checking job adverts in your area to get a feel for the market. <S> It really helps your case if you can show your boss a few relevant adverts. <A> The Monday morning after attending my graduation ceremony, I was suddenly 30% more valuable to my employer than I had been the Friday before. <S> The degree doesn’t guarantee you’re worth more, but having that diploma and a huge amount of experience in comparison to where you were a year ago, does make you more marketable. <S> From there, Kaz lays out sound advice. <S> I underscore Kaz’ point that you should be very clear <S> it is not a threat to leave. <S> You may even consider presenting it solely as having done some research.
| No one can tell you for sure how to get that pay raise you want. Becoming proficient in the tech stack and gaining certification are important, because they make you more useful.
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Should I change the job or should I change the Position inside company? I am a little confused about the two choices : Here is background first, I have 4.5 years of experience as Front-end Developer (had done B.tech ICT). I am working with a product company (team size is ~50) for last 1.5 years. The product and growth of the company is stable. When I joined my major goal was to convert vanilla Javascript based frontend to Angular component based frontend, took 4 months to get a hold on the various parts of the product and last year we finished the intended target. After one month all things that will remain to fix random bugs. The product backend is made in Java which I am not much experienced. I see two options in the future if I want to improve my personal productivity and growth. Find a new employer which can provide sufficient new challenges Ask for a new position within the company I am confused between two choices. <Q> My personal philosophy is to explore / exploit all opportunities of a place before moving on to another place - not limited to jobs, but to anything in life. <S> Therefore, applied to your case, I would do the following (I actually did it several times): Ask for a new position in the current company. <S> Being a new position, salary negotiation will most likely take place, and you might get lucky. <S> There is a tendency that you will get higher salary rises if you switch companies, but this is not a very strong rule. <A> You are a knowledge worker . <S> To succeed in your career you need to learn new things continuously . <S> (20 years from now will anybody use JS/Angular? <S> I started programming using FORTRAN and assembly language on a PDP-11, now not very useful skills.) <S> Your decision about your next job assignment should be based, in part, on what you can learn. <S> In your present company, if you join the back-end team you can leverage your knowledge of the front end. <S> In the back-end team you will learn a whole ton of stuff about databases, servers, scaling, security, etc etc. <S> If you join a new company you should choose it based on what you will learn there. <S> React? <S> React native for mobile? <S> Or, you can ask for a transfer, temporary or permanent, to a different part of the company. <S> A year spent working as a sales engineer is a great way to learn a lot about business. <S> And, with respect, I answer your "talk <S> is cheap show me code" handle by saying "code comes out better when you thoroughly understand the problems it promises to solve. <S> " Sometimes you gotta listen to people talking to understand. <S> That kind of talk is priceless. <A> I would suggest you to start learning whatever new technology you want to learn side-by-side to your current role. <S> Why? <S> Let me explain: This would prove your caliber to justify that you can work in your new role with new technology in the current company. <S> If you want to switch with the new tech in the new company, you will be able to clear interviews easily. <S> Now if you decide to switch the companies in your current tech stack only, I would still suggest that you brush up those concepts of JS/Angular which you are not aware of as of now, or even better if you can learn new JS frameworks such as React or Node. <S> In conclusion, learn something from your end first before thinking about asking for role change in the current company or going for a new profile in a new company. <S> All the best!
| When there is nothing more to learn in the current company, or when a much better opportunity appears, move to another company.
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How to tell my boss that his family employees do not work when he is out? I'm one of 3 employees that came to this company with the intention to professionalize it. It is a family owned company, with a lot of management problems. My boss (52), founder of this 30 y/o hearing aids company, leader in the state, stays out quite a lot, he usually works only 1 or 2 week days at the office. He likes to enjoy his grandkids and wife and has some side non-related businesses as well. He has a daughter (24) and a son (26), both work as audiologists, they are NOT prepared to keep the company moving forward. Other family members work here as well. He knows his family is not capable of keep the company moving forward, so he hired 3 new professionals, which I'm part of. The company is structured as follows: 43 employees which 22 family members and 18 are non family members. All family members are either audiologists (which we consider our sales team) or financial/ administrative managers. Other 18 employees work as assistants or receptionists. Other 3 include marketing coordinator (me), expansion director and a senior audiologist. We (3 new professionals) noticed that every time the boss is out, all of the family members work at 10% efficiency or do not work at all, side conversations, 1 hour coffee-breaks and so on. Every time he is at the office, they work at 120% effectiveness and are scared of committing mistakes or showing laziness. We do not have cameras, we do not have well established KPIs, we do not have monitoring systems. We want to tell our boss all these problems, but do not have such arguments besides our point of view. All changes (i.e. installing a vigilance camera system) has to go through his approval. How can we manage to tell him that family members do not work productively when he is out? <Q> How can we manage to tell him that family members do not work productively when he is out? <S> You are a marketing coordinator. <S> Unless these family members work for you or the owner asks you about it directly, it's not your job to be the company tattle tale. <S> The owner has decided that he doesn't need to be there often, despite knowing that his family is not capable of keeping the company moving forward. <S> It's up to him to decide how his family is to be managed, not you. <S> You coordinate the marketing. <S> Leave the management of family members to their managers. <A> The situation you describe has the potential to be quite delicate. <S> It's good that you're interested in ensuring the business is successful and productive, but a family business can be quite challenging to manage. <S> - avoid offering judgement or criticism Suggest a solution that aligns with the owner's goals for the organization <S> Assuming that the owner wants to grow the business and see his/her children become successful managers, you might suggest that the owner hire a full-time professional manager that can operate the business, mentor future managers, and develop new demand to match an increase in productivity. <S> Given your role shares responsibility for development - you might add any facts you have that show <S> there is demand you could serve if the family-member employees were more productive. <A> Do not get into this. <S> It is likely to go badly for you. <S> I went to schools which were absolutely full of the children of people in this situation. <S> Many reasonably wealthy families have the problem of children who are nowhere near suited to taking over the family business. <S> 9 times out of 10, they get given it anyway to keep the peace within the family. <S> Love blinds to an amazing extent and loyal and ethical employees often got removed because the owner suspects jealousy or sabotage from their comments. <S> I knew of an accountant who told a wealthy owner that his son was fudging the books. <S> His contract was not renewed. <S> I knew a foreman who told the owner his daughter was creating fake expenses and running them through the company. <S> The foreman lost his promotion. <S> I have known parents to attack their siblings for bringing this evidence about their children to them. <S> You are doing the owner great favour (as were the other employees), but I have yet to see it be interpreted as such by a parent (and that is what they are with their children first, not a boss or employer). <S> Treat the transition date as effectively a potential layoff and plan accordingly. <S> Even as a member of the family (who has an independent income), I am not sure that I would inform my grandfather if I knew of anything untoward his family members who work in the family business did. <S> The politics and messiness is enormous. <S> As an employee who earns a living from the business? <S> Wouldn't touch the issue with a 10-foot pole. <A> He knows his family is not capable of keep the company moving forward, so he hired 3 new professionals, which I'm part of. <S> It sounds like he understands this and is trying to take steps to fix it by hiring you three. <S> Ultimately though it sounds like your job is in jeopardy since you were hired to fix this deficiency. <S> My thought is you should sit down with your boss when he comes in. <S> Tell him you understand you were hired with the intention to professionalize the workforce. <S> Then go off and explain while he is out, only 10% of the workforce actually does anything. <S> Have a plan on what needs to be done like having a manager that is capable of disciplining the workforce up to termination and hiring.
| I would suggest that you have a frank discussion with the owner/manager, but be careful to: Listen to the owner about his/her desires for the company and how it is managed Offer only the facts from your direct observations
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How can I help a coworker with a bad case of impostor syndrome? I am a software engineer in the US. One of the engineers in our team has a bad case of impostor syndrome, despite being among the most talented software engineers I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I don't mind the self-deprecating humor (as if I could - I make these jokes fairly frequently), but I do genuinely want to help him - the frequent apologies and self-blaming lead me to believe that he does, indeed, fully believe what he says (and isn't saying it just for humor). He is senior (and I am not), but I'm not quite sure that matters here. So, the question is: how can I help my coworker's impostor syndrome? I realize that I can't hope to fix it, but I do sure hope I can help in some meaningful way. I make it a point to absolve him of any self-inflicted guilt he doesn't deserve and to praise when praise is due, but I'm not sure if there's a piece of the puzzle I'm missing here. Edit: To address some very good points raised: The problem is not his boss - we report to the same manager and work within the same team; from what I can tell, everyone can tell he is very competent and probably works himself a bit too hard (risk of burnout, etc.) This is not (usually) a customer-facing position. Nothing too formal is typically involved - we're a small company, but not small enough that developers have to talk to customers on a regular basis. Some apologies are for things that aren't his fault (or aren't faults at all) - for instance, recently he apologized for having implemented a feature that could need a workaround in case something else, completely unrelated, goes wrong. Bear in mind that the feature design is not at fault and wasn't even his own to begin with; that was a team decision. <Q> Check who gets these apologies . <S> Does the senior report to an overbearing boss or have to deal with clients frequently? <S> There are many reasons to apologize constantly (if only since apologizing is free and therefore worth trading for anything with a value greater than free). <S> I know people who apologize for everything as a relationship management tool. <S> Certain people feel guilty receiving many apologies and that can be used to one's advantage. <S> Check that his apologies are about his code/work product. <S> Is he apologizing for his software work or for other things, such as misunderstanding a requirement, taking a meeting off track, pushing back too hard, etc? <S> Talented engineers often have deficiencies in these areas. <S> I often do not code what the specs intend. <S> This is one area where I apologize regularly to smooth things over. <S> Why? <S> I apologize, get the clarification, and am then set free to go back to my work. <S> The apology is free, so I am fine issuing it as many times as required. <S> He might also be apologizing for not getting back to emails. <S> Check that his apologies are not for genuine screw ups. <S> He can be as talented as Woz, but if he broke the build, didn't do the merge properly, or let a bug into prod, he did screw up. <S> A lot of developer job work has nothing to do with writing code and those tasks are mostly admin not talent tasks. <S> Now that that is out of the way, my answer is to look for small moments of high performance which can be praised. <S> Does he complete more sprint points (if you are using Scrum) than other developers? <S> Point that out. <S> Does everyone ask him for help? <S> Maybe track questions asked per developer for a week. <S> Point that out. <S> This is moving beyond praise when due and spending a bit of time to find interesting numerical trivia which would fluff the ego. <A> Matthew makes some really good points, but this might not be explicitly related to his work. <S> There may be things going on at home or in his far past that cause him to act this way. <S> If this is true, you might not be able to help him out, unfortunately. <S> However, you might be able to get him to understand this should not be normal behavior for someone as talented as you say he is. <S> I'd suggest getting him into an informal setting, like having drinks/"a beer" after work. <S> This might be a little awkward if there's a major difference in age or aren't the same gender, but reassure him <S> it's just to talk. <S> You might get a better response if you say you just want to get more into the mindset of a senior dev and want to talk shop. <S> Once you get him "loosened up" a little and more familiar with you at the "informal meeting", gracefully change the topic to his impostor syndrome and how you think it's detrimental to him. <S> Don't berate him, since that's only going to press it further into his mind, but elaborate on your own experience with similar situations. <S> Explain how you worked out of it and how you are doing better personally and professionally without the self-deprecation and constant apologizing. <S> Since you say you make self-deprecating remarks "frequently", you might explain the difference between his remarks and yours. <S> Granted, he might not take it well, but if you don't try, which it sounds like you're willing to do, you won't know how it pans out. <S> Doing it outside of work helps to keep it away from gossipers as well as helps him understand that you aren't trying to assert power over him. <S> I'd also suggest you read more about impostor syndrome and how to get out of it, so you know how best to talk to him. <S> You don't want to shove a homegrown pamphlet at him and say "here's how to fix you", but having some information handy to back up your suggestions wouldn't hurt. <A> First, there's a fine line between being critical of oneself and one's work. <S> The latter is very healthy and probably a big reason why he is so competent. <S> Make sure you're not trying to correct something that doesn't need correcting. <S> Second, third person compliments are often much more effective. <S> People can dismiss first person compliments as insincere flattery, but it is much harder to dismiss something said to someone else like, "Bob understands that code much better than the rest of us, you should direct your question to him." <S> Say things like, "Yes, that workaround could be needed, but this design is much simpler, and I agree it's a good decision to wait to see if we actually need it before we add complexity."
| Maybe he needs that nudge to seek professional help or simply needs someone to help him talk through it. The third thing that's helpful is to show you're in the same boat and would have made the same decisions, especially if he respects your skills.
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What is the best way to say when you turned down the contract? So lets say I have offers from 3 companies, let's call them A, B and C. I'm interested in the offer from company B but I really don't know how to turn down the offers from company A and C. I'm afraid that I'd burn bridges if I turn down the other offers. Any advice? <Q> Tell them the truth. <S> It won't burn anything down. <S> It will just show that you're a sought-after employee. <S> They'll probably ask to connect to you on LinkedIn. <S> They may even make you a counter-offer. <S> And if you're paranoid, like I am. <S> If they ask the name of the company who won you over, just give out a very generic description of what the company does without giving the actual name of the company. <S> At least, that's what I would do. <S> The person here suggests you should name the other company sometimes. <S> On a side note, please don't accept any offer until you've actually read the contract they sent you. <S> If they haven't sent a contract yet, it doesn't count yet. <A> You don't have any bridges to burn! <S> Going back to company A and C and say you have accepted another job. <S> You don't need to explain more than that. <S> You have never had any commitment to those companies, you never built any bridges with them to burn. <S> Burning bridges is something you can do between yourself and your current employer / Client, not every random job you applied for. <S> This is just how it works in business, if a client takes offence then you don't want to work for them anyway. <A> Unless you signed a contract from company B I wouldn't reject the other offers just yet. <S> Instead I would consider asking some more questions at companies A C to learn more about the role, but ultimately, to give you some extra time until you secure company B. <S> You can only keep this up for so long, so if you still haven't signed with B then you need to make a decision that you're going to stick holding out with B, or consider actually accepting A or C. <S> If you don't care about A C, then simply tell them that you have already accepted another offer that you just couldn't refuse and thank them for considering you. <S> You shouldn't look bad in their eyes, and this gives you the opportunity to reach out to them in the future. <S> Otherwise if you don't mind jumping ship to A C, you can accept one of them, or play it risky by giving them a counter-offer while you wait for B. Trying for a counter-offer may fail spectacularly though and you run the chance of losing out in all companies! <S> Congrats on the offers, and best of luck. <A> P.S. Companies know and accept that potential employees might have more than one offer and most of them wouldn't mind you rejecting them, but it should be on a strong basis like Money or Job role, etc.
| In my opinion, simply ask A and C that you've got offer from B that gives you more than what A and C are offering - if they can offer something better then you may finalize with them else you can reply on these lines: "all the best to them, you would definitely consider working with them in future."
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How do I tell a recruiter that I'm not interested after an interview? I had an interview with an organisation today and by the end I realised that this is not for me. So, in the beginning one of the two interviewers was making a wrong statement over and over again. So, I corrected her, with good intentions. But, it went downhill from there... She kept on asking me if I would be able to handle this position. Whether I will be able to perform this and that duty (in the advert no such thing was actually mentioned). Moreover, I was informed that although I would be working with them, it's another organisation that will offer me the contract. This completely turned me off. Near to the end of the interview, I was stunned as they asked me what do my parents do! I know interviewers tend to ask this as an ice breaker, but it was nearly at the end... Anyway, I'm completely okay with not getting a job offer there. But, at the end one of the interviewers asked me to send some references. Moreover, despite everything I think that they were quite impressed with my qualifications. I think that they are keeping me as a backup. But I'm convinced that I don't want to work there. How do I politely refuse them? <Q> Just keep it simple and polite. <S> Something like the following should do fine: <S> Thank you for the opportunity you presented, accepting me for the interview. <S> As a result of the interview, I understand that this particular job is not what I have in mind for my future professional development. <S> Eventually (if it is the case) you might add: <S> Please keep me informed if other positions are made available, especially in the area of (whatever you find interesting for the future job) <A> If you're really sure you won't be proceeding, the polite and professional thing to do is to tell them as quickly and unambiguously as possible, so they can disregard your application and focus their attention completely on any remaining candidates who are interested. <S> Your first sentence is the signal. <S> Just reword it, and you have your email: <S> Thanks for the interview today, but I've realised this job isn't for me <S> and I won't be proceeding. <S> All the best. <S> The rest of the detail is just noise and will only serve to confuse the message and potentially waste both your time. <S> If they respond and ask for it, then provide it, but until then assume it's irrelevant. <A> You roughly have two options: Thanks for the interest, but this role isn't for me. <S> Thanks for the interest, but this role isn't for me. <S> The fact is. <S> I really wanted to work directly for you guys, but I was disappointed to learn that this position was only available through an intermediary agency. <S> Option #1 is short and sweet. <S> Use your own words if you want. <S> My point is that there is no need to explain anything. <S> It's not like they would explain their reasons to you if the situation was reversed. <S> Option <S> #2 gives them a chance to address one of your concerns. <S> Only choose that option if you would be willing to consider an offer of direct employment from them that didn't include an intermediary agency. <A> If they contact you again either to schedule another interview, or to send them references, then you should tell them that you are no longer interested. <S> I prefer to send this message via email. <S> It lets me control the length of the conversation, and it gives me time to come up with the exact phrases I want to use. <S> You don't have to provide a lot of justification or a lot of information. <S> To make sure that I can do this over email I would let any phone call from them go to voice mail. <S> Based on the number of questions we get on this site, it is also possible that they will ghost you, so you might never have to send the email. <S> If they send you an offer letter, it might contain a contingency clause that requires you to provide references, or take a drug test, or submit information for and pass a background check. <S> It doesn't matter if there are contingencies or not, send the short polite email discussed above. <S> Some companies may require you to go to a portal to accept or reject the offer. <S> If they have that sort of system, use that method to also reject the offer. <S> The nice thing about getting an offer letter is that you get a data point regarding what they were willing to pay you. <A> Don't. <S> This goes against your own interest. <S> Recruiters have plenty option to choose from and they will be contacting multiple people afterwards (priority given to top choice). <S> If top candidate declines the offer they contact next. <S> Say they decided to hire you - you can then politely decline (they will contact next pick). <S> So this is not really an issue for recruiters. <S> However if you tell them to disregard your interview you just wasted your time. <S> Throwing away an opportunity to learn how much you are worth. <S> Even if you are not interested in the position you might be contacted back with an offer. <S> You have an opportunity to negotiate how much they are willing to pay. <S> Ask 50% more then what they offer etc. <S> You got nothing to loose, since you don't care about this job. <S> On the plus side you might get a hint of how much your skills are worth. <S> If they never contact you then who care, they picked someone else.
| I would just be polite but basically tell them that "I am no longer interested in moving forward with this opportunity".
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Should I be worried about my background check? I was recently accepted for a job, and now I have to go through a screening process. I did not include a job that I'd left after 5 weeks on my CV, as I did not feel it was relevant and did not want to talk about it in the interview. (the job was not as it was advertised, the colleagues were toxic and they did not follow their own policies.) I left this job just over a month ago and am worried it will come up on my background check, I am extremely worried as I want this job so much and I don't want my previous job to sabotage my chances. <Q> Your average background check is there to look into criminal records, arrests or court judgements against you that you have not mentioned in interview. <S> While they might pick up on jobs you worked at for 5-week periods, the only thing that might be of concern to your average employer for an average job would be more than one such job where you bailed after such a short amount of time. <A> Should I be worried about my background check? <S> Will it help you? <S> No. <S> Can you change anything? <S> You don't have to. <S> If anybody asks you about this, just explain how you explain it to us. <S> It's okay to leave a toxic environment. <A> Ultimately, none of us can answer this question, because the motivations for doing background checks vary widely among employers. <S> As a result of that variation, interpretation of the results also varies widely. <S> Some employers will care about things that others don't even look at. <S> That said, it's somewhat common for candidates to leave jobs off their resume for various reasons. <S> Some people with really long resumes will prune jobs just to keep the resume at a reasonable size. <S> Other times, when a job isn't relevant to the specific opportunity at hand, you can leave it off for that reason. <S> Most employers understand that, and many will be totally okay with a job being left off. <S> Employers don't like being lied to, but leaving a job off your resume doesn't automatically count as a "lie" in every case. <S> Some employers will want to know about every position you've ever held, but the good news is that those employers will make their needs known - they will tell you to list every single job at some point in the hiring process.
| If you weren't explicitly asked to give details on every single job you've ever held, leaving a job off your resume is likely not an issue.
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Left out of team Lunch; how to handle this professionally? My boss, for whom I have worked for a long time, invited all managers to lunch for their Christmas present at her expense (she says it is a work development tool) but tells me the email invite I got was sent as a mistake, I feel hurt by this but am to humiliated to say anything. I feel ashamed to be so petty but it really hurts. <Q> You may not be being petty <S> Are you a manager? <S> If you are, you have a problem. <S> You did not say whether or not you were a manager, but if you are and you were not invited to this, then you are clearly not one of the team members designated to be professionally developed. <S> You should be examining your career options as you are evidently not one of the valued ones. <S> If you are in a different job/at a lower rank, then you should never have gotten an invite <S> and yes, you are being petty. <A> I feel ashamed to be so petty <S> but it really hurts. <S> I am sorry you feel this way. <S> I understand that receiving an invitation and then it being withdrawn can feel uncomfortable. <S> Your boss already excused herself and said it was a mistake; that should be sufficient excuse for an email mixup. <S> Try not to take it personally. <S> The lunch would probably have taken place even if you didn't received the invitation, so no need to over-analyze the situation. <S> Not being invited to a single lunch is no reason for you to scratch the trust and relationship you have with your boss. <A> If there's a pattern with the other people invited - they're managers (and you're not), they're department heads (and you're not), they're from specific parts of the organisation (and you're not) <S> - there's no need to feel hurt by this. <S> You could even reframe it. <S> Your boss made a list of the people she wanted to invite - people she regarded as important - and automatically or subconsciously included you. <S> That she reconsidered later could be a lot less significant than your original inclusion.
| Now, the professional course of action I suggest is that you let it go, and move on .
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How to professionally handle being asked about A-level grades (University entry) despite having a Masters? As the title suggests, I have a Masters in my field and a relatively unrelated Bachelors degree. A-levels are the exams you take here in the UK in order to get into University in the first place, and being fully honest I did not do well in these (I have 2 full ones, and 2 halves, equivalent to a B,C,C grade) and they are all unrelated to my current field. Since I finished my Masters Degree, I've not been asked once in three different rounds of looking for new roles about my A-level results. Now I've started looking again, and one of the companies a recruiter put me forward to has come back asking for those results. I don't include them because I have limited space and they are unrelated. My personal opinion of this is very very low. I have two degrees, and a higher level of education than a high percentage of the people I would be interviewing with. I could understand it if I only had a Bachelors, but frankly I think the two highest levels of education is all that is necessary for an employer to know. As I mentioned before my results were not great, and I understand that this company is asking for them on some basis of "consistent high level of academic achievement" or some such. I am aware that my results at that level may be affecting my viewpoint on this, but I feel justified in stating that out of principle I will be withdrawing from their process for having asked for these results. I do not mind disclosing the results, but as above I think it is actually quite rude, implying I have a Mickey Mouse education. How do I deal with this in line with my principles, whilst maintaining professionalism? Should I just state that I am withdrawing from the process with no further explanation needed? P.S. I'm not concerned about any future relationship with the company that the job listing was for, after they asked about this, but it would probably be unwise to get on a recruiter blacklist <Q> You said, I think it is actually quite rude, implying I have a Mickey Mouse education. <S> As much as you're entitled to your opinion, that strikes me as reading far too much in to what they've asked. <S> Some employers ask the same things of all candidates, no matter the position, and they may not even consider the information important in every case. <S> In other words, they might not even care what the results were. <S> Further, you may actually have an opportunity to turn your bad results into a good story. <S> Instead of seeing the bad results as a negative, take the opportunity to talk about how you've been able to learn and grow since then. <S> You've made significant achievements since those results. <S> You've been able to set educational goals, and achieve them. <S> Many people who receive bad marks on standard tests just resign themselves to having been flagged as "not good learners" and never bother to achieve more. <S> You've overcome that! <S> It's a great story. <S> That said, the question near the end of your text is, <S> How do I deal with this in line with my principles, whilst maintaining professionalism? <S> Should I just state that I am withdrawing from the process with no further explanation needed? <S> It sounds like you've made your mind up about not liking this employer, so you should just withdraw. <S> There's no reason to give them a reason - most employers won't actually expect to be told why a candidate withdraws. <S> Giving them extra details won't change your personal outcome, so there's no reason to do that. <A> How do I deal with this in line with my principles, whilst maintaining professionalism? <S> Should I just state that I am withdrawing from the process with no further explanation needed? <S> When you are asked a question in an application/interview process, the best thing to do is to provide the answer to the question. <S> If the question goes against your principles, then you can respectfully decline to answer and withdraw from the process. <A> My personal opinion of this is very very low <S> I don't think this is necessarily insulting to you or your education. <S> It could be that they are interested in your profile, and want a more detailed understanding of your education and professional career. <S> It could also be that they are using this as a tie-breaker between you and other candidate(s)... <S> I am aware that my results at that level may be affecting my viewpoint on this, but I feel justified in stating that out of principle I will be withdrawing from their process for having asked for these results. <S> Perhaps it is affecting your viewpoint on this... <S> personally I wouldn't take this as a factor to withdraw my application, but the one that matters here is you and how you feel about this. <S> How do I deal with this in line with my principles, whilst maintaining professionalism? <S> Should I just state that I am withdrawing from the process with no further explanation needed? <S> Well, this one is simple. <S> They are asking for those grades. <S> If you wish to proceed with the application you have to provide them. <S> PD: <S> Again, I don't see how this can be intended as an insult to you. <S> Unless this is reaaaly <S> a no-go for you <S> , I would consider submitting my A grades and see how it goes on from there. <S> It would make few sense to give much relevance to the grades you got freshly out of school versus your other superior education degrees (and if they did, perhaps you dodged a bullet on this one). <A> These guys are checkbox tickers. <S> They have a list and what it completed. <S> I recently got offered a job, and HR insisted on my A levels as well as my masters degree, PhD and work recommandation letters after being in the workforce for more than a decade. <S> This document was almost 25 years old. <S> They didnt look at it, but could check the box. <S> Just submit the thing.
| If you are not willing/able to provide them, for any reason , then the professional course of action would be to withdraw your application (no need to justify yourself), thank them for their time and the opportunity, and continue job-searching elsewhere.
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How to convince HR to display only the new name after a name change? A friend of mine is transsexual. She recently changed her legal name from, let's say, John to Jane. In the company where she works, when somebody changes either their first or last name, the old name is still displayed in brackets next to their last name. So her name in all emails is displayed as "Jane (John) Smith". It stays like this as long as the person works for this company, it's supposed to make it easy for colleagues to find this person if they are not aware of the change. She doesn't want everyone including new colleagues and clients to know than she was called John before, for obvious reasons. What would be the best way to explain that to HR in order to convince them to remove the old name? <Q> What would be the best way to explain that to HR in order to convince them to remove the old name? <S> Precisely the actual reason, which you have also mentioned in the question, i.e.: She doesn't want everyone including new colleagues and clients to know than she was called John before <S> However, the company/HR division may have some kind of internal policy in place to handle name change cases. <S> But it doesn't hurt in talking this through with the HR, and requesting them to accommodate the request. <S> At least your friend could request any form of official external communication to curtail the old name. <A> You should be able to negotiate an exception to this rule. <S> However you are probably going to have to make some concessions that address the concerns of HR. <S> The problem from HRs point of view is that people know the name "John Smith", and may know him as a contact with several responsibilities. <S> If those people look in the directory for John Smith and don't find him, then they are going to assume that John Smith left the company, and will have no idea who has taken over his responsibilities. <S> They have no idea that Jane Smith who has recently appeared in the directory is the same person. <S> The least you are going to expect is that someone will have to contact people who might have had dealings with you to tell them about this name change. <S> Depending on your responsibilities this might include people outside the company. <S> And it might not only be people you know about - if someone has given the name "John Smith" as a useful contact to someone else they may have to be told that their contact is now "Jane Smith". <S> Exactly how far this email has to go is going to be a matter for negotiation, but expect there to be some pressure to disseminate it widely. <S> Remember they have already had this discussion with people who are changing their names for reasons they would rather people not know about. <S> But at least this will prevent people who are contacting you for the first time knowing about your change. <A> As a transgender woman, your friend is always in danger of discrimination. <S> A phonebook entry "Jane (John) Smith" tells everyone in the company she is transgender. <S> Totally different from LGB people where the name doesn't give anyone a clue. <S> So everyone in the company who thinks he can prove his manliness or whatever by picking on a transgender woman may now try to do so. <S> So to me it seems quite obvious that publishing her name like that is a really bad idea. <S> It should be enough if she visits HR and tells them that she doesn't want her new and old name, and this reason. <S> If there is resistance to this, then she should tell them that if there are any attacks, any discrimination against her, she will hold HR responsible for this. <S> There may be a company policy, but whoever wrote the policy probably had men and women in mind who are getting married and never thought about this situation. <S> Maybe I didn't make that clear enough. <S> This is not negotiable. <S> The dangers for a transgender woman are real, and HR risks extreme trouble both for the company and personally if they publish her old and new name and something goes wrong. <S> There are no business reasons that would allow HR to put her into danger. <A> I think that one point not being addressed here, is that current employees need to know that her name has changed, in order for them (and, to some extent, her) to continue to do their jobs effectively. <S> If she is in a position where people routinely need to contact her, however, then as well as this should probably be a blanket email from either herself or via HR notifying everyone of this change. <S> I'm speaking here as a colleague of someone who did this exact thing a year ago. <S> She sent out a global email informing people of her new name and gender, stating that she understood that people would take some time to adjust, and would inevitably make mistakes to start with, and that's OK, provided that people at least try to get it right. <S> This sort of thing goes a long way towards helping everybody else adjust, and helps make those first few interactions just that little bit less awkward. <A> Additionally, ask IT to make 2 emailaddresses: John Smith, with an autoresponder "this person (has changed their nameand) can now be reached at Jane Smith" Jane Smith, the account she uses from now on. <S> Now the requirement that people can still find the person are satisfied. <S> People who knew her old name/mailaddress get the necessary information and can update their contact info. <S> People who didn't know Jane before her transition, need not know about John.
| So, I agree with the other answers that HR should be able to bend the rule in this case, and remove the reference to the previous name in email signatures etc.
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On formal emails, is it acceptable to drop the signature block after the first message? I recently noticed that the signature block is usually dropped after the first message sent by anyone in an email correspondence. Is this standard convention? Is it safer to always include a sign-off, or does this risk being too formal? <Q> I would definitely suggest dropping them after the first email from a given participant. <S> In fact, many email clients and even some mail servers have automatic features to do just that. <S> Email chains can get rather long, regardless of whether they are "formal" or not. <S> Once you have a signature in the thread their job is done. <S> After that they are noisy and clutter up the thread with redundant and mostly uninformative content. <S> This is especially true for signatures with photos and large, fancy fonts. <S> A smaller signature is usually sufficient once things are going. <S> Example: <S> Sam Smith, Company, Site Operations Coordinator <S> There are cases where I would make an exception: when you are requesting to be contacted directly, or a response may be needed through channels other than email. <S> In those sorts of situations I would add the signature back in, manually if necessary. <A> Something like: -- <S> Haridas Pal Engineer, Company <S> That -- <S> I use <S> is to indicate to the compatible email server / clients to identify that the remaining part is a signature, so if there is a capability to hide the signature part (even the shortened one) by default, it gets hidden. <A> The use and contents of a signature block has lately been directed by corporate policy. <S> The company I work for has specified that the signature block appear in both new messages and replies. <S> They have dictated the information they want us to include in our signature block. <S> Other than corporate policy <S> there is no standard. <S> Some never include a signature block, others only on new messages, and others on every message. <S> My preference has developed of time to use as compact a block that meets the corporate policy, and include it on all messages. <S> It is frustrating when you are added in the middle of the chain and a key person early in the chain didn't include their email/phone in a signature block because their message was a reply. <A> Does this risk being too formal? <S> The risk isn't so much that you'll come across as too formal. <S> The risk is that this is unreasonable formality. <S> The formality in itself isn't the problem - it's that you're using it inappropriately and excessively, and it's getting in the way of communication. <S> This is about email, but the lesson to take from this is broader: the somewhat arbitrary protocols of formality are fine in measure. <S> Using them shows professionalism, mutual respect, and manners. <S> But if you start letting them get in the way of getting work done, it flips, and it's not a good look at all. <S> It comes off <S> unprofessional, inefficient, perhaps even incompetent if taken to extremes.
| Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to drop the longer signature and use a shortened version to sign off. Using reasonable formality is generally always the safer bet when communicating in the workplace.
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How to "sell" a longer orientation in your resumé I am applying at the moment for an unpaid internship and I have a bumpy resumé: At high-school I was not good at maths and we were not educated in STEM fields except of biology. So I started to study languages which I didn't like, I switched over to cultural science and also didn't like it. Ending up with the conclusion that I want to learn "solid" science I taught myself high school and college mathematics - so I switched over to physics, I passed a few courses with good grades, I have made two internships and received excellent job references from the companies via letter. But I wasn't happy with physics either - I was happy to finally be in the STEM Field but physics was a little too abstract and I wanted to work in a more practical field. You can call me undecided at this point, but I see it more like that I was never in touch with STEM field and brought myself here by fixing my lack of knowledge on my own. So having all this opportunities in STEM field was something opening up to me lately in life, while others have this taught in school. I didn't want to switch subjects again because I was afraid to do so. After a longer period of time at which I performed poorly and became more and more unhappy at physics - I switched over to mechanical engineering at which I am totally happy. So now I have to apply for an internship and I already received some offers. They now want to have all the documents and I am afraid that my resumé seems like a certificate of indecision rather than an explainable longer way of orientation. I admit that staying that long in physics because of fear to switch again was a mistake. But nonetheless I am happy at what I am doing right now and I want to follow this path and do the necessary qualifications as this internship. So this is the point I am honestly asking for help on how to explain that resumé when I am handing it out to companies. <Q> So this is the point I am honestly asking for help on how to explain that resumé when I am handing it out to companies. <S> Please don't try to apologize when you're handing out your resume. <S> Don't try to explain it. <S> If you do any of that, I would just throw it in the trash. <S> Assume that your resume is fine. <S> At your age, your demeanor is actually the more important part of the interaction with the recruiter. <A> You are clearly not the best model of I-know-what-I-want, but up to a point, that is normal. <S> My own "path": informatics / programming - electronics and telecommunications - telecommunications - programming - software project management - programming again - requirements engineering and architecture - process engineer - (some change is already at the horizon <S> , I do not know yet what it will be) <S> That is not indecisiveness, it is normal evolutionary path. <S> It took about 30 years, with ups and downs. <S> People sometimes asked me why I went back tp programming after being a manager. <S> Simple - programming is closer to my heart and to my mind than management. <S> After a stressful project as a manager, I went back to "relax". <S> Then I took another challenge. <S> For your case, I would advise the following: <S> stop thinking that the path you took is bad; it is just a path; explain to the companies / recruiters what you explained us here, how all these activities fit together; underline that NOT being on the desired path was not a problem. <S> When you understood that, you were pro-active and went towards the goals that fitted to you. <S> Another example: <S> I had a colleague many years ago. <S> He was a good and respected specialist (I was not close to him, so I am not sure what his job was - programming, electronics engineer, test engineer...; I heard the discussions of the colleagues about his quality of work). <S> He gave up all the engineering in the famous multinational company to go study and follow... geography!! <S> Is he a disaster person for that? <S> Definitely not. <S> Not to me. <S> Another example: many years ago, doing requirements engineering sounded to me like a punishment. <S> Now I see it as a reward, especially if I have the opportunity to it properly. <S> Bottom line <S> : we are not trees, rooted to the ground. <S> If things have to change, we just move ahead. <A> Mechanics and physics aren't that far apart. <S> There are many ways to justify having studied other things before ending in the industry you're currently in, and lucky for you, physics and mechanics are closely related. <S> Moreover, you worked in that field via internships! <S> This is valuable experience that shows you have some knowledge of the workplace. <S> To me you have two choices: either mention all your experiences, even though allegedly unrelated (there are many ways in which your linguistics knowledge could be useful in a work environment). <S> But I would rather opt for the second option, that is to mention all your experience related to physics and mechanics. <S> Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able of fitting all your experiences in a single page (which is the best format for a resume when you're applying for junior positions) and since you want to work in mechanics, you'd rather sell your knowledge and experience with it. <S> If you choose to go for the second option and then the recruiters ask you why there's a gap in your resume, tell them about your previous studies and experiences. <S> Don't be ashamed. <S> There's nothing wrong in trying a few things to figure out what you like. <S> I graduated as an electronics engineer and finished a dozen of projects related to communications and marketing throughout my time in college. <S> I never worked in electronics. <S> I started as a data engineer, I then pursued a career in support for network solutions and now I'm a full-stack DevOps engineer in healthcare. <S> Yet all the things I did before arriving here are helpful for my current position. <S> You have to figure out how to sell that previous experience. <S> If you really want to be crystal clear with the recruiters and mention your whole journey on your resume, you could maybe add a little intro along the lines of "Polymath student aspiring to pursue a career as [insert mechanics related job]". <S> But I'd rather wait for the recruiters to decide if that's worth questioning you about the gap/the different fields during the interview. <A> We all make decisions that we may, in the future, no longer agree with. <S> This stuff happens. <S> People switch careers and degrees all the time to find what they are best suited to both in terms of capability and in mental reward. <S> It is not a black mark against your name. <S> If you need to explain/sell it, you can tell them that while you had an appreciation for theoretical subjects, you found yourself preferring work that had more practical applications, however your experience in the more theoretical field helps you bring X, Y and Z to the table <S> (for example, it may help you understand the mathematical theories that go into mechanical engineering, including perhaps the limitations of said theories)
| I don't think you'll have any trouble explaining how the knowledge you acquired throughout those years could help your current career. Don't try to justify it.
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How would remaining more than two years hurt my future applications (for a junior dev)? Recently I’ve been interviewing with this one company (for the sake of this question, let’s call it company A) to whom I applied last December. I was feeling unvalued at work, so in an act of pure frustration, I started to send some applications. Early January, company A invited for two interviews, which went well. I was told by the recruiter that I would be getting feedback next week (to wether If they would make an offer or not) I’m a Junior dev that’s been on company B for almost two years. This means that I have to give a one month notice period to company B, in case of leaving. After two years, I’m required to give a two month notice. Now, I’m not exactly looking to switch jobs just yet, however I fear that If I go over two years, recruiters won’t be see me as a good candidate, since I have to give a two month notice period. I’m not asking if is good to switch jobs or not, I’m more interested on the recruiters side. So recruiters or hiring managers, how would you feel about getting an application from a junior dev that has to give a two month notice period and if remaining more than two years would that hurt my future applications? More context: I’m a 18-25 year old, and company B is my second job. I remained close to one year and half on my first one, also doing Front-end. <Q> Remaining longer than X at a company typically does not hurt your future chances at other jobs . <S> It's job hoppers (staying regularly for short stints only, less than say 2 or even 1 year) that can get problems from their job history. <S> That's not a total given either, in some specific roles/CVs <S> that's also generally okay (e.g., very project driven roles). <S> If you stay all your life with the same company in the same role that might be a hindrance when finally trying to get another job. <S> However this is also depending on what kind of job it is - it might also be a benefit if the other job is close to what that person did before <S> and he's considered a domain/region expert. <S> And just to be explicit about the notice period: <S> A notice period of 2 months is nothing . <S> Even if it were not the normal notice period in your region, most companies need to plan ahead a lot longer. <S> And if it is the normal period, then you have no mentionable drawback over other candidates. <S> Could there be exceptions where a company takes someone readily available? <S> Sure, but they will be rare <S> , typically it is much more important that the candidate is a good fit and waiting a few months more or less doesn't make much of a difference long-term. <S> This might be a bit more of an issue in short project work, but if you work in that field then you're not under long-term contracts anyway. <A> TL;DR Don't worry about it. <S> I started interviewing new employers after 1.5 years on my first job. <S> My notice period was one month, increasing to three months on the second year. <S> During the course of interviewing my current employer, I crossed that threshold, and so I told the new employer my notice period is now three months. <S> I was just as worried as you are, but this presented no problems whatsoever. <S> I'm employed full-time, not a contractor, so my extended notice period did not impact on their plans. <S> Finding new employees takes a lot of time. <S> Companies understand this, and they're willing to wait for you if they like you. <A> This means that I have to give a one month notice period to company B, in case of leaving. <S> After a two years, I’m required to give a two month notice. <S> I fear that If I go over two years, recruiters won’t be see me as a good candidate, since I have to give a two month notice period. <S> However, most companies are flexible and wouldn't have any issue waiting a little longer to have their preferred candidate start the job. <S> Additionally, the fact you worked in your current/last position for more than two years can be an advantage over someone who's worked less than two years in a single job during the pre-interview screening. <S> Some of the following is dependent on local laws and policies, but some things to consider are: Long notice periods can seem a drag. <S> My first job was longer than five years <S> and I had a three month notice period because of that. <S> But, the notice period also protects you. <S> The company should be giving you two months notice/pay if you're let go. <S> It is also sometimes negotiable - obviously if you resign and ask for a shorter notice period your employer can say no, but you haven't really lost anything. <S> (I once let someone who should have given a month's notice simply finish the week - which was enough time for handover, and she started her new job the next Monday). <S> If they do agree to a shorter notice period, you will only get paid for the time you finish. <S> If you complete the full two months you may still accrue annual leave which should be paid out at the end of the two months. <S> You might even be able to use unused leave to effectively cut short the notice period. <S> Finally, when applying for the job, don't mention the notice period. <S> Wait until they ask for your availability to start (this should hopefully be about the time you are offered the job). <S> And remember, a company prepared to wait for you to start <S> is a company that should appreciate you more than one expecting immediate availability.
| Some companies may hesitate at offering the job to someone who they'd need to wait for.
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Can my employer moderate the use of my personal Twitter? I work for a public entity (public service for a US state government, executive branch), and my field is data science/statistics. In my personal life I am involved in environmentalism, with expertise in energy issues; this is related to my professional work. I am not dogmatic, I don't think my views are extreme, and I am always willing to change my mind if presented with good data and evidence. However, today I was reprimanded for a social media post I made on my personal twitter. The account is not associated with my work. I posted about a very poor bill in my locality that essentially does nothing. It is a status-quo bill that is billed as substantial progress when it literally is repeating things already in stated law. I was, and am, upset that a public official X is pushing this and not trying harder, so I called that official out. I didn't tweet at them, just referenced them. I did not use foul language, crude memes, or anything like that. Just critical words about their work - and no ad hominem. Is it remotely OK for my supervisor's supervisor to prohibit me from making social media posts that name elected officials? On one hand, I feel bad that I may have looked unprofessional in the eyes of management, but on the other I believe ardently in what I said; I believe I was saying the right thing; I believe it is my first amendment right. Yes, I work for a public entity, but I am a citizen outside of work. I should have the right to discuss public issues and public officials outside of hours on my personal account (by the way, I do not have a "work" twitter that could be misconstrued). I am considering raising this to my union. But, I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to handle this with my workplaces' upper management. These are people that I interact with all the time given the profile of my work/visibility of my work despite my relatively lower position. <Q> The workplace I work at has a Social Media Policy, to help out with these kind of cases. <S> It might be worth it to inquire if such a policy exists in your workplace as well. <S> Just because you don't think it's offensive, doesn't mean everyone else thinks so as well. <S> With a few clicks anyone could find out through my LinkedIn for what company I work and as such, things I said on personal basis could reflect badly on my employer. <S> While it's definitely your right to call out public officers, perhaps Social Media is not the medium for you to do this on, as anyone could find out where you work and link your opinion to your employer. <S> So yes, your employer can request you to remove certain Social Media posts as they do not want to be associated with that post. <S> And yes, you also have the right to refuse that. <A> When you work in the public sector, the rules are a bit different. <S> I actually suspended or deleted many of my social network accounts when I did contract work for the government, and I have had family members that had security clearances. <S> Your boss ABSOLUTELY has the right to keep you from engaging in getting involved in politics. <S> In the military, for example, you cannot say a word about elected officials. <S> In addition to that, it's bad form, and can bring attention/consequences not only on you, but on your coworkers and your bosses. <S> This is not a fight you can win, nor is it a hill you want to die on. <S> Work somewhere else if you want to get involved in local politics. <A> Is it remotely OK for my supervisor's supervisor to prohibit me from making social media posts that name elected officials? <S> It depends what you mean by "OK" in this context. <S> If you are asking if they have the right to prohibit these sorts of posts, the answer is probably "Yes", but you need to check your union contract, employee handbook, etc. <S> I am considering raising this to my union. <S> That is exactly the correct approach. <S> Talk with your union rep. <S> Ask if what you are doing is okay from their point of view, and if they will protect you for this sort of activity going forward. <S> If not, stop tweeting about public officials if you value your job. <A> Considering the sad state of fake news media nowadays, here's a headline you should expect. <S> "Data Scientist at State Department of Environment criticizes Mayor Doe for Bill C-999. <S> Here's <S> why you should be concerned" "Climate Change researchers at agency think this bill is problematic" "Employees at Agency X blasts Mayor Doe for ineffective bill" <S> Now your tweet is an official representation of your agency on mayor doe's bill. <A> We live in a world where someone might be forced to pay a £50,000 fine and attend an education course for posting something to a friend on twitter, in which none of the involved took offense neither it was related to their professional capacity in any way. <S> So yes, it looks like we are, as a society, traveling down the path where we consider anything said online to be representative of both ourselves and everything we are associated with. <S> In part there is some logic to it as if you have someone who has a pretty offensive online persona, and anyone can figure out where and to whom that person works for with a couple of clicks, then it could reflect badly on that workplace image the same way it would if you were shouting offensive things in the street in front of a store. <S> Legally, we are waiting for a case to open precedent. <S> There is generally a legal void surrounding the role of our online personas and the impact and responsibility they should bear on our professional capacity. <S> As a bit of general advice, treat any social network as if you were personally saying those things to not only every person you know, but everyone you might ever know. <S> If you do not feel comfortable or believe it is not a good idea saying it, then maybe you should refrain from doing it on a personally identifiable account. <S> You can always create a separate online persona to express your views without fear. <A> You said, <S> Yes, I work for a public entity, but I am a citizen outside of work. <S> I should have the right to discuss public issues and public officials outside of hours on my personal account. <S> Unfortunately, that's not really true. <S> Many question the legality of this sort of social media policy, but the answer to that question is fairly black and white. <S> The First Amendment only prevents the government from limiting your speech, not your employer. <S> Even if the government is your employer, they can still make restrictions on your freedom of speech for matters of public concern (i.e. you commenting on social media about a law or government policy). <S> Your employer is absolutely allowed to fire you for violating these policies, and the policy itself is not illegal. <S> The only situation where you would have a legitimate case for objecting would be if the policy or your firing were discriminatory, which doesn't seem to be the case. <S> So, in terms of your title question, Can my employer moderate the use of my personal Twitter? <S> the answer is basically yes <S> , they can - at least with respect to the details you've presented in this question. <S> You mentioned a union, so you should check with your union to see if there is anything being missed, i.e. a clause in a union contract that changes this policy or states how it can be enforced. <S> Otherwise, it's likely the case that there's not much you can do other than abide by the policy or find another job.
| There has been several cases in my company where someone was asked to remove certain Social Media posts, because they were against the policy.
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In an audio-only conference call, especially with lag, how can participants contribute without interrupting? My workplace team has meetings between remote participants using a group phone call. Each member dials into a number which allows them to voice chat with all other people who have called in. The meetings suffer from the same issues that would affect any group meeting, except in addition, (1) there is a one-second lag between when people begin speaking and when they are heard, and (2) it's more difficult to provide social cues. To expand on my first point: The caller may begin speaking and then a half-second later hear someone interrupt them. The caller may be frustrated at being interrupted, but in fact due to the lag the other caller began speaking first. Other members will hear you second, interrupting. It is sometimes ambiguous whether you are being interrupted. To expand on my second point: It's hard to know when a person is done speaking. It's hard to make it known that you want to begin speaking, or that you want to interject in the conversation, without interrupting. These issues primarily arise with 3+ people. It makes it difficult to have quick and effective discussions. Some coping mechanisms we have developed: Long wait periods between people talking; anticipating when another person will finish talking, and begin talking one-second prior in order to reserve the next speaking position (and awkward results when the prediction fails, or when multiple people do it at once); If I hear someone interrupt me within the first one-second of my beginning to speak, I will immediately state "sorry, please continue." since I will be heard as interrupting them. Although due to the ambiguity, sometimes two people will continue speaking over each other assuming the other will realize they are the interrupter and bow out; Some other mechanisms we haven't tried, but that might be good to explore for a voice meeting: Giving audible social cues for intention to contribute, interrupt, speak next, or finish speaking. The visual equivalent might be raising your hand. Such audio cues could be briefly stating your intention, or maybe pressing the number pad; using an accompanying text chat like Slack or Teams to organize and facilitate mini-conversations; using a different service without lag. How can we organize our audio-only group conference calls so that each participant has the capability to contribute and be heard, without participants stumbling over each other or interrupting one another? <Q> Audio only is going to be very difficult, but have you considered designating a mediator?Combined with a chat service where participants can "raise their hand" it could work. <A> Option 1 Reduce latency in your VOIP setup. <S> (by far my most preferred solution) Option 2 Become a tyrannical moderator. <S> Use a written agenda to assign topics and speakers, either on a shared Google Doc or on Asana . <S> Limit each speaker to 2 minutes or 30 seconds. <S> And teach your team to use this radio lingo when speaking. <S> Over Your message is finished – invitation for others to respond <S> /transmit <S> Out <S> All conversation is finished – no answer is required or expected Ten Four Message received and understood – similar to Roger that or Copy That Break, Break Interruption to a transmission to communicate urgently Wilco <S> I will comply <S> https://www.hytera.us/news/communications-101-a-quick-guide-to-radio-lingo <A> You know, and I know, that one second latency <S> (people hear you one second after you speak) will cause problems. <S> We all do that without thinking about it. <S> This causes problems when in some places people make shorter pauses than in others - that's why a guy from Michigan thinks New Yorker's are rude, and a guy from New York thinks Michigans are slow. <S> Now with a second latency, it all goes completely wrong. <S> So at the start of the conference call remind everyone <S> : We have a connection with one second latency. <S> So take that into account. <S> If you stop talking, stop for a long time. <S> Don't take it as rude if someone interrupts you or speaks at the same time as you, that just happens. <S> Or you have a controller who tells people who is allowed to speak, and everyone speaks only when allowed. <S> If there is video as well, raise hands if you want to speak.
| Typically when we speak we make small pauses to allow people to interrupt, and if nobody interrupts then we continue to speak. It does require some discipline from the participants so that no one interrupts the speaker.
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Adding internships to resumes preemptively Something that I have noticed on LinkedIn is that people add their internships for the summer before they start them. I have found an internship for the summer but am now looking for fall internships and I think that putting it on my resume will make it much stronger but am not sure if putting something I haven't done yet is allowed. What would be the best way to go about this. <Q> If you get called to interview, you should expect to have to answer questions about all the great things you accomplished in this internship you haven't yet done. <S> Expressed more seriously: a résumé is quite literally and by definition a summary of things you've done. <S> As an interviewer, I wouldn't particularly ding an entry-level applicant for this, but I'd suggest you make sure <S> it's very clearly differentiated from the actual-experience information you present. <A> I think that putting it on my resume will make it much stronger but am not sure if putting something I haven't done yet is allowed. <S> What would be the best way to go about this. <S> Generally speaking, posting on your resume something you have not done is deceptive, and something not suggested to do. <S> I would only add something to my resume when I actually finish it. <S> Imagine (hopefully not) that your internship ended before the expected time. <S> Then, having included it on your resume before actually doing it would not be truthful. <A> I'm not sure that Linked <S> In, specifically, has this functionality, but a way to denote this without being deceptive, but to be able to put the link out there earlier rather than later is to say something like: Accepted for (blah blah) internship for Dates X through Y And put it under "other awards/experience" rather than positions you've held. <S> You did, after all, positively attain the offer. <S> And some internships have spiffy program names you can include. <S> As a side thought ... I wonder what use it is to do internships back to back in this way...? <S> Back in my day (boy, do I feel old!?) <S> - if it was separate internships, there was some terms of school work in between, the idea being that you work a little, it gives you some useful experiences, you build on that with your studies, rinse and repeat. <S> If it's purely that you need you need to get X terms/months of internships accredited to you to graduate, then also think about a 6 month internship over a 3 month one - you'll get better, deeper experience from that, and something more meaningful to talk about in job applications. <S> At lease in engineering, I know bunches of places that would also prefer 6 months, for the same reason - you get more value out of the time with the person. <S> I never had the issue you mentioned, as I did <S> ~1 internship per year, so I could talk about my past internship when interviewing for the next one.
| It is out of place to list things you have not done.
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Is a appropriate to greet someone as they are leaving the washroom? In the morning, I typically greet every coworker I see with a simple "good morning" or they will greet me first in such a way. Say I'm walking to my desk and a coworker happens to leave the washroom right in front of me, should I say "hello/good morning" or is that awkward? I ask because I have greeted coworkers in such a situation but never get a reply back. Whereas if I greeted the same person in the lunchroom or at their desk, they would reply. <Q> This is a very cultural thing and also gender-based <S> I am a male Canadian, born and raised. <S> My father's side of the family (the side my bathroom norms would come from) has been here since before we became a country. <S> Greeting someone exiting the washroom is strange to me. <S> My co-workers who are American or even European have never done it either. <S> I don't really know why it is not done, but it is not done. <S> Jamaicans also do not seem to converse in or near bathrooms. <S> But then co-workers from other continents will start conversations while both of us are at the urinal. <S> We can both be peeing and they will casually ask how my part of the project is going. <S> Women will go to the washroom in groups, so these norms just appear to apply to men. <S> Say I'm walking to my desk and a coworker happens to leave the washroom right in front of me <S> , should I say "hello/good morning" or is that awkward? <S> I adapt my behavior to what others initiate. <S> Someone wants to say hi in and out of the washroom, I am fine with that. <S> If they want to completely avoid others, that is fine as well. <A> I'm assuming that you are fairly new to the company. <S> In that case, and in any event, do what others do. <S> If "no one" greets others as they leave the washroom, don't do that either. <S> Based on your comment that people don't greet you leaving the washroom, but do greet you elsewhere, the latter appears to be the case. <A> should I say "hello/good morning" or is that awkward? <S> It is not important what we think but is important what the person who you greet think. <S> If you do not know before hand <S> and you still want to be polite, you can simply smile and look away and continue with your walk in or out of washroom.
| If "greeting people as they leave the washroom" is commonplace, then feel free to do the same. In your case, if they felt awkward, then just do not do it. This really depends on where you are located and what your co-workers are like.
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Fired after 1 year and 7 months as a junior developer for lacking soft skills, how to sell myself again? I didn't get my contract renewed. The final motivation was lacking soft skills such as: Being able to understand the requirements and asking questions if something is not clear Being proactive and able to negotiate / propose ideas when discussing the requirements during sprint refinements I was told that my technical skills were fine but that the most important thing for my job was not to have technical skills, rather being reliable and thinking from a client perspective (e.g, thinking about the delivery). This happened for a junior position after being criticised for 8 months. I recognised the problems and tried to improve, but in my opinion the manager didn't see my improvements, and his negative bias prevented him from having a clear view on my performance. And frankly, I think that even small problems were perceived as gigantic, and at some points he was just counting my mistakes without considering my positive contributions. But now the question is: how to sell myself again to other companies? how is it bad for a company a junior who was fired after only 1 year and 7 months? I have a few options: Don't mention my first job in the curriculum at all. Maybe I would get more chances than if I mentioned this first experience? Deliberately lie and claim that I was fired because my company had too many juniors and not enough seniors, which is true but it is definitely not the reason why I got fired -> what about the risk that they find out if they contact my previous company? Sugarcoated and slightly altered version of the facts: 'my company had too many juniors and not enough seniors, so they had to fire someone. They opted for me because I lacked soft skills' Full story: I have to explain my shortcomings and demonstrate that I have turned this negative story into a learning experience. But also point out that in my opinion I didn't deserve to be fired Maybe there is another option that I didn't see? in any case, what would you choose and what suggestions can you give me to sell myself again and land a new job? <Q> Obligatory Disclaimer: <S> I am mildly autistic (Asgerger's Syndrome) and had HORRIBLE soft skills. <S> The best thing you can do is to buy and read a book on salesmanship. <S> Every last soft skill you mentioned is covered in closing sales. <S> Well, my soft skills have gotten in my way in the past, and were the principle reason my previous contract ended. <S> To address this, I've been boning up on my soft skills by reading xyz. <S> For a junior, getting let go after more than a year and a half is not a badge of shame. <S> I was once let go after 3 days. <S> It happens, and everyone has a story. <S> Future employers will not think it a big deal if you do not think of it as a big deal. <S> The important thing to do is to address those weaknesses. <S> and improve. <S> Any book on closing sales is good, but I also recommend the following: How to Win Friends and Influence People <S> By Dale Carnegie <S> Brag, the Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing it by Peggy Klaus <S> The Hard Facts About Soft Skills by Richard Anthony Celestin Esq <A> You asked, <S> But now the question is: how to sell myself again to other companies? <S> The same way everyone else does (ideally): Be honest, but filter your message to help focus on your strengths and your fitness for the job. <S> For this particular situation, if you felt the need to elaborate, your fourth option is probably the best: <S> Full story: I have to explain my shortcomings and demonstrate that I have turned this negative story into a learning experience. <S> Although, leaving off the last part is a good idea: employers don't like it when candidates blame their past employer, because it makes you look like someone who is likely to blame them <S> the next time something goes wrong. <S> But, if something negative does come up in the interview, it's always a good idea to: <S> show that you actually understand that this thing is negative show that you're able to put effort into improving your negative trait <S> show that your improvement efforts worked <S> So, if you do have examples where you were able to do a good job of being proactive in requirements negotiations, you can have one of those stories ready to go. <S> If you feel that you still have growing to do, make sure you put effort into growing, regardless of how your job search goes. <S> One of the most desirable types of employee is an employee that goes out of their own way to improve themselves. <S> Even the "best" employee won't be a good long term employee if they're totally stagnant, but someone who's always growing will always be a good bet. <S> But, all that said, telling a new employer <S> "I was fired because I have no soft skills" is almost certainly a bad level of detail. <S> Since you mentioned your contract ended, it is fair to simply present that: tell the employer that you're looking for a new job because your last job was on a contract basis and the contract ended. <S> If they push for details, be ready with the advice given above. <A> Your options 1 to 4 are about equally bad. <S> You can't ignore a job that you stayed in for 1 1/2 years in your CV. <S> And saying you were fired is bad, as is telling about lack of soft skills. <S> Let's first clear up why your contract wasn't renewed: There is the Being able to understand the requirements and asking questions if something is not clear <S> Have there been situations where you went off and did the completely wrong thing because you didn't understand the requirements and didn't ask questions when something wasn't clear? <S> That would be a problem if it happened more than once. <S> The other reasons are bull____. <S> There is no need for everyone to be deeply involved with sprint refinements. <S> It's nice, but not needed. <S> " <S> Thinking from a client perspective" is equally bull____. <S> "Thinking from the client perspective" is your PM's job, not yours. <S> As a junior developer, if you do as you're told, don't make too many mistakes, and you learn and improve, everything should be fine. <S> Now you were told about the importance of being reliable <S> Were you unreliable? <S> How so? <S> That could be a reason not to renew your contract. <S> But then it is quite possible that the company employed too many people and somebody had to go, and your boss didn't like you. <S> So don't beat yourself up. <S> Present yourself in the best possible light without lying. <S> So in your CV you put where you worked for 19 months, what you did (without company specific details) <S> , what you learned, what experience you have. <S> No need to put anything negative there. <S> If you have to discuss your previous job in an interview: You worked for 19 months, your manager was happy with your technical skills, but your contract wasn't renewed. <S> Might be because there was a large number of junior developers compared to senior developers.
| Bring the new and improved you to your next job. Develop those skills, and when you get hit with the obligatory "What is your greatest weakness" you can answer: But also point out that in my opinion I didn't deserve to be fired
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Is it a red flag if the candidate seems indifferent and unenthusiastic during the interview? I have recently conducted a technical interview for a junior developer position with a candidate who is switching projects within our company. The candidate proved to be quite competent on technical aspects, however the manager who took part in the interview, has expressed concerns that the candidate seemed quite indifferent and unenthusiastic during the interview. I am fairly new to conducting interviews so I didn't pay as much attention to the candidate's attitude as to theirs technical knowledge. However when the manager expressed his concerns to me I realized that I noticed that too. During the interview the manager asked the candidate almost point blank regarding their lack of enthusiasm noting that the interview is a two way street and they should decide whether our project seems right for them. The candidate replied that they were disappointed by their previous project were they had their internship (payed). The trouble is that we can't tell for sure whether this is a problem with the previous project or candidate's attitude. I've also remembered that I've worked with people that seemed constantly demotivated and it wasn't very pleasant or useful to the team. So here is the question: Is such an attitude a red flag and how much it should be taken into account while making hiring decision? Q: Can you be more clear about what "indifferent and unenthusiastic" means? A: I would describe their attitude as "cold" and not expressing much emotions. I try to be more friendly and welcoming to reduce the tension during the interview by being more verbose and passionate about the subject and joking occasionally (even though I'm an introvert myself). Sure, I don't expect everyone to laugh at my jokes but the candidate didn't really return any emotions. The manager also tried to get them talking about whether our project would interest them and how they would like to grow professionally, but the candidate gave very short and reserved answers which left us kind of clueless regarding their priorities. After the interview when the manager expressed his concerns I realized that it might indeed be uncomfortable for me to work with this person if they would behave like this on a daily basis. Another important piece of information is that I happen to have a friend working on candidate's previous project who confirmed that the candidate's behavior seemed a bit "weird" to them when they interacted on the project but it wasn't always like that . <Q> Maybe. <S> That's why some interviewers ask questions like: <S> What made you really feel enthusiastic at your old work? <S> What are you feeling enthusiastic about? <S> Why do you work in IT? <S> What do you like about IT? <S> Some people just want enough money to not starve. <S> Or care about their family. <S> Or have a hobby that is more important than anything else in live. <S> I have found that a two edged sword in the past. <S> Pro:They don't mind "boring" tasks or which technologies they work with. <S> As long as general conditions like working hours are good and they can care about their real interest, they are happy enough about work. <S> Con:Don't expect the extra mile. <S> Don't expect going to meetups in their spare time. <S> Don't expect reading technical books or watching technical videos (like conference talks) in their spare time. <S> Don't expect initiative to change technology/methodologies or something like that. <S> Most importantly: Don't expect them to question decisions/requirements. <S> So, what do you need/want? <S> Or what can you handle?In a one-man show, this is a no-go. <S> In a team of 5? <S> This guy could be a nice addition. <S> Depending upon a lot of circumstances, so you should judge that. <S> And lack of enthusiasm and demotivation aren't exactly the same thing. <S> If somebody just shows up for work and does his job, that's one thing. <S> He is likely in it for the money, nothing else. <S> If somebody shows up and complains all the time and just doesn't want to do anything, that's a different thing. <A> It's problematic. <S> It is possible that your candidate was given bad advice about how to behave in an interview. <S> "Don't show emotions, they won't like that. <S> Don't seem overly enthusiastic". <S> That could be the reason. <S> Ask about that. <S> It could be how the person was raised. <S> If you ever watched Kimi Räikkönen in an interview, it was hard work getting anything other than "yes" and "no" out of him, and he was as enthusiastic in his job as everyone else. <S> And better than most. <S> Not that you would know it watching him. <S> So: Candidate from Finland -> this behaviour is absolutely normal. <S> In my experience enthusiasm helps you an awful lot to get a job. <S> So whether you are naturally enthusiastic or not, you should be so in your interview. <S> So this person is not very good at interviewing. <S> But you don't want someone who is good at interviewing, you want someone who is good at a job. <A> If you feel that candidate doesn't care, you can try to find what they do care about. <S> Maybe they only care about Dungeons&Dragons and use job to pay for it (which is OK). <S> Another source of information is recommendation letters, which should not be too hard to get within company. <S> That being said... <S> The candidate proved to be quite competent on technical aspects , however the manager who took part in the interview, has expressed concerns that the candidate seemed quite indifferent and unenthusiastic during the interview <S> The goal of the interview is to determine two things (broadly): <S> How capable is the candidate to perform tasks (skill fit) <S> How well will they communicate with others when necessary <S> (culture fit) <S> These things are connected, as highly skilled employee can bring work to a halt through bad interpersonal relationships. <S> You need to decide (and we can't decide for you from your post) <S> whether the candidate is skillful and socially apt enough for the job. <A> Is such an attitude a red flag and how much it should be taken into account while making hiring decision? <S> Of course, it's a red flag. <S> Your candidate was selling his skills to you in the interview. <S> You were the customer , and your candidate was the salesman . <S> Your candidate was expected to do marketing on himself as best as he could in the interview, but the candidate made no attempt. <S> Would you like to buy from a shop if the sales couldn't convince you why you'd pay for a product?
| Perhaps their personality is phlegmatic and they not going to show enthusiasm in front of strangers toward anything. So think very carefully about how you think this person will do in the actual job.
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I am a new employee and HR is picking on me. How to establish myself as un-bullyable early on? I recently started a job at an engineering company and I am the only female on my team. I have the impression that the female HR manager is trying to put me down. She never does this to the newbie guy who started with me, or any of the men at the company, in fact she shows them lots of respect. But I've seen her put down other female workers that are younger than her. It seems like a power trip. It's mostly really stupid things that in the beginning I just rolled my eyes at, but lately I've been dreading going to work because of it. For example, I worked very late one evening because we had to finish off a major project for a well-paying, important client. That evening I didn't put my coffee mug in the dishwasher as it was already running. So instead I put it in when I came in the next morning (Shocker, right?). But in the afternoon I get an email with a photo of that mug sitting on my desk, taken before I came into the office that morning (so before 8 am), and a stupid rhetorical question along the lines of: "Weren't you raised to clean up after yourself?" BTW, company has no official dish policy. I have no interest in drama whatsoever, and I am starting to think about leaving my job because of it. But I like literally everything else about it and I get on well with everyone on my team. My boss is happy with my work and I don't think he gives two shits about the dishes. Unfortunately, she is the only HR person at the company so I can't go to HR. How do I change my attitude in a way that makes it less fun for her to put me down? There are definitely those people who expel that "don't waste my time with that irrelevant shit"-vibe. How do I assert myself as one of those? <Q> The simplest approach is to completely ignore, not even an eye roll, anything that can be ignored. <S> If you get an inappropriate e-mail, file it, with notes on the circumstances, but otherwise act as though you never got it. <S> If she does something that cannot reasonably be ignored, discuss with your boss. <S> You can frame it as asking how to deal with the issue. <A> Werent you raised to clean up after yourself? <S> For the record, if I'm working alone very late at night and if the dishwasher is already running, I will continue to leave my mug in the sink until I can get to it before 8 <S> am the next day. <S> If that's a problem for you, there is no need to insult me, nor is there is any need to insult my parents, you can just change the dishwashing policy. <S> Right now, there is no official dishwashing policy to speak of. <S> There is nothing posted in the kitchen (nor is there anything written in the employee manual). <S> How to establish myself as un-bullyable early on? <S> If she ever insults you after this, whether it's in private or in public, you can just say: Me: "We've already talked about this." <S> Bully: " <S> Talked about what?" <S> Me: " <S> This is a workplace. <S> There is no need to insult me. <S> There is no need to insult my parents. <S> There is no need to insult anyone. <S> If you have a problem, there are better ways to handle it. " <S> Rehearse that last paragraph in your head. <S> Don't be afraid to repeat it as many times as necessary any time she tries to insult you (or makes a negative remark about you that is either unconstructive or demeaning). <A> What you should think is "f <S> *** them, bloody idiots". <S> I worked at one place where rumourwise no woman looking better than the female HR manager had any chance of getting a job. <S> Since she is picking on woman younger than her, jealousy is absolutely a possibility, one that you should feel free to share. <S> Your email to that person, CC'd to your manager, should be: "For the record, I was working until 11pm finishing work for a very important client. <S> My manager ordered me to leave and go home as soon as that work was finished, without any cleaning up. <S> If you think that putting mugs into the dishwasher is more important than finishing work for very important clients, then please talk to my manager. " <S> An email from HR is only confidential for you - you can feel to show it to anyone. <S> If I was a colleague and you showed me the original email I would think "what a tool" about that HR person. <S> And I'd conduct an experiment and leave my mug out :-) <S> So don't let yourself be bullied. <S> Anything happening, say to yourself "that's just a jealous woman" and share with your colleagues, and then you all have a good laugh about it. <A> This is one of those 'how do I get someone to have a different personality' questions that we regullarly get on here. <S> unfortunately there isn't usually an easy way. <S> The bully has a pattern of behaviour and protection from management, unless she is aware of her fault and wants to change, it will be difficult to stop this. <S> Bullies usually require heavyweight leverage to change their behaviour, such as legal threats, union support on the victims part etc. <S> Often their behaviour changes but not the underlying personality. <S> I've seen bullies transfer their intimidation from person to person as one victim either leaves or lawyers up. <S> Having a valid answer and changing dishwashing policies etc. will not change the bully. <S> In the end you will either have to live with it, hope she changes victim, <S> get help from a union/lawyer or leave the job. <A> CC the HR person, and say that you don't want to upset anyone with your coffee cup usage anymore. <S> make sure you sound like you are doing this for the good of the company <S> and you are genuinely sorry for breaking company rules. <S> No one at a small/mid sized company has time or energy to write a doc about something so mundane, so your boss will likely just tell HR to not bother people about coffee cups anymore. <S> But at the same time tech bosses have to say they like documentation and written policy <S> , so your boss won't think poorly of you for wanting documentation. <S> This sends a direct message to HR that if they don't want to get higher ups roped into her shenanigans she shouldn't mess with you. <S> I did this a couple of times to my company's single HR person because she kept treating me like one of our assembly line workers despite being our company's senior EE, and she hasn't bugged me in years.
| Email your boss and ask for a formal written rules document on office coffee cup disposal policies. If HR is bullying you, you should absolutely not be thinking about leaving. It isn't about a specific behaviour, it's finding any reason they can to pick on a victim.
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How to handle product manager that ignores others opinion Right now I'm product owner of a software product with other 3 developers, an architect and a product manager. I'm concerned that the product manager is too focused on having the product on time, up to the point that is affecting the technical quality and even our ability to deliver on time. For example: when discussing how to implement a new feature we presented several options for discussion. When I mentioned that option Red would give us other features for free she jumped in saying than then we must ignore it, because we must deliver soon. She ignored the fact that Red was too the simplest/faster/safer to implement and test. on the same meeting, I presented the option Blue, the favorite of our architect (he was on vacations). But ten seconds into it she mention too complex, we have to deliver soon and asked for next. I discovered that we inherited a component with "warnings disabled". After panicking I wrote three stories for fixing it, and sent a mail to the team to discuss how to handle it. But on the meeting she started yelling no no no, that it wasn't a feature to deliver and that why I'm writing those things... We didn't discussed the issue, and it goes to the bottom of backlog, although our architect mentioned after that it was important there is nothing we can do about it. And everything in a single week, and I don't know how to handle it, both personally (I'm having nightmares and sleep issues because of this) and at work. I guess that I could discuss it with my manager but I'm not sure it is a good idea. <Q> Try to have split meetings. <S> One is discussing how you do it, another is what you do it. <S> It's hard for people to get used to it at first, but splitting this allows you exploring and finding better solutions. <S> If you spend 1h per week on this, and save 1 day per week, you have a great payoff! <S> And make sure to always examine this in sum. <S> Because of course, during this creative session you will have stupid ideas that get sorted out. <S> That's fine and expected. <S> If this doesn't help, a PM and a PO even may not make technical decisions. <S> The PM requests features/qualitiy benchmarks (performance, security focus, reliability, etc...). <S> Sometimes you have to enforce that a PM doesn't get a say for certain decisions, he may only influence the input parameters. <S> How important are development speed, reliabilty, etc...? <S> The team then decides. <A> Document, document, document. <S> So when your product fails to be delivered on time, which seems quite likely, then the finger points straight at the product manager. <S> If your product is in any way security related (and any product is) then compiling a component with warnings disabled is a recipe for disaster. <S> I'd talk to QA that they should demand that this doesn't happen. <S> And why on earth is your product manager deciding how a feature is implemented? <S> Surely that should be done by the architect and developers? <A> First make sure you are giving the PM all the information they need in a way they understand it. <S> So for your first example you said that you presented option Red, and said the benefit was that it gave you other features for free, at which point the PM rejected it. <S> Did you also make it clear that it was the fastest way to deliver the feature? <S> Or did you take their rejection at face value and move on. <S> You should definitely make sure the PM has all the information they need. <S> In fact, since it is obviously clear that the PM's priority is speed of delivery, you should have presented Red as the fastest way to get the feature, and saved anything about getting a free feature for second mention. <S> In the second case, what did you present as the reasons for the architect's preference? <S> Saying "it's the architect's favourite" doesn't mean anything. <S> You have to give the reasons they like it. <S> Is it fast to develop? <S> Does it lay the foundation for future work? <S> Is it more secure? <S> Something like <S> "It may seem complex <S> but it's actually a fast way to develop." <S> Thirdly, developers are responsible for code quality. <S> If Option A will take three weeks to deliver a feature but it will be good quality, and Option B will allow delivery in two weeks but terrible quality and take four weeks to reasonable quality, give them the 4 week estimate for option B. <S> If you are pushed say that it could be done in two weeks, but they must then have a two-week cleanup period. <S> All this assumes the PM is not managing your technical activities at a day-to-day level, in which case you just need to do what they say.
| Try to explain that when you let your creative energies go wild, you may find optimal/faster solutions you wouldn't otherwise find.
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Accepted a job in a new city, but then badly injured my leg. My doctor told me not to move now. What does professionalism require? I am a software engineer in one of the big tech hubs in Canada who was poised to move across the country to the other. A couple of months ago, I accepted a new job with a firm there to start in the middle of February. However, I badly injured my left shin and ankle back in November. I hoped it would be better, but my doctor told me that it needs more time and potentially surgery if things do not improve. Well, it has not improved and I am in the middle of booking various medical treatments and additional physiotherapy. I live with my parents in this city, so I don't need to do anything in terms of mobility. They can get groceries and packages for me and we live in the suburbs, so deliveries come straight to the door. They can make the big meals for me as it is hard for me to stand for more than a few minutes. I am still capable of working for my current employer as my existing job requires nothing of me than that I code and being a progressive workplace, has all the accessibility requirements met like elevators and large desks. They also moved the standups to the closer boardroom. It also works because my father has a job nearby and can drop me at the door every morning in his car. This job also pays for all the drugs and physio, something I wouldn't get right away with the new company. In the new city, I would not have this level of support. My current condition does not allow me to drive and the new city is very dense and getting to the job will require transit and I cannot walk very far even with the crutches. I can't even drag a suitcase behind me in my current state, so I am not exactly sure how I would move. If I shipped my goods via Fedex, I am not sure I could get them into my prospective condo if they left them at the front desk. I also have no medical network there. I informed them of this potential problem early on (late December) and told them that I may have to delay my start date. Their response was that "plenty of people come to work on crutches and painkillers." I felt somewhat guilty for making excuses, so I got a perscription for painkillers and those allowed me to somewhat walk on the leg at the cost of a lot of extra swelling when I do that. I can live with it if needed. My doctor has a very dim view of all this. His view is that I need to stay in the city until at least mid April unless I want to limp forever. Historically he has overestimated things because he has been my doctor since I was 3, but even if I changed it to end of March, that is still a big shift. How do I handle this with the company? It is a bit awkward explaining how my current employer works because of my city but not a different employer in another city. <Q> Given the way your issue has been handled by each company, I'd be revisiting the decision to leave. <A> Accepted a job in a new city, but then badly injured my leg. <S> My doctor told me not to move now. <S> What does professionalism require? <S> Give your new employer the worst possible April estimate (or a May estimate <S> in case it takes you a couple of weeks to move cities once you're able to). <S> Clearly, your doctor knows better than you do. <S> You've been super foolish thus far trying to walk on that leg. <S> And you're gearing up to do the same foolish thing again (because of some weird narrative you've constructed in your mind about your family doctor). <S> If you keep on ignoring your doctor's advice, it probably won't be until December that you recover. <S> It is a bit awkward explaining how my current employer works because of my city but not a different employer in another city. <S> Do not volunteer more information than you need to right now. <S> Just tell them your physical predicament and provide a picture of the doctor's note, so that they can verify it if they want to. <S> If this issue of your end date comes up during your reference check, then explain it at that time. <S> But personally, I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. <S> After seeing the doctor's note, no one is going to ask you anything. <A> The professional thing to do is to keep your new employer informed of all the advice your doctor gives you as well as what you decide to do in accordance with that advice. <S> Since you haven't even started, asking for a temporary remote position might be a tough sell, but it's worth asking for. <S> You can still do 1-on-1 learning though conference calls and video chat. <S> There are ways to share screens and code <S> so you aren't completely in the dark as to what's going on. <S> This isn't a "magic pill" to solve all the problems you're facing, but it's something to show them that you are still interested in the position. <S> If they agree, you know they are still interested in having you as well as knowing they are willing to work with you during situations like this. <S> Not every company allows remote work, especially for a new employee, so it may not work. <S> Don't let them bully you into coming sooner than your doctor allows. <S> If this means the job disappears, then feel lucky you aren't stuck in a possibly toxic work environment, where they don't let you take time off for personal health reasons. <S> Granted, you haven't started yet, but it's a clue as to their normal mindset. <S> There are definitely times when an employer needs the new hire immediately or they otherwise can't wait months for the new hire, however, this isn't something that you did on purpose or are just "on the fence" about the job. <S> A reasonable employer will let you delay your start date a reasonable amount of time. <S> A month or two shouldn't be unreasonable due to the circumstances. <S> More than that becomes tougher to determine. <S> If they are willing to work with you on any of this, that's a good sign <S> this is a decent employer. <S> Maybe they can't wait, so see if they are amicable with you applying for another position when you finally get healed enough to make the move. <S> Even if they say it's ok, don't be surprised if you don't get that job, though. <S> The hiring manager might be different and HR might (likely will) have a different view on the situation. <S> Good luck <S> and I hope things work out for you in a positive manner!
| Professionalism requires that you follow your doctor's directions. A supportive company is often worth more than a couple of dollars in the paycheck.
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Feeling marginalized work-wise. What should I do? To better explain, I mean marginalized in terms of tasks assigned, and not socially marginalized. I will further explain the situation. Now, to give a better background: I started an internship in embedded at this company in july that lasted for 4 months. In november, I started my job as full time. Now, as far as the job post and interview are, the requirements were pretty clear and that pleased me. Thing is, for the whole internship, me and the other 3 interns did nothing else but writing automated test cases in Python. Was a bit of a let down for me, but I said it's fine for now, since it's an internship, and it's also my very first job, so I rolled with it. Fast forward and I got into full time. From 4 people, only me and another guy got hired. The other guy, already by the end of the internship, got switched to development for a quite important feature, alongside a junior dev. I, remain still, as of today, just tasked for fixing failing automated tests, and nothing else. I noticed that I kind of am kept away from development on the current project, since my senior (which was supervising us in the internship) and my project leader seem to really avoid giving me anything that is not related to automation testing, hence is why I even spend at times, hours without anything to do, since automated test cases don't fail all the time. I am a bit frustrated by this. The job was clearly in embedded, and not for an automation testing engineer. Maybe I'm not seeing something in the picture, maybe I'm just stupid since I'm a noob in the industry. I feel like an idiot since everyone is busy with development tasks, while I'm the only one in my team doing what I do. At the end of the internship, I spoke about this to my supervisor and my project manager. Let's say that they all went with the "eventually you will..." thing, but nothing changed so far. Have you ever encountered such a situation? What would you do in my place? Is it my fault? I'm really confused and frustrated honestly. I apologize for the long post. Thank you. <Q> It may be the case that the group just needs someone to deal with automated tests for the time being, and you drew the short straw (so to speak). <S> On the other hand, it may be that you were seen as being good enough to bring on board -- <S> you were hired, after all, while half of your intern group was not -- you have some skills that need to improve in order to be trusted with higher-risk work. <S> The only way to find out is to ask. <S> So ask, explicitly, what's up. <S> But make sure when you ask you phrase it appropriately -- positively and forward-looking. <S> Not: "I'm unhappy that I have to work on this crummy stuff, <S> why did I get stuck doing it?" <S> but rather: "I would like the opportunity to work on that cool stuff <S> , what do I have to do in order to get such an opportunity?" <A> I read your complete post and I do understand your situation. <S> According to me, there are multiple things you can do in this situation: <S> Start interacting with your leads and managers and try to develop a friendly and healthy relationship with them. <S> That is very important in the place you're working. <S> Request your lead to put you on a development project <S> (tell him that even a small project or some modules of a project will also do). <S> When you have nothing to do, try to develop some useful code which you can discuss with the lead so that he/she will come to know your interest and will be confident for you. <S> Apart from the job, enhance your skills with courses, certifications and boot camps. <S> I hope my advice helps. <S> Thank you. <A> Seems like your senior trusts you with writing test cases more than he could afford you to put into something else. <S> That's a very common practice in software industry. <S> I had the same situation where I was put into some technology stack that I wasn't too keen on working and barely ever had work. <S> So I proposed to my manager that I find myself often available and not doing anything, give me another task alongside this one. <S> This way I didn't give any kind of bad impression since I didn't reject my current tasks. <S> He actually liked the idea and I was pulled into another project that was much more interesting. <S> Eventually, through my sweet talking, performance & workload, I convinced my manager to put me into the other technology for full time. <S> If this doesn't suit well to your situation, you can always utilize your free time and research on things you want.
| If you develop your skills, you can switch the job where you can get better opportunities.
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How can I warn another team that the boss is going to call them out? Here's what has happened so far: Team X is supposed to do something for us, and the timing was kind of vaguebut it's been a long time now. The boss said he was going to send an email to them cc'ing their boss and their boss and demand a commitment date As team X will need some information from us to do the thing, Iemailed them with some details they'll need to do it, without anymention of dates or anything. Team X cordially gets back with a TLDR, and they'll get to it eventually. Now I'm afraid my boss is going to send that email and they'll think I set them up for an ambush or something. How do I warn them they're probably going to get hit by a torpedo without them thinking I'm in on it? <Q> Actually, nothing is preventing you from sending an email saying: <S> Hey Bob, this project is becoming more urgent for our team. <S> Could you guys please commit to a date for us? <S> And maybe you could give the other team a quick phone call as well in addition to the email. <S> Then, if they send a date back, you quickly forward it to your boss, and you tell him as well in case he doesn't see the message in time. <S> Of course, it's possible that you'll be too late, or that the other team responds too slowly. <S> Sometimes, there are just too many variables out of your control. <S> PS: <S> Thanks to <S> ObscureOwl for finding the better turn of phrase. <A> Don't tell them. <S> Tell your boss. <S> It's not your place to warn them about your boss, and it could tend to undercut him, so don't do it. <S> Instead, explain to your boss your concerns. <S> Tell them what you just told us-- that you only recently sent them an email, and that you're concerned that your boss's actions will be tied back to you and that they will feel ambushed. <S> He may take a slightly different approach, or at the very least should be able to word the email in such a way that you will not be accountable for your boss' actions. <A> How do I warn them they're probably going to get hit by a torpedo without them thinking I'm in on it? <S> By not getting involved in the first place. <S> It doesn't seem like it is in your place to manage the other team, or that you are responsible for their (lack of) delivery, and as such, you should've stayed away from it in the first place. <S> If you know someone personally on team <S> X <S> then you could mention the tension in private, but for sure not send them an unsolicited mass email. <S> As it is I would just leave it alone. <S> I don't think there is anything you can say to change the mind of those who will think you caused the call-out, and right now, at least, they cannot be sure that you knew about the upcoming bomb. <S> Once you start apologizing/retracting/ <S> whatever, there will be no denying that you knew about it and some people may resent it for not warning them, for example <S> (I know, it's ironic). <S> While you cannot undo your previous actions, now it's time to just stay quiet and not get involved more than that. <A> Your boss has already intervened, and decided to send the email. <S> Let them figure it out - do not try to do anything now . <S> However, now once the discussion is over (and maybe your boss has already sent the email as we're discussing here), there is nothing you can or should do. <S> If you try to intervene in a parallel communication, there are two risks: To your manager / team: <S> You may come off as someone trying to belittle or stepping on the toes of your manager. <S> They may not take this in a very good way. <S> To the other team: <S> You risk of being seen as someone who has created the trouble and now making an attempt to be in the good books trying to appear as friendly. <S> Take this as a learning, and next time, whether you are on the sender side or receiver side, insist on agreeing on exact dates for any requirement and delivery. <S> The problem started with the fact that you did not have an agreed upon date for completion / delivery. <S> Even if the timeline cannot be met (which is not very uncommon, specially in the software industry for example), the timeline will help to decided how much deviation is there and the amount of work still needed to get the target achieved. <A> TLDR: <S> DO NOTHING <S> Longer answer: <S> You didn't give them any solid dates, so you do have some responsibility in this, but do not compound that responsibility by getting further involved. <S> Take a step back and let the higher-ups duke it out. <S> This battle is going to go on way above your pay grade. <S> IN THE FUTURE <S> Don't leave timelines open ended. <S> Even an unreasonable goal is better than no goal at all. <S> Anything that is not given a specific date will have no delivery date at all. <S> If you have any dependencies, come up with an expected date, run it by your manager, and then include it in any emails.
| My suggestion: Don't do anything at this stage. If you wanted to do something, you could have asked your boss at the time when they were expressing their dissatisfaction and announcing to send the email, that, you can try to check with the other team before direct escalation, as you had interaction with them previously. CLEAR COMMUNICATION IS THE WAY TO AVOID THIS IN THE FUTURE
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What do you call it when a small team sequesters itself away to make progress on a project? In software development (and I imagine in other fields) it is reasonably common for a small team to temporarily relocate into a single office or conference room for a few days in order to make progress on a particular project. The goal is typically to reduce distractions, improve communication and gain momentum, while making it clear to other employees that these folks shouldn't be disturbed unless absolutely necessary. What do you call such an arrangement? I'd like to do some research about best practices and such, but without a name for the concept, that is proving rather difficult. More details: This is not a "war room". As I understand it, the goal of a war room is to get major decision makers in the same space so that important or time-sensitive decisions can be made face-to-face and/or in real time. This is about actually getting work done, not about making decisions. The arrangement may be put in place by management or organised by the team themselves. Team members may be made exempt from some or all of their everyday duties, especially meeting attendance. Meals and/or snacks may be provided by the company to encourage folks to hang around so that momentum and conversations can keep going during breaks. There isn't an expectation of extra working hours. The goal is to give the project a boost by making more efficient use of normal work hours. This isn't a Death March to complete a project. This may come at the beginning, end or middle of a project. Update: Thank you for all the responses. From the results, I think it's pretty safe to say there is no generally agreed upon term for this concept, which honestly comes as quite a surprise to me. People love naming things, especially business and development practices. <Q> The name doesn't matter so much as the function. <S> It should be clearly defined, and the rules laid out such as: <S> Will meals and/or other accommodations will be provided? <S> When (if at all) calls may be taken Cell phone usage policy <S> Break/lunch schedule <S> Duration of sequestration <A> We usually call it “going head-down.” <S> If my team is head-down it means we’re not answering the phone, we’re not coming to your stupid meetings, etc. <S> Go away, don’t bother us! <A> The correct answer is: skunkworks . <S> skunkworks /ˈskəNGkˌwərks/ <S> (noun): an experimental laboratory or department of a company or institution, typically smaller than and independent of its main research division. <A> Oxford dictionaries defines a workshop as follows:"a meeting at which a group of people engage in intensive discussion and activity on a particular subject or project." <S> Source <A> You've marked this question as not having a definitive answer - that being said teams I've been on have called this a " Code-March ". <S> The principles being: Excused from majority of ceremonies Should not be put on other lines of work except where highly urgent Start their own slack channels or lines of communications for better cohesion <A> Closest meaning <S> i know to what you described <S> is a "think tank" <A> If the purpose of the meeting is to discuss strategy, planning, etc., rather than (say) writing code, then one term is a " woods meeting ". <S> The term originated in DEC (the Digital Equipment Corporation). <S> The original woods meetings actually took place in the woods - the president of DEC, Ken Olsen, was a keen outdoorsman who had a cabin in the woods, and holding a meeting there was intended to make sure the participants were kept away from their usual work distractions. <S> Woods meetings could last more than a day, though I have no idea whether attendees "camped out" there. <S> Over time, since not everyone has a cabin in the woods available, the term lost its literal meeting and became a metaphor for any extended meeting where normal work was kept at arm's length. <S> Note that as well as preventing people outside the attendees from interrupting the work of the meeting, the woods meeting also prevented the attendees from slipping out to attend to other things (this was before the days of cell phones, of course).
| I've heard it called everything from "The cone of silence" to "The Iso-cube" to "The Bunker" to "Battle Stations" to "The Bat Cave" At my workplace we would call this a WORKSHOP (noun) or workshopping (verb.)
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Is it wise to ask help for someone who has done something similar? Suppose we have the following situation: Employee has signed an NDA. Boss asks to do something new that requires maybe bachelor degree on some other field employee has never done before. Is it legal/wise to ask for example a professor of that particular field a roadmap to solve the problem, when data has been anonymized? If not, what should a worker do? <Q> Is it legal/wise to ask for example a professor of that particular field a roadmap to solve the problem, when data has been anonymized? <S> If not, what should a worker do? <S> You should ask your boss , and explain to them as you did here that certain level of knowledge is required to complete the project, and what can you do to get that knowledge. <S> You boss will then be able to tell you if consulting an external party (like your professor) is a wise idea or not, or what other steps you can take to solve this. <S> Usually, if you are handed down a task, it is expected of you to learn and research the things necessary to complete the task; your boss may be expecting this from you. <S> If you feel that the things needed to complete the task are beyond the reasonable time to learn them I would suggest you also tell that to your boss so you can work on a solution on time. <A> It is the safest to ask your boss. <S> BUT, you can avoid asking your boss, and still be as safe . <S> It all depends on how you interact with the professor. <S> Not OK: <S> Hello professor, we are just inventing a device which ... (something) , and I need your support with ... (whatever) <S> OK: <S> Hello professor, I am faced with a problem at work. <S> While dealing with a task, I found myself having to solve an equation, and I do not know how to handle it. <S> Or: <S> Hello professor, I am faced with a problem at work. <S> While dealing with a task, I found myself having to apply the theory (name of theory) , and I do not know much about it. <S> Will you please support me with this? <S> In the worst case, at least recommend me some suitable literature, please. <S> In this way, you tell nothing about your job and the NDA-protected stuff, you only talk about generic subjects "everyone" knows about, as long as they have the required degree . <S> Even better , when you talk with your professor, you might not even mention your job. <S> Just tell him that you ran into the subject, and you seek professional support. <S> It is not lying, it is just keeping irrelevant information outside of the discussion. <S> The relevant information is that you need help. <A> Based on your comment reply, you do not know the actual professor. <S> All of these answers assume you know the professor and that you are trying to ask your boss. <S> I feel the first step is to contact the professor to see if he is even willing to help out someone who is not taking any of his classes, possibly not even attending the college/university (assuming here), and asking to assist in what I assume a fairly large scale unknown project that I assume would gain profit for the company. <S> Basically what you're going to ask this professor is, "I don't know what I'm doing, I need your help to please my boss for a company that is going to make revenue from what you tell me. <S> " That's a lot to ask of a complete strange who has nothing to gain except wasting time. <S> My thought is you should first determine if the professor is willing to help. <S> My guess is he'll say no because your relationship with this professor is based on nothing. <S> It may even look really bad for you if the professor does not help and you told your boss you don't know how to do it without this professor's help. <A> If you’re going to consult a professor, ask your boss for a consultation budget first. <S> Many professors, when asked for assistance for someone from industry, will respond with something like, “Sure, I’d be happy to help you out. <S> My consultation fees are $X hundred/thousand per hour.” <S> Needless to say, asking the professor and then balking at the fees will make it look like you aren’t serious about working with them. <S> You have to remember, university professors are very busy people; they’re not going to go out of their way to help you unless you make it worth their time. <S> So, if you want to ask the professor for help, and you’re serious about it, the best thing to do is to ask your boss to approve a budget for hiring consultants before you go out looking for them.
| First step is to ask your boss if you can enlist the help of a professor.
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Was assigned task different to my work duties; how can I handle this? So, I work as a IT Tech/Help Desk, working 1 on 1 with staff in the company I'm at. While I was not at work, I have been assigned a extra duty that involves me having to teach a customer service class, this involves no training but standing in front of a large group of people I do not know and talk. I have asked my boss if can I be removed from the program, as I do not feel comfortable in any way standing up in front of people, let alone having to talk. My boss laughed and told me to get over it. I can understand extra duties related to my job but becoming a Customer Service Teacher, to me seems a bit over the top. Question: can that big of a change in duty be done? Id like to also point out my customers are internal while every other sections are external. <Q> Learn to do it, and do it. <S> Public presentation is the most valuable skill you can acquire apart from your core competency. <S> Doing it well will increase your confidence and presence. <S> Attend Dale Carnegie courses. <S> Join Toastmasters. <S> Adding Customer Service Teacher to your duties seems like a pain in the anatomy, but in fact your job is handing you a golden opportunity to get uncomfortable and really learn something. <A> So the answer is it depends. <S> In some countries, and/or if you have a very well defined employment contract, you have prescribed job duties you don't have to go outside of <S> and there are no repercussions from not doing them. <S> In many countries, and <S> especially the US with at-will employment <S> , yes, you do what they tell you to do. <S> There's always an "other duties as assigned" signpost in job descriptions etc. <S> that indicates this, and even if there's not, tough, that's how it works.. <S> If you don't want to do it you can always find a new job (at least that's what they'll tell you). <S> You can try to talk your way out of it, but seems like that's been tried and didn't work. <S> If you want to do the minimum, same thing as you did yesterday, there's no reason to give you raises or promotions as your value does not increase to your employer or to others (except by dint of variation of the economy and labor market). <A> If you really feel that you cannot do it and it puts too much stress on you - then stand up for yourself. <S> Request a 20 minutes meeting with your boss in advance. <S> Sit down, share some story from the past, explain to your boss that this is a serious issue for you. <S> They should accommodate. <S> That said, you can also try to look at it as an opportunity. <S> Ask a close colleague or small group of colleagues to help with a simulation, to offer feedback and help you build confidence. <S> To some people, public speaking comes naturally. <S> To others - no, but this is something that can be learnt, and after doing it a few times - you will very likely feel much more at ease and it can benefit you in all kinds of situations in the future.
| Ask your boss for training. The US at-will answer is to learn to do it, and do it, and add it to your resume, and leverage it for promotions/raises. Consider to step out of your comfort zone and give it a shot.
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Is it appropriate to request a salary raise after trial/probation period is complete? Working as a JavaScript Developer in Germany with an unlimited contract but of course with the usual 6 months probation period which i am 4 months in. (first job in Germany, I am a foreigner here) Supposing my probation period ends successfully and I continue as a normal employee, would it be appropriate to ask for a raise say, 10-15% in terms of yearly salary? For some more background: so far everything looks and feels great. The feedback from the team and the management is very positive. I have 2.5 years of working experience. And as a disclaimer, I am not feeling underpaid or anything along those lines. I simply want to know if it is appropriate to do so or not? I checked other relevant questions to mine, but in my opinion, none really fit the context of my question. Edit: Percentage amount was chosen arbitrarily because of not being informed properly before asking. <Q> Is it appropriate to request a salary raise after trial/probation period is complete? <S> IMO asking for a raise after only 6 month, regardless of performance, could be seen as a little greedy, since you already had your 'Lohnverhandlung' (salary-discussion) during the hiring process just a couple of months ago. <S> You and the company agreed on the terms and the amount of compensation for the role you've been employed for, and it would be hard for you to argue that you improved so vastly in performance and expertise during the past 6 months that would qualify you for a raise after such a short period (assuming no change to a higher role and that no additional responsibilities have been added to your plate). <S> But feel free to ask your manager if you think you deserve (in the context above) a raise, but be prepared that you most likely will be turned down after such a short period. <S> In our company (Austria) we conduct yearly salary checks, so you could wait for another 6 months for a full year to pass and then speak to your manager. <A> You are suggesting 10-15% after 6 months, there I would say in general no, not appropriate. <S> In the first few months at a new company you still need to learn how everything works, what the projects are, familiarize yourself with everything. <S> That means you are creating little to no value for the company. <S> That's normal and expected, so no reason to worry about it. <S> But it also means that only after these first few months you are actually worth your salary to the company although they had to pay it to you from day one. <S> I would recommend to wait for one full year for the first salary negotiation. <S> Then the company can judge much better how good and useful to them you are. <S> If you want more than that you need to provide very good reasons why you should be getting that. <A> I simply want to know if it is appropriate to do so or not? <S> It is only appropriate, if it can be justified. <S> If you believe you're worth of getting paid more, prepare a case and present it to your boss and ask for a raise. <S> Two things to keep in mind: <S> Don't be shy to ask for a raise if you feel you deserve one. <S> Usually, it's normal that every time an employee transitions to a new (higher) role, the salary and benefits are revised - but that's not a norm (unless mentioned in a contract). <S> A raise does not need a change in position / designation, and , a change of position / role does not automatically guarantee a raise.
| Don't expect a raise because you feel like getting a raise. In general, asking for something like 5 to 10% after one year is appropriate, although you might get a lot less.
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Is it appropriate to ask a university guest lecturer about potential jobs? If so, how? I am currently in my last year of university and there have been guest lecturers in multiple courses I have taken. Some of them are from companies that hire students for internship positions and/or recent graduates for full-time positions. The next lecturer (from one such company) is the CTO of a company at which I've already applied. Now the questions I have: Would it be appropriate to talk to the CTO about my application? How should I bring up the topic? In the case where I haven't applied: Is it appropriate to ask? How would I ask about roles for recent grads? <Q> Would it be appropriate to talk to the CTO about my application? <S> How should I bring up the topic? <S> Most likely the CTO does not know how the current state of applications to their company is (as those are not a CTO's tasks, and are more appropriate for HR or Recruitment Manager). <S> Thus, asking him about how your application is going may come up as out of place and may end with no useful answer. <S> I would suggest you consider asking the CTO other questions relevant to their company, so you can get a better insight of what you can expect if selected. <S> In the case where I haven't applied: Is it appropriate to ask? <S> How would I ask about roles for recent grads? <S> In companies you haven't applied, you can first check their websites and posts to see if there are any openings available. <S> Again, I would suggest you try to ask questions regarding how the company is and operates, instead of asking if they have openings (something that can be found by other more appropriate means), as that will give you better insight if it's worth your time applying to those companies. <S> Unless the lecturer's role are related to recruiting and HR, asking about job openings may not be the best thing to ask, and surely isn't the point of bringing a professional to give a lecture to you. <A> Yes, it's appropriate to ask about employment (politely). <S> One reason executives come to university campuses is to promote their companies as good places to work. <S> You can certainly mention that you like what the company's doing, and you sent in an application. <S> Be prepared to answer the question "what do you like about us?" and have a short intelligent conversation. <S> You can ask if they hire recent grads. <S> You can ask if there's anything else you should do beyond sending in your application. <S> Have a copy of your resume in your pocket in case the executive requests it. <S> Don't offer it unless requested. <S> Don't be offended if this executive can't answer your questions or promote your candidacy. <S> Rest assured that the executive won't be offended if university students like you say they're interested in the company. <A> The CTO is not responsible for your application, except at very small companies (for example at my current company the CTO is also the hiring manager for all dev positions so he does know these things, but this is the exception not the rule). <S> So I wouldn't ask him directly about your application in particular, because he does not know, nor does he care (he has other more important things to do). <S> What you can do is: 1) Introduce yourself. <S> It's likely at least that there is a hiring committee, of which the CTO may be a part of. <S> He may see your application eventually, and building a personal relationship is worthwhile. <S> 2) Express interest in his company, in a general sense. <S> Explain that you have applied there, and you are interested in his products/work/research <S> /whatever else it is that interests you about the company. <S> 3) Ask if he can suggest ways to make your application more attractive (if you haven't yet applied), or if there is a person you can reach out to directly for recruitment matters (if you have, or even if you haven't). <S> 4) <S> If after performing the above steps, you feel like you have a good rapport with the CTO of the company, you can ask him for his business card or direct contact information to follow up and keep in touch. <S> There's nothing wrong with trying to build a professional network with a company CTO. <S> However he may decline, and that's ok; he's a busy dude and probably doesn't have time to field random emails from random university students. <S> Don't take it personally. <S> If you do receive his personal contact info, don't treat him like a recruiter or like HR; don't follow up with him just to ask about the status of your application or whatnot, that's neither his job nor his interest. <S> If you want to follow up with him, you can ask him about things like his research, developments in the company, software engineering ideas/strategies, and so on. <S> But remember, he's not HR <S> and he's not going to help you with your application. <A> It wouldn't hurt to give your resume or business card. <S> Come dressed professionally. <S> My advice if you want to appeal to companies is to go to hackatons. <S> I assume you're into the IT field since you want to ask the CTO about jobs. <S> At my company, they hired folks right on the spot at such an event. <S> Of course you have to come to impress.
| It's always good to have a direct contact with a first-party company recruiter for any company you want to apply for, rather than sending your application into the void.
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Is it ok to turn off the camera on a videocall? Recently I have been interviewing for companies located outside of my home country and we do these interviews through videocalls. So I had several videocall interviews with one particular company where both of us (I and the recruiter) were with our cameras on. But on the last videocall, I noticed that the recruiter had their camera off and then I quickly turned off mine at the beginning of the call. I am not sure if that was appropriated or not, since I acted without thinking too much (I'm a very introverted person, so this was kinda instinctive). Should I let my camera on even if the person I am chatting with is not using one? Is it considered rude/unprofessional to turn off the camera? <Q> Should I let my camera on even if the person I am chatting with is not using one? <S> Is it considered rude/unprofessional to turn off the camera? <S> Whether you decide to interview with or without the camera, the decision should be made before the interview. <S> Once you have started the interview, it would be inappropriate to turn off the camera regardless of whether or not the interviewer is using one. <A> Part of the interview process is for people to see each other. <S> The reason for this is so that they can judge how they answer questions, deal with surprises, verify good hygiene, know who they interviewed so <S> they know who to expect on the first day, make sure they dressed appropriately, and more. <S> With the recruiter having their camera off, they did you a disservice, since you can't judge them back. <S> Maybe they were just having a bad hair day, but that doesn't dismiss what they did. <S> Interviews are a two way street, since you need to be judging them just as they are judging you. <S> You need to verify that they are doing the interview from a professional environment, take reasonable care of themselves, and all the other things I mentioned above. <S> If you aren't comfortable with them and their setting, just like they need to be comfortable with you, you shouldn't take a job. <S> This shows you aren't hiding anything. <S> If they don't have their's on, it can be a red flag. <S> A single red flag isn't a deal-breaker, but many red flags can be. <S> If this is the only red flag, still do your research on the company to make sure they really aren't hiding anything. <S> And quickly turning off your camera, or not having your camera on when you should, is a red flag to them. <S> If you don't get this job, consider it a lesson and move on. <S> Don't berate yourself for it, since there may be other factors you don't know about that didn't match you up to this job. <S> And if this was the only red flag that disqualified you, you're better off not working for a company that's this picky and hypocritical about their employees. <A> I agree with sf02 <S> that turning off the camera mid-interview is a bit inappropriate, but the same is not true for turning the camera ON near the beginning of the interview. <S> It is common for people to join a conference call with voice/video disabled, then to turn it on once the meeting starts. <S> So, the interviewee probably won't even realize you were motivated by a wish for reciprocal camera use. <S> This approach fails if everyone uses it. <S> This approach is intended for individuals; companies should not use this approach.
| Unless it's specified beforehand, you should keep your camera on during an interview.
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How do I deal with recruiters who keep calling me every so often while I am happily employed? I have been working at the same company for 6 years now. Every so often I have recruiters call me and whenever they do, it's like a broken record. The script is always the same or near the same: hello this is [recruiter name]. I tried to reach you at [a month ago] in regards to new opportunities; wanted to give you a call; see how things have been going as far as your employment; phone for me is [phone number] I started ignoring their calls. But if I pick up and talk to them, I explain that I am working and have been working at my company for 5-6 years now, and I am happy there and not currently seeking new opportunities. Recruiters follow up by asking me if I know anyone who may be seeking employment and I usually don't, so I say no, I don't, and the sometimes the conversation ends here, or sometimes the recruiter asks me if they can give me a follow up call 6 month later. I sometimes say "sure", part out of superficial politeness, part just in case. But this is getting boring, and since I am not actively seeking employment for years now, it seems like a waste of time to me and I'm sure the recruiter as well. These calls are an annoying nuisance. What do I do? Do I just tell them to stop calling and take me off their list? <Q> What do I do? <S> Do I just tell them to stop calling and take me off their list? <S> Yes, that's exactly what you do with someone when you no longer want them to call. <A> What do I do? <S> Do I just tell them to stop calling and take me off their list? <S> Yes, if there is a human on the line. <S> "Please put me on your do-not-call list. <S> Do not call me again." <S> [hang up] <S> Personally, I give absolutely zero information about myself, I've stopped even listening to them, and I'm the one who has become the broken record. <S> and I just hang up the phone. <S> In the future, consider using a secondary throwaway Google Voice phone number and a secondary throwaway email address for any job search. <A> I'll dissent from the other answers. <S> You need to practice and become better at answering them. <S> Look at your manager or the VP of your company. <S> I'm pretty certain that when they receive those calls, they: stay polite <S> make it appear as if they're happy to receive the call <S> convey a strong no end the call in less than a minute or two <S> When you manage to do this, the extra social skills you'll have mastered will be a huge boost professionally. <S> Those are the same skills that make a strong leader. <S> So aim for politely, firmly telling the recruiter that you appreciate their call, that you are happy to hear from them but that you'll keep with your job. <S> Tell them you'll talk to them in the future and move on. <S> Do it gracefully. <S> Don't worry. <S> They'll realize soon enough you are in control and will stop calling. <S> In the meantime, see the lost time as an investment in leadership and social skills. <A> You said, These calls are an annoying nuisance. <S> What do I do? <S> Do I just tell them to stop calling and take me off their list? <S> While that has a very straightforward answer: <S> And whether or not that's actually the case, it's pretty much a given that if you put your contact info (email and/or phone number) out in the wild, recruiters will find it, and will contact you. <S> So, if you job hunt with your real contact info, you can be sure that recruiters will find you and bother you eventually. <S> This is why I use a "divide and conquer" strategy for my personal contact information. <S> I have a separate email address and phone number that I use only for my resume and job hunting. <S> Getting these is easy, just sign up for a new account at gmail or your favorite email provider. <S> And, you can sign up for a Google Voice number for free, or use any other similar provider. <S> By segmenting out your contact info like that, you can avoid the hassle of recruiters bugging you when you're not interested - you just stop paying attention to those accounts when you're not actively looking. <S> If you ever get curious, you can always go <S> check - Google Voice transcribes phone messages to text, so you can just quickly read through messages once a month if you'd like. <S> Then, when you decide you're actively looking, you can forward the job-hunt email and phone to your real email and phone, and you're all set.
| yes tell them to stop calling, and/or just ignore their calls - you mentioned earlier in your question that you may potentially want those recruiters to check in 6 months from now "just in case." On a side-note, if there is no actual human on the line (that I can tell), I'll say nothing
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How much should I involve in the business as a software developer? The question seems to have an obvious answer for most you but stay with me for a while... In the world of agile Scrum which is nowadays the top used software development methodology either as-is or in the hybrid model, the roles inside the realization team are not clearly defined. I am a software developer the 3-4th year and I have encountered only with companies (working, interviews, heard-of) where software developers are heavily involved in various things aside of the programming - completing feasibility studies, analyzing business requirements, drawing forgetting the diagrams, writing technical specifications, discussing architecture, involving into DevOps (yet another field of study I believe) and finally... programming . These actions require a strong understanding and knowledge of the business and most of its rules. ...right, a good documentation memory truly helps! On the other hand, the industry and the market require the developers to educate themselves and learn the newest technologies, standards, language features, architecture and communication patterns, protocols and experiment with such things. But... how are we supposed to become expects in everything? (Consider DevOps as another field of study of a large set of skills.) I believe that being a software-developer means primarily writing the code according to the given specifications . I feel the more the software developer is involved in such things, the less quality and maintainable code are able to write and the less the overall knowledge of architecture is... and of course, these would heavily impact the product. Don't get me wrong, although I love programming which is the reason I became a software developer, I understand the importance and brief knowledge of the business requirements and rules and I am interested in why and what I do. Without it, there would be nothing to develop. However, I believe the involvement should be just basic, otherwise, it would not only harm ourselves but also the product, since most of the knowledge would be kept with the software-developers and they would become both irreplaceable in the team and also their programming skills decrease rapidly. Here are my favorite lines from Code Ahead (pages 181-182): "So, you are saying that all developers should be stupid code monkeys, who don't care about the business at all, only about the code?" Masha asks. "You just offended us both," Dennis laughs. "Coding by itself is as much fun as your business, For me, to be honest, it's much more fun". "Really?" Masha seems surprised. "Yes!" he exclaims. "I would be absolutely happy if you keep me out of your business concepts and ideas and just tell me what needs to be implemented". "You guys don't want to know why we need what we ask you to implement?" she is really surprised. "Absolutely not," I smile. "Do you want to know how we implement those features, what frameworks we use, what database optimization techniques, what programming languages, and all that?" "No, leave me out of that," now she smiles. The reason I ask is as a middle-level developer who aims to become a senior sometimes... I involved in business concepts first as much as I could, and I became a valuable member of the team but I felt no career improvement or whatsoever. On the other hand, I isolated from the business concepts at some time and level and it helped me to grow technically really fast and I succeed in a lot of interviews fairly easily. However, I felt like absent at meetings while discussing business stuff, and I often questioned my worthiness for the team in this case - I overexaggerate a lot, but you get the idea. How should I approach in the case I am very technically inclined in a team among software developers knowledgeable of business (I struggle a bit to understand) for years decades to feel more comfortable and self-confident? The strikethroughts are intentional. <Q> This really depends on your value proposition as a contributor to the organisation. <S> Do you only view yourself as a programmer/coder who can build a given requirement/solution. <S> Or rather the broader value of an engineer who can use his/her strong problem solving skill set to help the organisation solve business problems using technology. <S> The narrowly focused role of a coder is easily replaceable with a multitude of cheap remote workers that can work in a detached and isolated way to the rest of the organisation. <S> While the cross-functional engineer who brings much more value to the organisation will be much more valuable and potentially will contribute to not only problem solving, but business growth. <S> Whichever you decide you are. <S> Just keep in mind that it defines your perceived value and henceforth your compensation and future career growth. <A> This is a very interesting question. <S> If you work for a place that does the more classic waterfall with big, up-front design, business analysis, requirements specifications etc. <S> then business knowledge is less useful as your work is largely all prescribed. <S> A working knowledge of the business allows you to perhaps better understand ambiguity and possibly find flaws in the solution but unlikely to allow influence. <S> Agile offers the opportunity to use a different skill set. <S> A knowledge of the business allows you to better understand the overall goal. <S> In turn this allows you to contribute and anticipate the future direction of the product/system as a whole. <S> You can make your own suggestions as to how things should behave and perhaps even suggest useful product features. <S> That may or may not be interesting or important to you. <S> Advice: Know yourself. <S> If you prefer technical only, find somewhere that offers it - probably larger organsiations. <S> If you want the latter, more holistic blend, go smaller. <S> From your post <S> I sense you'd be more comfortable with the former. <S> Personally I am the latter. <A> A person working in any creative knowledge profession -- developer, doctor, product designer, architect, planner -- is most effective when she/he asks the question why? <S> If you don't know why you do what you do, how can you create the best possible result? <S> If you know why your software product must do certain things, and who it will serve by doing those things, your product will be better, and your job will stay interesting to you for decades. <S> Methodologies and tech stacks come and go. <S> Good businesses outlast them. <S> Your career will outlast them too. <S> The more you know about the challenges faced by the businesses you serve, the better you can serve them. <A> Software development doesn't happen in a vacuum. <S> Developers are paid to write software because there is a business need that must be met. <S> All of the technical skills in the world aren't worth much if you can't use them to deliver on what the business really needs. <S> How can you do that if you don't have at least some knowledge of the purpose of the software? <S> Specifications and design documents often miss or leave out the finer details that need to be implemented and you will need to understand the business to make the right decisions when implementing those pieces. <S> In my 30+ year career as a developer in numerous industries, I have yet to find a job I didn't do better after I learned more about what the business was about. <A> Already included in a comment what I think, but two things I can say to these questions: <S> What is the point of view of Scrum <S> agile culture on this issue? <S> What is the healthy balance? <S> As your very same question says, this depends on the culture. <S> And the culture depends on each company. <S> Some may have their developers get more involved in business stuff, and some other may not (just like you have witnessed so far). <S> How should I approach? <S> Being realistic, unless you are in a managerial position or have some saying in how the culture/practices are, you can't change anything here. <S> The best you can do in a situation like that is try to adapt your best to the current culture, and also try to seek companies/jobs that match with your style and culture (or reach a senior/managerial position so you can have a say on the culture/practices of the company ;).
| The healthy balance will depend on each company/culture pair, but surely knowing at least some business stuff is better than a developer with no knowledge of that at all...
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Ask "So, what's the job?"... in a more refined way I've come across several job descriptions in vacancy advertisements relevant to my field that are vague and unclear to say the least. What's a good approach to ask what exactly the job is before going through the interview process? <Q> Here's a no fuss straight forward approach: <S> Hello, <S> I saw the role regarding [job title] , and am interested as it's in my area of expertise. <S> I find that the duties of this role differ between companies, so can you give me more details on its scope? <S> Thanks, Riku <A> Most of the times, the best approach is just being straightforward. <S> Follow whichever is applicable in the below order <S> : If you have a contact number provided in the job listing, call them up and ask about the job description. <S> If you have don't have a contact number, but a point-of-contact email ID, drop an email showing your interest and asking about the clarification for the role. <A> The other answers are good for the literal question, but I'll take a different perspective and posit that a job description being so vague that you can't even confidently start <S> the interview process is such a red flag that you should probably just skip over such jobs entirely. <S> Usually, it means the truthful answer to <S> So, what's the job? <S> is <S> We don't really know . <S> Outside of a few particular situations such as the job being exploratory in nature, or at an early stage startup, this is probably not a good thing. <S> But even in the case your eventual manager does have a clear idea of what they need <S> , the fact the job description ended up being vague anyway suggests they don't have much control over their own recruitment pipeline. <S> Why? <S> What other aspects of work might be similar? <S> On the surface, this doesn't reflect well on the culture at this organisation.
| If you don't have any specific contact information, find out the corresponding company communication channel (generic ID, phone number), and ask them to get you in touch with the people responsible for recruitment to talk about the job post.
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How to raise concern with manager about quality of work? I am 26 years old and working in an IT company for more than 3 years.Right now , I am not happy about the quality of work being offered to me and it is happening with me for than 2 years.I don't see any growth at this moment.I am a kind of person who always look for something challenging and I am not getting it.I have tried raising it before though it was informal but nothing concrete happened.How should i approach my manager and raise my concerns about this? <Q> If you're in the same company for 3 years, it usually means it's time to move on. <S> Boredom, a fear of stagnating skillset and increasing your income (and those reasons are not in any particular order) are the main reason why software engineers change jobs every 18 months to 2 years. <A> I am a kind of person who always look for something challenging and I am not getting it. <S> Question is: what did you do go get something challenging? <S> Did you talk to your manager about this? <S> Did you explore the problems that you or your organization may have (other than assigned works) and did any brainstorming to come up with ways to solve them? <S> This can include Automating QA, adding new cases Improving the operational efficiency of existing code Adding a new technology to reduce time/ cost Analyzing market competition and suggest possible improvements to existing product etc. <S> Did you take part in any hackathons to generate and exchange new ideas? <S> Did you attend seminar / conferences to learn about new and upcoming technologies and implement them? <S> Did you try to find any new opportunities inside your organizations, maybe with a different group / project where you can utilize your expertise and create value? <S> In other words, what did you already try to make the situation better and how it did not work? <S> Do not just complain, Do not always expect to have the cutting-edge technology and tools and exiting work assignments for your daily work <S> , that's what pet projects are for. <S> Explain the scope of individual growth and organizational value-add opportunity with the work - most of the managers will appreciate that and even willing to sponsor you for getting that work done. <S> Edit <S> : I have tried raising it before though it was informal but <S> nothing concrete happened. <S> Nothing concrete will happen out of anything informal - that's what formal process is for. <S> make your discussion with your manager a formal one. <S> Show them you are serious in your thoughts, then only the manager (or anyone, for that matter) will pay attention. <A> Since management is not offering any new kind of work to you I would take the initiative myself to identify processes/workflows that can be improved, then come up with a game plan on how to implement it with rough timelines. <S> This way you can choose what you want to learn and grow in. <S> Once you have a plan figuered out you can pitch it to your manager and see if you both can come to an agreement. <S> You likely can't completely abandon your current "low quality" tasks, but this side project will be good motivation and, if successful, can prove that you're able to take on more interesting tasks. <S> Now if your manager is not interested and refuses you to take on other tasks then this may be a cue to move on. <S> It just demonstrates that management is not interested to offer you new work you want to excel in. <S> Your growth should be important to your manager, and without their support it kills that growth. <S> Something to think about. <S> All the best.
| If you want new challenges, do not expect your manager to hand them over to you - find out new challenges yourself which will help you and the organization, then approach your manager about that.
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Is it problematic to only have one core responsibility from a career development perspective? I am a software engineer at a company which sells software to governments. I am a few years into my career and have been in my current role for 18 months. At the current time, I am happy with my job, but am always considering the future. I was recently contacted by a recruiter and I always indulge them as you never know what you might find at the other end of the tunnel. I also find interviewing fun. One of her questions was what my primary accountabilities are and which projects I work on for my current company. Because our software can easily generate citizen 200 complaints in an hour if something goes down and different governments have different requirements for features, a few people are considered "100% dedicated resources" for those projects. I have been told by my boss (and his boss) that my current project is THE priority and that they don't want me working on anything else. Other departments have been told that I am not a resource for them to tap into for internal support requests (my boss blew up on a guy who messaged me to fix a problem with another system, which was unnecessary). There is no shortage of work to be done on my project and other developers are usually being added part time to my project so it is not like I am twiddling my thumbs. Plenty of challenging work is available within the project and I am usually the one adding other people to the project. My concerns stem from a couple of things: I am the only permanent developer (out of 10 in my group) who is a "100% dedicated project resource". Everyone else is allowed to float between systems. I am trying to decide if this means I am the least trusted team member. The other dedicated resources are customer support staff and a member of contract management. I also wonder whether I am considered incapable of managing myself. This doesn't seem to fit with me being left alone to do work and getting resource requests rubber stamped, but it gnaws at me. I haven't had a performance review here (not sure what they do for them) beyond getting my 1 year probationary contract turned to permanent in 3 months. I am now scared to tell recruiters that I only had one responsibility, i.e. deliver the management system, build priority features rapidly, and keep it all running. It seems like a cop out to be able to say that I am allowed to prioritize this one thing over everything else. Is this job going to be problematic for my career? EDIT: I haven't replied to the recruiter yet, so advice on what to say there would be useful. <Q> Tell your recruiter <S> I am the go-to technical expert on my company's mission-critical app, responsible to our government customers and their citizens. <S> When asked why you want to change jobs, say that you're always learning new things and the new job <S> offers you a great way to do that. <S> Ypu could say the same sort of thing to your current manager, and respectfully ask for more variety in your work. <S> You might offer to help train someone else to help do the same mission-critical work you do now. <S> You are very unlikely to offend by asking for more, or broader, responsibility. <S> Companies love people who offer to take responsibility. <A> Aspects that are likely to hurt your carreer in the context of working only on a single project <S> Single technology <S> This technology is exotic Low responsibility <S> Project is bound to a single use case at a single customer <S> The first two are technically oriented. <S> Nontheless there is still skills that are independent of the technology used. <S> The latter two are more about the big picture. <S> A code monkey will have it harder to find a job that is not exactly matching his technology portfolio. <S> Someone who has only little knowledge about application domains (of your future job) will have a harder time as well as he cannot make the right assumptions when necessary or even cannot judge when not to make an assumption. <S> That said, being able to priorize features for your project does not sound like you are the least trusted person in this team. <S> At a young stage of your carreer, I do not see many issues with being assigned to only one project but knowing this in depth with a more-than-usual responsibility. <S> Breadth of experience requires actual experience in the first place and experience can only come with time. <S> If you still have the feeling that your technical portfolio is bad, there is nothing like a little side project in your private time. <S> Learn a language you have always wanted to learn, make some toy projects and place them on a code hosting site. <S> This allows you to show future employers that you are not a one-trick-pony. <A> In the contrary, you should be happy <S> you are not forced to do support and your responsibility lies only in developing a new system. <S> Probably they let you in there <S> so you won't leave running for greener pastures <S> , had they asked you to do support. <S> In any case, if you see that your skillset has stop expanding with your current role, maybe you should start considering changing your circumstances.
| I would say it depends on what exactly you are doing. If you do only know one exotic language/framework your technical experience may be hard to transfer to the next job.
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Conflict with older employee An older colleague, a woman with 30+ years of experience as a cobol developer has been escalating me every week for the last nearly 2 months. She finds different pretexts for the same issue again and again and draws me into various escalation meetings with the Project Manager and the department lead + many other colleagues. Resulting in a lllooooottt of time wasted for the team. Being in conflict resolution meeting twice a week every week is extremely unpleasant and unhealthy for me. At the same time being technical lead for the team I am in the right to take decisions. She has been in the company for 30 years and it appears no one dares to stand in her way although she does not have formal role that is of significance. How can I make all this stop ? I was considering couple of strategies: Say that all this is unhealthy for me, I have high blood pressure and refuse participation. Send all my notes to the management and ask someone else to decide in which case I will align. Is there an option to involve HR ? I have never done that. How does someone involve HR and what will happen then ? Start working from home in order to avoid all the meetings. Try to put the conflict on different base - work ethic. She has a terrible work ethic and the team knows it. Try to escalate the conflict even more so that it becomes either me either her issue. What can I do? HELP!!!! <Q> It seems you are suffering because of the way she forces you into these meetings, and the way the meetings go. <S> Maybe you can talk to the Project Manager and explain how this way of working is affecting your performance. <S> But don't just come with a problem, come with a solution. <S> You see, complaining is easy, and pointing out a problem is too, but if you can with a proposal for a solution, you'll be seen as a problem solver instead. <S> Also, by holding the pen, you often get a bigger say in how the final solution ends up. <S> So, what you could do: <S> Explain the PM how this way of working is not optimal. <S> Propose a new way of working : we will have 1 "escalation meeting" per week, with an agenda before and notes taken in turns. <S> The notes will contain what the problem is, what caused it, how we propose to fix it, by when, and who is to take action. <S> The next meeting, we go over the notes of the previous meeting, and do a status update. <S> Then you can go over to the new agenda items, in order of priority. <S> Every week, once a week, you now have a meeting you can prepare for. <S> After the meeting, send the notes to all participants. <S> If new issues arrive, add them to the agenda for the next meeting, but stop holding multiple meetings per week. <S> By taking control, you will feel less powerless, less frustrated and more in charge of the situation. <S> Also, your PM and manager will consider you more mature. <S> Who knows, this could be the start of a step up. <S> And now you turned the problem into an opportunity. <A> she does not have formal role that is of significance <S> Then just say, I don't have time for this and wont be attending. <S> Then go to your manager, or HR and explain these meetings are negatively affecting performance and moral of the team. <S> Propose another solution that would achieve the same thing without the meetings. <S> For example, let everyone take notes about issues they have, and have a meeting to discuss at the end of a project or once a month. <A> It sounds like a very difficult situation for you. <S> Please avoid aggressive responses! <S> Don't escalate the conflict. <S> That will only make the problem worse. <S> Also, you are a team lead, not a manager. <S> It is your manager's job to give the necessary instructions to make this person stop doing this. <S> Ask for advice <S> Can you privately ask your direct manager, or department lead, for advice? <S> " <S> Hey boss, all these repetitive escalation meetings are very unpleasant. <S> Can you suggest anything I can do to avoid wasting so much time?" <S> Asking for advice is a good way to get help with an issue. <S> Gentle confrontation <S> Can you have a private conversation with this person who calls these meetings? <S> In that meeting you can use the classic formula.... <S> Name the unwanted behavior and be specific State the effect that behavior has on you personally (speak for yourself) <S> You might say something like this: "Ms. Robinson, I have something to say. <S> Please hear me out. <S> When you called me and others into that meeting last Wednesday, you raised the same two issues as you raised in the Monday meeting. <S> I find that kind of thing very frustrating, and it takes time away from my work with my team. <S> In future, can you please refrain from these repeated escalations?" <S> Direct request for management intervention <A> She finds different pretexts for the same issue again and again and draws me into various escalation meetings with the Project Manager and the department lead + many other colleagues. <S> Resulting in a lllooooottt of time wasted for the team. <S> Made her write an agenda for a meeting and bill her for the time wasted. <S> Start with the last meeting and reply to all <S> This is the same issue we discussed on 01.XX.2020. <S> In which we generated X hours. <S> During that meeting we came to conclusions that... I don't see in the agenda anything new that would require a meeting. <S> Please send a follow up e-mail. <S> And yes. <S> Escalate it higher (to your manager and her manager) with mention of her work ethics. <S> It seems that she use meetings as a tool to show "I'm doing something".
| If you don't get anywhere with these personal approaches, directly ask your management to deal with the problem. Ask for a change Be quiet and listen
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One person department at current job - how do I answer interview questions about this? I am currently a one-person department at my current job. My boss left about 6 months ago and instead of hiring a replacement boss for me, management decided to let me take on my boss's role in addition to my own. On top of that, I also spend about 25% of my week in another understaffed department at the company. Recently I have had some health issues that have resulted in taking sick time, and having regular doctors' appointments. I have applied for Short Term Disability/FMLA (US) because of the issues I'm having. My not being in the office is affecting both departments I work in, but management also acknowledges that I need to recover. This is resulting in messages from management like, "Our first priority is your health... but can you still come in to work [other department] Sunday?" My company was bought by a much bigger company a couple years ago. I have reached out to the owner company to ask for assistance and have been stuck on trying to schedule a phone call with the proper people. Management here has recently told me that they have asked owner company to requisition a second person in my department to share the load with me, but I feel that is too little, too late. I am looking to leave this job once I am healed up fully. When I go forth to interview, whenever I get my first one, what is the most gracious way to explain my current situation? My fear is that potential employers will assume that I must be the type that flakes out when the going gets tough. <Q> Mention on your CV your new senior position, from the time your old boss was left. <S> You have some choices: <S> Understaff and eventually being redundant, so it's not your problem Require medical attention, so you quit the job. <S> But now you are back healthy for a new job <S> You want a change, <S> away from the recent merging political activities Simply talk about all the positive things from your old job, no negative at all. <A> what is the most gracious way to explain my current situation? <S> Well, the rule rule of thumb is, unless absolutely necessary, you don't talk about the current job scenario (which is usually negative), rather focus on the positives for the new job / role you're aiming for. <S> If they want the exact detail of why you are leaving, you still can say the same answer: looking for new challenges where I can use my knowledge and capabilities to add value to the organization while advancing my professional career in a way which is aligned to my long term goals. <S> Again, to repeat, do not talk about negatives, talk positive points: <S> How you want to shoulder responsibilities <S> How you want to show your leadership capabilities <S> How you can add value to the organization <S> How you experiences are relevant to the role you're applying for etc. <A> Leading the department, doing the work of the department, helping the other department. <S> Never say anything negative, you state what it is you want out of the new position. <S> You don’t say “Oh sweet Jesus <S> I’m spread so thin doing all this stuff,” you say “I’d really like to focus more exclusively on leadership|department 1 type work|department 2 type work (whichever the job you’re interviewing for is about), as that’s where I think I can bring the most value to your organization.” <S> (Managers will understand what you’re saying.) <S> Net result is they see you can do 3 different things not just one, you’ll step up in a pinch, and you know how to communicate professionally.
| What you do is: Take advantage of all the hard work you’ve been doing by putting it on your resume and using it to explain your value to the new company.
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Is it fine to send a resume instead of a CV? I have both a resume and a European CV, and I see that some job offers explicitly ask for a resume, while some ask for a CV. The fact is that in my case, my resume is much stronger than my CV. This happens because the European Curriculum has a strict format and I am using a specific template that allows little customization, while my resume is more customized and adapted to my needs. I am looking for a job specially in Europe, in countries like (listed by importance) the Netherlands, the U.K., Germany and Scandinavian countries, but also Worldwide. Now if some companies have a "CV" section in their application form, do you think that it would be okay to send my resume instead? or maybe this would be looked upon negatively by recruiters? <Q> I'm from the UK. <S> So far as I'm aware, we consider them to be different words for the same thing . <S> I would call it a CV personally, and consider "Resume" to be the American-English version, but I'm sure that varies from place to place. <A> Generally it is the same, but this is context-dependent <S> I had one case where a grant application wanted a CV, defined by them as "a comprehensive listing of everything from awards to employment. <S> " I sent my 10-page master resume listing everything back to the last two years of high school and that is apparently what they wanted. <S> If it is for regular employment, then a resume. <S> Academica might want more as might a grant. <S> A background check could easily want the whole thing. <A> I'm sure some other people share the same definitions. <S> I would generally send a Resume even if asked for a CV because people who read 100's to 1000's of resumes a day don't want to read dozens of pages of boring details dating back to high school or earlier. <S> If necessary, you can always add some extra text such as "Full CV available at request" that way you if your resume sparks interest, and the recruiter is actually in the market for a full CV <S> , you have essentially provided them a small notification that there are more details you haven't included and its available.
| I generally consider a CV to be a full work/academic history while a Resume is a summary of the most recent/relevant information.
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What to do when a work mate is unpleasantly pushy on social media? My girlfriend gets multiple friend requests, messages(emoji only) and likes on Facebook and Instagram from a colleague at work. The person is so assertive that after an unfriend, he continued with this behaviour even more agressively. Should the person be blocked? Should I talk to him? Should she talk to him? <Q> Should the person be blocked? <S> If the person speaks to her about it at work, she needs to respond with something like: <S> I am not going to discuss non work related matters with you, please do not speak to me about this again. <S> If the person persists, she should report this employee to HR or whomever is responsible for harassment. <A> Should the person be blocked? <S> Yes. <S> Her social media should also be set to private so that only her name and profile picture can be seen by outsiders. <S> Personal information should be set to private or friends only such as her age, location, etc. <S> Should I talk to him? <S> No. <S> Should she talk to him? <S> No. <A> Yes, she should block him, but she should also email him using work email saying: <S> Hey Bob, Just to be clear, I'm not interested in you, nor am I interested in being friends with you. <S> If you try to contact me one more time outside of work, I will report you to HR for harassment. <S> Do you understand? <S> It's important to do this in writing, this way she has a time-stamped written record of her request with him. <S> This answer is partially based on a previous answer I gave to a slightly similar question. <S> On a side-note, blocking him on Facebook/Instagram won't remove his existing likes on her posts/pictures, but it will prevent him from seeing her posts/pictures on his timeline from then on, so it will ultimately prevent him from adding future likes/comments on her stuff. <A> Should the person be blocked? <S> Yes she should do this if she doesn't want any more insinuations from this colleague. <S> If this starts to cross the thin line of harassment, she could also consider reporting the user. <S> Additionally, it is usually recommended to keep separate profiles for your personal and professional network users, so incidents like these don't happen (or at least happen less often). <A> This man is harassing your girlfriend. <S> He keeps ignoring boundaries. <S> She should tell him verbally to stop contacting her on social media. <S> Once and once only. <S> She should not attempt to explain, justify, negotiate nor argue with him. <S> That opens the door for him to use DARVO . <S> This is where the offender attempts to Deny the behavior, Attack the victim and reverse the roles of Victim and Offender. <S> If he refuses to stop, document each and every time he attempts to contact her. <S> The diary she keeps these details in need to leave the office every day with her. <A> The best way to handle this is in stages. <S> First, she should talk to him. <S> The message should be clear (and kind). <S> If that does not work, she should block him. <S> If it comes to that, Stephan's suggestion of mentioning a report to HR is a good idea. <S> But hopefully, the first step is all that would be needed. <S> It is how most people want to be treated anyway.
| If she wants to stop their behavior on social media then yes the person should be blocked.
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Changing programming language after 10 years. How to convince the companies to hire me as a programmer? I have worked with C++ for quite some time. I have worked with Qt also. Meanwhile I also worked with Python. I am a jack of all currently. I have now started learning MEAN stack. I am excited about it. How do I apply for jobs of MEAN stack requiring 3-5 years of experience - in future? In the resume I will have to mention the total work experience of 10 years. Problem is that I feel companies will simply throw my resume after looking at the number of years of experience. I am ready to work for a different pay scale. How do I mention this in resume without sounding desperate? Country: India <Q> I am ready to work for a different pay scale. <S> How do I mention this in resume without sounding desperate? <S> Do not mention this. <S> It not only robs you of all negotiation strength, but also makes you look like a poor candidate by you are communicating that you are asking for a position that you don't deserve. <S> Reserve the flexibility for future negotiations. <S> Let it be the interviewers' concern if they want to work with you or not, and don't let self-doubt get into the way. <S> I also recommend looking into articles and material about negotiation basics. <S> With the right strategy you may get a great job and higher salary than you value yourself. <S> Negotiation involves two parties. <S> Undervaluing yourself can only work in your disfavor, as counter-intuitive as this may sound. <S> Make sure you are appropriately familiar with the technology that you want to work with professionally, and go from there. <S> Your self-assessment may be very different to the overall assessment of potential employers, including your past experience, since you are zooming in on a single limiting factor, but the interviewers may look at a broader spectrum of what constitutes suitable candidates. <S> We are our own worst enemies. <A> Nobody will know exactly what you did before. <S> You will of course need to understand the language very well in your spare time. <S> Stackoverflow would be a good resource. <S> On your CV, simply state MEAN is one of your technology skills. <S> It's not a lie. <S> As long as you understand it well enough and able to pass technical tests, there won't be a problem. <A> The nice thing about the MEAN stack is that it is free software and designed for public web applications. <S> So you could create one and mention the URL in your application. <S> When a job posting requests "3-5 years of experience", then don't feel discouraged from applying if you don't have that much experience on paper. <S> Requirements for job postings are wish lists. <S> Many companies will hire people who do not fulfill all of them, but can prove in other ways that they are capable of doing the things they need. <S> Or if they have other qualifications which speak for them (like 10 years of experience in very similar skills). <S> You can mention your desired salary in your application. <S> Some companies will even expect that. <S> If you choose to do that, provide a concrete number of your expected gross salary per year. <S> Do not quantify it by calling it "low" or "below market rate" or anything. <S> That will only make you seem desperate. <S> Feel free to lowball if you think you need to (but do you really? <S> Do not underestmate your market-worth!). <S> But keep in mind that this will be the upper limit to what they are going to offer you. <S> They will only try to haggle you lower. <S> They won't offer you a single rupee more than you stated, and any future negotiations for a raise will use your initial salary as a baseline. <A> The A in MEAN stands for Angular, but Angular is not as popular now as it once was. <S> Plus, there are two different flavors of it. <S> If I were going to learn something new with a steep learning curve, I would learn React instead. <S> It's more current. <S> I guess that would make it MARN.
| A good way to prove to companies that you can work with the technology you claim to know but haven't used professionally yet is by creating an own personal project and showing it to them or by contributing to an open source project.
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How do I approach my colleague about passing off paragraphs of copied website content as his own in a report? A couple of weeks ago a colleague of mine emailed a report to our team that he'd been working on, and I only got to reading it today. It seemed pretty well written initially, but as I worked through it I noticed that the table numbers didn't add up, the formatting was inconsistent, and no references were supplied. On a hunch, I copied and pasted a paragraph of text into google, and it came up verbatim from a website. I copied and pasted other bits of it, and approx 50% of it is lifted verbatim from various places around the web. Wikipedia, books, and various websites. There were no references, no citations, no quotes, nothing indicating that these were not his words. In some places, the copied text ended and his own words continued in the same paragraph, with no indication of what he'd written and what he hadn't. I also don't know how to approach this, how much of a big deal to make? I can't imagine any scenario where this would be OK, but perhaps I'm just making a big deal out if it. Do I approach our boss? or my collegue? I don't want to blow things out of proportion. Details from the comments: The task was to provide a summary of the specific technology (our boss' wording), he didn't indicate that it was/wasn't his own words when he sent the email. I had the impression that it was his own words. Our team is basically in R/D and works with research papers all the time, we all have at least a BSc, so I don't really understand why he didn't just link to a whole bunch of websites/sources instead. Even if he'd said "here's some stuff I found online" I wouldn't have had any issues with it. I'm not expecting fancy citations, just putting quotes around the relevant paragraph with a link to a website would be fine, it wouldn't take any extra time and would be useful to actually read the website. I like the guy, I'm not out to get him in trouble. I just want to understand why he did this, it seems really weird. <Q> Whether or not it's okay to copy text into a report and distribute it to others is highly contextual. <S> However, there are vast quantities of documentation created every day, for internal audiences, where citations aren't important - and where spending time on them may even be seen as wasteful. <S> When the intent is simply to summarize and distribute some basic publicly available information on a new technology, it might not be a big deal to not cite your sources. <S> That said, giving a list of references "for additional reading" might make sense in that case, so it may be worthwhile to reply to the original email and ask for any references the report writer has on hand for further study, if you're so inclined. <S> In general, unless there's an obvious violation of policy, regulation, or intent, it's best to not worry about "telling on" your coworkers. <A> I suggest approaching this not from the point of view of "he plagiarized", but rather "we have no way to read more or go back to original sources". <S> What if some source was just wrong? <S> Now you don't know where the information came from. <S> You also don't know if he actually has a list somewhere on Confluence (or equivalent) and is happy to share. <S> I would ask him in a friendly manner, <S> maybe you can cc others so that it is obvious you are doing this for the good of the team and say something like: <S> Hi Coworker, <S> Thank you for putting together the comprehensive report! <S> Is there a list of papers/links used in this report somewhere that we can use to learn more about the topic? <S> Stan <A> Unless the work is going to be published to the outside world then this really isn't an issue. <S> If it's internal documentation, nobody cares. <S> There are no marks for original research, and there is no penalty for plagiarism unless you try to sell it to the outside world, in which case it's copyright theft.
| But, in general, if there isn't a clear need for citations or references, the content isn't explicitly being presented as original, and your boss hasn't specifically asked for references, the situation you're in probably doesn't actually need any response from you. In a broad sense, if the report will be presented to external parties, or will be represented as original in any sense, it would be a typical expectation that citations would be used any time that the text or intent of the message had been copied from another source.
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How should I reply appropriately if my boss tells me that they are sick in an e-mail? How should I reply appropriately if my boss tells me that they are sick in an e-mail (the e-mail was sent only to me)? Would "I hope you will get better soon" be enough? Or should I also say something along the line of "I feel bad for you"? Answers from any cultural contexts are welcome. (I am from Germany.) <Q> Don't overthink it. <S> You can also clarify if there's anything special your boss needs you to handle while they are recovering. <S> This is what I usually reply to emails like that, Sorry to hear that, I hope you feel better soon. <S> Let me know if there's anything I can handle for you here in the office while you're out. <A> Just don't make it weird. <A> A very simple message will do. <S> Don't "make it weird" <S> like Hristo Kolev said. <S> Something like... <S> Hello Boss, <S> I am sorry to hear about your sickness. <S> Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. <S> Feel better soon! <S> Thanks, Aqqq <A> Context: <S> Canadian tech company <S> If the email is to me, and me alone, I would respond with: <S> Ok, thanks for telling me. <S> or, if I think they will need me to do something while they are sick: Ok, do you need me to cover anything while you are out? <S> If the email is to a group, like the department or company, I wouldn't respond at all. <S> The email has done it's job, there is no need to further complicate matters with needless communication. <S> "Get well soon" and similar platitudes are just meaningless small talk. <S> Save that for when the boss comes back to work.
| "Feel better soon!" is fine. Ask if there is anything you can do while they are off work, and leave the "get better soon" last like an email signature.
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When is salary usually paid in software development companies in Germany? Is there a specific norm that most of the software development companies in Germany follow in regards to the date of salary payment for full-time employees? There is no specific day stated in my work contract and I heard some people (not my colleagues) say that it's mostly 'end of the month'. What does this mean? Last working day of the month? <Q> "End of month" means some (typically 1 to 3) working days before the last day of the month. <S> This is to go sure that you have your money at the last day of month* since many regular payments (rent, insurances, loan payments, etc) are due at the first working day of the month. <S> Some companies also pay mid-month (with the 15th as due date), but with the same scheme, i.e. some days prior to the actual payment day. <S> * <S> Although handled digitally, bank transfers in Germany still often take one working day, so you want some time buffer. <A> Usually around the 24th, due to some other (government instances) payouts this has become the norm. <S> Add some additional delays if the transfer is between different banks. <A> You should contact HR and ask them whether they have a list of payout dates for the year.
| At my current employer payout dates range from the 23rd to the 26th due to weekends and bank holidays, but they typically sent the list early in the new year.
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Should Non-Team-Lead Be Responsible for Team’s Productivity? I have a question. I am a senior software engineer, not a team lead. I have received feedback on two annual reviews, from two different managers at two different companies, that team productivity could have been improved. Like this was negative feedback on my review. I was surprised to hear this, given that I am not the team lead and I thought this was the team lead’s area of responsibility. The first time I heard it, I thought it might be a fluke. However, given that I had similar feedback from a different manager at a different company, maybe there was something to it. Is it normal for senior-level staff to be held responsible for team productivity, even when they are not team leads or managers? This was not spelled out in my job description. I am not one of those folks who frequently says “this is not in my job description.” However, being responsible for the team’s productivity implies a certain level of leadership and supervision, which seems crucial to be spelled out in the job description, especially as to whether I am authorized to engage in supervision of staff members. It would be easy for a team member to respond to me, “You are not my supervisor,” and they would be right. Given, in both situations, I am finding that management hired staff that is dramatically underqualified with technical skills and/or professionalism. This is to the point where I have had to file feedback and complaints to management. Sometimes staff does not have adequate technical skills, where it is taking too long to get the job done. Alternatively, there is outlandish unprofessional behavior that is interfering with the work being done. I have not been part of the hiring process, to screen candidates and bring them on board. With one company, I started giving management interview questions and criteria to look for when hiring new staff. Gradually, the new staff that was brought on board improved. For the second company, employee roles are getting outsourced to another country, where salaries are 10% of salaries in my country. It would be an understatement to say that this complicates the situation. Due to the lower cost of labor, I do not know whether management is willing to tolerate more errors. Granted, if I am going to be held responsible for staff performance, I should have a voice in who gets hired/fired. Also, I should have authority to supervise, to ensure that staff is in compliance with quality standards. Without explicit authority, this enables unprofessional staff to undercut my instructions and get away with it. The feedback further surprises me, because I applied for both the senior software engineer position and the team lead role at one company. I was not considered for the team lead position, yet I am still accountable for team performance as a senior software engineer. My question is, is it normal for senior software engineers (or senior staff) to be held responsible for team performance, when they are not the team lead or manager? It would be helpful to get feedback from people in the information technology (IT) field. IT seems to have more gray areas in employee roles, than a factory that produces widgets on an assembly line. Please note that my long-term career goal is to become an architect. I am not interested in a management track. I am not sure if an issue like this might come up again in the future. <Q> I am not one of those folks who frequently says “this is not in my job description.” <S> Become one, when attacked unfairly justify yourself confidently. <S> Don't let these things ride, it weakens your negotiating stance. <S> Make sure you clarify your role if you need to. <S> This is actually the managers problem <S> , don't let him/her pass it to you. <A> As a software engineer who's had multiple jobs I can say that it varies. <S> Sometimes if there's no designated lead, then the most senior ones kind of takes on that role and may have similar expectations of a lead placed on them (common in smaller companies and startups). <S> But in your case there are explicit "lead" roles, so those people should be the ones who does all the lead stuff, including monitoring the team's productivity and addressing productivity issues. <S> Given that they turned you down for the lead role but specifically called you out for not taking on a lead's responsibilities, I think in these situations it's best to discuss it with the people who reviewed you. <S> Clarify with them that they did mean that they were faulting you for not ensuring the team's productivity, and if so explore why they're placing this on your head given you're not the lead. <S> Or it could be that they're trying to get more out of you than they're supposed to, given your position. <S> You won't know until you discuss the reasons behind the feedback. <S> The course of action will depend on what their reasoning is, but as @Kilisi said, you should definitely stick relatively closely to what your job description says by default. <S> If they want you to do things outside it then have a clear, documented discussion with them about it. <S> Otherwise it can lead to issues like taking on extra responsibilities you shouldn't be, being overworked, getting assigned work that's not in your area of expertise, getting blamed for issues that aren't under your jurisdiction, etc.. <S> Best to avoid all that with a simple, clarifying discussion. <A> From your description, it seems like the problem originated from the fact that somehow you did not have a clear goal set for your roles and responsibilities. <S> Without a reference for measurement (i.e., the goal setting), it's hard ( impossible ) to measure the achievements, or lack of it. <S> If it's done anyways, it's not likely to go in favor of the employee. <S> Please talk to your manager / superiors about a clear goal setting , and have regular performance reviews (not annual, maybe quarterly or even more frequent, if you see fit). <S> Do not wait for a long time for a review to happen and judgement to be passed on as a verdict , make use of the review process - utilize the review and feedback loop: <S> Seek feedback Decide on the work items for improvement <S> Perform the activities and log the efforts and outcomes (and learning/ findings) <S> Go for next review <S> Make sure you consider all the scenarios you mentioned in the question, while deciding and agreeing on the roles, like: <S> Primary expectations (delivery , fulfillment - as per the job description and contract) <S> Secondary responsibilities <S> ( If you're willing to take on: Having a leadership role, authority, reporting structure and process etc.) <A> Team productivity and personal productivity are different things. <S> Personal productivity is basically completing your assigned work on time. <S> Individuals are responsible for their personal productivity and supervisors are charged with disciplinary authority to correct personal productivity problems. <S> Team productivity is about the responsibilities you share that make the entire team go faster. <S> Are people learning from each other? <S> Are you reviewing each other's code to spot problems early? <S> Are you helping each other out when people are struggling with a problem? <S> Do you talk about designs before you waste too much time building the wrong thing? <S> Are you asking for help when you get stuck? <S> Are you talking to each other <S> so you avoid unnecessary duplication of work? <S> Are you choosing your tasks in a way that accounts for the talents of the entire team? <S> Are you communicating outside the team about requirements and dependencies? <S> If a team has productivity problems because they aren't communicating well, who is the team lead supposed to address about that? <S> The only real option is to put it on the entire team, because the lead can't communicate alone. <S> If you don't want to get dinged for team productivity in your reviews, then have an answer ready like, "I can't do anything about people slacking off, but I've been trying to help the team get better at task <S> x I'm good at by pair programming an hour per day. <S> Joe has already been handling bugs in that area that previously I would have been a bottleneck for."
| It could just be that your managers don't quite understand the dynamic of lead vs. senior, and what responsibilities fall on each.
|
How to make sure that you stay relevant while working at a dead end job? I am working at a job which has no potential for growth and due to uncertainty I may lose my job in future. Job is very niche and may not have overlapping skills with other jobs that may be available at that time when I am fired or lose my job. Considering I am in my early 30s I may not be preferred for entry level jobs for other roles that I may apply for by gaining those skills. So how do I prepare myself for this uncertainty? Or simply put how does one get over age based discrimination that is present everywhere when applying for entry level roles? I don't have inclination towards programming or software development. I am looking more towards finance and management in general. <Q> We have had a few similar questions : niche or obsolete skills, how can I find a new job, in a new field? <S> The answer is generally to prepare yourself to look attractive to employers in the new field. <S> Try to volunteer for some Open Source projects in your new field of interest, or at least crate a portfolio, put an app on GitHub, read lots of books, take lots of training courses (*), especially if they offer a qualification, or at least an acknowledgement that you completed them. <S> (*) <S> Coursera offers hundreds of free courses from top universities world wide. <A> How about https://fast.ai for example? <S> start making something yourself. <S> Either work on open source projects or - what I as a hiring team lead find even more impressive - start a side project. <S> Get inspired by indiehackers for example. <S> do something that I call 'career due diligence' (would love to help in this field - just shoot me a note) to make sure that you don't end up on a dead-end in your next gig again. <A> The best way to break into any field is to start doing it for charity. <S> I've done this myself. <S> Due to employment laws being as they are, any employer worth his salt is looking for experience. <S> Experience is actually more important than education in most instances. <S> Find a charity that needs help with it's finances, or management and do some work for them. <S> It may require a temporary sacrifice of all free time, and even reducing your sleep for a while, but think of it as an investment in your future.
| My advice would be: don't wait to get fired, but start right now with your job search and the preparation to said jobsearch learn something you'd like to do in the future.
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What are potential consequences from disclosing other interviews I'm having? Amazon is the most desirable places to work in 2019, I applied for a tech position, I was phone screened then promoted to the next round, an online assessment. If I pass I will be prompted to the next round which is the in person technical interview/assessment/discussion. I believe I will pass the online assessment and I am full of hopes for the in person meeting with them. The online assessment is scheduled for mid February. Today I was contacted by a good local mature company asking for a phone screen around mid February as well. I believe that the fact that I am being assessed by Amazon adds a value into me. But I would like to know, what would happen if I mention it to other companies? In other words, if I am asked by the later company whether I am interviewing right, would I want to mention that I am being assessed by Amazon? Any unintended consequences to saying yes? I am overthinking this because if I get an offer from the later company, then an offer from Amazon, I don't want to look bad to the later company or/and burn bridges. At the same time, if I fail with Amazon, I don't want to look weak to the later company. EDIT: The marked duplicate does answer whether to say yes/no, but does not mention the harm in saying yes, or no. <Q> If they don't ask, don't tell. <S> If they do ask, just say yes or no. <S> Mentioning it off-hand like you have looks kinda cheap/desperate; there is no reasonable method to verify your claim, and in all honesty, it's not necessarily a good claim; <S> You could be 'being considered by Amazon' as a warehouse worker or because every other techie in your area won't touch them with a 50ft barge pole due to their very public and severe employee abuse issues. <S> Your idea that Amazon is the most desirable places to work in 2019 is, by many, many public accounts, including people in tech roles there, so untrue that it sounds like something Donald Trump would retweet. <S> Or you could simply be blowing smoke for all they know, or let's be honest, care; It's not really an achievement to be 'considered' by Amazon, and that statement says nothing about your capability. <S> It's not like you've actually worked there or have experience from there that you could bring to the other company. <A> You do not gain any leverage from mentioning that you are interviewing for any specific company. <S> Most interviewers will assume that you are interviewing for multiple companies anyway <S> so they would not even bother asking. <S> If they do ask, you can give a generic answer of yes <S> , there is no need to mention specific companies. <S> If you receive multiple offers simultaneously, you are not burning any bridges or look bad by choosing the best offer for yourself. <S> But if one company offers you a position, you should not hold out indefinitely until you receive an offer from your desired company, that would definitely look bad. <A> I believe that the fact that I am being assessed by Amazon adds a value into me. <S> But is there an unintended consequences from mentioning it to other companies? <S> At some companies, the bureaucracy is thick enough that it won't matter at all, but at many places they can move at least a little faster knowing you have other interviews happening. <S> If you want to consider both places, it is probably worth it to let them know you're progressing through interviews with other companies. <S> As far as specifically mentioning any company by name, I think it's a bad idea: <S> You don't know what kind of relationship that company has with Amazon. <S> Some companies agree not to compete for hiring people, even though it's illegal. <S> They may decide to rule you out as a candidate. <S> Some companies don't want to get into bidding wars and may decide "we don't pay Amazon level wages, so we'll focus on other candidates." <S> If you're looking for them to raise their offer to match what Amazon might offer, then it's too early for that. <S> Assuming you got <S> both job offers and Amazon is higher, you can go back to this company and say you're interested, but you have another offer that pays $X more and see how they react. <S> It's completely normal to interview with multiple companies at a time, so there isn't a risk of burning bridges here.
| The main advantage from letting companies know that you are actively interviewing elsewhere is that it lets them know they need to move it along if they want a chance to hire you.
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Interviewer asked what my "cap salary" would be? Recently I was in a phone interview with a company and the interviewer asked me what my "cap salary" would be. I thought it was a strange question to ask, so I told them my minimum salary idea. She said, "no. What is the maximum salary you would accept?" How should I have responded? What was the point in that question? <Q> I think this was a poorly phrased "Give me a salary range". <S> If something like this happens in the future, just give them the standard, "I'm looking for something in the range of "X" to "Y". <S> and leave it at that. <A> I told them my minimum salary idea. <S> She said, "no. <S> What is the maximum salary you would accept?" <S> This is a really odd question. <S> Thus saying "I have no maximum salary requirement" would work. <S> Typically recruiters will ask for your minimum salary, because the company wants to pay you as little as possible while keeping you happy. <S> Giving a salary range is very unnecessary, because usually a company will just give your minimum. <A> On the face of it, it definitely seems like an odd question. <S> Why would you ever reject a job based on it paying too well . <S> However, while some people may feel comfortable to fight for as much above their minimum as possible - there are also many people who have a comfortable salary range where they feel their skills would meet the expectation set by the salary. <S> For example, there are people who feel comfortable delivering good value on a £30K salary. <S> Given the potential to make £50K, they may still see this as a good jump and within their reach. <S> However, if you offered them £200K, they will steer away from the position - as they feel their skills cannot match the offer, and that they will be out of their depth. <S> If your maximum is genuinely "uncapped", then by all means do just tell the recruiter so <S> (and if they persist, find a new recruiter). <S> But there are definitely people who would take real persuasion to look at an opportunity that "overpays" compared to what they think they are worth. <S> In those cases, it would be a waste of the recruiter's time to apply for them - as the person does not truly feel comfortable taking such a role (even if this seems irrational to somebody who fits the "pay me as much as possible" category) . <S> Of course, the most common way for a recruiter to handle this entire thing - is just to ask "what's your expected salary range". <A> Probably a test to check how bold you are able to think. <S> And given you are thinking really big what in exchange you would be willing and able to give.
| I would accept any number higher than my minimum salary (assuming everything else about the offer and position is fine) and I think 99% of people would do the same.
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