4 ms·

so yeah because of my supposedly flawed personality i will have 0 chances at promotion beyond just being a developer. and developers are not rewarded very well

so yeah because of my supposedly flawed personality i will have 0 chances at promotion beyond just being a developer. and developers are not rewarded very well where i live. the logical conclusion is that i will have to become their competitor as soon as i can. which sadly benefits nobody as i could potentially do better with big-company resources behind me and the companies would do better without upstarts trying to take their profits.

csydas 10y ago
Or, an alternate and equally reasonable position is you can find out what your seniors feel are required assets for you to have and figure out either how to obtain them or, if you already have them, how to appropriately demonstrate that you do. Forgive me for being rude, but your response, even if meant to be tongue in cheek, comes off as petulant, a little arrogant, and not particularly well reasoned. Assuming you mean to say that you are not progressing in your career because you're an introvert, I would suggest maybe actually talk with your higher ups and figure out why you have not progressed. Being introverted is not incompatible with leadership or with management or with any higher level position. An equally logical position on why an introvert hasn't advanced is because they don't fulfill the requirements of higher positions. There's nothing inate about being inroverted that makes you suddenly incapable of more responsibility. However, if what your employer is looking for is incongruent with what you're offering, that's not a failure of the employer to recognize your worth, it's an incongruency with your wants and their needs. This is true of any business for any person, regardless of personality. That is, if advancement in a company means more managerial work or team management and so on, you need to demonstrate you can provide these services; these aren't matters you can just say "yes I do this", it has to be demonstrated. Lumping failure to advance under "it's because I'm introverted" without any other justification seems to be more of an excuse.
Cthulhu_ 10y ago
The trick there is to become invaluable; to be a specialist in a certain area (like security, database management, native mobile development, data science, AI, etc) and make yourself in demand. If you keep talking yourself down by saying "Yeah I know such-and-such but it doesn't matter because muh personality", then you will keep having no chance at promotion. Actually in the IT world, it's better to switch jobs than wait (or ask) for promotion. TL;DR: Be confident, know what you know, know what an employer needs, sell that.
vidarh 10y ago
Or find someone to coach/mentor you. You might be surprised at how little it can take to come across more positively to your managers. I've worked with a lot of developers, and coached a few, and even most "problem developers" that gets written off as not management material rarely have any deep seated personality issues that cause them to be seen as flawed - more often it is a matter of how they let their personality manifest. E.g. developers that come across as abrasive often just need to learn subtle changes in how to give feedback or criticism, but often think that they're being punished for the technical content or for "political reasons". If you give some details about your "flaws" (in private if you like - my e-mail in my profile), I'd be happy to give you some suggestions you could try to see how people respond.
imgabe 10y ago
Development is only so valuable. If you can transfer your expertise to 5 or 10 more people and guide and mentor them, then the company reaps the benefits of having 5-10 of you, rather than only one. Ultimately that is the more profitable option and that is why those who can do that are compensated more generously. No matter how good a developer you are, you're still only one person. > the logical conclusion is that i will have to become their competitor as soon as i can If you think you can become a successful competitor to a large company with ONLY development skills and not any of the people skills that would have gotten you into a management position, you're in for a rude awakening.

csydas 10y ago

Or, an alternate and equally reasonable position is you can find out what your seniors feel are required assets for you to have and figure out either how to obtain them or, if you already have them, how to appropriately demonstrate that you do. Forgive me for being rude, but your response, even if meant to be tongue in cheek, comes off as petulant, a little arrogant, and not particularly well reasoned. Assuming you mean to say that you are not progressing in your career because you're an introvert, I would suggest maybe actually talk with your higher ups and figure out why you have not progressed. Being introverted is not incompatible with leadership or with management or with any higher level position. An equally logical position on why an introvert hasn't advanced is because they don't fulfill the requirements of higher positions. There's nothing inate about being inroverted that makes you suddenly incapable of more responsibility. However, if what your employer is looking for is incongruent with what you're offering, that's not a failure of the employer to recognize your worth, it's an incongruency with your wants and their needs. This is true of any business for any person, regardless of personality. That is, if advancement in a company means more managerial work or team management and so on, you need to demonstrate you can provide these services; these aren't matters you can just say "yes I do this", it has to be demonstrated. Lumping failure to advance under "it's because I'm introverted" without any other justification seems to be more of an excuse.

Cthulhu_ 10y ago

The trick there is to become invaluable; to be a specialist in a certain area (like security, database management, native mobile development, data science, AI, etc) and make yourself in demand. If you keep talking yourself down by saying "Yeah I know such-and-such but it doesn't matter because muh personality", then you will keep having no chance at promotion. Actually in the IT world, it's better to switch jobs than wait (or ask) for promotion. TL;DR: Be confident, know what you know, know what an employer needs, sell that.

vidarh 10y ago

Or find someone to coach/mentor you. You might be surprised at how little it can take to come across more positively to your managers. I've worked with a lot of developers, and coached a few, and even most "problem developers" that gets written off as not management material rarely have any deep seated personality issues that cause them to be seen as flawed - more often it is a matter of how they let their personality manifest. E.g. developers that come across as abrasive often just need to learn subtle changes in how to give feedback or criticism, but often think that they're being punished for the technical content or for "political reasons". If you give some details about your "flaws" (in private if you like - my e-mail in my profile), I'd be happy to give you some suggestions you could try to see how people respond.

imgabe 10y ago

Development is only so valuable. If you can transfer your expertise to 5 or 10 more people and guide and mentor them, then the company reaps the benefits of having 5-10 of you, rather than only one. Ultimately that is the more profitable option and that is why those who can do that are compensated more generously. No matter how good a developer you are, you're still only one person. > the logical conclusion is that i will have to become their competitor as soon as i can If you think you can become a successful competitor to a large company with ONLY development skills and not any of the people skills that would have gotten you into a management position, you're in for a rude awakening.