4 ms·

I'm dealing with something similar to what the article talks about. I've been with my company for 3 years. I wa shired as a "new college hire." I am ~6 years ol

I'm dealing with something similar to what the article talks about. I've been with my company for 3 years. I wa shired as a "new college hire." I am ~6 years older than a typical grad and had worked in the industry prior to joining my company. Ever the course of my time I've: 1. Learned C# in order to rewrite an app I wrote in Java 2. Self-organized a team to implement a UI in HTML/CSS using a JavaScript tool I wrote myself that allowed different team members to work on components a layout and have the partials dynamically reconstructed. 3. wrote a connection pool class in C# from scratch that has been in production for 2 years without a hiccup. The list goes on. I suppose I've been rewarded by my manager with substantial raises and he always says he notices my work but in 3 years the only responsibility I've had was when I took it on myself to bring coworkers together to implement the UI (which we delivered in 2 weeks as opposed to the 3 months they had blocked for it). Am I wrong to feel slighted when far less capable people have been promoted to leadership positions? My boss does stuff like take me to events where I'll meet big wigs, but I don't care about that stuff. I just want to be in charge of producing good, maintainable code.

GavinMcG 10y ago
It sounds like you and your boss haven't had a conversation lately about what you each have in mind for your career.
beekums 10y ago
I agree with the other comment that you should probably talk to your manager about getting a promotion if you haven't. Networking is also not an insignificant thing. You may want to take those events your boss takes you to a little more seriously. I shunned networking the first few years of my career to my detriment. I am playing catch up now, but I've found that a strong network can also help you grow in your career... it just may be with a different company. You want the skills to do a great job, but a network will help you get the opportunities to fulfill your potential.
click170 10y ago
> Am I wrong to feel slighted when far less capable people have been promoted to leadership positions? Does your boss know you're interested in a leadership role? It sounds like you should have a 1 to 1 chat with your boss to express an interest in leadership roles and to ask what you can do in their eyes to demonstrate that readiness. I would also ask yourself what specifically makes the other person less capable? Speaking personally, I've found that sometimes someone will be promoted due to better soft-skills and/or project management even though their technical skills may be below their peers IMO, which in hindsight can - but not always does - make sense for a management role. It could be as simple as a misunderstanding where your boss thinks you're more interested in technical-path career advancement instead of a management-path career advancement. Since you mentioned that your boss is trying to acknowledge your work by inviting you out hobnobbing with big-wigs, this seems plausible.
bostonvaulter2 10y ago
I just want to add that it may be time to start thinking about transitioning to a new job if necessary. That is often (sadly) the best way to increase your pay and advance your career.
iamatworknow 10y ago
Are you me? I'm almost in the exact same situation after being hired basically straight out of college a little over 6 years ago. When I joined I was one of 3 total developers in a company with about 20 total employees. My hands have been in basically every part of our monolithic code base. Our team has now grown to 14 developers and about 70 total employees. Earlier this year one of the other original developers who was hired 4 months before me was made "Software Development Manager". The boss and owner of the company used to look at he and I as equals, but now this other dev my superior. This superior is the same guy who once threatened physical violence on me years ago, and recently drove one of our other developers to quit over a personal squabble. He doesn't give me orders or check up on my status or do any real managing of me -- I still get all that from the owner of the company (along with also being brought around to "meet big wigs", conventions in Vegas, being told how much value I bring to the company and being called the "MVP" of the programming team). Where do we go from here? I could quit and try to find more money and room for advancement elsewhere (though I feel like my skills are not particularly strong). Or I could stick it out and collect a paycheck in (what appears to be) a very secure but boring position and hope that the management mess above me doesn't grow in a way that negatively impacts what I do. This is the debate I have daily. Sorry for the stream of consciousness.

GavinMcG 10y ago

It sounds like you and your boss haven't had a conversation lately about what you each have in mind for your career.

beekums 10y ago

I agree with the other comment that you should probably talk to your manager about getting a promotion if you haven't. Networking is also not an insignificant thing. You may want to take those events your boss takes you to a little more seriously. I shunned networking the first few years of my career to my detriment. I am playing catch up now, but I've found that a strong network can also help you grow in your career... it just may be with a different company. You want the skills to do a great job, but a network will help you get the opportunities to fulfill your potential.

click170 10y ago

> Am I wrong to feel slighted when far less capable people have been promoted to leadership positions? Does your boss know you're interested in a leadership role? It sounds like you should have a 1 to 1 chat with your boss to express an interest in leadership roles and to ask what you can do in their eyes to demonstrate that readiness. I would also ask yourself what specifically makes the other person less capable? Speaking personally, I've found that sometimes someone will be promoted due to better soft-skills and/or project management even though their technical skills may be below their peers IMO, which in hindsight can - but not always does - make sense for a management role. It could be as simple as a misunderstanding where your boss thinks you're more interested in technical-path career advancement instead of a management-path career advancement. Since you mentioned that your boss is trying to acknowledge your work by inviting you out hobnobbing with big-wigs, this seems plausible.

bostonvaulter2 10y ago

I just want to add that it may be time to start thinking about transitioning to a new job if necessary. That is often (sadly) the best way to increase your pay and advance your career.

iamatworknow 10y ago

Are you me? I'm almost in the exact same situation after being hired basically straight out of college a little over 6 years ago. When I joined I was one of 3 total developers in a company with about 20 total employees. My hands have been in basically every part of our monolithic code base. Our team has now grown to 14 developers and about 70 total employees. Earlier this year one of the other original developers who was hired 4 months before me was made "Software Development Manager". The boss and owner of the company used to look at he and I as equals, but now this other dev my superior. This superior is the same guy who once threatened physical violence on me years ago, and recently drove one of our other developers to quit over a personal squabble. He doesn't give me orders or check up on my status or do any real managing of me -- I still get all that from the owner of the company (along with also being brought around to "meet big wigs", conventions in Vegas, being told how much value I bring to the company and being called the "MVP" of the programming team). Where do we go from here? I could quit and try to find more money and room for advancement elsewhere (though I feel like my skills are not particularly strong). Or I could stick it out and collect a paycheck in (what appears to be) a very secure but boring position and hope that the management mess above me doesn't grow in a way that negatively impacts what I do. This is the debate I have daily. Sorry for the stream of consciousness.