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Catching up with top class engineers

2 points by askaquestion 9y ago

I work in a well known company in a team full of top class engineers. While I am happy to learn and improve, I also find myself constantly getting "left behind". The company rewards initiative takers, so I frequently find myself getting work that is either too simple or something nobody wants to do. I have tried to bring this up with my team lead. He seems to not worry about this too much as long as work is getting done, he isn't particular on who is building the expertise. Although I hate bringing up the gender angle to this - I am wondering if that is a factor here. I do not ask questions without first digging deep, I do my due diligence. I believe I am sincere in my efforts and eager to learn. How can I work around this problem? Without complaining to X or Y, what can I do at my level to get better and be considered for significant work tasks.

tgflynn 9y ago
I don't know the specifics of your situation so my suggestion may or may not be applicable. That said I would suggest you spend your own time trying to solve some difficult problem that your team faces or designing or prototyping a solution for some complex software component your team needs. If you succeed that should earn you more respect for your technical abilities. This has worked for me in the past. Once you get to a more senior role though I'd be careful of making a habit of it or you may get taken advantage of.
- askaquestion 9y ago
  That's a great suggestion. Thank you for taking the time to reply. So far I haven't been successful in picking projects that I could meaningfully contribute to. Also worth noting that most low hanging fruits are solved so the open problems are either really hairy or undiscovered.
mpweiher 9y ago
> The company rewards initiative takers ... > and be considered for significant work tasks. Hmmm...it looks like you need to take the initiative instead of waiting to be considered.
- askaquestion 9y ago
  I was alluding to the fact that because it is okay to not respect "boundaries" in some way. Very often, folks will grab work without any care about stepping on another person's toes. It becomes a sort of race to the bottom because very frequently, folks won't report a bug until they have a fix for it and then they open a PR and open a ticket.

2 points by askaquestion 9y ago

tgflynn 9y ago

I don't know the specifics of your situation so my suggestion may or may not be applicable. That said I would suggest you spend your own time trying to solve some difficult problem that your team faces or designing or prototyping a solution for some complex software component your team needs. If you succeed that should earn you more respect for your technical abilities. This has worked for me in the past. Once you get to a more senior role though I'd be careful of making a habit of it or you may get taken advantage of.

askaquestion 9y ago
That's a great suggestion. Thank you for taking the time to reply. So far I haven't been successful in picking projects that I could meaningfully contribute to. Also worth noting that most low hanging fruits are solved so the open problems are either really hairy or undiscovered.

mpweiher 9y ago

> The company rewards initiative takers ... > and be considered for significant work tasks. Hmmm...it looks like you need to take the initiative instead of waiting to be considered.

askaquestion 9y ago
I was alluding to the fact that because it is okay to not respect "boundaries" in some way. Very often, folks will grab work without any care about stepping on another person's toes. It becomes a sort of race to the bottom because very frequently, folks won't report a bug until they have a fix for it and then they open a PR and open a ticket.