8 ms·

I once almost completely automated my job, and didn't hide it. The job was to load data files into the backend system. The problem was there there were almost

I once almost completely automated my job, and didn't hide it. The job was to load data files into the backend system. The problem was there there were almost as many formats (~80) as there were partners sending data (~120), not just in structure but in content (deltas, full replace, etc.). This job was burning people out every 6 months, and I was the hapless next victim who was just looking to break into a tech position. I started scripting and automating parts of it, which eventually got pieced together to be completely hands off unless a new partner came on board or there was some new error. Since some of these steps used keyboard macros on VT100 terminals, I couldn't even use my computer while it was running, so I requested another, with the explicit intent that I could use it to surf the web while my main computer was doing it's thing. Data load lag times went from weeks, to days, to hours. When it came time for performance review, I was told I had "completely redefined the position". I would therefore be assessed against the new definition, and was therefore deemed average, and got a 3% cost of living raise (pro-rated to 2% since I'd only been there 8 months) with no merit increase. A few weeks later, my manager was somehow surprised to the point of tears that I had a new job elsewhere. A few months later, I got a call from my ex-manager, asking if I had any backups of the programs I wrote (this was long before the days of offsite source control). I said no, I had no need for them and that would probably be illegal. My replacement had somehow lost everything, and was now trying to keep up the old burnout way and they were weeks behind.

fersho311 5y ago
That’s a bit sad, the way you told the story sound like you didn’t make the place better even though you could have.
- rackjack 5y ago
  Not really his problem.
- Tushon 5y ago
  How is that your conclusion? OP had a number of things that were improved in-scope of his role, specifically cited this was before offsite version control, and that his replacement somehow deleted things.
- throw8383833jj 5y ago
  are you kidding? he totally made the place better. did his job infinitely better than the job description required and what did he get for all his trouble? a big slap in the face from his boss. of course he left and took his skills with him. most companies just don't know how to recognize and appreciate above average skills/productivity, this is sadly a recurrent feature of many work places.
- allenu 5y ago
  It sounded like their workplace essentially eliminated any incentive to go beyond expectations after their job was redefined.
- squeaky-clean 5y ago
  It sounds like they did make the place better, and the company stiffed them and they left and then things were no longer better.
- taberiand 5y ago
  Just once I would like to read one of these stories where the conclusion is "and the company rewarded me with a large bonus and a paid two weeks of leave, and when I came back they had lined up some training and a project plan for me to stabilise what I had built and automate as much of the drudgery as possible"
  - nefitty 5y ago
    I tried to force this at a company I was at. I was like a robot, automating as much as possible, anything and everything I touched. Spreadsheets, data loading, surveys, analytics, daily reports. I even built a chrome extension to improve a cash transfer approval workflow. Weirdly enough, the director that forced me out had been a programmer in a past life. All he could see of me was that I was a cost center on his spreadsheet. He never sat down with me to ask what I did all day. He'd see me in a corner of the office wired in and I guess he assumed I was watching cartoons or something. Fuck 'em. I left and I'm sure dozens of systems I had built and maintained broke, just by virtue of my company email address being shut down. I did try my best to document what I could and onboard others. There's only so much you can do in two weeks when you have to start with explaining what Firebase and Google Apps Script is to multiple people.
  - brokenmachine 5y ago
    And after the program was stabilised and automated, I was fired.
    - taberiand 5y ago
      Hopefully more like, after the program was stabilised and automated I leveraged my new skills and left for more money elsewhere and on good terms with my company.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    This is kinda what happened to me. Not quite the same way but I got well rewarded and still work there to this day.
- bqmjjx0kac 5y ago
  I think people are misunderstanding your comment. If I'm reading correctly, you're saying that it's sad that their hard work went to waste.
  - lavp 5y ago
    You can definitely interpret that both ways
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
TravelTechGuy 5y ago
re: the performance review: don't know about your work place, but the first quarterly review I got at [insert name of large known company], my manger sat me down and explained she is budgeted a certain amount of bonus points for her 5 team members, and required to "grade on a curve". Hence, 1 team member will be "above average", 3 will be "average", and one "below average" every quarter. And for fairness, she rotates the names. I was deemed "below average" since it was my first quarter, but the good news, she said, is when she nominates me for "average" next quarter, she'd add a "shows improvement" comment to it! Bare in mind, real actual money was tied to this stupid scheme, and you had to spend at least 2 hours writing a document explaining what you've done for the company, the team and the product, to justify your "averageness". I lasted 3 quarters in that social experiment. And I'll laugh in the face of corporate recruiters till the day I die.
- cyberlurker 5y ago
  I had a very similar experience. Also, the year after a promotion there was a universal unwritten rule that you get a need improvement review no matter how well you performed.
- duxup 5y ago
  I worked at a company that operated like that. Each manager could only put in so many high marks. Company had something like 5000 employees. I felt good that I often got the highest mark, but others were doing well too, they deserved more. I finally asked my boss, he told me. “I figured out that other being told in an email how to award perf reviews… nobody checks… so I give everyone the highest reward.”
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    Managers who just give everyone the highest rating are generally the reason that these forced curve policies are created.
    - andrewflnr 5y ago
      That doesn't mean the managers are wrong.
another_story 5y ago
I did something similar as a summer intern back in the late 90s, but instead I got a permanent job offer at a rate 3x my intern wage. Then, a few years later when the dotcom bust hit, I became a bartender.
forinti 5y ago
How can someone who "manages" not see the value in your work? It seems some people have a religious view of work: it is valuable only if you are toiling and pushing yourself.
- Msw242 5y ago
  Yeah, you take a person like this, teach them about people management, and then move them one level higher to give them access to more problems to solve. Hours of butt in seat doesn't necessarily correlate with value delivered.
sam_goody 5y ago
A Tale of Two Programmers should be required reading. Very relevant. https://knowstuffs.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/the-parable-of-the-two-programmers/ https://knowstuffs.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/the-parable-of-t...
- johnnyanmac 5y ago
  hmm, I'm not sure how to feel about this story (now, 35 years later). On paper, the lessons seems pretty clear: look productive and don't be afraid to be a bit fancy or cryptic to flaunt your talents. This is (IMO unfortunate) standard workplace stuff you'd learn in any field. But nowadays... I'm not sure with the strict hierarchies on if Alan would actually be promoted. And ofc, in todays' unprecedented environment there's probably more Charles out there than people want to admit, who's still providing value to companies. Very interesting story, one where you can argue that there's no obvious moral to take away when considering this 80's tale in the 2020's.
gerikson 5y ago
Nothing as dramatic as your story, but the reason I learned Perl back in 1999 or so was because I was a contractor for a contractor for a company that imported a CDs worth of XML into a database every week. The importer was written in Java, the import took around 3 days, and frequently broke because the XML didn't have escaped ampersands etc. I wrote some scripts that chunked the input, sanitized it, scripted loading and reloading (basically baby's first ETL) and got it to run without failing every week. A few months later I fat-fingered a rm -rf and lost all the scripts. There were no backups because the machine was not rated as being in production.
- jquast 5y ago
  File recovery is always possible. Unmount the partition (remount read-only if you have to), use a program like hexedit to open the raw disk partition and search for a unique series of text found in your script files, copy and paste the contents into new file, script restored!
holoduke 5y ago
You could asked for six figures to get it fixed if it's really making such an impact.
- redisman 5y ago
  From the company that gave them 2%? Waste of time
OOPMan 5y ago
Thank you for your heartwarming tale, it made my day
bubblecheck 5y ago
You should have ensured that they had possession of a reliable backup/recovery method -- or, at least, clarified such a need via your exit interview.
- belval 5y ago
  Even disregarding how much goodwill the company had burned at that point. Your solution implies that they would've set up a backup method once the employee left. For most company the exit interview is done to tick a box. The feedback given will not be listened to at all. I can absolutely understand why he didn't feel like it was his job to setup and entire source control system on his way out the door.
  - bubblecheck 5y ago
    Points taken. However, at a minimum, it is a reasonable professional courtesy to disclose the significance of the backup issue upon exit. The company did not mistreat the employee, just that it undervalued the employee.
    - unwoundmouse 5y ago
      I think the question boils down to do you believe the employee is obligated to disclose the backup issue within the responsibility of the employment contract? I would say no, since the entire creation of the software was not within the responsibility of the contract, why would the documentation of the backup issue be within it? I think the situation is analogous to the company giving the employee a big unwarranted pay raise, and then the employee lazily not doing more work, then the company firing the employee, but then arguing that at a minimum, the company has a reasonable professional courtesy to give the employee hours for their vacation days, even though it isn't specified within the contract.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
I did something similar at my starting tech job at a callcenter. Part of my job was to process bulk RMAs that was so boring I automated it. I didn't get a big merit increase but they created a new position to oversee the callcenter technology a few months later that was really my thing. Then the merit increases came too. This was almost 20 years ago and I still work there today. During this time I built custom reports, wall displays and even a basic call recording system when there was no budget to buy off the shelf :) I'm sorry that company didn't appreciate you but a lot of them also do!
imtringued 5y ago
Economists of the 20th century thought that productivity increases will reduce our working hours so much that we will barely spend any time working... What your boss should have done is lower your working hours but keep the pay the same.
- damirkotoric 5y ago
  Marx knew better.
- 4m1rk 5y ago
  The best approach. Plus, the freedom for the employee to work on other projects. i.e. part-time contractor with some benefits.

fersho311 5y ago

That’s a bit sad, the way you told the story sound like you didn’t make the place better even though you could have.

rackjack 5y ago
Not really his problem.
Tushon 5y ago
How is that your conclusion? OP had a number of things that were improved in-scope of his role, specifically cited this was before offsite version control, and that his replacement somehow deleted things.
throw8383833jj 5y ago
are you kidding? he totally made the place better. did his job infinitely better than the job description required and what did he get for all his trouble? a big slap in the face from his boss. of course he left and took his skills with him. most companies just don't know how to recognize and appreciate above average skills/productivity, this is sadly a recurrent feature of many work places.
allenu 5y ago
It sounded like their workplace essentially eliminated any incentive to go beyond expectations after their job was redefined.
squeaky-clean 5y ago
It sounds like they did make the place better, and the company stiffed them and they left and then things were no longer better.
taberiand 5y ago
Just once I would like to read one of these stories where the conclusion is "and the company rewarded me with a large bonus and a paid two weeks of leave, and when I came back they had lined up some training and a project plan for me to stabilise what I had built and automate as much of the drudgery as possible"
- nefitty 5y ago
  I tried to force this at a company I was at. I was like a robot, automating as much as possible, anything and everything I touched. Spreadsheets, data loading, surveys, analytics, daily reports. I even built a chrome extension to improve a cash transfer approval workflow. Weirdly enough, the director that forced me out had been a programmer in a past life. All he could see of me was that I was a cost center on his spreadsheet. He never sat down with me to ask what I did all day. He'd see me in a corner of the office wired in and I guess he assumed I was watching cartoons or something. Fuck 'em. I left and I'm sure dozens of systems I had built and maintained broke, just by virtue of my company email address being shut down. I did try my best to document what I could and onboard others. There's only so much you can do in two weeks when you have to start with explaining what Firebase and Google Apps Script is to multiple people.
- brokenmachine 5y ago
  And after the program was stabilised and automated, I was fired.
  - taberiand 5y ago
    Hopefully more like, after the program was stabilised and automated I leveraged my new skills and left for more money elsewhere and on good terms with my company.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  This is kinda what happened to me. Not quite the same way but I got well rewarded and still work there to this day.
bqmjjx0kac 5y ago
I think people are misunderstanding your comment. If I'm reading correctly, you're saying that it's sad that their hard work went to waste.
- lavp 5y ago
  You can definitely interpret that both ways
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

TravelTechGuy 5y ago

re: the performance review: don't know about your work place, but the first quarterly review I got at [insert name of large known company], my manger sat me down and explained she is budgeted a certain amount of bonus points for her 5 team members, and required to "grade on a curve". Hence, 1 team member will be "above average", 3 will be "average", and one "below average" every quarter. And for fairness, she rotates the names. I was deemed "below average" since it was my first quarter, but the good news, she said, is when she nominates me for "average" next quarter, she'd add a "shows improvement" comment to it! Bare in mind, real actual money was tied to this stupid scheme, and you had to spend at least 2 hours writing a document explaining what you've done for the company, the team and the product, to justify your "averageness". I lasted 3 quarters in that social experiment. And I'll laugh in the face of corporate recruiters till the day I die.

cyberlurker 5y ago
I had a very similar experience. Also, the year after a promotion there was a universal unwritten rule that you get a need improvement review no matter how well you performed.
duxup 5y ago
I worked at a company that operated like that. Each manager could only put in so many high marks. Company had something like 5000 employees. I felt good that I often got the highest mark, but others were doing well too, they deserved more. I finally asked my boss, he told me. “I figured out that other being told in an email how to award perf reviews… nobody checks… so I give everyone the highest reward.”
- sokoloff 5y ago
  Managers who just give everyone the highest rating are generally the reason that these forced curve policies are created.
  - andrewflnr 5y ago
    That doesn't mean the managers are wrong.

another_story 5y ago

I did something similar as a summer intern back in the late 90s, but instead I got a permanent job offer at a rate 3x my intern wage. Then, a few years later when the dotcom bust hit, I became a bartender.

forinti 5y ago

How can someone who "manages" not see the value in your work? It seems some people have a religious view of work: it is valuable only if you are toiling and pushing yourself.

Msw242 5y ago
Yeah, you take a person like this, teach them about people management, and then move them one level higher to give them access to more problems to solve. Hours of butt in seat doesn't necessarily correlate with value delivered.

sam_goody 5y ago

A Tale of Two Programmers should be required reading. Very relevant. https://knowstuffs.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/the-parable-of-the-two-programmers/ https://knowstuffs.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/the-parable-of-t...

johnnyanmac 5y ago
hmm, I'm not sure how to feel about this story (now, 35 years later). On paper, the lessons seems pretty clear: look productive and don't be afraid to be a bit fancy or cryptic to flaunt your talents. This is (IMO unfortunate) standard workplace stuff you'd learn in any field. But nowadays... I'm not sure with the strict hierarchies on if Alan would actually be promoted. And ofc, in todays' unprecedented environment there's probably more Charles out there than people want to admit, who's still providing value to companies. Very interesting story, one where you can argue that there's no obvious moral to take away when considering this 80's tale in the 2020's.

gerikson 5y ago

Nothing as dramatic as your story, but the reason I learned Perl back in 1999 or so was because I was a contractor for a contractor for a company that imported a CDs worth of XML into a database every week. The importer was written in Java, the import took around 3 days, and frequently broke because the XML didn't have escaped ampersands etc. I wrote some scripts that chunked the input, sanitized it, scripted loading and reloading (basically baby's first ETL) and got it to run without failing every week. A few months later I fat-fingered a rm -rf and lost all the scripts. There were no backups because the machine was not rated as being in production.

jquast 5y ago
File recovery is always possible. Unmount the partition (remount read-only if you have to), use a program like hexedit to open the raw disk partition and search for a unique series of text found in your script files, copy and paste the contents into new file, script restored!

holoduke 5y ago

You could asked for six figures to get it fixed if it's really making such an impact.

redisman 5y ago
From the company that gave them 2%? Waste of time

OOPMan 5y ago

Thank you for your heartwarming tale, it made my day

bubblecheck 5y ago

You should have ensured that they had possession of a reliable backup/recovery method -- or, at least, clarified such a need via your exit interview.

belval 5y ago
Even disregarding how much goodwill the company had burned at that point. Your solution implies that they would've set up a backup method once the employee left. For most company the exit interview is done to tick a box. The feedback given will not be listened to at all. I can absolutely understand why he didn't feel like it was his job to setup and entire source control system on his way out the door.
- bubblecheck 5y ago
  Points taken. However, at a minimum, it is a reasonable professional courtesy to disclose the significance of the backup issue upon exit. The company did not mistreat the employee, just that it undervalued the employee.
  - unwoundmouse 5y ago
    I think the question boils down to do you believe the employee is obligated to disclose the backup issue within the responsibility of the employment contract? I would say no, since the entire creation of the software was not within the responsibility of the contract, why would the documentation of the backup issue be within it? I think the situation is analogous to the company giving the employee a big unwarranted pay raise, and then the employee lazily not doing more work, then the company firing the employee, but then arguing that at a minimum, the company has a reasonable professional courtesy to give the employee hours for their vacation days, even though it isn't specified within the contract.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

I did something similar at my starting tech job at a callcenter. Part of my job was to process bulk RMAs that was so boring I automated it. I didn't get a big merit increase but they created a new position to oversee the callcenter technology a few months later that was really my thing. Then the merit increases came too. This was almost 20 years ago and I still work there today. During this time I built custom reports, wall displays and even a basic call recording system when there was no budget to buy off the shelf :) I'm sorry that company didn't appreciate you but a lot of them also do!

imtringued 5y ago

Economists of the 20th century thought that productivity increases will reduce our working hours so much that we will barely spend any time working... What your boss should have done is lower your working hours but keep the pay the same.

damirkotoric 5y ago
Marx knew better.
4m1rk 5y ago
The best approach. Plus, the freedom for the employee to work on other projects. i.e. part-time contractor with some benefits.