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>Any questions? Yeah, so in the example, what does that engineer get for going above-and-beyond and being more effective than most of your team? Because I see

>Any questions? Yeah, so in the example, what does that engineer get for going above-and-beyond and being more effective than most of your team? Because I see that she's doing a lot of critical work, but not a lot about what she gets for putting in that effort. That doesn't feel very motivating.

frogpelt 5y ago
Let's flip your question: what's the reward for being hard to work with?
- throwawaysleep 5y ago
  Don't be hard to work with, but don't spend any extra effort on being effective either. I take the sycophant model of being easy to work with, but I also make sure I don't learn anything outside my silo so that I don't get a lot of work and can interview prep.
- jmoreno94 5y ago
  There is a middle ground between going above and beyond and being difficult to work with. I tend to have no problem saying no to things that I think are bullshit, I have no problem skipping out on extra "team building" efforts or declining to attend the happy hour. I let my work speak for itself and I figure companies keep me around for that, and coworkers know they can come to me with any issues they might be having. But I have never purposefully taken a coworker out to lunch or asked about their life outside of work (except for when we're on a call before anyone else and they start the conversation), and yet I've had just as much success as people who I've watched do that. That's not to say that I don't get to know my coworkers I just let it happen organically as we're building things and solving problems together rather than going out of my way to make it happen.
0x4d464d48 5y ago
A chance to hone her soft-skills while becoming a more productive engineer. It does a lot more good for her career prospects than doing the bare minimum and relegating her scope to code monkey.
- vsareto 5y ago
  It seems like her soft skills are already masterful - more effective than anyone else. Why would she need another opportunity to hone them? That's a vague promise here of better career prospects, but this company isn't really rewarding the difference (or telling us) in talent when she's already working for them.
  - 0x4d464d48 5y ago
    Then it sounds like she's found balance in her career. She also has several valuable skill sets she can leverage to attain another position if her current employer does not adequately value her contributions. It's hard to argue a person with technical competence and good interpersonal skills isn't going to be in higher demand than a person with the same level of technical competence and mediocre to poor interpersonal skills.
compiler-guy 5y ago
She is building cred for the next step in her career. If you are the person your bosses think is key, then they want you on more important projects and you have more opportunities for advancement or the flexibility to pick and choose.

frogpelt 5y ago

Let's flip your question: what's the reward for being hard to work with?

throwawaysleep 5y ago
Don't be hard to work with, but don't spend any extra effort on being effective either. I take the sycophant model of being easy to work with, but I also make sure I don't learn anything outside my silo so that I don't get a lot of work and can interview prep.
jmoreno94 5y ago
There is a middle ground between going above and beyond and being difficult to work with. I tend to have no problem saying no to things that I think are bullshit, I have no problem skipping out on extra "team building" efforts or declining to attend the happy hour. I let my work speak for itself and I figure companies keep me around for that, and coworkers know they can come to me with any issues they might be having. But I have never purposefully taken a coworker out to lunch or asked about their life outside of work (except for when we're on a call before anyone else and they start the conversation), and yet I've had just as much success as people who I've watched do that. That's not to say that I don't get to know my coworkers I just let it happen organically as we're building things and solving problems together rather than going out of my way to make it happen.

0x4d464d48 5y ago

A chance to hone her soft-skills while becoming a more productive engineer. It does a lot more good for her career prospects than doing the bare minimum and relegating her scope to code monkey.

vsareto 5y ago
It seems like her soft skills are already masterful - more effective than anyone else. Why would she need another opportunity to hone them? That's a vague promise here of better career prospects, but this company isn't really rewarding the difference (or telling us) in talent when she's already working for them.
- 0x4d464d48 5y ago
  Then it sounds like she's found balance in her career. She also has several valuable skill sets she can leverage to attain another position if her current employer does not adequately value her contributions. It's hard to argue a person with technical competence and good interpersonal skills isn't going to be in higher demand than a person with the same level of technical competence and mediocre to poor interpersonal skills.

compiler-guy 5y ago

She is building cred for the next step in her career. If you are the person your bosses think is key, then they want you on more important projects and you have more opportunities for advancement or the flexibility to pick and choose.