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This can be a great opportunity, but it can also be a trap. I was labeled a "fixer" at a past job, I was the one who Got Stuff Done, and so I was hand-balled a

by taneq 2y ago

This can be a great opportunity, but it can also be a trap. I was labeled a "fixer" at a past job, I was the one who Got Stuff Done, and so I was hand-balled a succession of train wrecks to fix, while the people creating the train wrecks continued blissfully on, train wrecking every new project they got their hands on. They, of course, had plenty of time to advocate for themselves and got to work on every interesting new project coming through, while I was flat out attempting to remediate their previous shenanigans.

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
This may be true, but remember that my friend also got hired by Amazon, after a year or two of "fixing." "Fixers" are incredibly valuable, and only a moron manager would squander them (sadly, there are a lot of terrible managers out there). I remember watching an episode of the new American version[0] of HPI[1], and thinking that it is a SciFi story, because her manager is a smart, fair woman that believes in her, has her back, and takes personal risks on her behalf. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26748649/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26748649/ [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14060708/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14060708/
- devnullbrain 2y ago
  It's not good enough just to be the fixer, your friend has the skill to advocate for themselves even to the degree of impressing an uninitiated third party. IMO the parent comment sounds like they're not doing this yet.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
    It's also up to their managers. Bad managers can destroy or hamper just about anyone's career. I've seen exactly that, many times. There are a ton of bad managers out there. For some reason, they never seem to have to account for their terrible performance. I suspect that bad management may just be the single biggest issue in tech (and many other industries), today. Much as everyone wants to rag on managers, good ones can make a huge difference.

by taneq 2y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago

This may be true, but remember that my friend also got hired by Amazon, after a year or two of "fixing." "Fixers" are incredibly valuable, and only a moron manager would squander them (sadly, there are a lot of terrible managers out there). I remember watching an episode of the new American version[0] of HPI[1], and thinking that it is a SciFi story, because her manager is a smart, fair woman that believes in her, has her back, and takes personal risks on her behalf. [0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26748649/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26748649/ [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14060708/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14060708/

devnullbrain 2y ago
It's not good enough just to be the fixer, your friend has the skill to advocate for themselves even to the degree of impressing an uninitiated third party. IMO the parent comment sounds like they're not doing this yet.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
  It's also up to their managers. Bad managers can destroy or hamper just about anyone's career. I've seen exactly that, many times. There are a ton of bad managers out there. For some reason, they never seem to have to account for their terrible performance. I suspect that bad management may just be the single biggest issue in tech (and many other industries), today. Much as everyone wants to rag on managers, good ones can make a huge difference.