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This mentality through most of my career has left me trapped as technical support, and it's damn near impossible to climb out of the pit I've dug for myself. Wh

This mentality through most of my career has left me trapped as technical support, and it's damn near impossible to climb out of the pit I've dug for myself. What you say about being seen as a car mechanic is true.

foo_barrio 2y ago
This played out at my last place. My boss would assign my co-worker to build the world's crappiest car in the least amount of time and when it broke down I would be the only one that seemed to be able to fix it (while my co-worker was busy building some other crappy car). I would have built a much better car in the first place! However I would have taken more time and the goal was to build and release as fast a possible. My boss was okay with the risk of said crappy car, my co-worker got promoted and I slowly burned out. It's a tough balancing to make sure you sell yourself correctly and fight to work on things you want to!
- steveBK123 2y ago
  We had a guy like this on our team once, it took a year to convince management he was a net drag on the team. Half the team quit, the other half said they would if they had to work with him any longer. To prove the point we put him on a strategic rewrite and gave him master/trunk while the entire team moved to a feature branch for 6 months. This was complimentary to his ego as he was sick of us bureaucrats in the rest of the team telling him what to do and being such a burden on his genius creativity. By the end he was unable to build / run his own branch, while the remaining team lost no velocity and was making regular releases to end users. The choice was easy at that point.
rokhayakebe 2y ago
Until you start your own company, even if it is just you.
fjjjrjj 2y ago
I feel this way about documentation. I do it, a lot. I get compliments and positive feedback on it. It helps me remember things I would otherwise forget. I hope that others would be inspired by my example but it hasn't happened. I could be selfish and horde my own documentation and let others sink or swim. But that hurts me too as I'd have to pick up their slack.
- MathMonkeyMan 2y ago
  I'm reminded of the Gervais Principle. Doing the work is not the way to "win," but not winning might be the better lifestyle. Depends on your motivations, aspirations, and ethics. It's easy to chase the total compensation number, because it's just _there_ and like what are we doing anyway? But then what are you doing, anyway?
  - fjjjrjj 2y ago
    That's been my career mindset. I've been in roles where my management has referred to me as a "rockstar" and it was a burden not a compliment. I'd rather be in a supportive team environment where everyone carries their own weight. Compensation has been decent with this approach over the years. I could have made more staying longer in a darwinian bigco but the work was not fulfilling.
ForTheKidz 2y ago
> and it's damn near impossible to climb out of the pit I've dug for myself. By far the easiest way to do so will be to find another job. If you can't do this, yea, mentality will lock you in to positions you don't want to be in.
- pasc1878 2y ago
  The problem is that the new employer looks for CVs of those who achieve flashy things not those who fix things. Fixing things only gets notices by coworkers and good managers.
  - ForTheKidz 2y ago
    Agreed that could be a problem. Seems like a benefit in disguise, though—such an employer is likely not to manage a product well.

foo_barrio 2y ago

This played out at my last place. My boss would assign my co-worker to build the world's crappiest car in the least amount of time and when it broke down I would be the only one that seemed to be able to fix it (while my co-worker was busy building some other crappy car). I would have built a much better car in the first place! However I would have taken more time and the goal was to build and release as fast a possible. My boss was okay with the risk of said crappy car, my co-worker got promoted and I slowly burned out. It's a tough balancing to make sure you sell yourself correctly and fight to work on things you want to!

steveBK123 2y ago
We had a guy like this on our team once, it took a year to convince management he was a net drag on the team. Half the team quit, the other half said they would if they had to work with him any longer. To prove the point we put him on a strategic rewrite and gave him master/trunk while the entire team moved to a feature branch for 6 months. This was complimentary to his ego as he was sick of us bureaucrats in the rest of the team telling him what to do and being such a burden on his genius creativity. By the end he was unable to build / run his own branch, while the remaining team lost no velocity and was making regular releases to end users. The choice was easy at that point.

rokhayakebe 2y ago

Until you start your own company, even if it is just you.

fjjjrjj 2y ago

I feel this way about documentation. I do it, a lot. I get compliments and positive feedback on it. It helps me remember things I would otherwise forget. I hope that others would be inspired by my example but it hasn't happened. I could be selfish and horde my own documentation and let others sink or swim. But that hurts me too as I'd have to pick up their slack.

MathMonkeyMan 2y ago
I'm reminded of the Gervais Principle. Doing the work is not the way to "win," but not winning might be the better lifestyle. Depends on your motivations, aspirations, and ethics. It's easy to chase the total compensation number, because it's just _there_ and like what are we doing anyway? But then what are you doing, anyway?
- fjjjrjj 2y ago
  That's been my career mindset. I've been in roles where my management has referred to me as a "rockstar" and it was a burden not a compliment. I'd rather be in a supportive team environment where everyone carries their own weight. Compensation has been decent with this approach over the years. I could have made more staying longer in a darwinian bigco but the work was not fulfilling.

ForTheKidz 2y ago

> and it's damn near impossible to climb out of the pit I've dug for myself. By far the easiest way to do so will be to find another job. If you can't do this, yea, mentality will lock you in to positions you don't want to be in.

pasc1878 2y ago
The problem is that the new employer looks for CVs of those who achieve flashy things not those who fix things. Fixing things only gets notices by coworkers and good managers.
- ForTheKidz 2y ago
  Agreed that could be a problem. Seems like a benefit in disguise, though—such an employer is likely not to manage a product well.