November 24, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Keeping Your Job
November 25, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I can only say one thing - 'KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, DO WHAT YOUR MANAGER TELLS YOU EVEN IT IS STUPID !!! DO NOT GOSSIP, PEOPLE GOT FIRED (THEY ACTUALLY SHOWED IT ON TV AND MAGAZINE.)!!!!'
Will I be happy to work this way ? Probably not 🙁
But it is better to lose a job because I refused to follow my manager's stupid way to do the project. Even I found the proof that it did not work and in reality it did not work in the test system. Still he insisted to do it his way. I got angry and refused to follow his way. So my director had to lay me off even he knew I was the best developer in the whole group. He said he wanted the group in harmony.
After I left, another developer left too. All of sudden they lost two developers. I really wanted to know how the director and the manager felt. I also wanted to know how the CIO felt because this group was re-organized and the manager was in charge of this group for only 3 months and 2 people left. I wanted to see their review next year.
Anyway how do keep my job is different from how do I get a good job and keep it?
November 26, 2007 at 1:17 am
Years ago, my brother made sure he learnt how to make a deccent cuppa. His reasoning was that anyone who makes a good cup of tea isn't going to be the first to be laid off.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
November 26, 2007 at 6:00 am
Steve, you're not going over to the dark side are you? Don't tell me you're going to start suggesting employees stick to a schedule and check in with the boss unrequested?
I'd like to see some tips along the lines of your ed about telecommuters as they are often the ones that go first due to having less face time with the powers that be.
November 26, 2007 at 6:51 am
Keeping a job often has more to do with human skills rather than tech ones.
Are you dependable?
do you treat co-workers (even problem ones) with respect?
Are you willing to assist outside your core job?
Being quirky is usually not a big problem if you are perceived as being able and willing to get in there when the going is tough.
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
November 26, 2007 at 7:36 am
I'm suggesting that you fit into the culture. Not that you agree with everything or even that you are afraid to disagree about decisions, but work within the culture. To try change things you don't like from within, follow the rules and ensure you don't stand out as someone that doesn't get along.
I've been through 5 layoffs in my career. The people that were the first to go were often the under performers if they didn't get along with the boss. It was rare to have telecommuters, but they weren't targeted. Next to go were those who skills were easily replaceable or transferred to someone else. If you were the "only guy" working on some system, you were typically left alone.
November 26, 2007 at 7:54 am
Steve Jones - Editor (11/26/2007)
If you were the "only guy" working on some system, you were typically left alone.
In the longer term, though, I've found that being "indispensable" is a really bad strategy too. Companies know full well that if one person has a hold over them, that person can use the leverage to advantage, so it's worth the company's while spending to either avoid or get themselves out of that position.
In short, if you're the only person who knows a system, you may well find the company's been working hard to get rid of that system - and you in the process.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
November 26, 2007 at 8:52 am
It can be if you hoard information. However I've seen that often a company doesn't want to (or doesn't have time) to upgrade something and no one wants to work on it. So someone gets "stuck with it".
What layoffs come, it's hard to get rid of that person in the short term.
That does and can change, so don't bank on being the only person knowing that system for the next round of layoffs. Be sure you are working on your career in the meantime.
November 26, 2007 at 11:36 am
Your value is relative not only to your own job but to the job your boss has and to the perception the organization has of both. If you can't directly relate your value to the company's bottom line then you are dependent on your boss doing it for his group and you are just another resource to make that happen. The bigger the organization, the more dependent you become and the more vulnerable you are to being just another red "X" on an org chart when the been counters dictate a cut. If your boss is the red "X" then it's even more important you can describe your real value added to his boss or his replacement. It's not an issue of getting along or being quirky - it's all bottom line in a big organization. If you can't show you are contributing, you are toast at some point.
Regards,
Greg Young
November 26, 2007 at 11:39 am
Greg Young (11/26/2007)
...the been counters dictate a cut...
Freudian I guess... should be bean counters although in this context "been" is appropriate.
Regards,
Greg Young
November 26, 2007 at 7:55 pm
No one is indispensable especially in big company. It does not matter if you are the only one who know the system or you have the best skill set. The ones who never get layoff are the ones who know how to play company politics.
October 30, 2012 at 4:21 am
As mentioned earlier, being "indispensable" (e.g. because you are the only one who knows the system) is not a great strategy in the way that it also makes it nigh impossible for you to get promoted or moved across to a new shiny project!
For the rest, politics are important, make sure you are visible, and always make sure your colleagues/management understand your contribution to the bottom line (and/or the overall performance of the team/department).
Saying that, always be ready for the “worst” and ensure you have a network of useful contacts to use when you do need to look for a new position – and never ever burn bridges when you do go ... it’s a small world out there and you will meet people from previous lives! 🙂
October 30, 2012 at 7:43 am
Loner (11/26/2007)
No one is indispensable especially in big company. It does not matter if you are the only one who know the system or you have the best skill set. The ones who never get layoff are the ones who know how to play company politics.
Now there is someone who has dealt wiith the "real world". What you know has very little to do with why you get laid off. That has always been the case. I have seen "people" (weasels) that don't know how to pour urine out of a boot with the directions written on the heel, but they happen to be good friends and play golf with upper managment and they are still there years later. “Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines”:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
October 30, 2012 at 9:22 am
I saw plenty of this at my old job. No one was safe, unless you happened to be on the CIO's "good side". I saw some very talented people laid off, some that had been there for 30 years, some that had worked tons of overtime, some that had knowledge of systems that no one else understood. Knowledge of the business was not a valued thing, nor was company loyalty. All this contributed to people (including myself) leaving on our own terms for a better work environment elsewhere.
Now I work at a company where business knowledge, technical skills and people skills are all equally valued. One of the best decisions I ever made was changing jobs (and changing locales in the process).
Tony
------------------------------------
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
October 30, 2012 at 9:40 am
TravisDBA (10/30/2012)
What you know has very little to do with why you get laid off. That has always been the case. I have seen "people" (weasels) that don't know how to pour urine out of a boot with the directions written on the heel, but they happen to be good friends and play golf with upper management and they are still there years later. “Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines”:-D
Travis,
I started in the business in 1972. I have never been fired. I have left a job or two and gone elsewhere but only by my own choice. I have faced numerous layoffs and have wondered but my number has not come up, and from what I understand it has never been close. I am not a weasel nor do I think the attributes of a weasel are appropriate in the office at any level or any position. If I were to guess why this has happened I would say it is because I try to solve the problems people have or point them towards a solution if I do not have a clue. I honestly say I do not know when I do not, and if I state an opinion I make certain that they know that it is an opinion. As long as I help others solver their problems as well as be productive in what I am suppose to do things have worked out well.
I can say the "That more often then not has been the case". But I cannot say that it is always the case.
I can thus say that I agree for the most part but not completely.
M.
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
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