Retention - Keeping Your Job
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Comments posted to this topic are about the content posted at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones/retentionkeepingyourjob.asp
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Steve,
A well written article with some interesting points. I particularly like your introductory segment dealing with preparing a list of pros/cons and mulling over for a couple of weeks about that 'dream job'. Your point about 'not always greener on the other side' also empahsizes this point.
I moved from a comfortable job just recently, and the main reason was to broaden my skillsets. However, the transition has not been as smooth as I would like, and there have been a few sleepness nights.
Consider staying on if at all possible and negotiate for better pay or working conditions, but you must stand up and voice your opinions, otherwise nothing will be done. If you wish to move on, then be prepared to be 'shocked'!
Paul Mu
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Nice set of articles, Steve
You seem to be well versed in the intricacies of employment, ever thought of starting up an Employment Bureau
Consider staying on if at all possible How about 22 years
Far away is close at hand in the images of elsewhere.
Anon. -
I share David Burrow's opinion of this series of articles. Very well written with a great amount of understanding of what's what in the world of employment both from the employee and managerial point of view. Outstanding and thanks for taking the time. I'm going to share this one with some of the folks at work... both the good and the bad. It will reinforce the good ones and get the bad ones thinking.
--Jeff Moden
--Jeff Moden
RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally) -
Good article!
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For the most part, most people are averse to change and however badly things may be going, still prefer to stay on with the "known devil" than move on to (probably) greener pastures, but that could well turn out to be the grazing field for more than a few mad cows!!!
There is indeed no substitute for a teamplayer - not all the skills and knowledge in the world will keep you in a job if you have an attitude to match that of Nero - but then, there's no one job that can sustain the dynamics of everything in a dream-job - over a period of time there're bound to be changes in the equation - new (not so exciting) project; different set of clients who (if possible) are more demanding than the previous ones; disruption of the dream-team as people move on etc..Guess the best approach would be to retain the job you like for as long as you can - and then move on when other variables come into play that no longer make the job as much fun...as for retaining the job - I think for those that truly enjoy doing what they do, it automatically "shows" in their work and any manager worth half a groat would recognize this & keep him/her on for as long as it takes...
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
Thanks for the complements. I appreciate them.
If I have some experience, I think it's because I haven't found that great job that I could stay in for 20 years, despite looking. My wife recently went to a hospital in CA for work and they had quite a few people that had been there for 20 years, including one for 34 years! Amazing.
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after reading this article makes me want to come an work for you...
...hiring
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Very good article, Steve. I wish there were a lot more information out there about how to be a good worker and how to be a happy worker. It is something we mostly have to learn the hard way and we don’t normally figure it out until late in our careers. Thanks so much for sharing this information.
Constructive criticism of this article:
Early on you state that, “That's a key fact. Most managers, shareholders, etc. will put up with pretty much anything from someone if that person is generating revenue.” Then you go on to say, “Being a disruptive force in a team would mean being a short lived force in my world, maybe a force measured in hours.” That is very contradictory. And I think that is because you really have something wrong here and this is what you have wrong: “If you want to keep your job and you show that the business come first…” This is very wrong. You never put the business before your boss. You always put your boss first. I think most people that don’t like their job don’t get along with their boss. For many jobs I put the company first and always worked very hard to add value. But I kept butting heads with my boss and quitting and getting laid off. Then I saw that I was putting the company’s needs over my boss’s wishes. This put me in an adversarial relationship with my boss.
If you want to enjoy and keep your job, put your boss first. You must know what you need to do each and every day to keep your boss happy. This means you need to talk to them almost every day and find out what they want from you and no matter how crazy it sounds, drop what you are doing and do what they tell you. Come lay-off time bosses keep their friends and get rid of their enemies no matter how much those enemies were contributing to the company. If you bend over backward for your boss and still can’t make him/her happy then it is time to find a new boss either at the same company or a different company.
Now, on a totally separate note:
I totally disagree with your liking of workers with good team skills but poor tech skills. The few workers you have with good skills will have to re-write everything poor skilled people do. Also, the skilled ones will spend a lot of time mentoring the newbies. This is a colossal waste of time that adds zero value. There is only one person on the team that needs good team skills: the team leader or manager. Everyone else on the team should be a highly skilled heads-down coder. You should always hire the most highly skilled works you can. If you have some highly skilled workers don’t add newbies into the mix unless you can afford the tremendous amount of time it will take to get them up to speed.
This is all just my two cents.
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There is only one person on the team that needs good team skills: the team leader or manager. Everyone else on the team should be a highly skilled heads-down coder. - teds
"Heads-down coders" are going the way of the dinosaur. Team-based processes are becoming the norm (Agile or otherwise) and it's not enough to just be good at what you do; you must be able to do it well and be part of a team. There is no room for either extreme in a team work environment. If you can't play with the team then you will be alienated and your work more highly criticized until you're gone; if you're a great team player but can't get the work done without interrupting your teammates incessantly then you will be alienated and your work more highly criticized until you're gone.
I agree with Steve as long as the better team player can learn quickly and on his/her own; annoying coworkers with constant questions that could be asnwered via Google is not being a good teammate.
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog -
Thanks for the criticism.
My point on the "put up with" comment was that I have seen many people that were not team players and were a pain, but they generated revenue, so people put up with them. HOWEVER, you can go too far, and that can come back to bite you.
I still stand by the team skills concept. I'm not saying that you should have poor coders. But you will have people not as adept or skilled as others and you need to work with the full bell curve of skills, not just the high end people. No matter how skilled your team is, there will be a curve of skills.
And it's not a one dimensional rating, someone might be great at client/server coding, but horrible at business analysis stuff. Someone might not be a great code, just adequate, but handles clients great. You need a team, however and you need to exploit all the skills. Not fire the less tech skilled people and always go for the better coders. Synergies are more important than individual skills, in my opinion, and in most cases.
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""Heads-down coders" are going the way of the dinosaur."
I first heard this in around 1986. It's popular to say, it's conventional wisdom, and like much conventional wisdom, as they say in the markets, short it.
I've worked with many hundreds of heads-down coders at many shops since first hearing this. The percentage of heads down coders hasn't changed a bit (in my experience at least). I could hit about 25 of them with erasers right now from where I'm sitting. Do they engage in teamwork a lot of the time? Sure. Did they in 1986? Sure.
On another note Steve, you should probably add a paragraph about cursing. 😉
John Scarborough
MCDBA, MCSA -
Someone earlier said the way to retain your job is to effectively suck-up to your boss and not do what is in the best interest of the company. That is true if you are trying to keep your job but you are not doing the company any favors. The truth is, if the boss' direction and the companies direction are at odds then the boss needs to go.
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One more thing I disagree with is your section on uniqueness/specialization:
I have seen bosses that let and encourage their workers to specialize and I think that’s great. I have always wanted that for myself. But I have never had it and I think that it is rare to find a boss that will encourage it. Most managers look at IT workers as computer geeks that can do anything with a computer. The moment you convince them they are wrong, that you can only function within a select group of skills, is the day they are going to look for your replacement. I have always had to stay flexible and willing to pick up a new skill at the drop of a hat. I hate that, but it is the reality of the IT world.
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I first heard this in around 1986. It's popular to say, it's conventional wisdom, and like much conventional wisdom, as they say in the markets, short it. - John S
Maybe we need to define "Heads-down coder"; I see it as one of those people that you send to a dark room and keep him/her there with a good supply of pizza and Jolt cola. I have seen fewer and fewer of these types in the past ten years. I used to be one myself but found that I am a lot more successful when I can work with the customer to document the requirements than when someone with less technical skill just hands me a paragraph of what the client thinks they want.
The truth is, if the boss' direction and the companies direction are at odds then the boss needs to go. - Shad C.
If only we could get the boss out. I have seen a lot of cases where the boss needed to go but it's difficult to get rid of them from below. (I sure don't know how to do it.)
I have seen bosses that let and encourage their workers to specialize and I think that’s great. I have always wanted that for myself. But I have never had it and I think that it is rare to find a boss that will encourage it. - teds
I have seen some opposite situations that are just as bad. Companies that rotate their personnel through jobs so fast that no one ever really becomes an "expert" so their systems always run a little slow or many features go unused due to ignorance of the system. It's all about balance.
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog
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