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You have two basic options for how you charge time: 1) Firm fixed deliverable based billing. I build you an app to this specification, and on completion you pay me an agreed upon price. 2) Hourly rate based billing. I work to build you an app to this specification, and you pay me for hours worked. You can pick either of these methods, but you can't pick the more advantageous one to you after the fact. So, if you negotiate up front that you will deliver an app on a firm fixed basis for $9K, you can charge $9K on completion. However, if you say "I'm gonna build you an app, my rate is $25/hr and I estimate it will take about 360 hours for an estimated total cost of $9k" and it actually only takes you 300 hours and $7,500 in billings, you don't just get to charge me the extra $1.5K of the estimate. Firm fixed allows you to price on a value basis - the customer pays what they agree the thing you are making is worth to them, regardless of what it costs to make. The downside is that you have to be very precise about specifying what the thing that you are delivering actually is, and you have to reach an agreement with the customer that you have delivered that thing. You are able to command a higher margin, potentially, and any efficiencies in repeatable process go to your bottom line. Firm fixed billings can simplify administration of the deal. The downside is that if there are overruns or inefficiencies, they come out of your pocket since you aren't billing for hours worked. Hourly billing allows you to earn revenue based on your effort. If there are overruns, you are compensated for them. The downside is that if you are more efficient, you make less money, and you also have to have a way of tracking hours. Although there's probably no way for them to catch you at it, if you falsified timesheet as an hourly rate contractor working for my company and we somehow found out, that would a) make you persona non grata forever to us, we would never, ever in any circumstance use your services again and b) we would probably threaten to sue you and try to recover the money (more to cause you financial losses and waste your time from going to court than an actual attempt to make you pay back the money) and c) we would tell everyone we knew that you were untrustworthy and not to work with you. If you got a job somewhere else, we wouldn't work with that entity, either. However, it sounds like you have kind of set your agreement on a firm fixed basis (although that's really, really unclear, and I suspect it's not a very good agreement, the terms are highly ambigous, and you should absolutely have a lawyer look at it) - so you may be in the clear to charge the full amount of the quote. At minimum, raise your rates. My guess is you're paying yourself slightly more than minimum wage.
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Apr 5, 2021 13:10
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Thank you for that. Yeah I guess I'm in this weird grey area with the way I work and this contractor. They originally"hired" me on at 25/hr bit then immediately asks for quotes. Like I said though I'm freelance so there's no contact in place. I dunno. I'll probably just charge the full amount for this project since I've probably gone over the hour count anyways by now.
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Apr 5, 2021 13:50
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Empress Brosephine posted:Like I said though I'm freelance so there's no contact in place. noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo do not do this
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Apr 5, 2021 13:54
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I meant to say contract but I bet that still applies also lmao.
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Apr 5, 2021 14:02
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Empress Brosephine posted:I meant to say contract but I bet that still applies also lmao. i read it as contract 
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Apr 5, 2021 14:04
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Haha yeah. I was in a desperate place and the person who hired me on is a client from my previous emoyer. I have already reached out to find a lawyer to look at my stuff though!
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Apr 5, 2021 14:09
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Empress Brosephine posted:Hello Goons, i'm not sure if this is the "right" thread or not but I have a question about invoiced and quotes. I am a freelancer but mostly work for one client as a contractor at $25/hr doing web dev. There is a lot going on in your last few posts. You are charging too little, not keeping track of a core part of your business, and actually putting your career at risk. First of all, as others have mentioned, if you're delivering working webapps then your time is worth a whole lot more than $25/hr. I'm not going to get into specific examples, but very generally speaking, I'd expect someone on a long-term contracting assignment (1 year plus) who can deliver and deploy simple applications in a mainstream language (Java, C#, Node backend and/or JS-in-a-modern-framework frontend), translate a detailed spec into code, and work well in a team to charge in excess of $100/hr. Shorter-term work should pay more, to cover your overhead of setting up and closing out projects, plus the uncertainty and difficulty of selling new work. Second, you should really be tracking your time more closely. Yes, it's a pain and it's not part of your immediate delivery requirements that the client's yelling about. But, fundamentally, you are an independent businessperson and your time is your product. You not tracking your time is equivalent to someone in the physical-goods world shipping product out the door and not writing it down anywhere. You might be able to scramble around and do a half-assed inaccurate "inventory" later, but you're never going to be able to figure out trends or create a feedback loop that refines your estimation skills. It also has the potential to really gently caress up client trust, if you are out on vacation/personal time in a given week and later hand in a 40 hour timesheet for that week. Your time tracking doesn't need to be minute-perfect (nearest quarter hour is fine), and you should probably take an expansive approach to what's billable (client invites you to a meeting where they don't really need you? spent 5 hours banging your head on a simple bug before you realize that you forgot the line the beginner tutorial says "YOU MUST DO THIS" in flashing red letters? took an hour to go for a mid-workday walk, thinking the whole way about how to solve a problem? All of that time should probably be billable) - but you should be updating hours.xlsx or using a time tracking app or whatever regularly as long as you're working. Third, not only are you at a point where you should be able to go get some sweet corporate money, if that's something you want to do, you should be pursuing it right now. There's a bit of stigma around hiring long-time solo contributors into high-intermediate or senior dev positions, because a lot of people who come from that background have strong technical skills but struggle with collaboration skills when they have to build team consensus on technical decisions, or have habits that depend on not having anybody else in an environment. If you're early career, that's fine, it's just a skill to learn. If you've got a ton of technical experience but haven't worked as a dev on a team, though, then you end up with what looks like a serious skills gap concern on your resume. If you want to stay as a freelancer, this isn't a huge concern, but if you want to make the jump to enterprise software dev (or move back and forth) then you should be looking at it sooner rather than later. Empress Brosephine posted:Thank you for that. Yeah I guess I'm in this weird grey area with the way I work and this contractor. They originally"hired" me on at 25/hr bit then immediately asks for quotes. Like I said though I'm freelance so there's no contact in place. I dunno. I'll probably just charge the full amount for this project since I've probably gone over the hour count anyways by now. It sounds like the people you're working for are unsophisticated about these things themselves. Be careful about that; they may react badly to ideas like "let's carefully define the scope of work before we get started" or "hey, we're drafting a legal agreement, let's have lawyers look at it." You should still do these things, but make sure you understand why they're a good idea, and be ready to tell the story of why it's important. If someone agreed on an hourly rate and then asked for a quote for a specific project, I'd expect that they were setting things up on a time and materials basis - they'd pay for each actual hour worked, and the quote is just an estimate of about how many hours the project will take (plus a bit of contingency and so forth). But I would make very, very sure to confirm that understanding with them before I started doing billable work.
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Apr 5, 2021 20:09
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toggl is free and dece for time tracking
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Apr 5, 2021 20:20
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Thanks that's a great post. I shouldn't have said I don't keep time tracking , I keep time tracking but I usually don't track everything, which is my bad. I don't usually charge for meetings either, even if it takes a while which I should do. I didn't realize that about the stigma with solo devs. I worked with people in different professions the past 13 years including management but didn't factor the other thing. I would like to go to the corporate world though. I should start applying to a job like that. I'm super underpaid which sucks especially like you said, for the custom apps in a real programming language. Granted most of my work is wordpress brochure sites but every once in a while I require something more in depth. I'll see how the client feels about me billing full for this project. I need to track every minute of time also. Any reccomendationa on the best way to do this? Thanks for the help goons.
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Apr 5, 2021 20:24
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Just wanted to post a little update because I am too excited to not post: even with my “bad”/old resume shotgun attempt, I got a callback from a program management job that I thought sounded like a significant reach to me at the time of applying. I have a friend working for the new company and he clued me in that the position would likely be somewhere around a 25-30% raise from my current job (based on how the company tiers their positions) on top of sounding more like what I want to do than my current position affords me opportunities to do. Time to go pour over the interview and negotiation threads to brush up! It just feels so crazy validating even if this opportunity doesn’t pan out - now I know I’m not completely out in left field with what I’m targeting.
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Apr 12, 2021 18:11
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Need to know what questions to ask when talking to someone about getting into a new management program. I work for a continuing care retirement community at the flagship site near the corporate office. I’m a dining manager, started in the kitchen as a cook four years back at another site, but I’ve been getting my MBA online from a local university, graduating in six weeks. Only one B. I was at HR getting info for a school project on employee retention when the HR manager told me I’d be a good choice for the Manager in Training Program. She said I’d work in every department (grounds, facilities, admin, healthcare etc). Sounded interesting so as prompted I sent emails to the Executive Director and Associate Executive Director. They didn’t know about the program and kicked my request to the corporate office and the said the program was on hold until covid was over. Today I was cruising around looking for better jobs in the company and noticed a typo in one of the ads. I emailed the error to the corporate hiring manager and he got right back thanking me and asking if I want to talk this week. I said yes. I’ve asked around about the program and apparently it’s been dormant for years. No one knows what it is anymore. There’s another Administrator in training program that’s been active where you work in the healthcare section and take the test to become a nursing home administrator. That certification is all but necessary to become an executive director. The top job at each site. There’s a spot for that opening next year. I’ve met the guy I’m talking to tomorrow several times and but I don’t know what sort of questions to ask about the program. He’s the top gatekeeper, knows what everyone makes and what the company needs. My department is going through a difficult time right now and I’d be difficult to replace. I was going to try to go to HR to ask for a raise in a couple of months when I get my MBA. Any advice would be appreciated. I like my company but feel new in this whole management life path thing.
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Apr 20, 2021 06:38
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So, let me give you some general advice, then specific advice. General: You sound like you're overly reliant on this one employer for your career track and that is a bad position to be in. Your ED told you the answer for how they promote management from within: They don't know and don't care. Your value in your current role is probably going to be a anchor around your neck more than a help. I'm not saying you can't stay where you are, but expand your thinking and where you're looking. In general if I am picking up the fact that you're reluctant to leave your employer is too. Just looking around and interviewing elsewhere might be enough to shed that. Specific: Think about what it is you want? Is it any management opportunity? Is it specifically an ED opportunity? Usually ED isn't your first management job but I don't know your company. He asked to talk to you so I think you can go in with more "Here's what I want, what do you think is the right way for me to get there?" I'd sprinkle in "What does the company need from someone like me?". But mostly let him do the talking. Let him tell you what the pathways are and what they need.
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Apr 20, 2021 14:47
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Lockback posted:You sound like you're overly reliant on this one employer for your career track and that is a bad position to be in. Yeah, you read me right, I really like my company. Thanks for the other advice especially at the end.
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Apr 20, 2021 16:14
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I've been part of not 1 but 2 leadership programs that sort of flamed out due to externalities. Idk if they're just kind of that way or I had bad luck. So not surprised it's defunct and I'd very much deprioririze that angle. But good news is that you don't really need the program if you're someone such as yourself who seems able/willing to do this kind of legwork with reach outs and what not. So +1 to above: talk to the person, make your goals explicit and see what comes out. My only extra advice is remember it's a bit like sales: takes 30 opportunities to close 1 "deal". Look inside your company, look outside. Try to keep that pipeline full and don't limit yourself to only certain things or certain people.
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Apr 20, 2021 17:46
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Xguard86 posted:I've been part of not 1 but 2 leadership programs that sort of flamed out due to externalities. Idk if they're just kind of that way or I had bad luck. So not surprised it's defunct and I'd very much deprioririze that angle. Same here. If the programing is rolling then do it. But not sure how much it will really help.
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Apr 20, 2021 19:11
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This is more general rambling than any specific question I guess.. but basically, I've done office admin/clerking my whole life and it's going nowhere. Right now I'm a court clerk which doesn't really have anywhere else to go other than supervising or management which I really don't want. Right now I'd take anything where I can work quietly at a desk and not have to moderate rooms and conference lines full of frustrated lawyers and litigants or listen to divorced couples yell at each other. I don't have a degree or very much direction on where I want to go, other than I'd rather do something boring and safe than interesting and unpredictable. I'm quiet so even secretary stuff that involves a lot of phone calls and dealing with the public is stuff I avoid if I have to. Although now that everything is being done remotely that's been my entire job for a year so.. I can do it even if it's not my favorite thing. I can't really afford to get a degree without taking out a big loan which I'd rather avoid.. I've been looking at some free online courses to upgrade my math skills and learn some basic coding to get a feel for how I'd do in something more technical. I'm still very unsure about what path to start on, I never did have a clue of what to do as a career. Now that I'm looking for a way out of where I am now, I'd like a better plan than "find anything tolerable that will hire me and pay me enough that I can keep my apartment".
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Apr 21, 2021 03:44
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I couldn't find a starting career path thread so asking here. My partner is in the final months of his PhD program for poli Sci but made a big change last year to work towards getting a tech job post graduation. His dissertation is very heavy on machine learning, stats and other stuff. Last year he got an internship with the research division of a big telecommunications company and since then has submitted several patents and been very successful. That company is preparing to give him an offer for experienced researcher / sr researcher that will be high in salary with the normal benefits, but may require relocation to the bay area. I would put it at 50% chance they let him stay remote (we are currently in San Diego). He was also just offered a position at a network tech startup that would be full remote, no real benefits with some combination of salary + equity grant. They are decently funded and are not obviously headed to failure but it's a startup so who the gently caress knows. He would report to the cto and eventually be able to help hire contractors to help flesh out projects. I have a stable corporate job so if he stays remote he can use my benefits. Our overall goals are for him to get started on a good career path that sets him up for future success, with staying in SD as a 3rd tier goal. Important, but not the most important. I will be able to find new work in my field in the bay if we move there, but don't particularly like it as a place to live. Can anyone offer advice for how to evaluate these different opportunities, and any suggested reading or tips on how to negotiate salary vs stock for the startup (ie stock classes?) if we go that route?
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May 24, 2021 20:13
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You might try asking over here.
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May 24, 2021 20:16
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ultrafilter posted:You might try asking over here. Thank you!
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May 24, 2021 20:19
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I'm an in-house copywriter for a big retail/eCommerce company. I write everything except SEO/Product descriptions. Emails, texts, content fluff, brand touchy/feely stuff, etc. I've tried pitching testing to all my PMs, but they don't really get it or how words could make/break sales. I'm getting ansty even though my time off is great, team is great and company is great. I make a little above entry-level money for the area. Basically I'm bored as hell and wondering what else I could do. Writing is easy for me. I'm very good at it. I've worked in sales and restaurant management before this, and did well, but customer service drives me up a wall. BA in English. Not interested in slinging snake oil for the big direct mailers at all. I figure explore now while I still really like my job so I can have a plan for when I want to switch. No idea what to switch to or what's out there. Prior to this job, I had major mental health issues during/after college. I've only been able to think about the future and plan for the last year or so! So that's extremely exciting and hopeful! But I feel completely in the dark as to what's out there and how to investigate. I might make a few copies of a zine with some artists friends to prove I can direct art/projects...but I don't know if creative agency life is what I want. Not really sure where this is going, but I need to voice it and start exploring.
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Jun 5, 2021 22:18
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Have you looked into technical writing?
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Jun 5, 2021 22:25
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ultrafilter posted:Have you looked into technical writing? Not sure if I want to keep writing, honestly. I'm good at it, but I've noticed no one really values it except the big copywriting places. Either no one can do it super well, or they don't want to, but they also feel like they're good judges of what's good or not. I've heard of technical writing. It sounds worse. I liked the medical device sales stuff I wrote because I got to research and had to deeply understand the benefits, then compell and present well. I think what I'm looking for here is advice on how to explore a new career. Or find out what's out there.
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Jun 5, 2021 22:31
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ThePopeOfFun posted:I think what I'm looking for here is advice on how to explore a new career. Or find out what's out there. What else are you good at? What do you like to do? All you told us is you sound like you're good at writing copy, which is a career, but without anything else we can't really tell you. Like, plumbing is a good job. Or Front-End programming, or medical sales. But what do you want to do?
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Jun 6, 2021 02:02
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Lockback posted:But what do you want to do? Yeah this was a big post to say I have no idea and I don't really know how to find out. I've thought about shadowing some people I know who have interesting jobs. Maybe I'll start there and come back.
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Jun 6, 2021 02:27
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What are you good at? What do you enjoy?
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Jun 6, 2021 02:59
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If you are still interested in writing in some capacity, I'm a writer-editor for a federal government agency and would be happy to chat with you. My expertise is style guide development, web publishing, and federally mandated reports and documentation. If that sounds cool, PM me. Perks are steady work, good money, a variety of areas to work in, and federal pension.
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Jun 6, 2021 03:30
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Betazoid posted:If you are still interested in writing in some capacity, I'm a writer-editor for a federal government agency and would be happy to chat with you. My expertise is style guide development, web publishing, and federally mandated reports and documentation. If that sounds cool, PM me. Perks are steady work, good money, a variety of areas to work in, and federal pension. This honestly sounds like something I'd love. I'll PM you soon. Currently driving back from out of state.
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Jun 6, 2021 17:27
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What do people think about going from a player/coach first level mgmt positions to a senior IC role in order to pivot into a more desirable flavor of your job. Assuming comp/benefits are equal. Specifically, I work in product management. There's a really wide spread in what product management does. My manager role is the type of product I'm not super thrilled about. It's not the worst but it's not world beating. We're sales driven, PMs are more often project managers or tactical implementers vs problem solvers. We work on a brittle legacy monolith with 2 releases a year and month long regressions. You get the picture. I'm contemplating pursuing a change back to IC in a more product-led, flatter modern tech culture. I don't see many people lateraling at mgmt levels and I don't want to get stuck. It also seems that my org level and autonomy might be comparable because these other companies have fewer levels and the way the role is structured. I know for a lot jobs this would be supremely stupid but I'm wondering if I'm at step 1 of a midlife crisis just carrying on this path. Flip side, am I throwing away career progression chasing something sort of naive?
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Jun 11, 2021 19:33
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I work with a couple IC product managers who took that path. I don't think it's a bad idea in that field.
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Jun 12, 2021 03:03
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So I think I've done the classic thing of moving up beyond my competency and what I enjoy in terms of jobs but it's also kind of making me realise I might just be starting to dislike the general industry I've been in for 8 years. I've been a QA lead for small teams in massive corporations many times where a lot of the processes and setups are 100% defined, immutable and applied to all the projects that company is doing at a point way before QA starts doing stuff. For years I've thought I'd really like to work at a smaller company, even just as a tester, not a lead initially and get more of an insight into setting those processes up and such, possibly with someone else in the lead position who I could learn from. Previously I've not had much luck getting interviews for those sorts of positions and got made redundant early last year around when Covid really kicked in. I assume the interview issue was because people would be wondering why a current/former QA lead would be going for positions at a similar or lower level to what I was already doing (even if the pay at some of these places was probably going to be better even). I applied for a role early this year that had "senior quality assurance technician" as the title but over the course of the interviews it became clear it was a full on QA lead/management position at a place that had never really had QA in house before and the title was a bit of a misnomer. I assumed I wasn't going to get it between the first and second interview but obviously still tried my best cause I didn't have a job in any case and was very surprised when they offered me it. In the second interview things like having my own internal team of 2/3 testers plus external support were discussed as well, though now , that is not going be the case, I'm getting a single internal QA technician. Now I've been here for awhile, finished my probation period and I feel like I'm utterly adrift in some aspects. Actual work wise, I feel like I've skipped a massive chunk of career development that'd have prepared me for this role because I've never been exposed to stuff like, setting up relationships with external QA resources and various other things. I have no real idea how to go about doing them and have no one to ask so I'm just mucking along, trying to do my best and somewhat resenting the people who interviewed me for not interrogating me more and offering me the role at all because now it feels like I'm stuck, it's a very well paying job and leaving it anytime soon would probably leave me in a very bad place career wise as well (worse than being fired eventually if I really gently caress up? Not sure). The thing is they all seem to think I'm doing just fine, like I passed my probation, they said I was doing great and nobody has said things like "we have some concerns" or "you need to get this done quicker" or if they have I'm too dense to have noticed which makes me question if I'm just being pessimistic which is a common thing for me, 2020 was also not great for my sense of normality either of course with being out of work for so long and everything else going on, so I might just be looking for disaster out of habit. I suppose the question that makes this wall of text fit in this thread is, is this a common feeling when you move up to a new role with responsibilities that are really outside of the wheelhouse of the previous role? Also, if this job does go to poo poo, what are some other potential careers that have some transferrable skills from QA? I think if this role doesn't work out then I may have to start looking elsewhere because it's not something that's lighting the fire anymore I think, I'm pretty much just doing it because it's what I've done and I'll probably find it hard to find lower level jobs again if I have a QA manager/studio QA lead role on my CV.
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Jun 19, 2021 14:09
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thebardyspoon posted:I suppose the question that makes this wall of text fit in this thread is, is this a common feeling when you move up to a new role with responsibilities that are really outside of the wheelhouse of the previous role? I can’t speak to the career specific question, but I can to this. Yes, it is common to feel out of your depth. It can be really frustrating to work in this kind of environment, so I get where you’re coming from. Based on what you’re describing, the people you work for think you’re doing fine, which means you probably don’t need to worry about suddenly getting canned. One thing that might be helpful is breaking down your work into “known elements” and “new elements”. It’s very unlikely that it’s all new, and every learning experience will involve new elements. It sounds like this one is just a bit more heavily weighted towards new stuff. Even so if this is the same space you’ve been working in previously, it’s probably more like 75/25 known/new. Focus on the new stuff and really learning how to do it, and that will ratio will get better. And remember everyone who takes on progressive responsibility is flying by the seat of their pants. We’re all faking it to some extent.
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Jun 19, 2021 14:44
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thebardyspoon posted:I suppose the question that makes this wall of text fit in this thread is, is this a common feeling when you move up to a new role with responsibilities that are really outside of the wheelhouse of the previous role? Also, if this job does go to poo poo, what are some other potential careers that have some transferrable skills from QA? I think if this role doesn't work out then I may have to start looking elsewhere because it's not something that's lighting the fire anymore I think, I'm pretty much just doing it because it's what I've done and I'll probably find it hard to find lower level jobs again if I have a QA manager/studio QA lead role on my CV. Congrats on the imposter syndrome. There is no development path or playbook for what you're doing and everyone just kinda muddles through it. That's pretty much what leadership is. You seem focused on doing the right process but you should be focused on achieving the right goals/targets/metrics. Read about "dealing with ambiguity", and put a little time and work into identifying what your key targets are and what parts of your process support those. Fyi, it's gets more fun when you get to director level and you have you start crafting those targets behind a larger strategy that connects to whatever winds are blowing at the exec/C-level. I assume this is software QA? If so then A) it's always kinda messy and I've never seen anyone NOT take it out on QA so if your getting good feedback that's probably a positive and B) after you get your feet under you there are other paths in release pipeline or over devopsy stuff that gets a bit more technical if you want a more individual challenge. It's fundamentally not terribly different and the exact same challenges you pose are going to exist if you want to move up in your career. My advice would be to continue to ride it out for now as I think your doing much better than you think you are. Focus on things like "how can I automate important things we do" and when you do a bunch of that and get some time start looking at things like "how can I provide more metrics/dashboards to the higher ups" or "how can I expand our automations to help other groups". Things like that are good long term strategies that can help you figure out more tactical goals.
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Jun 19, 2021 14:49
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Reading into it a bit: Sounds like you're also dealing with a transition into a role with greater ambiguity? That can be really hard. But if others are saying you're fine, you are probably doing ok.
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Jun 20, 2021 03:02
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So I joined this job about 2.5 years ago, fresh out of academia in a software development government contracting position. I am very grateful to my company that they gave me a chance, but every single person has since quit. I feel like the writing is on the wall and I am going to be let go, but the management insists I should just relax and i'll be fine. Is it wrong to start looking for other jobs? We have an overwhelming amount of deadlines to meet in the next few weeks, and I feel like I'd be a traitor if I just jump ship...but at the same time i don't want to be the violin guys on the titanic and go down with the ship.
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Jun 20, 2021 03:02
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If they thought axing you would save them five bucks, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Show them the same loyalty.
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Jun 20, 2021 03:47
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ultrafilter posted:If they thought axing you would save them five bucks, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Show them the same loyalty. I know this but at the same time the thought of betraying them is really hard to get over. Even thinking about it is making me lose sleep.
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Jun 20, 2021 04:02
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yeah I eat rear end posted:I know this but at the same time the thought of betraying them is really hard to get over. Even thinking about it is making me lose sleep. I made this move about 3 years in. It resulted in a better city to live in, more pay, better career track, and has been great all around. Start getting the resume out there. Worst case you practice interviewing and polis the resume. Best case you move to a better job for way more money. You are 1000% replaceable, just get to it man.
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Jun 20, 2021 05:28
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yeah I eat rear end posted:I know this but at the same time the thought of betraying them is really hard to get over. Even thinking about it is making me lose sleep. You've paid your debt already. Don't feel like you owe them years of your life. Of it helps, if you leave you'd be opening an opportunity for the next person to break into that industry. Staying put doesn't really help that next person.
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Jun 20, 2021 05:31
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Lockback posted:Congrats on the imposter syndrome. There is no development path or playbook for what you're doing and everyone just kinda muddles through it. That's pretty much what leadership is. You seem focused on doing the right process but you should be focused on achieving the right goals/targets/metrics. Read about "dealing with ambiguity", and put a little time and work into identifying what your key targets are and what parts of your process support those. Fyi, it's gets more fun when you get to director level and you have you start crafting those targets behind a larger strategy that connects to whatever winds are blowing at the exec/C-level. It's games QA, so the environment where I'm most likely to get thrown under a bus in all honesty. That probably changes some of the answers you'd have given but what you've put down already is appreciated so cheers for that (and everyone else I've not quoted). There's more specific stuff I'm worried about but also worried about getting too specific I suppose, doubt anyone from my company is reading this old forum but you never know. I've been meaning to do a course or some self taught stuff, something that'd let me/help me get out of games and into another QA role that is a bit less awful but the last thing I have the motivation to do after work is more of the same unfortunately. Had the perfect opportunity and time last year I suppose but then didn't do it then either so maybe I don't want it enough.
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Jun 20, 2021 11:55
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| # ? May 23, 2024 05:44 |
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yeah I eat rear end posted:I know this but at the same time the thought of betraying them is really hard to get over. Even thinking about it is making me lose sleep. It is not a "betrayal" in any sense. There are all kinds of situations where "critical" people can't make it into work. Maybe it's because they took another job, or maybe it's because they got sick, or were injured, or had a family emergency, or had one of a thousand other things come up. It doesn't really matter why. What does matter is that competent project planning recognizes that people leaving happens sometimes, that risk is always present, and there needs to be some strategy for dealing with it (even if it's just "eh, the project's not so critical we need to keep people on standby just in case"). It's your management's job to figure out how to handle that risk, just like it's your job to write code and tests and documentation. Speaking as someone who's had three people leave from my team over the past six months - yeah, it sucks. It stings from a personal standpoint, because I'd been pushing for those people's career growth opportunities, calling in favors, and trying to set them up for success. And, even though we had contingencies in place that made them leaving not a total disaster, it still caused a bunch of scrambling. The problems were a bit like what you might feel if you found a lurking, critical bug shortly before delivery: it sucks, it's going to create some extra work for you and maybe some other people, but fixing it is your job and if you've done things right up to that point then it's a solvable problem. If your team or company has treated other departures as betrayals, then you're working in a very dysfunctional environment and need to recalibrate your sense of what's normal.
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Jun 20, 2021 20:36
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