thehacker Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 yes, i showed up very late some days, but only because i was working till all hours... sometimes as late as 11:00pm or 12:00pm or even 1:00am or 1:30am - but not once did i call in "sick" and wrote an email friday to that effect saying "i should be calling in sick, but i'm not going to do that... what i Will do is come in at -2- and fix any issues after the site is uploaded" -- mind you, all the programming i'd been doing for the past two months was completed as of the night before.107 hours in two weeks, busting my ass and risking my own health and sanity in order to only be 4 days later than i originally promised, and this is what i get... a meeting my vp and pres. (don't be too impressed it's a six-employee web shop) that begins with the sentence:"the only reason this is not a termination meeting, is because of the exemplary work you've done on this most recent project."anyone in the software development industry knows that something Always goes wrong. something Always goes out of scope. something is Always more complex than you'd originally thought. but all they were seeing was that i was four days late -- four days late? in most software development shops that's seen as a CAKEWALK. hey, great work, you've really brought this thing together despite not having been given any data design or specification at all, and you're only four days late? great job, take a month off. well okay maybe not That easy-going but a lot more than my company's reaction. and certainly no baseball bats up any asses (without lube!) about being in at 9am no matter what.the deadlines are always pre-determined by them, or the clients, and then when i'm asked - no, have no choice but to - agree with it, i begrudgingly agree to a schedule that fits that Already Determined deadline. and if i should fail to meet that deadline? all my fault. of course! because simply by asking me for a deadline that works for all involved, they are totally absolved when things go wrong.what follows is the official letter from my company, given to me yesterday morning at the aforementioned meeting.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 26 Author Report Share Posted January 26 january 25, 2002dear ----,we deeply appreciate your dedication and commitment in completing the ---- project. it's evident that you have made extraordinary efforts within the last week to complete the project.concerns still remain with your ability to manage time, priorities and attitude. i hope that you, ---- and i can work together to resolve these issues so that we can have a more comfortable, productive, and satisfying relationship at ----.our greatest concerns are as follows:detrimental underestimating of scope of work and the time required to complete each taskunapproved time taken off, or excessively late arrival to workunneeded/unappreciated tone and attitude via discussions and emailsin greater detail on the above points:---- involved and consulted you several weeks ago to estimate the amount of time you required to complete the scope of work for the ---- project. you broke down each task individually, and told us that you required 8 business days. we allowed 2 additional days for buffer, and alerted the client that the project would be completed in 10 business days, or friday january 18, 2002. the invoice for payment was due the following business day, on january 21, 2002. the project has been completed to a "beta-mode" as of today, friday january 25, 2002, one full week off schedule, more than 50% over the time estimate.our company relies on developing lasting, trustworthy and reliable relationships with our clients. if we display we are unable to meet our deadlines, even though the programming work may be of exceptional quality, we will lose the trust that we work exceptionally hard to earn from our clients.editorial note on the above paragraph: at no point did the client get truly anxious about the extra time i was taking, and in fact, was sending both my vp and pres. almost-daily accolades and praise for each part of the project they saw as it was completed. in fact, my vp was in several long phone conversations with a couple of executives, who work at the company for whom i built the site, that were asking for proposals/contracts for more work based on the work i'd done for them.we have standardized hours in the office so that we know when our employees are expected to be present in the office. during the day, supervisors, coworkers and clients require assistance and your presence. that is part of the job.when a deterimental time cycle is started, such as the "working-late arriving-late" cycle you have developed, it is admittedly difficult to stop. you came into work at 2pm this past tuesday, because you did not wake up to your alarm clock. ---- had to call you at home at 11:30am to see where you were. you worked very late many nights over this past week to make up for that time and to re-coup the missed deadline. again today you plan on arriving at 2pm.we feel that working such excessive and irregular hours in these bursts is not productive to ----, and more importantly to your own health, be it physical or mental. your health and productiveness are very important to us. we attempt to schedule your projects so that ample time is given for their completion in a regular and reasonable work schedule.below are a few goals we can work toward together so that we can resolve these issues in future projects:more frequent review of intermittent deadlines will be instituted to ensure that work is flowing smoothlypriorities and deadlines will need to be more realistically set to avoid missing internal and external deadlinescoming in late must be pre-approved by our supervisor, regardless of what your hours were the day beforei really love that third bullet point. makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.compensation time and other rewards are awarded based on the following criteria, and must always be approved by the supervisor ahead of time:project deadlines are metbudget and hours are metboth client and supervisor are satisfied with the quality and quantity of work and serviceso, basically what they're telling me is, because i failed to meet my deadline, but still inflicted damage to myself getting the project done, that i'm shit out of luck for any overtime pay or even time off.please consider this a written warning that if the above goals are not met, or there is not marked improvement on these goals with the next project (namely ----), we may be required to cease our employment relationship with you.we hope that the --- project will be a better example of how we know that you are capable of producing a job. we recognize that you are an exceptionally talented programmer, and a very valuable asset to ----, and therefore we wish to extend our efforts to assist you in achieving the above goals.i already know i'm probably going to miss that deadline, too. i was asked to come up with a schedule. i did. my vp said he'd put in a full 2 weeks buffer, and add time to each of my tasks/items, and maintain an internally ideal schedule, and an externally reasonable/flexible schedule... he turned around and allowed only 2 days buffer (sound familiar?), came up with an even tighter beta-launch date, and promised the client the work would be fully completed by that date.if you would like to discuss any of this further, please don't hesitate to talk to us. it is our job to make sure that we do everything possible to remove these obstacles to create a more productive, satisfying and comfortable work environment for all of us at ----.most sincerely,----, principal--------, principal----the pres. signed the letter. the vp did not. 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echostar Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 thats fuckin obnoxious....start killing people! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synderella420 Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 FUCKING BASTARDS I hate that shit!!! No matter how hard you work for some people they never care, they only care about themselves with their petty fucking issues Dont worry you will find something better then when you are gone tehy will realize what an asset they lost jerks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mugwump Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Yea that blows.Lets all work for pseudoand run things our way..whatya say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeg Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Kris: 24. I'm with justin, Start taking hostages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzadza Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Dude where the fuck do you work at. If you're any good in programming (which sounds like you are) just get out of there. You'll find something better in 2 weeks, even in this crappy economy. Hell any place would be better than that. We're in 2000's, not 1980's. WTF. I wouldn't stay in a place like that even one business day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 where do you work apple? whos your principal? adolf hitler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 26 Author Report Share Posted January 26 Originally posted by dgmodel where do you work apple? whos your principal? adolf hitler? bklyn; between the bridges, in dumbo.let's just say... vp is former cia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysterynyc Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Originally posted by thehacker bklyn; between the bridges, in dumbo.let's just say... vp is former cia. sounds more like former KGB or S.S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobra Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 That sucks Chris - I hate when mgt gives you a project and gives you an impossible deadline based on the client's "idea" of when it should be done. Shit, if the client had any clue, they wouldn't paying someone else to do the work. This is why I am getting my MBA - so I can be the asshole saying - hey! the deadline was 4 days ago, why aren't you done!! or I think this should be complete in this time, you might not be able to shit sleep or shower for the next month, but I think you are up for the challenge!! Well, at least I hope I get to be the dickhead manager!! I don't know if I could do it though, I don't want to be the tool giving out orders and blaming people for shit!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 Originally posted by crobra I don't want to be the tool giving out orders and blaming people for shit!!! precisely why i'm Still a DEVELOPER after so many years...i like to know my work has Substance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bLizAnci Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 3 letters for youvpnfuckit...work from homeprgrammers in my office do it all the time...-z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 Originally posted by sleepiswaste 3 letters for youvpnfuckit...work from homeprgrammers in my office do it all the time...-z i've suggested it and they've never agreed to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bLizAnci Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Originally posted by thehacker i've suggested it and they've never agreed to it. if its an nt networktell them i can set it up in an hour..free of charge =)-z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoked Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 hey man hacker.. I knwo what u mean. I am a database/UNIX/AIX admin and I work with a shitty client too. No matter what u do u will never be appreciated. thats how this shit is. I suggest u rewrite ur resume and start lookin' . Dont quit. worst case get fired so that u can collect unemployement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoke Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 vpn a.k.a. "my weekend." Why, oh why, am I given projects on Friday that are due Monday?Don't get me wrong -- I love my job. I haven't had a challenge like this in a long time. But, I too plan on getting an MBA some day. Programming is not my life.thehacker, I hope it works out for you -- this is a tough time to be questioning your job security. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 Originally posted by stoked hey man hacker.. I knwo what u mean. I am a database/UNIX/AIX admin and I work with a shitty client too. No matter what u do u will never be appreciated. thats how this shit is. I suggest u rewrite ur resume and start lookin' . Dont quit. worst case get fired so that u can collect unemployement. things they said and did friday requires the personal satisfaction of a written letter of resignation and a professionally-worded 'fuck you'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idrthrbclbng Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 do not be misled -- an MBA will not elevate you to "dickhead manager" status automatically (not that you would want to be that anyway...). I have an MBA, and I'm a business-side project manager (stereotypically the type developers usually love to hate) for worldwide ecommerce in a beheamoth company. Constant pressure to deliver & very tight timelines, however I tend to side with the developers almost always - I have a great relationship with them, am cognisent of the tough job they're doing, and I am constantly going to bat for them with management. It ain't all fun & games, though, not by a long shot - MBA doesn't get you VP right out of school - there are still many, many dues to pay.Hacker, never met you, but my advice: get the fuck out. Sounds like you're not appreciated, you got MAAADDDDD skills (have read in previous posts), and you could get a MMUUCCHH better gig where you'll be respected and allowed to be more flexible. What surprises me is that you're getting this kind of treatment from a small company, as this is what I would expect (and have gotten myself) from a huge company such as the one I work for. Ideally, man, go consultant and make your own rules - this is something I myself wish I had the opportunity to do...OK, well, sorry for the rant -- I hate my job & company too, by the way, and thus I'm off to Vinyl now to forget about it for a bit. I suggest you do the same...Just my $2.99... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 27 Author Report Share Posted January 27 idrthrbclbng - thanks dude. PM ME!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehacker Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 EVERY ACTION LEADS TO AN EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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