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Ask Slashdot: How Do You Deal With a Terrible Tech Manager?

Posted by BeauHD on from the learning-experience dept.

snydeq writes: From the Know It All to the Overwhelmer, succeeding beneath a bad manager takes strategy and finesse, writes Paul Heltzel in his round-up of bad IT bosses and how to keep them from derailing your career. "While there are truly great leaders in IT, not all inspire confidence. Worse, you can't always choose who will lead your team. But you can always map out new paths in your career. With that in mind, here is a look at some prototypically bad managers you may have already encountered in your engineering departments, with tips on how to deal with each of them." The six "terrible tech managers" mentioned by Heltzel include: "The Know It All," "The Pushover," "The Micromanager," "The Unexpected Boss," "The Fearful Manager," and "The Overwhelmer." Have you ever worked for any of these managers? If so, how did you deal with them?

10 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Easy by TroII · · Score: 3, Funny

    I send him a link to Breitbart. Before long he's spending all day tracking down pizza parlors and gay frogs, and staying out of everyone's hair at work.

    --
    "If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm
  2. Escalate, then quit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First you bring up the issue with the boss's boss. If nothing is done, then you quit. If you're good at what you do in technology you shouldn't have trouble finding work anyway. If you're useless or burnt out, maybe you can apply to be the next terrible tech manager. Many of them started that way and got "promoted out of the way".

  3. 1. Scram by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Get out if you can! It's not worth your health and sanity to stay for a bit more money.

    I had a sinister boss during a past slump, and had to wait a while to find another company. Economic slumps suck: choices die faster than summer daisies in Death Valley.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  4. Oh ... my. by buss_error · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've had a boss that was all of these. Very frustrating.

    I've often wondered why folks in tech expect 24x7 access to their employees. If you work at Burger King, you don't have to put in 90 or 100 hour weeks - or if you do, it's with overtime pay. But if you're in tech, this seems to be the default expectation and don't you dare ask for overtime or even a bonus. Gosh no. Don't expect profit sharing either.

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
  5. You all show up in suits ... by davecb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And have appointments out of the office at odd times. A colleague started that, and promptly got button-holed by the VP Financial (who had been our receiver in a former startup). The VP then started a reference check on the problematic boss...

    --
    davecb@spamcop.net
  6. Look for a new job by redmid17 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously, you're not going to get anywhere under a terrible manager. Moving to a different team will look petty and personal (even if it is). Moving to a new company lets you start over fresh.

    1. Re:Look for a new job by hambone142 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I was reorged and placed under a kiss ass manager-ette. My solution: I called up my old manager and asked is I could go back to work for him. Viola. Done. I think she was in to some "categorize work tasks in to a flow chart" thing . I couldn't take the situation. I am an adult. I think she may have given head to someone at the top.

      This lady was like a Marissa Mayer on knee pads.

      Got out, kept my sanity, survived well.

      You can't change crappy managers. Best to distance oneself.

  7. Document, document, document... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I had a supervisor who assigned me two separate projects that had a one-month gap between them. I documented that I would take them with the understanding that there will be trouble if the two projects overlapped. The inevitable train wreck came when the first project overlapped the second project, both projects got delayed and later reassigned to other people to straighten out. Supervisor tried to throw me under the bus but I had documentation that he didn't lift a finger to help me. What happened? Supervisor got promoted out of the department and I didn't have a project for 90 days.

    Next supervisor told me not to document any of his activities. Of course, I documented that and everything else. Soon I was being written up for insubordination for... you guess it... documenting his interference with my project. When he gave me the "his way or the highway" speech, I resigned as soon as my current project was done. I was the third out of a dozen senior employees who headed for the exits that year. Supervisor rode the company into bankruptcy.

  8. Re:You forgot one... by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Informative

    I had a boss who was technical but in a different field. The thing was, he knew what he didn't know - so he used to listen and delegate. If you wanted to make the case that it should be done this way, or that way, or not done at all he'd listen to you.

    He'd give you a damn good roasting if you got it wrong. But it was your decision, so why not?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  9. Re: You forgot one... by goose-incarnated · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He very openly says he knows nothing about code, so he wants things explained in simple terms.

    You have the best type of manager.

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.