Hi guys. I'm pretty unhappy at work. I've been a software developer for 6 months. My team contribution is negligible. I doubt the value of the work, and particularly the value of my work. I'm quite isolated. I stay late most days and take work home for the weekend. It's a big open-plan but I say maybe 3 sentences in a day. I want to ask my manager if I can move onto a different project where I'm able to contribute but it feels inappropriate. I'm not sure if I'm learning anything, and if I am, whether what I'm learning is valuable. I don't want to leave because if I can't hack a job sitting on my ass for 9 hours, what job can I hack. It seems as though people would kill to get into software, so shouldn't I be counting my blessings?
After my whinge, can you tell me about crises and direction changes in your careers?
>>12159 >I stay late most days and take work home for the weekend.
Stop that. You're doing it wrong. What you can't get done in 40 hours doesn't get done.
>>12160 Working in both a supermarket and engineering, nothing is truer than this. Do not, I repeat, do NOT take work home with you, or agree to work overtime unless you want to.
If you do, then they will pounce on you and just load you and load you and load you with work, as you're finding out. Tell them to shove it, your time is your own time.
Is it a dick move to take a full time permanent job, with the intention to leave after four months? I suspended uni for the year, managed to get a full time job offer this month, but I'm planning on returning to uni in September.
>>12166 I recently interviewed for a community health organisation who said they were desperate to staff their temporary role because as soon as they train someone up they leave for a permanent position elsewhere. So I'd say yeah try not to fuck people around if they are doing good work.
>>12159 > It's a big open-plan but I say maybe 3 sentences in a day.
Open plan offices are less sociable than small ones, in my experience: its more difficult to have a conversation with the people in your team when you can hear five other people talking and you have people constantly walking around you.
It can also be hard to get to know people in a big office where everyone seems to be working on something different. You have to make an effort to talk to people, ask them what they are doing, how long they have worked there, how their weekend was, etc.
> I want to ask my manager if I can move onto a different project where I'm able to contribute but it feels inappropriate. I'm not sure if I'm learning anything, and if I am, whether what I'm learning is valuable
Ask your manager to move, and tell them what you feel about not learning anything. Dealing with requests like that is part of their job as your manager. Its not inappropriate.
You could try a different company, too. Work environment and the friendliness of your colleagues vary *alot*.
How big is the company you work for, and the dev team within that?
I've never worked for a big company, but I can imagine hating it. Both jobs I've had in software have been for small companies (10 or so people), and I've found it generally decent. I get on well with everyone, support guys, sales guys etc. It's a whole different culture: basically just get shit done, without too much management bollocks in the way.
