what to expect in Annual Review
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If you are on this site much than you should be good enough that the programming won't be a roadblock for your career. I would interact with your manager, and everyone else for that matter, in the nicest way possible. Just be amicable, agreeable and try to make people laugh. It is unfortunate but politics usually matter more than performance. To help the cause, in your review, ask your manager if her boss has any problems with team and if there is anything you can do help. Say to him, "if you're happy, I'm happy". Oh and accept any criticism and say that you will do your best to improve. Don't make excuses, managers hate that. Once you are having your review, your salary increase has probably already been determined so there's no point in arguing during the review.
This is good advice. Just getting along with people counts for a lot, judging from what I have seen of corporate performance reviews.
Best wishes, Hans
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If you are on this site much than you should be good enough that the programming won't be a roadblock for your career. I would interact with your manager, and everyone else for that matter, in the nicest way possible. Just be amicable, agreeable and try to make people laugh. It is unfortunate but politics usually matter more than performance. To help the cause, in your review, ask your manager if her boss has any problems with team and if there is anything you can do help. Say to him, "if you're happy, I'm happy". Oh and accept any criticism and say that you will do your best to improve. Don't make excuses, managers hate that. Once you are having your review, your salary increase has probably already been determined so there's no point in arguing during the review.
All very good points in your post.
ToddHileHoffer wrote:
Once you are having your review, your salary increase has probably already been determined so there's no point in arguing during the review.
However for this, it really depends. If you are underpaid compared to other works in your field and city, and you have been given all high marks, you should be prepared and go in with documentation to state your case, like reports from salary.com and such. I have seen this work a few times. The key things are to have the documentation that others are making more comparable to you, and you should use the vocabulary that your manager used to describe your good performance to justify the increase.
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If you are on this site much than you should be good enough that the programming won't be a roadblock for your career. I would interact with your manager, and everyone else for that matter, in the nicest way possible. Just be amicable, agreeable and try to make people laugh. It is unfortunate but politics usually matter more than performance. To help the cause, in your review, ask your manager if her boss has any problems with team and if there is anything you can do help. Say to him, "if you're happy, I'm happy". Oh and accept any criticism and say that you will do your best to improve. Don't make excuses, managers hate that. Once you are having your review, your salary increase has probably already been determined so there's no point in arguing during the review.
I got lucky, I recently had my yearly review (back in April I believe) and received a raise of $975 a month :->
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If you are on this site much than you should be good enough that the programming won't be a roadblock for your career. I would interact with your manager, and everyone else for that matter, in the nicest way possible. Just be amicable, agreeable and try to make people laugh. It is unfortunate but politics usually matter more than performance. To help the cause, in your review, ask your manager if her boss has any problems with team and if there is anything you can do help. Say to him, "if you're happy, I'm happy". Oh and accept any criticism and say that you will do your best to improve. Don't make excuses, managers hate that. Once you are having your review, your salary increase has probably already been determined so there's no point in arguing during the review.
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Hey guys, My review is coming up and i just wanted to make the best of the time when i have a chance to interact with my supervisor Any advice ?
Plan ahead, work out a few options.
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Hey guys, My review is coming up and i just wanted to make the best of the time when i have a chance to interact with my supervisor Any advice ?
If it's raise time; negotiate. Don't settle for just a few percent. :)
My Blog A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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This Dilbert expresses my experiences best I think: http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/images/dilbert2007366590531.gif[^] :cool:
Yeah, exactly. CEO of company when I was recruited: "Annual reviews happen each year and we don't just give a few percentage increases if you've done well...employee X has had his salary tripled since he started work here..." ...A year later and lots of hard work done (and acknowledged)...company wide email asking everyone to submit the appropriate review forms to be processed. Which of course we do right away. 4-5 months later we're still waiting for our review...end result: Annoyed developers with less motivation to work hard because promises are broken. e.g. we now prefer a frag at the end of the day instead of working an extra hour like we used to. Oh well, at least I have a much better idea of the job market now (it's booming!), and will be using plenty of local examples as to what equivalent (or less) experienced developers are getting paid :D
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Hey guys, My review is coming up and i just wanted to make the best of the time when i have a chance to interact with my supervisor Any advice ?
Don't forget to tell him how much you enjoyed his wife's company.
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Yeah, exactly. CEO of company when I was recruited: "Annual reviews happen each year and we don't just give a few percentage increases if you've done well...employee X has had his salary tripled since he started work here..." ...A year later and lots of hard work done (and acknowledged)...company wide email asking everyone to submit the appropriate review forms to be processed. Which of course we do right away. 4-5 months later we're still waiting for our review...end result: Annoyed developers with less motivation to work hard because promises are broken. e.g. we now prefer a frag at the end of the day instead of working an extra hour like we used to. Oh well, at least I have a much better idea of the job market now (it's booming!), and will be using plenty of local examples as to what equivalent (or less) experienced developers are getting paid :D
si618 wrote:
...A year later and lots of hard work done (and acknowledged)...company wide email asking everyone to submit the appropriate review forms to be processed. Which of course we do right away. 4-5 months later we're still waiting for our review...end result: Annoyed developers with less motivation to work hard because promises are broken.
How very true of quite a few companies I know :-(
Never argue with an imbecile; they bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.
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Don't forget to tell him how much you enjoyed his wife's company.
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I got lucky, I recently had my yearly review (back in April I believe) and received a raise of $975 a month :->
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si618 wrote:
...A year later and lots of hard work done (and acknowledged)...company wide email asking everyone to submit the appropriate review forms to be processed. Which of course we do right away. 4-5 months later we're still waiting for our review...end result: Annoyed developers with less motivation to work hard because promises are broken.
How very true of quite a few companies I know :-(
Never argue with an imbecile; they bring you down to their level, and beat you with experience.
No matter how good the company you work for is - you should always take corporate promises with a grain-of-salt. If they actually come through on a promise then consider that a bonus; then you won't be disappointed. I think much of the time these promises are made with good intentions - but in business I've found that good intentions don't usually amount to a hill of beans. I work for what I consider to be an excellent company - but there always seem to be circumstances that come up that cause promises to be broken; so it's better to just smile when they make the promises and not count on it. -CB ;)
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This is good advice. Just getting along with people counts for a lot, judging from what I have seen of corporate performance reviews.
Best wishes, Hans
[CodeProject Forum Guidelines] [How To Ask A Question] [My Articles]
Yes, it does. In all the reviews I've ever had over my, well ... long, career I'd have to say that the VAST majority of the issues with any review had to do with interpersonal skills and very little to do with technical ability. Very interesting. -CB ;)
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I got lucky, I recently had my yearly review (back in April I believe) and received a raise of $975 a month :->
WOW...I got my review last April (2006) and in December I got a raise of $1000.00 per year :-/
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Psycho-*Coder*-Extreme wrote:
I got lucky
maybe, but more likely were underpaid or now overpaid.
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
Ware@Work wrote:
maybe, but more likely were underpaid or now overpaid.
Or maybe I'm just really good at what I do and the company really recognizes that. Plus, I dont know of amny programmers who don't feel they are underpaid. Just a thought
"Well yes, it is an Integer, but it's a metrosexual Integer. For all we know, under all that hair gel it could be a Boolean." Tom Welch
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Ware@Work wrote:
maybe, but more likely were underpaid or now overpaid.
Or maybe I'm just really good at what I do and the company really recognizes that. Plus, I dont know of amny programmers who don't feel they are underpaid. Just a thought
"Well yes, it is an Integer, but it's a metrosexual Integer. For all we know, under all that hair gel it could be a Boolean." Tom Welch
Psycho-*Coder*-Extreme wrote:
maybe I'm just really good
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are above average. I wasn't trying to beat you down. When I started back in computers (about 10 years ago) after having tried a few other jobs, I took a job at below average wages. I got rapid increases as I proved myself capable. To counter that I had a situation where I got a more normal but slightly above average increase at my review, but then 5 months later had the opportunity to make a decision to leave that to me was contrary to the review I had received.
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
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Psycho-*Coder*-Extreme wrote:
maybe I'm just really good
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are above average. I wasn't trying to beat you down. When I started back in computers (about 10 years ago) after having tried a few other jobs, I took a job at below average wages. I got rapid increases as I proved myself capable. To counter that I had a situation where I got a more normal but slightly above average increase at my review, but then 5 months later had the opportunity to make a decision to leave that to me was contrary to the review I had received.
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
Ware@Work wrote:
I wasn't trying to beat you down
Hey I apologize for that reply then, just thought you were trying to flame me (hey I know it happens on forums, I just got a little sensitive :->). I've been into computer and programming for as long as I can remember (Got my first degree in 1989 from UGA) and have taken my share of jobs that were both underpaid and over worked. Then I found the company I work for now, where they actually appreciate & respect the knowledge/skills of their software developers (I know it's rare to find but I actually found one) and treat them accordingly. Since Ive been here (a little over 26 months now) I've gone up over $16,000 a year in salary simply because (as you stated above) I have proven myself as a programmer (I know that I may work for a VB.Net house now but I really do know how to program in other languages). SO if I offended you then I apologize :)
"Well yes, it is an Integer, but it's a metrosexual Integer. For all we know, under all that hair gel it could be a Boolean." Tom Welch
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Ware@Work wrote:
I wasn't trying to beat you down
Hey I apologize for that reply then, just thought you were trying to flame me (hey I know it happens on forums, I just got a little sensitive :->). I've been into computer and programming for as long as I can remember (Got my first degree in 1989 from UGA) and have taken my share of jobs that were both underpaid and over worked. Then I found the company I work for now, where they actually appreciate & respect the knowledge/skills of their software developers (I know it's rare to find but I actually found one) and treat them accordingly. Since Ive been here (a little over 26 months now) I've gone up over $16,000 a year in salary simply because (as you stated above) I have proven myself as a programmer (I know that I may work for a VB.Net house now but I really do know how to program in other languages). SO if I offended you then I apologize :)
"Well yes, it is an Integer, but it's a metrosexual Integer. For all we know, under all that hair gel it could be a Boolean." Tom Welch
Psycho-*Coder*-Extreme wrote:
SO if I offended you
No offense taken. I wanted to clarify that I wasn't flaming or beating you since you had seemed to be a little sensitive, sorry for it coming off that way initially. :)
Ware Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
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Hey guys, My review is coming up and i just wanted to make the best of the time when i have a chance to interact with my supervisor Any advice ?
One of the reasons I am stearing away from full-time employment and more interested in contract work is because of the issues associated with raises. It is rare when I see full-time employee developers: - Whose reputation soars - Who work hard on grunt projects and persevere and succeed to get into the club so that they can work on more interesting projects - Who are so valued by their companies that the company offers them more money so that they don't "defect" to a competitor. More often, I see developers whose reputation is undermined by gossip, who get bored working on inane projects, and that there is zero loyalty between employers and employees. I also think that it is somewhat absurd to base a raise based on how a developer interacts with his team-mates. How would you like to rate a house constructor on whether he plays sports, or how quickly he responds to your voice messages? A developer should be measured and awarded based on clear and easily measured objectives, like bugs per # of lines of code. My opinion is that the review process for developers, as I have seen it, is usually useless. I have never seen a developer who knew what his/her key performance indicators are. As a result, the comments from the review come as a complete surprise, which everyone knows is a no-no. You might want to read this book. I read it, and it helped me: www.corporateconfidential.com. You should at least watch this: http://www.corporateconfidential.com/press/CNNHeadlineNews02282006.php4. I wish you luck in your review! Richard
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Yes, it does. In all the reviews I've ever had over my, well ... long, career I'd have to say that the VAST majority of the issues with any review had to do with interpersonal skills and very little to do with technical ability. Very interesting. -CB ;)
CodeBubba wrote:
VAST majority of the issues with any review had to do with interpersonal skills and very little to do with technical ability
Translated: "It's a popularity contest but we're not really allowed to tell you that...." I tend not to be very popular with the raise givers because I actually tell them the truth of the matter rather than what they want to hear. Generally what they want to hear is 180 degrees out from the reality.
Mike Poz
