What is the worst boss that you've had?
-
A far better question would be: who is the best boss that you've had and why? I bet almost no answers to that one since they're all pretty bad: most people become managers for the wrong reasons and then fail becuase they receive either the wrong training or none at all and are socially incapabale of managing other people. Just becuae, for instance, someone is a great developer does not mean that they will be a great manager.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
No, I've had 2 outstanding bosses in my life. Both of them had the attitude that their job was to keep the crap off of us workers so we could get our jobs done. They both were technically competent, but took care of meetings, paperwork, administrative issues, reports, etc. and let us do what we were good at and enjoyed. We took care of them, they took care of us. I can truthfully say it was a joy to work with them.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
-
The president of the first company I worked for; I'll use his initials T.R. I was hired as a part-time programmer when I was a sophomore in college. It was a very small company; when I was hired, it was the three owners and me. I was obviously very green, and needed a lot of guidance. The problem arose from how T.R. provided that guidance. He was very judgmental and critical. I learned to be constantly on my guard, and to have a justification ready for everything I was doing. Even when I did things correctly, T.R. didn't provide any positive reinforcement. Instead, he seemed to seek out ways to mark what I'd done as a failure. Another problem with T.R. was that he was very "do as I say, not as I do". The standards he applied to me did not apply to himself, which was frustrating and confusing at times. This created problems when we were working on the same project, as it was not always clear what part of the work belonged to whom. I worked for that company through college, and for a couple years after I graduated. In retrospect, I did acquire some valuable skills from working for T.R. over and above the things I learned from the actual assignments. I learned to be thorough when analyzing a problem and considering a solution. I learned to be persistent. I also learned to have no confidence in my judgement, and to have no perspective on how far to go when solving a problem. I really wish I could have learned the first lessons without the second. It took me ten years and three employers to develop a more reasonable perspective. To this day, after being a software professional for over thirty years, I have problems dealing with managers more than a couple layers over me in the hierarchy.
Software Zen:
delete this;Oh boy, you did another of your weird mistakes! Don't moan on public forums, c'mon instead, sit down and resume coding. --The Boss
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
-
"You can't hire 9 pregnant women to have a baby in 1 month". That's what I always say when a boss realizes that the deadline is impossible and they just add new resources. It just doesn't work that way.
xavier morera wrote:
"You can't hire 9 pregnant women to have a baby in 1 month".
That metaphor doesn't make sense, though, because while women cannot collaborate upon one baby, many people CAN collaborate on a software project.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
-
xavier morera wrote:
"You can't hire 9 pregnant women to have a baby in 1 month".
That metaphor doesn't make sense, though, because while women cannot collaborate upon one baby, many people CAN collaborate on a software project.
The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.
You are definitively a boss! hehe The quote is not mine, read Fred Brooks' (creator of IBM OS 360 and one of the most influential man in computing) book The Mythical Man Month. He can explain to you why adding resources to a project doesn't mean that the work gets divided. It is not like 3 1-man months is the same as 3-men in 1 month. Just read it and you will understand.
-
Oh boy, you did another of your weird mistakes! Don't moan on public forums, c'mon instead, sit down and resume coding. --The Boss
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles]Nah, for me I am not moaning. I just wanted to know about other people's experiences :laugh:
-
xavier morera wrote:
we are from a third world country
Your profile says "United States". Well...errr...ummmm.....hmmmmm...ok....now that I think about it, thats about where we're headed.... Carry on. :((
Yeah... I've spent a lot of time in the US but I was born in another country. Aren't we all? hahaha
-
Does her name start with "T". Not the one I am talking about, but I met someone like that.
If you're referring to her first name, yes, it does.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak -
If you're referring to her first name, yes, it does.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave KreskowiakCrap... maybe its the same
-
The president of the first company I worked for; I'll use his initials T.R. I was hired as a part-time programmer when I was a sophomore in college. It was a very small company; when I was hired, it was the three owners and me. I was obviously very green, and needed a lot of guidance. The problem arose from how T.R. provided that guidance. He was very judgmental and critical. I learned to be constantly on my guard, and to have a justification ready for everything I was doing. Even when I did things correctly, T.R. didn't provide any positive reinforcement. Instead, he seemed to seek out ways to mark what I'd done as a failure. Another problem with T.R. was that he was very "do as I say, not as I do". The standards he applied to me did not apply to himself, which was frustrating and confusing at times. This created problems when we were working on the same project, as it was not always clear what part of the work belonged to whom. I worked for that company through college, and for a couple years after I graduated. In retrospect, I did acquire some valuable skills from working for T.R. over and above the things I learned from the actual assignments. I learned to be thorough when analyzing a problem and considering a solution. I learned to be persistent. I also learned to have no confidence in my judgement, and to have no perspective on how far to go when solving a problem. I really wish I could have learned the first lessons without the second. It took me ten years and three employers to develop a more reasonable perspective. To this day, after being a software professional for over thirty years, I have problems dealing with managers more than a couple layers over me in the hierarchy.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary R. Wheeler wrote:
Another problem with T.R. was that he was very "do as I say, not as I do". The standards he applied to me did not apply to himself, which was frustrating and confusing at times. This created problems when we were working on the same project, as it was not always clear what part of the work belonged to whom.
Recently a contract company lead was replaced because of his inability to do the job. We'll call him by his initials also, L.H. (Little Hitler). I had to endure working with L.H. for two years and now that he is a nobody it is such a relief. He was definitely a "do as I say, not as I do" person, but that is only the start of his bad behavior. <rant> He would consistently try to do 90% of the work in the last 10% of the time alloted for any task. He would spend his days on Facebook, Duke Nukem Fanclub, discussing World of Warcraft with friends, slipping out to work on things at his family's business, taking very long lunches, etc. Another developer and I would get our work done and then have to bail him out in the end. Since he would not consider anyone else's opinion the design was always poor and we would deliver things with a nice UI (the other developer is also a graphic artist) but the plumbing always leaked due to lack of thorough design. Basically it was released without testing because there was never time for testing due to him using scheduled testing time to develop because nothing actually worked behind the scenes. We gained the reputation as "The Bad News Bears". It gets worse! When he was finally relieved of his authority my contracting company and client managers all told me that he was misrepresenting my contributions to the project. He was portraying me as someone who never got anything done and he would always have to come in at the end and finish up what was assigned to me. The opposite of what was really happening. Now all the managers smile at me and ask my opinion. I even got an additional raise retroactive to the contract years end when I complained about his rating me "not meeting expectations" on my annual review. Unfortunately the previous year is past history. <rant> There, I got that out without even one curse word. Needless to say I can never forgive the pr!ck for messing with my livelyhood. I have told management that I would prefer not to work with him directly unless it couldn't be avoided and they agreed.
-
I did a stint at Detroit Water and Sewerage. The "woman" I worked for there was a micro manager in the extreme, always playing games for favors and power, and, oh yeah, didn't bathe for 3 straight months. I came close to throwing up in the garbage can just about every day.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave KreskowiakDave Kreskowiak wrote:
I did a stint at Detroit Water and Sewerage ... The "woman" I worked for didn't bathe for 3 straight months.
How could you tell?
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
I'm looking at who's posting, checking to see if anybody who works for me has posted. So far so good.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
-
Crap... maybe its the same
Last name began with McQ.....
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak -
Dave Kreskowiak wrote:
I did a stint at Detroit Water and Sewerage ... The "woman" I worked for didn't bathe for 3 straight months.
How could you tell?
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesTrust me when I say there was a VERY distinct difference. The sewage was more pleasent to be around.
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave Kreskowiak -
Last name began with McQ.....
A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]
Dave KreskowiakClose, but no. Anyway, the one I mentioned here was far worse.
-
I'm looking at who's posting, checking to see if anybody who works for me has posted. So far so good.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
lol :)
Vuyiswa Maseko, Spoted in Daniweb-- Sorry to rant. I hate websites. They are just wierd. They don't behave like normal code. C#/VB.NET/ASP.NET/SQL7/2000/2005/2008 http://www.vuyiswamaseko.com vuyiswa@its.co.za http://www.itsabacus.co.za/itsabacus/
-
I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
Most of my ex-bosses were good, except one that carried a book title "Biblical Erracy". He once tried to force me to create a class in JavaScript. He never understood the main purpose of technology. His bosses thought he was responsible for everything that is going well in the development department until i resigned , after 3 Months of resignation he had to resign because i was doing everything that made him look as if he was doing well. And that too led the company to pay me consultant fees to keep the company going until they find a new developer.
Vuyiswa Maseko, Spoted in Daniweb-- Sorry to rant. I hate websites. They are just wierd. They don't behave like normal code. C#/VB.NET/ASP.NET/SQL7/2000/2005/2008 http://www.vuyiswamaseko.com vuyiswa@its.co.za http://www.itsabacus.co.za/itsabacus/
-
I'm looking at who's posting, checking to see if anybody who works for me has posted. So far so good.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
:laugh: (BTW: They know they'll be fired) :-D
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
[My articles] -
I have been "blessed" with the fact that I can say that I've only had 2 bad bosses. First one was actually only annoying, but the second one was the whole enchilada. He was bipolar, treated people like slaves (he is french, we are from a third world country so he thought less of us), liar, cheater, hypocrite, never lived to his promises, micro manager, annoying and the list goes on and on. What else can you ask for? What about you?
I come from a industry of really bad bosses. After school I worked in the restaurant industry for a whole 6 years. Partime studying inbetween. The bosses I've had ever since becoming a programmer is a breeze in the park comparing. I've always done my job and in the 4 years of working havn't had even a small resentment towards one. Its been smooth sailing all the way. Then again, my job is really a breeze. I can work on a single project in my company for up to 2-3 years. Maybe I'm just blessed in that way.
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." << please vote!! >>
-
I come from a industry of really bad bosses. After school I worked in the restaurant industry for a whole 6 years. Partime studying inbetween. The bosses I've had ever since becoming a programmer is a breeze in the park comparing. I've always done my job and in the 4 years of working havn't had even a small resentment towards one. Its been smooth sailing all the way. Then again, my job is really a breeze. I can work on a single project in my company for up to 2-3 years. Maybe I'm just blessed in that way.
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." << please vote!! >>
Restaurant bosses are pretty bad. Usually a combo of incompetence, severe alcoholism and barely restrained violence. Most of the ones I knew were probably on their way to jail.
_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day. Teach a man to mug...
