When did we forget our dreams?*
May 20, 2007
My manager and I had a talk last week. He was a bit disappointed that I do not know many things about the project. I do not know those change process and the number of those bugs in SIT. I just told him that there are too many emails and sometimes I don’t have the time to read it. The truth is I don’t really care and I don’t want to care. I want to concentrate on coding and designing.
The conversation dragged on. What he wanted was for me to do some other things not related to coding and designing. He wanted me to develop business analyst skills. And he wanted me to want it. He wants me to ask for it. It is some sort of a compliance technique. If I asked for it I will be responsible for it. If I ask for it I could not blame him if I have too many things to do.
He was a bit angry when he learned that: (1) I would not do extra work(business analyst work) voluntarily if it is not asked of me (2) I want to spend more time on non-work related things and (3) no plan to climb the corporate ladder. He also asked me what is my value in the team and why should they keep me. I wanted to answer that he should ask it to himself. The only question I need to answer is why would I want to stay.
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He also said that anyone can code. He is right. Anyone can code, but monkeys can also manage.
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*I got the title from xkcd.
May 20, 2007 at 10:27 am
What is worse – a coder who does not know how to code or a manager who does not know how to manage?
May 29, 2007 at 5:50 am
Definitely a manager who doesn’t know how to manage.. There’s peer review and testing to buffer the blunders of a stupid coder. But a dumb manager who doesn’t know what he’s doing can bring down a whole project.
@Alan: May specialist track ba sa inyo?
May 29, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Gah! Blunt.
May 29, 2007 at 6:47 pm
“He also asked me what is my value in the team and why should they keep me. ”
Kung sa akin yun:
1. He should be answering that not me (gaya ng sinabi mo)
2. If he is second guessing my value and contributions, and if they’ll let go or keep me, I’d me on monster.com right after that convo.
June 3, 2007 at 4:24 pm
ang lungkot naman niyan! haay, nakakainis lang minsan if that some people think it’s unacceptable if you want to spend more time on non-work things rather than volunteering and trying to get up the corporate ladder. whatever happened to work-life balance?!?! hehehe. balik ka na dito!
June 5, 2007 at 10:51 pm
umm i hate to say this sheila pero…. yeah i hate to say it pa rin pala
hehehe 
June 9, 2007 at 3:16 pm
@sheila
Mas may work-life balance ako dito. Nung December lang yata ako inabot ng gabi. Pero normally 8 hours lang ako mag-work dito.
June 9, 2007 at 3:18 pm
@tinnerts
Wala. Bihira ang may specialist track. Alam mo naman sa Asya kapag tumanda ka dapat manager ka na. Lalo na sa Pinas. After 10 years manager ka na. Di tulad sa iba kung gusto mong mag-code pwede kahit matanda ka na.
July 22, 2007 at 11:13 am
[...] week my boss talked to me again. We talked about the same topic. This time, to convince me that it is better to be a business analyst, he told me that technical [...]