"I WAS hired under the pretense I would be developing regularly, now it's a rare treat to get to see code". How long has this nonsense been going on? You should have put your foot down the minute it started. Anyway, talk to the boss and tell them, verbally and in writing, that you want the developer responsibility you were promised. Reference the original job spec. Get a commitment. Or, more realistically, be prepared to quit, or have him try to get rid of you. Your boss sounds like a lunatic. And the developer isn't standing up for you. There's more going on than just your description.
Your job function sounds like bullshit/ office support/ admin/ gopher. Sorry to say. You say they have a long history of doing this. (How soon did you find that out? Next time, try to find out at interview, or before you accept the offer)
Do you have a real job title? and a written job description? Sounds like you don't, or if you do it's not worth the paper it's written on. It isn't 'Developer', 'DevOps', 'Tester'.
Never ever ever again accept a job without a clear title and position spec. The position spec should define stuff you spend at least 50+% of your time on. If an employer can't come up with a basic coherent one, don't touch them with a bargepole. Even more importantly, use the interview to quietly verify (behaviorally) with multiple people that what they said on paper corresponds to what they'll actually ask you to do. (You'd be surprised how often it doesn't). A great behavioral tactic to ask in the interview is to ask the boss, your coworkers, etc. what your daily responsibilities will be, what main tasks you would work on in a 7/30/60/90/365 day window.
"How can I proactively deal with exclusion on company news while still doing what I can to be kept in the loop?" You can't. That's a symptom, not the root-cause. You were hired under false expectations into a badly-run company. Having bad communications in a team of three(!) is a terminal symptom of bad culture.
"I feel like part of the reason I'm excluded is because of the boss' impression about me always being behind [you mean late?], so it's a pretty nasty cycle and I feel it will eventually get me canned. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm only still around because the lead dev appreciates the help. My predecessors filled much more of a secretarial role than I do". Ok, whoa, hang on. There are at least five separate red flags in that. If you think the boss effectively demoted you from junior developer to gopher because you didn't get things done, then address that. (Ask the developer privately for his opinion first, btw.) Schedule a meeting with the boss. Just put that impression to him and tell him the situation is unacceptable. Or, get a job offer elsewhere, before you have that conversation. Either way, take control.
Why would the boss have the impression about you're "always behind"? Is that a real issue? a communication issue, on your part? bad task specification? Do they need to use an agile task board and daily standups? You should have jumped on this when it first started happening. If it's the case you're not up to the job you were hired for, then either figure out how to improve, or leave. Try to figure out how the boss's perception got so badly out of whack, and ask/figure out how you might have changed that. No use complaining to us about being left out"left out" in a group of three.
"However given that 'bachelors or higher in CS' with years of coding experience was a job requirement, I suspect the lead dev fought for a change in my positions function that my boss isn't quite agreeing with." Maybe you're right. Just ask the developer, straight up. What next if you are right? In future, try to detecteddetect fucked-up political situations in the interview by asking diplomatic yet probing questions, and/or by reference-checking.
"I WAS hired under the pretense I would be developing regularly, now it's a rare treat to get to see code". How long has this nonsense been going on? You should have put your foot down the minute it started. Anyway, talk to the boss and tell them, verbally and in writing, that you want the developer responsibility you were promised. Reference the original job spec. Get a commitment. Or, more realistically, be prepared to quit, or have him try to get rid of you. Your boss sounds like a lunatic. And the developer isn't standing up for you. There's more going on than just your description.
Your job function sounds like bullshit/ office support/ admin/ gopher. Sorry to say. You say they have a long history of doing this. (How soon did you find that out? Next time, try to find out at interview, or before you accept the offer)
Do you have a real job title? and a written job description? Sounds like you don't, or if you do it's not worth the paper it's written on. It isn't 'Developer', 'DevOps', 'Tester'.
Never ever ever again accept a job without a clear title and position spec. The position spec should define stuff you spend at least 50+% of your time on. If an employer can't come up with a basic coherent one, don't touch them with a bargepole. Even more importantly, use the interview to quietly verify (behaviorally) with multiple people that what they said on paper corresponds to what they'll actually ask you to do. (You'd be surprised how often it doesn't). A great behavioral tactic to ask in the interview is to ask the boss, your coworkers, etc. what your daily responsibilities will be, what main tasks you would work on in a 7/30/60/90/365 day window.
"How can I proactively deal with exclusion on company news while still doing what I can to be kept in the loop?" You can't. That's a symptom, not the root-cause. You were hired under false expectations into a badly-run company. Having bad communications in a team of three(!) is a terminal symptom of bad culture.
"I feel like part of the reason I'm excluded is because of the boss' impression about me always being behind [you mean late?], so it's a pretty nasty cycle and I feel it will eventually get me canned. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm only still around because the lead dev appreciates the help. My predecessors filled much more of a secretarial role than I do". Ok, whoa, hang on. There are at least five separate red flags in that. If you think the boss effectively demoted you from junior developer to gopher because you didn't get things done, then address that. (Ask the developer privately for his opinion first, btw.) Schedule a meeting with the boss. Just put that impression to him and tell him the situation is unacceptable. Or, get a job offer elsewhere, before you have that conversation. Either way, take control.
Why would the boss have the impression about you're "always behind"? Is that a real issue? a communication issue, on your part? bad task specification? Do they need to use an agile task board and daily standups? You should have jumped on this when it first started happening. If it's the case you're not up to the job you were hired for, then either figure out how to improve, or leave. Try to figure out how the boss's perception got so badly out of whack, and ask/figure out how you might have changed that. No use complaining to us about being left out.
"However given that 'bachelors or higher in CS' with years of coding experience was a job requirement, I suspect the lead dev fought for a change in my positions function that my boss isn't quite agreeing with." Maybe you're right. Just ask the developer, straight up. What next if you are right? In future, try to detected fucked-up political situations in the interview by asking diplomatic yet probing questions, and/or by reference-checking.
"I WAS hired under the pretense I would be developing regularly, now it's a rare treat to get to see code". How long has this nonsense been going on? You should have put your foot down the minute it started. Anyway, talk to the boss and tell them, verbally and in writing, that you want the developer responsibility you were promised. Reference the original job spec. Get a commitment. Or, more realistically, be prepared to quit, or have him try to get rid of you. Your boss sounds like a lunatic. And the developer isn't standing up for you. There's more going on than just your description.
Your job function sounds like bullshit/ office support/ admin/ gopher. Sorry to say. You say they have a long history of doing this. (How soon did you find that out? Next time, try to find out at interview, or before you accept the offer)
Do you have a real job title? and a written job description? Sounds like you don't, or if you do it's not worth the paper it's written on. It isn't 'Developer', 'DevOps', 'Tester'.
Never ever ever again accept a job without a clear title and position spec. The position spec should define stuff you spend at least 50+% of your time on. If an employer can't come up with a basic coherent one, don't touch them with a bargepole. Even more importantly, use the interview to quietly verify (behaviorally) with multiple people that what they said on paper corresponds to what they'll actually ask you to do. (You'd be surprised how often it doesn't). A great behavioral tactic to ask in the interview is to ask the boss, your coworkers, etc. what your daily responsibilities will be, what main tasks you would work on in a 7/30/60/90/365 day window.
"How can I proactively deal with exclusion on company news while still doing what I can to be kept in the loop?" You can't. That's a symptom, not the root-cause. You were hired under false expectations into a badly-run company. Having bad communications in a team of three(!) is a terminal symptom of bad culture.
"I feel like part of the reason I'm excluded is because of the boss' impression about me always being behind [you mean late?], so it's a pretty nasty cycle and I feel it will eventually get me canned. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm only still around because the lead dev appreciates the help. My predecessors filled much more of a secretarial role than I do". Ok, whoa, hang on. There are at least five separate red flags in that. If you think the boss effectively demoted you from junior developer to gopher because you didn't get things done, then address that. (Ask the developer privately for his opinion first, btw.) Schedule a meeting with the boss. Just put that impression to him and tell him the situation is unacceptable. Or, get a job offer elsewhere, before you have that conversation. Either way, take control.
Why would the boss have the impression about you're "always behind"? Is that a real issue? a communication issue, on your part? bad task specification? Do they need to use an agile task board and daily standups? You should have jumped on this when it first started happening. If it's the case you're not up to the job you were hired for, then either figure out how to improve, or leave. Try to figure out how the boss's perception got so badly out of whack, and ask/figure out how you might have changed that. No use complaining to us about being "left out" in a group of three.
"However given that 'bachelors or higher in CS' with years of coding experience was a job requirement, I suspect the lead dev fought for a change in my positions function that my boss isn't quite agreeing with." Maybe you're right. Just ask the developer, straight up. What next if you are right? In future, try to detect fucked-up political situations in the interview by asking diplomatic yet probing questions, and/or by reference-checking.
Ok this is type of thing is symptomatic of a disorganized small company with an autocratic boss. Your situation might not be fixable. But as @RomanMik and @ChrisLively say, you need to take charge and start standing up for yourself. You might well have some issues yourself you need to identify and sort out. My comments:
"I WAS hired under the pretense I would be developing regularly, now it's a rare treat to get to see code". How long has this nonsense been going on? You should have put your foot down the minute it started. Anyway, talk to the boss and tell them, verbally and in writing, that you want the developer responsibility you were promised. Reference the original job spec. Get a commitment. Or, more realistically, be prepared to quit, or have him try to get rid of you. Your boss sounds like a lunatic. And the developer isn't standing up for you. There's more going on than just your description.
Your job function sounds like bullshit/ office support/ admin/ gopher. Sorry to say. You say they have a long history of doing this. (How soon did you find that out? Next time, try to find out at interview, or before you accept the offer)
Do you have a real job title? and a written job description? Sounds like you don't, or if you do it's not worth the paper it's written on. It isn't 'Developer', 'DevOps', 'Tester'.
Never ever ever again accept a job without a clear title and position spec. The position spec should define stuff you spend at least 50+% of your time on. If an employer can't come up with a basic coherent one, don't touch them with a bargepole. Even more importantly, use the interview to quietly verify (behaviorally) with multiple people that what they said on paper corresponds to what they'll actually ask you to do. (You'd be surprised how often it doesn't). A great behavioral tactic to ask in the interview is to ask the boss, your coworkers, etc. what your daily responsibilities will be, what main tasks you would work on in a 7/30/60/90/365 day window.
"How can I proactively deal with exclusion on company news while still doing what I can to be kept in the loop?" You can't. That's a symptom, not the root-cause. You were hired under false expectations into a badly-run company. Having bad communications in a team of three(!) is a terminal symptom of bad culture.
"I feel like part of the reason I'm excluded is because of the boss' impression about me always being behind [you mean late?], so it's a pretty nasty cycle and I feel it will eventually get me canned. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm only still around because the lead dev appreciates the help. My predecessors filled much more of a secretarial role than I do". Ok, whoa, hang on. There are at least five separate red flags in that. If you think the boss effectively demoted you from junior developer to gopher because you didn't get things done, then address that. (Ask the developer privately for his opinion first, btw.) Schedule a meeting with the boss. Just put that impression to him and tell him the situation is unacceptable. Or, get a job offer elsewhere, before you have that conversation. Either way, take control.
Why would the boss have the impression about you're "always behind"? Is that a real issue? a communication issue, on your part? bad task specification? Do they need to use an agile task board and daily standups? You should have jumped on this when it first started happening. If it's the case you're not up to the job you were hired for, then either figure out how to improve, or leave. Try to figure out how the boss's perception got so badly out of whack, and ask/figure out how you might have changed that. No use complaining to us about being left out.
"However given that 'bachelors or higher in CS' with years of coding experience was a job requirement, I suspect the lead dev fought for a change in my positions function that my boss isn't quite agreeing with." Maybe you're right. Just ask the developer, straight up. What next if you are right? In future, try to detected fucked-up political situations in the interview by asking diplomatic yet probing questions, and/or by reference-checking.
Anyway, try to get answers, then have a discussion with the boss; unless you figure it's time to quietly leave, in which case brush up your resume and get your interviewing shoes on, already. Appraise your performance and experience frankly, and what you want to improve. Ask the developer, if you can trust him (or else ask him after you quit, possibly over lunch). And develop a better radar for bullshit situations.