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I am a junior developer and my boss is quite rude to me. I am giving two examples,

  1. I ask too many questions (I accept this fact but all of my questions are domain specific and could not be found on internet.) to learn the job good. One time after I asked something, he answered it very superficial and I did not understand and said: sorry, I did not understand and he said loudly: damn it (the German version of Damn it is quite rude)

  2. The system did not start and I told him that the system could not be started and he completed my sentence "or you are not talented"

After these rude behaviours, I do not ask any new questions because I know myself, if he says something like that one more time, my reaction will be very hard, which I do not want.

I do not want to work with him anymore and it means also, I cannot work in the company because he is very experienced in his field. However, what I want is that I do not want to hide this rudeness against a junior developer to protect the person after me.

Before me, there was another developer, who left the company because of him but he did not say anything about his behaviours and I do not want to leave like him.

In which way should I express these to the "big boss" to make him realize that people are leaving the company because of him before I resign?

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    I think you will find good advice in this similar question: workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/59095/…
    – Kate Gregory
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 12:42
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    Maybe it is just your descriptions, but from what you say here you sound overly sensitive to me. While I don't like the behavior of your boss in the two examples, please keep in mind bosses are humans too (i.e. they can be wrong). Your first example ("damn it" translates to "Verdammt noch mal", which is not very rude imho) is harmless. The second one is worse, but if it is an isolated incident I would give your boss the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had a bad day or it was a poor attempt of humor.
    – dirkk
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 12:56
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    @nvoigt I cannot understand how did all people accept the rudeness so easily. He can curse at code, system, wall but not at another person, especially a person, who tries to make his job better.
    – Ad Infinitum
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:11
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    @AdInfinitum I have to agree with nvoigt. An ancient joke in IT is that the one language understood by all programmers is profanity. Snark and insult are also common. You need a tough, thick skin in this business.
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:17
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    @AdInfinitum I had this same conversation with a young man at a previous employer. You're walking into a culture that has a certain way of doing things. You need to learn to adapt because the culture is not going to adapt to you
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:46

3 Answers 3

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First, make sure it's actually rude.

Developers that are good and have fun working tease and ridicule each other all the time.

Assuming I'd say something like

When I press F5 to compile, Visual Studio says "internal compiler error".

The other colleagues around the table are guaranteed to say something like:

Man, you really suck at compiling.

I will go ask $boss if we can hire someone who has better F5-pressing-skills than you.

You cannot get anything done, can you?

Maybe you should let somebody else press F5, you just don't have what it takes.

All four will grin. Taken literally, it's rude. It's obvious that it's not meant to be. It's developer humor.

So 1) make sure it's meant to be rude, 2) make sure you don't make mistakes ("I ask too many questions").

If you really intent to waste your time to try to improve the company you leave, make sure you have a list of occurrences and quotes. A single "verdammt" after you admitted it was your fault, will not raise any eyebrows. So that guy did not keep cool when you made a mistake. Once. But he is still working for the company and you are not. You need a really long list of documented behaviors for anybody to believe you.

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  • Ok. I change your example a little bit. You pressed F5 to compile and I said something like "You cannot get anything done, can you?" and then, I took the keyboard from you and click on the F5 hardly by shaking my head. Would you take it as a joke?
    – Ad Infinitum
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:24
  • @AdInfinitum I would not get it. But your second example ("Does not start", "or you are not talented enough to start it") would absolutely be a direct quotation from our daily fun making.
    – nvoigt ♦
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:25
  • The second one could be a "bad" humor. However, because of the first "insult", I take everything serious what he makes/says. Maybe, because of this reason, I did not get the second one.
    – Ad Infinitum
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:28
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    @AdInfinitum I would pay careful attention to what nvoigt is saying. This is the environment. It's not going to change and you are going to find it literally everywhere.
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:49
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    @nvoigt - what you are describing is sort of sarcasm between the colleagues, which is quite common in some environments and somehow shows appreciation towards the colleagues (you wouldn't say those if it was really true, would you?). What the OP is describing is more of the boss showing off with his power over a junior developer. Very unprofessional in my opinion.
    – Mike
    Commented Apr 7, 2017 at 14:42
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Assuming you have already made your decision to resign.

Simply resign in a professional way and stay on good terms with your employer. Don't bring this up.

It may be satisfying to voice frustrations that you have held for a long time, but it won't help anything for you. It would be much better to stay on good terms with your employer (and your boss specifically), as you will probably need a reference in the future.

It's unlikely that speaking up to higher management will do anything to improve the situation for future junior employees. The situation would be your word against the manager's, and you are a junior employee who is quitting. It seems unlikely that they will weight your word heavily.

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  • I understand and it is very logical but at the end of day, if we hide our frustrations For the sake of professionalism, would it not harm to our psychology?
    – Ad Infinitum
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:37
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    @AdInfinitum expressing your feelings is good. But it doesn't have to be to your boss...
    – user45590
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 13:39
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    @dan1111 is saying "go to the bar, have a drink and mutter lovely select phrases about the bossman into your cup" ^_^ Or something similar.
    – SliderBlackrose
    Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 17:13
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The fact that you know someone left before you because of this person's behavior is something that I'd assume management knows about and may not do anything because this person who is rude may be a higher-up or executive. You may wish to state in your exit interview, but it will most likely be for your own sense of closure and not that the company is going to do anything further about this. If you find you cannot work with this person and they are crucial to helping you do your job, you can either ignore the comments, ask for a private 10 minute meet with them to find out how to work better with this person and state you don't have time for nasty remarks, you are here to help them and without their help you can't get your work done, or find another job, stay polite keep your head down, and depending on where you live, give notice or quit when you are ready. When you do hand in your resignation notice, be prepared to be escorted out, so do this when you have your ducks in a row.

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