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My job involves using linux, databases like SQL etc. I'm an entry QA. I'd zero idea about this stuff till I joined the workforce, except something about SQL.

I didn't get this job due to merit but because of my connections. It has been 1 month already in the job and I'm not seeing any improvements.

Mind you, I'm not an intern or trainee. I'm a job holder. Thus, there's absolutely zero training given to me. Supervisor assigns me stuff to do, and I study that from the internet.

Colleagues are too busy to be helpful. The job is hectic in my department.

The probation period is for 6 months. Should I continue for the whole of 6 months? Or just quit the job now? I really see zero benefits of continuing except that I'll receive salary. But for that I've to withstand lots of mockery which I don't have courage to.

I'm really feeling bad. Colleagues and supervisor have started to indirectly mock me for being slow minded. They keep asking me whether if I'm assigned any tasks, and it feels bad that I'm not because I'm not ready.

I knew this was coming but there was intense pressure from my family to join this company as I used to go to the library to learn and they didn't like me going outside home to study.

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    Where are you located? What you say about your family and the library makes me think that my advice for Europe might not be suited for your location. Can you get a normal, formal education for a job?
    – nvoigt ♦
    Commented May 13, 2023 at 11:09
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    I'm located in India. What kind of formal education would be there for linux, sql, QA? you mean sth like RHCSA for linux? CTFL for QA? Anyway, I'm interested in your advice be it for anything.
    – j8ax89
    Commented May 13, 2023 at 11:11
  • This isn't really a question about navigating the workplace, it is a question about family dynamics. It belongs on Interpersonal Skills SE or possibly Parenting SE. - And its title should be "What should I do if my abusive family won't let me study and insists that I work at a job I can't even do?".
    – A. I. Breveleri
    Commented May 13, 2023 at 15:32
  • I would stick it out and try taking outside courses to get yourself up to speed on the programs and databases. Your foot is in the door. Now it's up to you to gain your bearings make the most of the job.
    – DiligentWorker25
    Commented May 13, 2023 at 21:52
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    Something about the phrasing suggests you aren't working on tasks for the team yet? QA and software have a big element of learn-by-doing craft skill, though. Is there anything stopping you taking a task and working on it twenty times slower than another team member? That would also structure your reading and googling, rather than it being disconnected theory.
    – Adam Burke
    Commented May 17, 2023 at 2:15

2 Answers 2

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Mind you, I'm not an intern or trainee. I'm a job holder. Thus, there's absolutely zero training given to me.

First of all, let me clear the misconception, trainings are not exclusively reserved for interns / trainees. I've seen some of the "best" employees (irrespective of their rank / cadre) actively seek and undergo trainings and learnings, as and when possible. This is a very crucial requirement, especially in the tech industry to ensure

  • You're up-to date
  • You did not forget previous learnings.

So, I think, the best time to talk to your superior / supervisor is now. Since you mentioned you're in a probation period (i.e., you're new to the job), it's even easier for you to approach your manager and seek help. A good manager will understand the scenario, appreciate your effort to learn and will provide you with opportunities/ guidelines on how you can learn and gather knowledge.

So, do the following in order:

  • Do some research about the trainings that will be helpful for you for the technology / domain you're working in.
  • Talk to your manager, let them know you need to have some trainings to have better understanding. Propose them the courses / trainings that you've found, and ask for their advise.

Hopefully, this will make it clear to them that irrespective of how you landed at the job, you are serious about it and want to put effort to succeed. This should change their mentality / mindset, and you should get the help you need. Best of luck.

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  • rhcsa training could be useful for me for linux, no idea for sql. I need some extra time to learn. at least 2 months in total. 1 month for sql and 1 for linux. But I think that's a lot of time to get paid doing nothing. I am also planning to ask to make me unpaid for 2 months where I wfh to my supervisor so that I can be at relief. But idk how do I ask that with him...
    – j8ax89
    Commented May 13, 2023 at 15:26
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    @j8ax89 a lot of time training happens at the same time as you are working. You spend a couple of hours learning, and then back to figuring out a task you were given. Beginners should be given fairly easy tasks (but they aren't easy when you are learning!) It might take you 2 weeks to do a job I could do in 2 hours, but hopefully they have patience, because that is normal and expected.
    – thursdaysgeek
    Commented May 15, 2023 at 15:39
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Longer Hours

Depends on how much you want to keep the job, but this happened to me in a previous job many years ago, where I had over-estimated my own knowledge in CSS (had been hobby-level only up to that point) and the manager didn't really know enough while interviewing me to tell the difference (and was looking for someone urgently!), so by my standards at the time I was really thrown in at the deep end.

What I ended up doing was to spend an extra few hours each day, off the clock, researching the topics that should have, in some cases, taken me minutes to figure out but actually took me hours. After a few weeks I had learned it well enough to reduce my hours to pretty much the standard working hours.

I didn't mention the extra time to the manager (we didn't have any sort of time-tracking mechanism) because I didn't want him to wonder why, if I was spending all this extra time, extra work wasn't getting done.

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  • Yep, it is called making the best of a bad situation.
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Jun 1, 2023 at 6:07

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