How to balance my talkings with colleagues inside the workplace?

Question

I'm working in a company as the only software developer and my co-workers which do website data entry need to talk to each other to proceed with their tasks. My salary is about 4 times of them. So I think my boss expects me I should be more productive than others in the workplace and I try not to talk too much with others although I'm a person with an outgoing personality.

Besides, not talking with anyone makes me feel disconnected from my colleagues or look nerd which makes me feel uncomfortable.

I want to know how can I balance such a thing? Besides, I feel if I'm going to chat occasionally with other there would be risks that I will lose my job. I feel this is a contradictory situation and I'm looking for your suggestion about this.

Answer 1

I'm gonna be blunt, and it is still my personal opinion, but you can totally be productive and still talk to others. Those are not 2 things that don't go with each others.

I would even add, if you don' show sign of "socialness", it might seem weird to most bosses.

It doesn't matter how much you're making, your title, ... We all know no one can be focused 8 or more hours a day, we all have breaks, if you spend it going through facebook or talking to your colleague, well, that's still a break. They might even appreciate you talking in workplace than on facebook or so.

Answer 2

I'm working in a company as only software developer and my co workers which do website data entry need to talk each other to proceed their tasks.

The fair way to put this is, you need to collaborate with the team to get the job done. If that's the case, you collaborate with them, that comes as a part of the job itself. The collaboration can happen over emails, as well as a quick access-the-desk discussion - as the situation requires.

I should be more productive than others in workplace and I try not talk too much with others although I'm a person with outgoing personality.

Not a bad thing, at all. You can still work, minus the chit-chat. Helps in time management, too. Also, as we all know from the time management 101, this small talk and pass-by-chats are the biggest source of interruptions which causes the lack in productivity.

Besides, not talking with any one makes me feel disconnected from my colleagues or look nerd which makes me feel uncomfortable. I want to know how can I balance such a thing?

You don't need to talk during work. If you feel like socializing, try talking to them either in

• lunch time
• tea / coffee breaks
• after office hours.

It's perfectly fine to cut down the distraction during the work time and do the casual chats during the break time. Actually, most of the productive people do that.

Answer 3

You're a software developer and you're working with a data entry team. First things first, you're paid for your expertise in software development, not data entry. Can you do data entry? Absolutely but likely no faster or better than other people who do it all the time.

It's a strange expectation to assume just because someone does development that they can also do data entry faster.

The skills you have are specialized and thus, you do the work you can do. Whoever assigned you has to get that this isn't what developers do. So I would say, do your best and work as you normally would. Simple as that.

This is an "off"-job task you've been put on. You'll never be the fastest or more productive because they likely have ONLY been doing that while you've been doing, from a company perspective, a far more valuable task (judging by the salary).

So just be you and don't worry about it. The reality is they wouldn't be hard on you because this is not what you do normally.

I doubt anyone would fire a developer for not being able to be fast at data entry when the entire time, he's been doing development.

Answer 4

It sounds like you need to understand what your job responsibilities are, and focus on them. If you don't already clearly understand how your own performance is measured, you need to figure that out. Understanding what your boss expects of you in terms of quality and quantity, what your job duties are, and how your role fits with other teams/departments/staff members in terms of interaction, will help you understand how your boss will evaluate your performance.

I say this because of your comment,

Besides I feel if I'm going to chat occasionally with other there would be risks that I will lose my job. I feel this is a contradictory situation and I'm looking for your suggestion about this.

If you understand your job, and you work hard at it, things like how much you chit chat with your coworkers will become less important (or, at least, their importance will become clear). In other words, as long as you are focused on the important aspects of your job, and doing meaningful work on the projects assigned to you, and you're not distracted or distracting anyone else, your boss won't have any reason to notice or care how much you're chatting with others in the office.

Answer 5

Do task lists, execute some of these tasks and then take a break and talk with with your coleagues. Join some of their conversations, talk a bit, and, when the conversation ends, go back to your task list.