I’m 9 months or so into a new position as a junior software developer at a large enterprise corp. I feel that my manager/supervisor is often quite mean and rude to me and I believe as a result my performance is poor and my mental health is suffering badly. I’m unsure what to do about the situation.
I find that when I ask questions he will usually answer with a tone that implies that the answer is obvious and that I should have known/shouldn’t have to ask. Often he will get frustrated with me (exasperated sighs, eye rolling etc) when I don’t understand things when he explains them to me and will even occasionally resort to speaking to me like I’m a child or something.
I find this treatment extremely upsetting and stressful so I am extremely disinclined to interact with him if I can help it. My work falls behind which adds additional stress and I am too depressed and tired by the end of the day to socialise or keep up with hobbies etc so my personal life and mental health is suffering because of this. I often find myself stressed and anxious almost to the point of tears at my desk.
While I’m still being given what seems to me like relatively simple tasks they are still almost impossible to complete without some specific knowledge of the system which I couldn’t possibly really know without asking. I feel like I’m constantly being given impossible puzzles to solve and then belittled when I’m unable to do it and need to ask for help.
This is my second job in the industry and I have never had trouble with teamwork or communication before which leads me to believe that I’m not too stupid or lazy or whatever to do the work. His method of mentoring has ruined my confidence and stressed me out so much my performance is falling behind.
I’m not really sure how much longer I can deal with this, I don’t know what to do, I’m terrified of getting fired, I feel like I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown and I don’t really feel like I’m in a position to be looking for a new job right now.
Is this the sort of behaviour I can report to HR or maybe even his manager? hopefully they could get him to be nicer to me. Is there any other actions I can take?