218
votes
Accepted
Got invited to apply for a job for which I don't qualify. How should I take this?
Job orders are often written up by people who have little to do with the actual job. Even when they are, they are often written up with an overly optimistic "Wish list" rather than actual ...
- 160k
216
votes
Is it discriminatory to put "bonus" video game skills in a job advertisement?
Is this discriminatory? No, probably not. Is it inappropriate to put in a job ad? Yes, most definitely.
First, I'm going to assume that your colleague just wants to include the "bonus" section for ...
- 30.1k
203
votes
How do I tell an executive that I am an engineer not an admin
Could you raise it to your manager? (Assuming that someone sits at a level between you & the exec, e.g. a head of engineering) A few months in the door & at a junior level, it makes sense that ...
- 2,779
175
votes
Accepted
How should I tell front-end to stop passing bugs to back-end by default?
There are multiple things to fix here:
From a technical perspective, if your frontend is getting an error reply and they cannot tell it's their fault, then the backend error reply is faulty. Fix your ...
- 146k
159
votes
Intentional company falsehood in job description causing tension with boss
They've admitted that they're lying to you, to every other employee, and to every potential job candidate, and have admitted to you that they intend to continue lying. My advice would be to forego any ...
- 48.5k
157
votes
Accepted
How strictly should I take "Candidates must be local"?
The general rule I follow for applying for jobs is that if I want it, I apply without worrying about minor things that might not work out. I would recommend you follow that here as well.
...
- 12k
140
votes
Is it discriminatory to put "bonus" video game skills in a job advertisement?
Suppose the hiring manager was a woman and she announced that she thought the ideal candidate for the IT role was someone who had worked needlepoint as a hobby. Oh, and scrapbooked. It would fit the "...
- 2,851
140
votes
Accepted
What does it say about a company when they require a degree for a junior programmer's position?
As I understood, a lot of programmers are self-taught and do not have a degree.
And likely don't work in jobs that have a hard requirement for a degree in CS.
Why would not having a degree ...
- 3,614
108
votes
Accepted
Ethics of spending one's private time to work with unrelated projects
I assume your contract states how many hours you are supposed to work for the company in a week. That they require you to work overtime when needed does not mean that all your not working time belongs ...
- 13.9k
98
votes
Doing work beyond the scope of my role. Denied promotion recognizing actual role. Should I just shut down everything?
Turning off a critical business system out of spite is likely to get you fired for misconduct, even if you were the one who created it.
If you don't like the job, look for another one.
- 14.7k
95
votes
How to make sure a job will match the job description?
Ask open questions!
Often the employer has little clue about the meat and veg of a vacancy and their job is not to make you happy, the job is to sell a position. They are a car salesman and to these ...
- 12.3k
92
votes
What does it say about a company when they require a degree for a junior programmer's position?
There is a lot more to software development than knowing a couple of programming languages and hacking out some code. Universities are how you get trained for that.
What does it say about the ...
- 1,290
80
votes
My tasks at work have turned away from what I applied to. How do I get back on track?
Before you throw in the towel, there is no harm in being be more assertive in your discussions.
Bring it up in EVERY one-on-one meeting. Make it #1 item on the agenda for every meeting
Ask for some ...
- 128k
77
votes
How do I tell an executive that I am an engineer not an admin
The other answers are also valid, but none have mentioned this idea yet: When tasked with an admin task from an exec, try one of the following responses
Sure, I can do that, but can you clear it with ...
- 1,359
66
votes
Intentional company falsehood in job description causing tension with boss
My position has huge turnover so the company made a 90-day eval to figure out why no one sticks.
The problematic piece here is the manager, and they are the reason for the turnover. It doesn't make ...
- 60.6k
63
votes
Is it discriminatory to put "bonus" video game skills in a job advertisement?
No discrimination.
Yes, you're overreacting.
...and you diminish a very important protection mechanism with banal nonsense !
In fact employers are free to chose their employees' suitable ...
- 11.5k
61
votes
Can my boss make me do manual labor if my job description is as the Office Manager?
tl;dr: You can ask, but you may need a new job.
There are two aspects to view this under: legal, and practical.
Legal view
Your situation will depend on the specifics of your job. In particular:
...
- 11.9k
61
votes
Personal assistant; directors and boss keep interrupting my work to ask me to make them tea/coffee
It's not that unusual for Personal Assistant roles to include such tasks as making drinks.
Asking while you're on your lunch break is not on in my opinion though - and I would say the same of any ...
- 110k
57
votes
What does it say about a company when they require a degree for a junior programmer's position?
Think it this way:
Do you absolutely, really, completely need sports shoes to go for a morning walk?
Answer: No, but it helps.
Many organizations take this approach, when they prepare the job ...
- 73.8k
55
votes
Got invited to apply for a job for which I don't qualify. How should I take this?
When it comes to "X years of experience", those numbers are just rough guidelines and should not be taken literally. Brush up on the technologies in question before the interview and you should be ...
- 21.6k
49
votes
Ask "So, what's the job?"... in a more refined way
Here's a no fuss straight forward approach:
Hello,
I saw the role regarding [job title], and am interested as it's in my
area of expertise. I find that the duties of this role differ between
...
- 555
47
votes
My tasks at work have turned away from what I applied to. How do I get back on track?
You have two options: accept the reality or move on.
The business needs SQL work, not C#. Since they are paying you, and you seem capable, they will ask you to fulfill the need they have. When you ...
- 13.7k
46
votes
How do I tell an executive that I am an engineer not an admin
I have had this happen to me at every single job except my current one (we have a female CEO and female VPs).
Also, we expect junior people to do tasks seniors don't want to do. Don't make a big ...
- 143k
46
votes
Unwritten addition to my role
Request a meeting with your line manager to clarify your situation:
how much PAT testing you are supposed to do
how you can include that into your current role, as this likely means that you'll have ...
- 1,132
46
votes
How should I tell front-end to stop passing bugs to back-end by default?
I'm having frustration in that I'm doing RCA on things that I don't
get credit for, or in other words, I'm wasting time doing things that
shouldn't be my job.
Your incentive structure is screwed up.
...
- 59.3k
45
votes
How strictly should I take "Candidates must be local"?
It means no visa sponsorship and no relocation fees. If you're willing to relocate on your own dime, they don't have a problem with it. You can even mention to them that you'd be willing to have ...
- 160k
45
votes
What does it say about a company when they require a degree for a junior programmer's position?
A lot of programmers are self-taught and do not have a degree.
A lot of them do have degrees. Self-taught is a phrase that needs to die. Every programmer is "self-taught", formal education or not. It ...
- 13.6k
43
votes
Got invited to apply for a job for which I don't qualify. How should I take this?
Being personally invited to apply > All other considerations
You were invited to apply. So they want you to apply. They are not bound to follow the requirements they listed and companies often end up ...
- 659
38
votes
Is it reasonable to ask a software engineer to do CI manually for a company?
Do you think, that this is a reasonable thing to ask from a software engineer?
Yes. You've been asked to drive and maintain quality of the software, it's perfectly in line of what is expected from a ...
- 35.8k
37
votes
Doing work beyond the scope of my role. Denied promotion recognizing actual role. Should I just shut down everything?
This depends on the country and local laws.
Most governmental agencies have some sort of union or employee representation and your first step should be to talk to them and figure out what your rights ...
- 128k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible