205
votes
Accepted
Is it my responsibility to learn a new technology in my own time my employer wants to implement?
Is this normal?
In my experience, this is not normal.
What typically happens is your employer would work with you in the transition by supporting you with training. Or alternatively, you employer ...
- 84.8k
163
votes
What can I do if I am asked to learn different programming languages very frequently?
From one of your comments:
i want to work what i like to work and not what they want me to work
You need to go and start your own company then. If you're working for somebody else, you're at work ...
- 114k
124
votes
Is it my responsibility to learn a new technology in my own time my employer wants to implement?
This new team member can be quoted as saying "It's not upon your
employer to give you time to learn" and that we should all be doing
this in our spare time at home.
This new team member is ...
- 385k
120
votes
Is it condescending to answer a question with a question?
Whether it's condescending would depend on the individual person, situation and tone, but generally speaking I would consider this a long-term / teaching strategy.
If they simply tell you the answer, ...
- 13k
102
votes
Accepted
What can I do if I am asked to learn different programming languages very frequently?
First off, I want to say that there would be many people envious of your position.
You mentioned you are a graduate, this situation can be typical of graduate programs.
Sometimes placement within a ...
- 60.5k
79
votes
Does my workplace lack guidance or is it my lack of skills?
I lack the appropriate skills?
or
Is it a lack of guidance on the part of the company?
Both.
You lack the required skills for the assignment (not your fault, but it's true). You cannot certainly ...
- 73.8k
72
votes
What can I do if I am asked to learn different programming languages very frequently?
In addition to the other good answers already here, I also think it may be useful to note that your attitude toward languages shows inexperience as a programmer.
The core tools and structures of ...
- 1,065
59
votes
Accepted
Employer wants me to learn new language/system - how can I refuse to do this?
You can quit?
The working world doesn't consist of choosing to do and not do things regardless of whatever your boss/business requires. There's... really not much more to it than that. You are paid ...
- 111k
51
votes
Is it my responsibility to learn a new technology in my own time my employer wants to implement?
Good companies invest in their staff.
Technology is a rapidly changing industry - there is always something new to learn. It is much cheaper to keep a current member of staff up to standard than to ...
- 9,168
47
votes
Accepted
How do you deal with the emotions of not being the one to find the cause of a bug?
Welcome to my workday. Some issues are easy, some are tough, some you find immediately, others take weeks. I understand your stress as I suffer it as well. It's not fun to get up every daily and say ...
- 27.9k
39
votes
Does my workplace lack guidance or is it my lack of skills?
I see a number of red flags here.
First of all, you're a recent graduate, which means, without much experience in software development.
Second, you graduated in mechanical engineering, not software. ...
- 7,215
37
votes
What can I do if I am asked to learn different programming languages very frequently?
Unless you work for a company that only makes its own proprietary software, and therefore has complete control over their languages and tools (and has no wish to move on), learning unfamiliar ...
- 20.9k
32
votes
How to break this vicious circle?
"Underperform[ing] because [you] didn't like [your] tasks" is the sign of a very poor employee, and, in my mind, you are rather lucky that you didn't get fired given that you repeatedly made changes ...
- 13.6k
31
votes
Accepted
How do I learn and do my job well in an environment full of jerks?
Given the situation above, how to I learn to do my job fast (and right) in a toxic environment?
You don't. You walk around being pleasant and ride it out until you can leave.
Once you have one foot ...
- 224k
28
votes
How do you deal with the emotions of not being the one to find the cause of a bug?
This is an issue that you need to address.
Feeling that there is something wrong when anyone but you solves a problem, or anyone but your turns out to be 'the best' in some particular circumstance is ...
- 86.3k
27
votes
Employer wants me to learn new language/system - how can I refuse to do this?
.NET is not a language. This is a detail, but it quite strongly suggests that your programming skills are not as high as you may think.
I think you have few choices:
quit right away,
accept the ...
- 1,845
27
votes
Is it condescending to answer a question with a question?
No, it's an actual teaching technique called the Socratic method and it is very effective because it is active learning as opposed to passive learning.
Also, it gives the person insight to where ...
- 160k
21
votes
As a junior, is it inappropriate for my supervisor to expect me to study our stack in my own time?
No, it is not okay to expect that of your employees.
You say:
Assume a non-toxic environment. A manager saying "You better study over the weekend or you're fired first thing on Monday" is, ...
- 8,363
20
votes
Is it condescending to answer a question with a question?
Is it condescending?
No, not at all
I think you've already figured out this, and why they ask a question as an answer to your question: they expect you to understand the process, and hope that you ...
- 1,334
20
votes
Does my workplace lack guidance or is it my lack of skills?
The first thing you should do is ensure your boss has a realistic idea of your progress. Tell him "this is a lot harder than we thought", as soon as possible.
Do not fall into the trap of waiting ...
- 10.6k
19
votes
Is it my responsibility to learn a new technology in my own time my employer wants to implement?
As a rule of thumb, what you do in your free time is none of your employer's business. Their right to assign tasks is limited to work hours. They hired you for a specific position, presumably after ...
- 1,339
18
votes
How to break this vicious circle?
I used to have similar thoughts and problems, frowned upon my colleagues for not respecting best methodologies and thought I was better than most (not saying you think this, but I did when I was ...
- 7,138
12
votes
As a junior, is it inappropriate for my supervisor to expect me to study our stack in my own time?
TLDR: It may be appropriate to expect an employee to study a new technology outside of their 40 hour work week, but such expectations should be reflected in their compensation.
I think the issue is ...
- 8,333
12
votes
How do you deal with the emotions of not being the one to find the cause of a bug?
I wouldn't lose any sleep over this, especially if no-one is questioning your ability. Quite often when debugging you can get so deep down one path that you lose perspective for other issues. This ...
- 18.2k
11
votes
As a junior, is it inappropriate for my supervisor to expect me to study our stack in my own time?
TLDR: Expecting employees to do regular work (incl. self-training) in their spare-time is not okay. Expecting employees to do emergency tasks outside of work hours in a reasonable amount, taking the ...
- 7,511
11
votes
Accepted
How to collaborate on javascript team when you don't know Javascript?
You forgot the fourth approach which is all 3. First you talk to your tech lead and tell them about your deficiencies. You make them understand you know you aren't ideal on the project and you're ...
- 23k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible