Happy & normal until someone attacks the flock – That’s usually my motto in life. The flocks are my friends and family.
I couldn’t sleep well last night as I was up for a while thinking about a work-related culture that has garnered over time after acquisition. Not only am I completing my own projects and goals, I’m helping out a fellow team to push stuff beyond the finish line, but also researching and doing a completely third and different team’s work and research for them. After talking to my manager, I was indirectly told to “suck it up” and do it without the actual words. It is mentally unhealthy & draining. It seems like a moot point to bring up any issues to a manager. I miss my old manager. He was a leader more than a manager.
At first, I thought that the third team did not have access to the resources as me, but they did. That’s what hurt me as I felt a bit used. I had to research and get all things working that should have been them. Again, an entire team’s work was completed by me. I’m not asking for glory, but the notion that someone expects someone else to do their work for them just because they are helpful and passionate about engineering problems was demeaning. We had an intern who was 10x. He was something.
If someone has tried and failed, that is another ballgame but tossing an entire project over the wall and expecting someone else to do the work is beyond wrong.
Before I made any rash decisions, I decided to have a talk with the nuclear scientist turned K8S architect, who is more than a mentor at the company. Although he manages a completely different team now, I still have to work fairly close due to the nature of our infrastructure. Talking to him made my conscience clear that I am not at fault here and must learn how to say NO. He shared a story about a brilliant engineer he worked with at AT&T who had a notice outside his office that read, “Your priority is not My priority.”
The whole debacle is just a mess.
The lesson here:
– Learn how to say NO.
– Trust But Verify when someone says something.