Hi there!
I'm a Junior developer, right now I have 3 years of experience and, recently, I've been having so much trouble dealing with work.
For context, I work as a back-end developer, being .NET my go to everyday. I have basic GIT knowledge and never worked with DevOps before (CI/CD). I'm working in an API that communicates with another API and provides data for Android and IOS apps.
I was working with a very cool senior dev, with 12 years of experience, from whom I learned a lot. We had a good chemistry and communicated very well.
Some time has passed and two months ago our manager said that he was going to a different project, inside the company. This sounded a big red flag, because they choose him to go, basically, they fought that what he was doing was easy and that another person could do his tasks with no problem at all.
For context, my fellow co-worker had a great impact, and knows the project I'm at. He had some of these tasks that he had to do everyday:
Development;
DevOps (CI/CD) and pipelines management;
GIT management;
Client and other management tasks.
Before he left, I had to learn in 2/3 weeks how everything worked, it was kinda rushed, but I don't blame him, he has done his best to help me.
Right now, I'm kinda in a bad spot. We have had some problems and it seems that I'm not being able to handle all the stuff he was doing, which is pretty normal, but being the way I am, I don't back down that easily, so I try to tackle every problem at a time.
I know that I need to check a problem at a time, but this is a problem I always had, that is focusing in something at a time, because I try to help everyone that comes to talk with me.
At this moment, I'm having a bad time, because I think I'm not able to do anything, and I can't think straight... basically, I lost my confidence.
I talked with my manager the other day, and it kinda seemed to have understood my message, but I think that he still undervalues the importance of the project I'm in and my fellow co-worker who changed to another project.
Kinda messed up situation, I am going to talk to my manager and I'm going to ask for help, because we have resources (people), but I don't know how to talk about this, or how I am going to do my tasks until someone comes.
Oldest comments (4)
You have assumed a position of managerial responsibility and an opportunity to accelerate your career faster than you can ever think. At this point, you may need to pause on applying your technical skills and rather think like a manager. It may be a strange environment, but to excel as a manager, you may have to prioritize more which is one of the most difficult things to do in IT management where there are rapid changes in the industry. One thing to prioritize for me would be setting the cultural tone straight for others dealing with you. How do requests come to you on the product? Let there be SLA agreement on these requests and make sure you are on the same path. That's your first step for your company to trust you enough to manage the activities around that product and give you more people as it would help with the focus you desire.
I see, first I should make them understand how they should behave with me.
If I can make them understand how things are done with me on the wheel, them it could go smoother.
That's a good point, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me (or with anyone who's in the same situation)!
I happe I can get things on the right track, after all, I love to work with this company, people here are great and we have many chances to grow in our career! :)
If possible and not too much, see this also as a chance to get experience which you would not get, if you would not have gotten this kind of responsibility. But this depends a lot on your actual experience and I understand, that this can be too much for you.
If the latter is the case, try to find some confidence in communcating this well. Continue working in a relaxed way and do what you can do, do not stress yourself too much. People need to understand, that they cannot expect the same from you and if, let us say, that if somebody is behaving like you would have had to do something in less time, I guess it should be fine to communicate, that this is an issue. Be yourself, do not let people put you down, just because they do not know it better and have unrealistic expectations. Be realistic with yourself, you know yourself better what you can do and what needs support. If you need support, ask for it and do not let them blame you afterwards.
These are just my thoughts, please do not take it too seriously. Take this situation as a chance to learn and if it is still bad in the end, maybe this company or team is not good (for you).
Yes, I understand what you are saying!
I pressure myself to hard, because I had work experiences that made me feel the worst... but in this company, things are different, they trust me and the people here are great! I want to make them feel proud, but I also want to make myself proud, probably that's what is making me feel so stressed out...
I'll do my best, at my own pace, thanks for remembering me that, and for the advices you gave as well. I hope this can help other people in a similar situation!
Cheers mate :)