Micro-managed to death!

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I was hired as a software developer last August. The pay was terrible for the position but I was still working on my degree and was happy to take it for the experience. My manager was laid back and so was the other developer and I was pretty happy other than the pay.

Well, the manager quit at the end of the year and us two developers were left to continue the project with little supervision other than an occasional email or meeting with the CEO or COO. We were working with some new technologies so it wasn't all forward progress. Sometimes we had to back up and try something else.

Eventually, we got it just about finished and only then did they hire a new manager to come in and mess with us. At first we were told she was hired to manage another project. Later we were to learn her title was "Director of IT" ...A title I had actually suggested but meant for them to hire a seasoned IT veteran to advise both us and the C-levels...not this 25 year old who thinks she knows it all and really knows nothing other than how to talk and use Outlook.

She immediately tried to pull the plug on our project and suggested the company buy an off-the-shelf product after we just spent almost a year creating a custom application. She then made us start to keep detailed logs of everything we do each day and estimated time to completion of each thing. I immediately told her it was impossible to predict if something was going to take two hours or two days. Depends on if we can get something to work properly on the first go. Of course, her in her non-programmer wisdom does not understand this and thinks that means we're not good programmers and maybe we need to get more training. She says lots of things that sound knowledgeable to the executives but it really only proves she doesn't know squat to us. We found out that she really only was a IT salesperson at her last company.

Anyway, now we have three developers and we've all had about enough of her harassing us constantly and treating us like children. I am 18 years older than her and she talks down to me like this is my first job. I was managing people at Kmart when she was in diapers. Some days, I'm so agitated I nearly have a meltdown right in the office. On the eve of the release of our project to the company when I was furiously trying to make sure everything works she asked me out of the blue to go around the whole office to write down serial numbers from everyone's computer. When I questioned why and told her I was busy working on the project she took it as an act of insubordination and that's when I lost it and went on a rant, which isn't pleasant for my audience so I'm told.

Today she interrupted me doing something to spend 30 minutes researching something and write her a paper on it. Well, I got interrupted in the middle of that to assist some employees with IT issues and didn't return to her task until after lunch and was immediately asked where my report was and when I said I wasn't finished because I was called away. She then said "What did I tell you to do this morning?" as if I was a child who didn't do their chores.

Being that I have Aspergers I'm usually a deer in the headlights when I am confronted like that and am unable to defend myself. I guess I'm slow to process and react in those situations and I get run over. By the time I mull over what was said and done and what I should have said or done the moment has passed. I'm about ready to quit but I don't want to let her get to me like that. Eventually, they're going to figure out she's terrible and get rid of her so why should I leave. That said, I may have a meltdown right in the office in the meantime. Arrrgh!

Sounds like quite the pickle. Hang in there.

Is there a human resources department? It sounds like you might need to speak with them.

That happened to me when I was 19 and was working for an amusement parks. I had worked there two summers prior to that and I had a girl who got hired there the last time I worked. She was not even my boss but she sure thought that she could tell me what was what. She was 4 years younger and the people on our team thought it was okay.

You're getting random orders, and the manager doesn't know what she is doing. It is very important that you keep cool. Be kind to her, smile, and ask for a meeting, where you make a list of the jobs that she wants you to do. She doesn't know what to do with you, and that makes her random.

If she doesn't want that meeting, tell your superiors, or go to Human Resources.

This is not really related to your autism, so don't talk about it.

Since I first posted one of the other developers emailed the CEO to request a meeting with him regarding our unhappiness with the"Director". He did this with our consent. The CEO responded that he was certain she was the right person for the job but that he would still sit down with us at a meeting. So basically he's already biased toward her.

And here's the rub...I walk back in the office area we all share at the end of the day to collect my belongings and leave for the day and she's on the phone with the CEO from what I can gather....so he called her an tattled! She hangs up before I can escape out the door and tells me I need to do some "covert ops" for her and secretly copy all that other programmers work behind his back so, presumably, she can fire him. She then said "This will prove to me whether or not you're management material."

Of course, I'm not going to sneak behind anyone's back and do her bidding but that does now put my job in jeopardy too. I also immediately called the developer when I got to my car to warn him, knowing I just risked a lot doing that. I definitely need to go to HR first thing Monday morning but the apparent unethical actions of the CEO telling the director and her now trying to take retaliation presumably with the CEO's consent doesn't bode well for a fair resolution. The only thing it may do is protect me getting unemployment compensation if I get fired. That's if I don't just go ahead and quit. I think the project is a bomb, I think the management is ignorant about what they're getting into because they don't know the first thing about technology and now I know they're unethical too.

I'm looking for another job.

Wow, that is so sad.

I feel so oblivious sometimes. I really like everyone I work with, even the one person who keeps flipping out on me (high strung, it's cool, I get it and I don't hold a grudge) and I believe everything they say.
In retrospect, that's pretty dumb.
I had a meeting with some of my coworkers and it's apparent from what they say that they accept the lying or glossing over that a few key players in the company do. I told my boss again that I'm really slow on the uptake about perceiving things like this on my eon and he's really gotta state it for me. ~smh~ Wish things were just trustworthy at the surface level.

I know. I feel very ignorant for the most part because I naturally want to do the right thing and assume others do also.
I don't know if there's complexities involved I just don't grasp or it's just random actions with no sense behind them.

People are always saying and doing things around me that are not logical and I don't know if that's just normal for NTs or I need to separate myself from them because I can't trust them to make rational choices. Like my gf says I should curse at that manager or knock her teeth out. I assume this is an NT jest but I don't even like that they think this way and would say that out loud. It would never cross my mind to behave that way, if only to fantasize. My mind doesn't go there and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with people whose minds do...but maybe that's just how NTs think.

Any news?id you sort things out with her?

Young managers are the worst, aren't they. I can't stand it if a company hires some young outside college grad who basically only has to do an internship within the company before they get a management job to manage people who have had to worked for the company for many more years and know much more about the company than they do. It's just unethical. I believe a manager should be someone who's worked for the company for many years and moved up from a company from the bottom up. The company I work for right now does the same thing but since I'm young, it's not too degrading to me yet but it sure is for the guys in their 30s' though 60's who have to take orders from people in their 20's.

This is why I give people a "thousand yard stare" in that situation. You don't have to defend yourself afterward.

Continuation of the story is that I did go to HR first thing Monday and told the director what happened and she asked me to hang in there until the CEO go back from his business trip so we could meet with him which I agreed to do. As soon as I got to work the "Director" came to me and asked to meet with me about the new intern starting that morning. Sure. Well, it turned out to be a subversion because no sooner did the door shut that she jumped right on to the incident from the previous week. I think she thought I was going to be surprised that she found out that I told my co-worker. I owned it and said "Yes, I did tell him." Then she asked me if I had any intention of following her directive and I told her no because I thought it was unethical. As soon as I said unethical she said she was going to go get the HR Director. I said "Good, I already talked to her this morning."

The HR Director came in and sat in on the rest of the discussion which was a total back-peddle on her part. She told me I misunderstood her request. I asked how else should I take "spy", "covert ops" and "secret" being used? She went on about how I was mistaken that she was intending on firing my coworker when she specifically told me in the past that he wasn't going to be working here much longer. I know she changed her plan to fire him specifically because of my actions.

At some point it pretty much was verbal ping-pong and I wasn't even really paying attention anymore because I was so angry. At some point she made a vague apology that I don't really remember and left the room abruptly, leaving me sitting with the HR Director. The HR Director asked me what I wanted to do and I decided to return to work. According to another co-worker I must have made her cry because she came to him visibly upset and he didn't know why at the time.

Since then things have gotten better...not great..... She still talks a lot, represents herself to upper management as knowing things she doesn't know...like pretending she understands programming... she's loosening up some on the micromanagement so I have my fingers crossed. I'm still looking for another job but haven't found the right position yet. I'm hanging in there for now.

yup, that's IT. fun, isn't it? </sarcasm>

if you don't already, read Dilbert. it helps, at least in knowing that you are not alone. my pointy-haired boss looked just like the one in the comic strip, except for a mustache and french canadian accent.

Dilbert is what convinces me that I have AS.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5JSJuN3UWI[/youtube]

Hello Tori0326,
Smart move to look for a new job now. Keep us posted. Searching for a job can take months. But, it will be easier since you have a job.
Same thing happened to my hubby about half a year ago and he is still looking for a job. So a few words of caution. HR is only there to keep the company from getting a lawsuit. The fact the HR director was trying to convince you that you "misinterpreted" something is a red flag. If your manager is passive aggressive, she may be looking at your performance more closely than your coworkers so she could find or even create mistakes. Keep an eye out for that, though from the sounds of it she may not know enough about what you do to look for mistakes to begin with. Take notes when she tries to get you to do something else unethical and keep any emails from her. Then save any additional feedback for your exit interview once you accepted another job offer. Hope all goes well.
~EH

Love the video!

I'm continuing to look for another job while tomorrow will mark my one year anniversary with my current company.
I like my peers, it's just management. They're so clueless but they think they know everything. The benefits and pay have no bearing on skills or mental exertion. I can't help but relate it to the Jock and Nerd class system back in high school.

One of the most recent aggravations was the CEO erroneously telling the Director of IT that I copied the current database schema from the previous system. The fact is that I created it from scratch and it's infinitely better than the last one, but they don't understand this at all and that's why I get no respect and I'm paid about half what I should be.

The Director of IT is not our advocate or spokesperson. She's just one more talking head that adds more work and chaos. The chaos is what's killing me. The direction of projects continually change course and grow in scope. When we ask for clarification things get more jumbled and confusing because they don't even know what they want. Now we have deadlines looming and I know they're not going to be happy with what they're going to get because they have unrealistic expectations, especially when they keep changing what they want.

They promise we will be rewarded for our hard work when the contracts start coming through but I'm not holding my breath. They seem to think they're compensating me fairly when I'm certain I'm the least paid person in my department. I can't imagine they'll be doubling my pay no matter how successful the project. The sad part is I don't think the project is going to be the blockbuster they think it's going to be. Management thinks their idea is cutting edge when it's really redundant in today's technology market. I'm under a NDA so I can't go further into it but there's nothing new or exciting being developed.

I just need to get off this crazy train.

The people you're working for sound like these guys:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVvGxHALfns[/youtube]


And I'm thinking the hiring of your Director of IT went something like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuPolrd9yuo[/youtube]



I've been programming since I was 8, and at around 13 I came across The Hacker Jargon Lexicon, which taught me a fair bit about programmer culture, including just how incompetent management can be. I'll be starting my 2nd year of a game design degree this September (where I'm pretty much the only student with an interest in programming), and because I tend to read around the subject, I've been looking into topics like Scrum and Agile, and reading books like The Mythical Man Month and The Art of UNIX Programming.

Why am I doing this?

Because if I'm ever at that point in a job interview where they ask if I have any questions, I can ask them what system they use for project management. If they don't have a clue what I'm on about, then I really don't want to work there. If management don't understand that managing software development is entirely different from managing anything else, then they're clearly incompetent, and destined to fail.