People not explaining things properly

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hurtloam
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26 Jan 2017, 1:58 am

I'm in a job where I am being trained. However the person training me keeps giving me vague instructions and not thoroughly explaining how things work. They do it with such confidence that I go away and think, oh this will be straight forward, but when I start the task I realise it's more complicated.

So I go back and say I'm stuck and they always say, "but I explained that to you."

I don't know how to respond to that other than with a death stare. What I'm thinking is, "well you obviously didn't explain it well enough. Just because you understand it doesn't mean I'll instantly understand it."

I'm usually quite quick to pick things up, but this is really frustrating me. It's just making me angry.



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26 Jan 2017, 6:43 pm

Perhaps if you ask them specific questions about the difficulties you're having they would be more willing to provide more specific instructions.



hurtloam
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27 Jan 2017, 1:43 am

Thar may help, but I don't even understand what I'm doing enough to be specific.

I have no idea how I got this job. I'm in way over my head.

The thing is he'll vaguely explain something quickly and say, what do you think you should do now. I say I don't know. I dont understand, but rather Han rephrase it in away I under or breaking it down clearly he just says frustrated, "but I just told you.!"

I've never had this problem in a job before. Usually I pick things up quickly.

Some programmers just talk programmer language and forget that newbies don't understand the terms used straight away.

I Can't deal it the stress. It's like someone explaining things with little bits of Fresh thrown I then expecting you to understand because they understand.



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27 Jan 2017, 5:22 pm

Is there anyone else you could ask for clarification who may be more able to spend more time communicating what they understand?

It sounds like a rough situation for sure. I hope there will be a time soon when whoever is available to help you will be emotionally stable enough themselves to give you the support you need.



hurtloam
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28 Jan 2017, 8:51 am

Awh that's not fair. He's not emotionally unstable.

People who have been taught programming and people who have taught themselves (me) have different vocabularies.

I have this problem on stack exchange at times as well.

When I was at college I learned to build websites via building tables and html with a bit of css.

Things have changed so much so quickly I feel overwhelmed.



BTDT
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28 Jan 2017, 10:41 am

Perhaps it would help to write down and Google key phrases?



The_Face_of_Boo
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28 Jan 2017, 6:36 pm

You need to upgrade yours skills, you need to catch up, there's no other way around.

I am not a web developer and not really into it at all nor I can even call myself a pro programmer, but I did take a course back in the university like 10 years ago, we relied a lot on tables, frames and bit css on Dreamweaver, and almost no javascript.

However I also had to take a brief course months ago on web development and it is totally different today; using tables is no more used for placing texts besides photos for example, and no one is using frames anymore too, what they use today is things like float, and there are more replying on section/div tags...etc with position and margin attributes; and there's way more stress on making a website responsive (ie.adaptable to any screen size, for all kinds of devices).

It got way more complicated I think.



The_Face_of_Boo
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28 Jan 2017, 6:46 pm

I am curious though, do the pro web builders really build whole websites from scratch, like by writing the whole html/css?
Or they do use WYSIWYG?

I find html very hectic to write like any markup language.



hurtloam
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28 Jan 2017, 7:56 pm

They use something like WordPress as a basis and write html, php and css to create a template. Add a bit of javascript to make nice actions on the page.

I'm too overwhelmed by learning this new stuff. There's too much to learn and the tutorials I do don't ever seem to be useful in real life. I don't want to do this with my life. Im stressed and fed up. Im not happy.

Im looking for a new job. Sent off about 8 applications today.



hurtloam
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29 Jan 2017, 2:52 am

I mean a new job doing something different. I do not want to he a programmer



The_Face_of_Boo
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29 Jan 2017, 3:46 pm

I don't envy programmers working as employees, it's very stressful, they're the ones who have to deal with tight deadlines and ....despite their high pays, everyone acts as their boss, especially in small companies.

And they have to keep learning new stuff.

I think it's best for them to work as freelances, but even that can be stressful.



DinoMongoosePenguin
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29 Jan 2017, 6:43 pm

The_Face_of_Boo wrote:
You need to upgrade yours skills, you need to catch up, there's no other way around.

I am not a web developer and not really into it at all nor I can even call myself a pro programmer, but I did take a course back in the university like 10 years ago, we relied a lot on tables, frames and bit css on Dreamweaver, and almost no javascript.

However I also had to take a brief course months ago on web development and it is totally different today; using tables is no more used for placing texts besides photos for example, and no one is using frames anymore too, what they use today is things like float, and there are more replying on section/div tags...etc with position and margin attributes; and there's way more stress on making a website responsive (ie.adaptable to any screen size, for all kinds of devices).

It got way more complicated I think.


Responsive Web Design: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_rwd_intro.asp



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30 Jan 2017, 5:08 am

hurtloam wrote:
I'm in a job where I am being trained. However the person training me keeps giving me vague instructions and not thoroughly explaining how things work. They do it with such confidence that I go away and think, oh this will be straight forward, but when I start the task I realise it's more complicated.

So I go back and say I'm stuck and they always say, "but I explained that to you."

I don't know how to respond to that other than with a death stare. What I'm thinking is, "well you obviously didn't explain it well enough. Just because you understand it doesn't mean I'll instantly understand it."

I'm usually quite quick to pick things up, but this is really frustrating me. It's just making me angry.


I've found asking questions *right* after they give you your instructions typically work. Formulate a way to execute something in your head *when* they describe it and then repeat it back to them when they stop talking. Phrase it in your own way. If they are agreeable, good, you're on the same page. If they said no to any part or parts you've just repeated, tell them to phrase it differently, until what they describe is near exact to what you have in your head.

Clarity is an Achilles heel to Aspies. One of the biggest problems with our interactions with the world is noisy signals. NTs sometimes misunderstand each other themselves, so repeating a verbal instruction could be easy to solve.

Unless you come from a totally different technical background, in which case communication isn't the problem. A lack of the right expertise is.



This_Amoeba
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01 Feb 2017, 10:06 am

People tend to give very very vague instructions. It seems sometimes they're just too lazy and want want to get the bonus points for training. When I worked at sonic, I had asked where something was located and the person rolled their eyes and said in a condescending tone "look for it." I also got constantly criticized for not making drinks fast enough even though it was impossible because there was two obese workers blocking the fountain and I couldn't get in there. Like wtf, should I push them out of the way? I tried to say excuse me but they acted like they didn't hear me.



AngryAngryAngry
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03 Feb 2017, 5:27 pm

I think it's a communication issue, they are using terms that you do not understand.
Try to get the instructions written down. Google it, then you'll understand what those terms are.
If they are wrong, you can return to him and say ' you said it does this, but it doesn't do that at all.'
After twenty or so of these, you may need to go over his head - tell the person above that you will leave, as you cannot do your job because your manager doesn't understand anything.
Which may mean you don't have to leave if they have any sense.



hurtloam
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03 Feb 2017, 5:48 pm

The problem isn't completely the manager. Things are better this week.

I think it was just that particular task. Just didn't understand it at all. I managed to use some of the stuff I learned last week to solve a problem this week so it's not all bad.

We'll just have to see how it goes.