Comment by loup-vaillant
2 years ago
> It’s important to find/figure out what a company values and optimise for that.
One important ingredient for this is to know many companies will actively lie about their values. Typical case is, everyone tells you they value quality and feedback, while in reality everything is rushed and actual suggestions are at best thrown away in the "later" bin.
> Once a reputation has been established, it’s then possible to go about changing things, but not before.
I've noticed 2 patterns in my various gigs in the past: The virtuous cycle where I'm trusted to build something with significant autonomy from the start, I end up being happy, motivated, productive; and the vicious cycle when I'm just a new untrusted cog in their machine, my motivation & productivity plummet.
As far as I can tell I have no control over the initial condition, and the only way I could break the cycle was to start fresh in a new assignment. Some would suggest I suck it up and work my way up, but to be honest I no longer have the energy to pay my dues over and over again.
> As far as I can tell I have no control over the initial condition
There is something: as part of the hiring process, arrange with your boss to get a warm introduction to the team. Make sure that your boss describes the challenges that led to your hiring, your qualifications (and that they're excited to have you on the team!) and present the vision of the positive future impact that you are likely to have.
I've benefited from these kind of intros when I was a consultant. The senior consultant would hand off the engagement to (junior) me by making me look like a star. Also, meeting people in person as soon as possible after you're hired boosts trust.
> I've noticed 2 patterns in my various gigs in the past: The virtuous cycle where I'm trusted to build something with significant autonomy from the start, I end up being happy, motivated, productive; and the vicious cycle when I'm just a new untrusted cog in their machine, my motivation & productivity plummet.
Yeah, I feel your pain on the viscous cycle. For what it’s worth, I have managed to “hang in there” in such situations and the situation turned around. Normally it requires some change in the upper management or getting into a different team/role though (as you said, a “new assignment”).
> Some would suggest I suck it up and work my way up, but to be honest I no longer have the energy to pay my dues over and over again.
I hear this too! It’s a massive pain to have to go through the “we don’t trust you” phase at a new company. Hopefully as we become more senior, this is less of a thing, but for me there’s always been a period of pain when changing jobs.