Quote:
Originally Posted by JuggerNaught
The biggest problem is the 'project manager'. She is a DBA with 0 technical skills
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I'm in a similar situation at my job now. Boss of 22 years retired, he was a guru, SVP. Programmed 10 things at once, had the entire system in his head. Management didn't want any of the 4 remaining programmers to have the job. We interview people to take his place with the assumption that person is going to code. The new person trains with the guru for 2 months and one of the programmers trains him as well. Guru retires, new person doesn't code a single line of code, just asks us for status updates on our projects. I've had a couple meetings with the other SVP who took his office and didn't give the job to any of us and told him it was a mistake what they did. I have no desire to work for the "manager" and talk to him as little as possible. I get my projects from the BAs and the help desk system. The problem was, if any of the 4 programmers got the job, it was assumed we would be like our previous boss and be a guru (programming). Yet the new guy hasn't completed a single project yet (no programming). On top of that, he has dementia, doesn't remember anything. I've told this to the SVP.
Example #2. Just after the guru left, we took on a project involving another company where they would send us orders and we would process them. They contract out all the programming to a 3rd party. The manager is a women who has no technical background. On conference calls, she would ask why things are not done, and why is it taking us so long. Any time we ask them to make a change, they complain like little kids. They also have a time frame of 90 days to get any programming done with their 3rd party, yet they want any changes we have to make done in days.
The SVP has now had it with the other company. In my last meeting with him, I said the way he feels about the other company is the way I feel about the manager who does nothing.
In short, managers who don't code suck. There's a meme out there that says, "Learn To Code." The problem is, all they do is ask for status updates, "Is It Done?" If you tell them what you're working on, then they bug you on that asking for more status updates. Then when you tell them you're done, they assign some crap project (like Juggs got), then ask when it's going to be done. This cycle repeats, so even if you're perfect and code everything, you're always under a made up deadline just because the manager wants a status update. It's stupid and I won't play that game any more, so I ignore the manager.
I have been in a few situations where the manager didn't code, and they were fired, or left the company. My best bosses have all been gurus who coded with the programmers.