[NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and supervisors on the job

Wed Dec 2 02:47:21 UTC 2020

 I think that that is indicative of a corporate culture of your organization

On December 1, 2020 9:47:23 AM Tracy Carcione via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> 
wrote:

> I only put in overtime when it's really important.  I used to put in quite 
> a bit, but then I noticed the rest of my team wasn't, and I figured out 
> better things to do with my free time.  I'm a strong believer in work-life 
> balance.  The bossman will always get as much for free as he can, and it 
> won't stop him sending your job to India if that looks cheaper.
> I'm good at my job.  I can get my work done usually quicker than required.  
> (Remembering Scotty's formula to figure how long something will take, then 
> double it for unexpected things).  I guess young kids are happy to work all 
> the time, but old farts like me, not so much.  Now my employer has decided 
> to offer us older, well-paid people an early retirement package, and I've 
> done well enough to take it, along with almost all of my team, especially 
> since lay-offs seem like the alternative.  Time to call it a day, and move 
> on to those other things I've found to do with my free time.
> Tracy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBCS [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jeffrey (JDS) 
> via NFBCS
> Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2020 9:30 AM
> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
> Cc: Jeffrey (JDS)
> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and 
> supervisors on the job
>
> I've always had the workaholic tendency so I'm not sure what that says 
> about me as a blind person.I will admit to doing some really long hours... 
> that are unpaid.
> I'm not sure this is strictly a blindness requirement.
> As my peers (managers and team leads) are all in the same boat.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Michael Walker via NFBCS
> Sent: December 1, 2020 3:12 AM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Michael Walker <michael.walker199014 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and 
> supervisors on the job
>
> Thank you for all of your responses. It sounds like I am following the 
> right path with regard to looking for alternative ways to do things, if the 
> main stream way is not accessible. I typically Google, or ask on mailing 
> lists, until I figure it out. Have any of you ever worked with asp.net web 
> forms? How did you go about that? That involves drag and drop programming.
>
>> On Nov 30, 2020, at 2:40 PM, Bryan Schulz via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> ?Hi,
>> 
>> Well said as usual.
>> It's hard to be sympathetic when nobody talks about those who take
>> college courses for a long time and never landed IT jobs.
>> Bryan
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Gary Wunder via
>> NFBCS
>> Sent: Monday, November 30, 2020 11:41 AM
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Gary Wunder <gwunder at earthlink.net>
>> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and
>> supervisors on the job
>> 
>> As usual, what Steve has written is a masterpiece. It isn't a
>> comfortable piece, and it doesn't have a lot of firm rights and
>> wrongs. What is reasonable accommodation? If a thing as a functional
>> part of your job, the ADA doesn't protect you. Anything I couldn't do
>> made more work for the manager, so I had to figure out a way to put as
>> little on his or her plate as I could. I also had to figure out what I
>> was going to do in lieu of the things that I couldn't.
>> 
>> I think working is stressful, but I think that as blind people we make
>> a mistake when we believe that work is only stressful for us. The
>> things that cause us stress are usually unique, but everyone has a hill to 
>> climb.
>> Working a forty hour week was never something I heard any of my
>> colleagues brag about doing. As salaried employees, sometimes we work sixty 
>> hour weeks.
>> Those weeks may have given us a little bit of flexibility to go to the
>> dentist, but forty hours was just an expected minimum.
>> 
>> When I was looking at becoming a computer programmer, I went to see a
>> man in Virginia who used a braille computer terminal. The device cost
>> $15,000, and that was in 1970 dollars. It was a big investment, and
>> the programmer told me that in no uncertain terms I should be prepared to 
>> work beyond 8 to 5.
>> Figuring out my own alternatives, dealing with a computer terminal
>> that could print 120 characters a second versus a computer screen that
>> displayed at 960 characters a second had to be made up for in some
>> way. I didn't have to pledge myself to be a workaholic, but I couldn't
>> be a clock watcher and expect to succeed.
>> 
>> I think these are things that we should talk through openly so that
>> people aren't surprised when they approach the work world.
>> 
>> Warmly,
>> 
>> Gary
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson via
>> NFBCS
>> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2020 5:03 PM
>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at outlook.com>
>> Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and
>> supervisors on the job
>> 
>> Michael,
>> 
>> I've been thinking about this question some which is why I have not
>> written sooner.  A question like yours is usually not as simple as you
>> have stated it, so I would like to explore it some.  Like Tracy, I've
>> been in the IT field for a long time and have had to think about this very 
>> question often.
>> I don't know much about your background, so please forgive me if I
>> make any incorrect assumptions.  I'm not one to claim that my
>> experience has given me all of the answers.  Rather, my experience has
>> made me want to try to help others avoid some of the mistakes I made.
>> Of course, I hope something here is helpful.
>> 
>> First, remember that your team leader is likely having to deal with
>> unrealistic expectations of his or her manager for the entire team.
>> It means that perhaps for different reasons, your co-workers are
>> sometimes being expected to produce more or meet rigid time lines that
>> they can't meet reasonably.  It is unlikely that any of your
>> co-workers are only doing what they feel they can do.  They are not likely 
>> only working 8:00-4:30.
>> Therefore, you have to try to separate out this part of your team
>> leaders expectations from this question.  Some of what you may be
>> feeling might well be felt to some degree by most of your co-workers.
>> 
>> Second, if you are relatively new at your job, there are going to be
>> things you don't think you can do that in five or ten years you will
>> be doing routinely.  Some things you may do differently as a blind
>> person, but you will almost certainly be doing things you did not
>> think you can do.  While your situation is different, all employees
>> find that they are pushed beyond their comfort zones as part of their
>> jobs.  When I was new, I would consider calling in sick when I was
>> expected to talk to customers within my company about a new project.  How 
>> would I communicate with them as a blind person?
>> What if they don't know I am blind?  Will they take me seriously.
>> Fortunately, I figured out that calling in sick would just delay the
>> inevitable, so I never did that.  Later, I developed an enjoyment for
>> that part of my job.  A good team leader is going to try to stretch
>> everybody on the team as a way to find out who is good at what.
>> Therefore, sometimes the same will happen to you as well.
>> 
>> Third, remember why you were hired.  You were likely hired to fill a
>> specific position to do a particular job.  You likely came to your
>> employer telling them why you could do the job they were offering.  My
>> assumption is likely that you are paid similarly to your co-workers,
>> at least with those having the same background.  The expectation is
>> therefore that your employer will get from you, one way or another,
>> the same results from you that they get from other employees.  They
>> are not likely paying you less because they think they will get less
>> from you as a blind person.  In fact, they probably couldn't pay you
>> less even if they wanted to without violating the law.  So to some
>> degree, your management does have to figure out what you are best at
>> so they can get what they need from you.  However, a bigger part of
>> the responsibility to figure out what you can do is on your shoulders.
>> The reason for that is simple.  If your management finds they can't
>> get what they are paying for from you, they will get somebody else to
>> do the job and you will be out looking again.  Getting paid equal to
>> your co-workers do only do the parts of the job you are comfortable
>> doing will only work if you are so good at that portion of your job
>> that it makes up for the areas where you don't feel you can perform
>> well.  Most of us are not that good at what we do, at least at the
>> starting point.  Therefore, most of us have had to try to find ways of 
>> doing those parts of our jobs that we may not be real good at doing.
>> 
>> So what do we do to fit into such an environment?  Please note that
>> some of what I describe here has nothing to do with what is necessarily legal.
>> Various laws don't apply equally across all jobs for one thing, and
>> sometimes one has to pick their battles.
>> 
>> First, we must learn as much as we can about what is expected of our
>> co-workers.  How much are they working outside of normal work hours to
>> get their tasks done.  What tools are they expected to use.
>> 
>> Next, we need to think about which of the tasks can we do in the same
>> way as our co-workers.  What might we need to learn that would make it
>> possible for us to complete those tasks as quickly and efficiently as
>> we can. In many cases, being very good at using Word or Excel or
>> something else like Google Docs is important.  You will be able to do
>> what your co-workers do, but you will have to use keyboard commands with 
>> which they won't be familiar.
>> Learning how a co-worker does a given thing can be useful, though,
>> because it might make it easier to find a keyboard shortcut to
>> accomplish the same tasks.  This can mean that you will have to do
>> some extra studying and investigating, and maybe even reach out to
>> others on this list.  Also, while your employer likely allows
>> everybody some time for personal development, they are not paying you
>> to find out how you can do something as a blind person that your
>> co-workers are already doing.  You may need to do some of this on your own 
>> time.
>> 
>> Finally, what is it that your co-workers do that you can't do?
>> Getting a handle on those tasks is important.  In some cases, there
>> might be alternative ways to accomplish the same task.  People on this
>> list might be able to make suggestions.  Remember that your Team
>> Leader does not likely know much about how blind people do things.  In
>> some cases, you will find things that you don't know how to do but
>> other blind people may have found answers.  It could be that you find
>> a way to accomplish a given task in a way that is different than your
>> co-workers.  In the end, if you make an honest effort to figure things
>> out, your team leader will likely recognize that you are making an
>> effort and will probably be willing to be more flexible.  Keep in
>> mind, though, that employment is different from being a student.  If
>> you fail to meet an important deadline, the opportunity is gone and it
>> is on your record,  You can't just retake the course.  You will find that 
>> sometimes there is flexibility in deadlines because things can change.
>> As much as possible, though, you don't want to be the reason your team
>> misses a deadline.
>> 
>> Now, more than ever, a lot of pressure is placed upon Information
>> Technology to produce results.  In that sense, it is not always the
>> most pleasant career path to follow.  However, if one likes working
>> with computers and has an aptitude for it, a career in Information 
>> Technology can be rewarding.
>> There is no doubt, though, that figuring out how best to match one's
>> skills to the job at hand can be a challenge.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Steve Jacobson
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Michael Walker via
>> NFBCS
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2020 7:19 PM
>> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Michael Walker <michael.walker199014 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and
>> supervisors on the job
>> 
>> Good evening,
>> 
>> How do you cope with determining whether expectations of a team leader
>> or supervisor are realistic? Suppose expectations are not realistic,
>> or there are misconceptions about what you can do on the job in this
>> field. How do you approach that? Tell me some stories where you have
>> faced that, and what you did about it. I am completely blind. I am
>> currently experiencing some conflict with my team leader on this
>> subject. She sometimes has beliefs about what I am not able to do, or
>> may have unrealistic expectations about what I can do, regarding possibly 
>> frontend development.
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> Mike
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