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

Tue Dec 1 08:11:59 UTC 2020

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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> 
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