[NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and supervisors on the job
charles.vanek at gmail.com
charles.vanek at gmail.com
Wed Dec 2 04:23:50 UTC 2020
Backing up one step. Tracy! Congratulations on retirement and being able
to do those "other things" you found to do in your free time over the years.
Cheers and best wishes!
-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jeffrey Stark via NFBCS
Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2020 8:47 PM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jeffrey Stark <jds.listserv at gmail.com>; Tracy Carcione
<carcione at access.net>
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Unrealistic expectations of team leaders and
supervisors on the job
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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