Advice Needed: Work-Related

[terpkristin]

Ok, I'm going to try to explain this, hopefully the wise people here will have some suggestions, as I'm all kinds of twisted around and confused.

As most of you know, I'm an engineer in the aerospace industry. About a month ago (maybe a little more at this point), I was asked by my supervisor if he could put my name down as a placeholder for a new program my company just won (lets call the program ABC). At the time, I said sure, as long as I was a placeholder, as I really didn't know if I was interested in the program (from a professional level).

Well, time passed, and I got "interviewed" by some of the people on ABC program, and things started moving forward with me as the real person for the position (not the placeholder).

At the beginning of last week, I realized that I was no longer the placeholder, I was "the real deal," so decided to do some serious thinking about if I wanted the job/felt I could do it and not hate my life. After thinking about it, and talking with close friends, I felt I could not do the job without hating every step of it. Don't get me wrong, it looks like a cool job, but it's not my professional interest and would steer me farther long-term from what IS my professional interest.

Concurrently, I talked with one of the head-honchos in my division, Mr. Q. Mr. Q agreed that program ABC probably wouldn't be good for me, and I also talked to him about leaving the current group I'm in. I am a lead on one subsystem, but my true interests lie in another subsystem, so I'm starting to look for ways to transition into the subsystem I'm actually interested in. Mr. Q told me to talk with the director of the subsystem I want to move into and see if there was a position/would be one soon. The director, Mr. P, said yes, he'd love to have me, and he expects one in the next month/month and a half.

After considering all this and thinking about it all, I decided I'd be honest with program ABC, and tell them that I preferred to stay in the program group I'm in, that there are some potential possibilities, and that it is honestly the area I prefer to work in. Program ABC was cool with it, they understood.

Now here's the problem. I haven't told my direct supervisors (there are 2) that a) I have told program ABC that it's probably not for me (my supervisors, if they listened to me at all, knew I was hesitant at best) or that b) I'm considering leaving my current subsystem group. As far as I can tell, they are expecting me to transition to Program ABC in a couple of weeks (I told ABC this afternoon that I'd prefer to stay where I am). I cannot tell them that I've talked to Mr. Q or Mr. P and that I'm seriously trying to leave the group, but how on Earth do I tell them that Program ABC needs somebody to fill the role I was originally supposed to be a placeholder for? Again, in the spirit of honesty, I feel I should tell them so that they can find someone else for it (if need be).

I'm so stressed out. I think that by being honest, I've made things worse and I don't have a clue as to how to get myself out of the problem. I'm stressed out, and confused (not about my decisions, as I think they were the right ones) and upset, and now that I'm hungry that doesn't help matters, either (and I have nothing thawed in my fridge so I have no idea what I'm going to eat tonight).

How do I tell my direct supervisors that I can't do program ABC without letting on that I'm probably going to leave this particular subsystem in less than 2 months? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Even if it's just an idea for dinner.

/tk

[Joe]

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0009SQ5AW.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V41582358_.jpg

[Celeval]

One question, I think, will probably be how you expect them to react when you take yourself out of the placeholder role - will their reaction be "Well, then, what do you plan on doing? How can we use you if you're not on ABC?" If that's the case, you need to be prepared to tell them both parts.

[terpkristin]

One question, I think, will probably be how you expect them to react when you take yourself out of the placeholder role - will their reaction be "Well, then, what do you plan on doing? How can we use you if you're not on ABC?" If that's the case, you need to be prepared to tell them both parts.

That, I don't think, is a concern (how they'll use me). I'm currently the lead for 2 satellites and I'm quite busy supporting those 2 satellites. I'm also assisting in the overall design and leading a specific system design for another satellite, which will easily keep me overly occupied until we get our next bird (by which time I may well be gone from this group anyway).

Part of the issue also is, I guess, that I don't know my boss. I've never really "met" him, he didn't even really do my review. I think I've talked to my official boss two or three times since joining the company a bit over a year ago. On the off chance I could find him, I'm not sure it'd make a difference...

/tk

[MrBigglesworth]

Is program ABC under their management? If not, my experience with bureaucracy is that they don't really give a crap about it.

EDIT: Why can't you just tell them that you don't and never did want to work on project ABC?

[Brillig]

I recommend that you just level with them. It's much simpler if you don't have to try to keep track of who knows and who doesn't know and so on.

(The above advice, while sincere, is not a guarantee of results. No legal liability may be assumed. Do not taunt happy fun ball.)

[st.cronin]

I recommend that you just level with them. It's much simpler if you don't have to try to keep track of who knows and who doesn't know and so on.

(The above advice, while sincere, is not a guarantee of results. No legal liability may be assumed. Do not taunt happy fun ball.)

I agree with this. It took me until I was 30, but at a certain point I realized that I wanted a specific type of relationship with my employer - one where I could be myself at all times, and work without fear or stress from the employer. I have been fairly succesful at making this work for me, and I've been vastly happier ever since.

[Brillig]

Some amplification. I'm basing my advice based on my experience (five years as a senior development manager at AOL.) My guess is that the work environments aren't that dissimilar - working with highly skilled white-collar engineering types drawn from a relatively small pool of available talent.

In that kind of situation, the cardinal sin any manager can commit is to become known as someone difficult to work for. Regardless of how tight the labor market is, there's usually an alternative. Similarly, as an individual contributor, the last thing you want is to become known as a problem.

It's also a situation where both manager and employee are incentivized ;) to work together to make sure that both project and career goals are being met. In fact, at AOL the corporate policy was that if you wanted to make an internal transfer, the first step was always to talk to your manager.

While no manager is happy to lose a good engineer, any sensible manager (no oxymoron jokes, please) recognizes that a good, but unhappy engineer isn't someone that sticks around. Work quality often drops, and pretty soon, she's not much better than no engineer at all. A good manager recognizes this as an opportunity to a) possibly address what you're looking for within his own group, b) help you make a successful transition, thus improving his stock with 1) you, 2) your new manager, and 3) his own manager, and/or c) create a transition plan so that your replacement can be brought up to speed with the minimum disruption.

The last thing a manager wants or needs, though, is to be hit out of the blue with the news that you're transferring out. Then he gets to go into panic-mode. Since you missed the opportunity to talk it over before you got the ball rolling, you might feel tempted to just let things slide until matters become inevitable. In fact it sounds like you've been indulging in just a wee bit of procrastination already. No matter how late in the day, though, resist the temptation to let it go further. The longer it goes, the worse it gets, and the absolute worst situation is if your manager finds out from someone else.

Not for nothing do companies try to emphasize communication. Even if it becomes a joke (see, "Team Communication Week".)

Caveat: All this is written under the assumption that your manager is neither inexperienced nor a tool. With an inexperienced manager, your best bet may be to meet with him and his manager. If your manager is an ass, though, you're rolling the dice either way. Personally, I'd still let my manager know, as in the long term any retribution is still likely to be worse if you leave him in the dark.

[Icy]

Agree with Brilling. Telling your manager in advance that you want to move to another group in a month or so, you will give him time to find a replacement. If you wait for the last minute, you will piss him a lot as he won't have anybody to replace you that fast.

Also your works looks to be a really quallified one so probably they should be more worried about pissing/loosing you than you should about them. Tell them that you don't feel confortable working on ABC as you never intended to do it, they told you that you were a placeholder (they can't deny that) and also that you want to move to group X that can provide a work that will motivate you even more and it will help to improve even more your contribution to the company.

If your inmediate boss is an ass, he will be pissed at you anyway, but at least at the eyes of the rest of the team and company members and staff, you would have done the correct thing telling your true feelings.

[Bee]

I agree with those who suggest telling your manager now that you are looking at making a possible move. There's nothing worse as a manager than someone dropping something like that on you at the last minute.

[terpkristin]

Well, sometime when FOFC was down last night, I sent an email to my supervisor asking if he could meet with me today. When FOFC came back up, I was able to read some of y'alls responses and I muchly appreciated the info.

I ended up meeting with him this morning and it went well. I told him the truth, that in the beginning it was advertised as a "placeholder" position, and really, it didn't mesh with my long-term goals. I still felt horrible doing it, but as with most things, it was going a lot worse in my head than it did in reality.

I still haven't told him I'm planning on leaving the group, per the strong suggstion by Mr. Q. But until anything comes up that's real, I've got plenty of work to keep me uber busy.

Thanks everybody for your advice, it was appreciated.

/tk

[Karlifornia]

OH, thank god!

[finketr]

reading some of these things...

for transferring within the company here, you have to let your current supervisor know.. I guess you don't have to but they can block your transfer out of your position...