Getting Handover to Unwanted Projects 11

[Zoom1234]

Hi,

I work as a Software Programmer having four years of IT experience. My areas of Interests are SUN technologies.

Now one person who work as a consultant(Who is not employee of our company, but that of a third party vendor) is leaving in two three days. The projects he has been working in our company since last 6-7 Months or so, are on ASP and ASP.NET.

Now since i had no major work in last month, The Mangement had decided that the projects should be handed over to me.

I dont have interest and strong work experince on Microsoft techologies.The company is not ready to hire another Microsoft Professional.Also currently i am working on some other project on JSP.
I am confused as what should be my stand on this issue, as somehow i am getting a feeling as they are making a scapegoat out of me.

Pls can you share any thoughts with me.

 

[johnstrang]

Hello Zoom,

Here are my thoughts on your situation:
1. You say you have no major work in the last month, but you are currently working on another project on JSP. Does that mean your current project is not taking 100% of your time, or is less important than the ASP projects?
2. Make sure that your management understand and accept that you have no experience with ASP. Ask if they will be giving you training - if they say NO then tell them it will take you a long time to do the work as you will have to learn as you go.

And ask them what will happen to your own project in the meantime - will you work 50% on each project?

Basically, express your concerns and explain how this new work will affect your existing project.

Hope this helps,
John

 

[jsteph]

Keep in mind that one of the things that make a good developer is his ability to adapt to and learn new/different technologies. This is also the mark of a good employee--willingness to take on new and different tasks--whether you're a developer, accountant, or garbageman.

If you refuse outright, you come across as a prima-donna. You can only get away with this if there is a shortage of jsp programmers out there and you are so good that no one can replace you. No offense but I doubt that's true, especially in today's job market.

Definitely make it known that this is new to you, but--as Harold Ramis said in Stripes--"...we're willing to learn."
--Jim

 

[Zoom1234]

Thanks for your thoughts
johnstrang

You say you have no major work in the last month, but you are currently working on another project on JSP. Does that mean your current project is not taking 100% of your time, or is less important than the ASP projects?

During the last month, i had indeed not much of a work and i had raised that point to the managment.Unfortunately that ended up in involvment of the ASP project.

jsteph

Keep in mind that one of the things that make a good developer is his ability to adapt to and learn new/different technologies. This is also the mark of a good employee--willingness to take on new and different tasks--whether you're a developer, accountant, or garbageman.

Very true.

The current JSP project shouldn't take 100% of my time.
The problem ahead of me is, the handover of the relatively big project which took 15-16 man months, in just a week's time and getting responsible for the project.
There is a PM (Non technical) involved in the project from the start of it. But i suspect that slowly but steadily he is trying to give me responsibilities of all the phases of the project like installation etc.
I am realizing that i should say NO to certain things but not able to say so.

 

[MasterRacker]

You job is to do what ever the business needs you to do. They are the ones signing the check.

As others ahve said, make sure they know you're not experienced with ASP and try to get training. However, you certainly can't say no just because you don't want to work with MS technology. Any of us, as employees, are obligated to use whatever brand of technology our employer is using, whether we like it or not.


Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...

 

[chiph]

During the last month, i had indeed not much of a work and i had raised that point to the managment.Unfortunately that ended up in involvment of the ASP project.

Be careful of what you wish for...


You need to let your manager know that you're not a MS expert, and they can't expect you to work miracles.

I'm actually in the reverse situation as you -- I'm having to learn Java & J2EE technologies in a very short timeframe.

My advice would be not to complain, and just take the opportunity to learn something new. .NET (being a newer technology) has some advantages over Java and J2EE. It has some weaknesses too...

If you decide that you really don't want to learn this, you have two options: Telling the boss they need to hire someone to do the MS stuff, or start looking for a new job yourself.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[screwloose]

Your stand?

You don't have one. The management has asked their programmer empolyee to perform a programming task. They must feel that you can handle the assignment, which is in you favor, but if you resist then they may just find someone else who will do any programming tasks in whatever language. And rightfully so.

 

[Tarwn]

It doesn't sound to me as if tey are trying to make a scapegoat of you at all. It sounds as if you asked for more work, they looked around to see what they thought needed to be done, and gave you what was available.
Now, the fact that you have a big turnover and a lot of maintenance work ahead of you on that big project (I assume this is a differant project then the 6-7 month ASP one) means that you probably should not have gone to ask for more work (especially since you also have the JSP project) or at the very least made sure management understood you were looking for something small to keep you busy until you had to handle all of the turnover related work.
Personally I think you set yourself up here and if management even notices they are probably thinking thatyou know your capabilities more intimately then they do and that if you feel you can handle more work that you might be able to.

Going back at this point and turning down this work they found for you at your request could go either way. If you are going to turn it down then I suggest you takethe heat yourself, explain that you had not considered the ramifications of the turnoiver workload that is approaching as well as you should have and that had you realized the workload that would be involved you would have asked for something smaller or spent sometime polishing a previous project.

And for the record, it doesn't take a "Microsoft Professional" to use Microsoft languages anymore then it takes a "Sun Professional" to use JSP or other Java-based languages/technologies. Having JSP experience will put you ahead of someone just learning their first web language and VBScript is fairly easy to read with a small vocabulary (one ofthe reasons I like it).

If I had an employee who knew JSP (or PHP, etc) I would expect them to be able to pick up ASP and probably need training to handle ASP.Net. I wouldn't expect experts level work from them, but most web concepts are very similar across multiple server-side web languages. I proved this once by writing a small ASP-based site then re-writing it in JSP and PHP with almost no changes in the logic and very little PHP and no JSP background.

No matter what you decide to do your going to have to take some personal responsibility. You asked for more work and received it, despite other projects in progress or on the horizon. That the project is in a language you haven't worked with in the past is immaterial.

-T

 

[Dollie]

I have a quote hanging over my desk that Theodore Roosevelt once said:

"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell them 'Certainly, I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it."

It's a good work ethic to have.

 

[Zoom1234]

Thanks for all your inputs guys.

I have decided to be positive on this issue and look at the brighter side of this.I am getting the opportunity to learn ASP and stuff.

Also a star from me Tarwn.

Cheers

 

[Tarwn]

Oh, on the ASP front:

http://www.w3schools.com/

That site has a full reference (and tutorials) for both ASP and ADO, so if your using classic ASP (as opposed to ASP.Net) that site should prove helpful (it's where I started way back in the day )

Know thats a little OT for this forum, but figure it would be helpful.

-T

 

[MasterRacker]

If you're doing ASP.NET start here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/

You should be able to find about anything you need.


Jeff
The future is already here - it's just not widely distributed yet...

 

[Dollie]

There's also this site called tek-tips.com with a group of the best professionals I've ever encountered that can provide you with priceless assistance.

 

[Zoom1234]

Dollie

LOL.
Joking apart what you have written is absolutely correct.

 

[Onyxpurr]

Consider yourself flattered that your boss feels you can take on a large task in which you are unfamiliar with the language. This means they trust you to not only get the job done, but that you're flexible and a fast learner.

My boss does this frequently. It took them a long time to put my job description together because, and I quote my boss, "Everytime we think we've finished, you've got several other new responsibilities."

When I get a difficult task, I just think, "well another few bargaining chips and items to put on my resume."

It's all good!

 

[Tarwn]

Onyx: Maybe you should start keeping a file handy, everytime you get a new assignment add the skills involved, when it comes review time explain to them that your currently holding the position of n resident experts but would not argue if they paid you to be only n/2 experts since you do have limited time...then pull out the salary estimes for all thos experts and explain how $900,000/yr really isn't that much when your managing the skills of $1.8m experts

Heh, I could see me trying that and ending up with a "negative raise" for being n people that barely work enough for one person

-T

 

[screwloose]

However, Tarwn, no business is going to pay somebody an extremely large sum of money. With the exception of CEOs, CFOs, and positions like these with large multinational corporations, the expectation of $250,000 doesn’t exist.

Most people who make large sums of money are business owners. I recall reading one time that sales is the one field where a person can make the most money, because it is commissioned-based, and if you want to eat and have a home, then it is your own drive to get you that. Contrast this with a VB programmer, for example, who is a commodity. If that programmer wanted $150,000 then the manager would say “you’re fired” (or not hired) because they can always find a programmer to fill that person’s shoes. There are consultants who earn large sums of money, but they are independent (1099) and generally are on a limited contractual basis (i.e., they won’t be there more than 1 year, 6 months, even 60 days).

All one can do is learn form the experience and use it for another job that pays better, or gives them more opportunity.

Of course, if you knew 30 programming languages, and how to program on 5 different platforms, as well as knowing all the major databases, plus know routers and all other networking aspects would not get anyone nearly as far as somebody who can benefit their employer. What can you do for them?

 

[Onyxpurr]

It's funny, because my husband and I discuss this frequently. I know I am probably worth more salary wise, but I'm happy.

I'm recognized, appreciated, have great benefits, work with great people,...right now those additional responsibilities are just a personal challenge.

However, if I feel the need to look around in the future, I have those extra things to put on my resume.

I know it sounds odd, but I want to try avoid being someone who solely focuses on monetary benefits and keeping up with the Jones'.

 

[Dollie]

Kudos to you Onyxpurr! If I didn't know any better, I'd swear I typed your last post myself. My last job and my current job have both been perfectly suited to me, although I'd swear I should be paid $250K a year. I get normal pay for my education and experience, but I LOVE my employers, co-workers, etc etc etc. I wouldn't trade them for more money because what I've found is rare. Morals, ethics, and a successful company that allows its employees to grow with the job position is pricess to me. Need a project done? Toss it at me and it will get done. I make myself as valuable to my employer as he is to me.

I still feel like I need to keep up with the I.T. Jones' just so I can keep up with the company growth as well as my own.

 

[eb24]

On a different note, who the heck is overseeing these software projects? Don't you guys have an IT Director/Manager? I don't understand why you guys would develop in two different paradigms, i.e. Java/.NET.

Please explain.