Recovering from poor performance review

Received a pretty bad review, saying it's apparent my heart isn't in the job and I seemed unfocused etc, even though I get all my work done. It's true I have free time, but so do all the developers on my team. Apparently I don't know how to lay low like others do, and at least pretend I look busy.

I tried to defend myself and point out all my work is complete and I work weekends sometimes to make sure everything is done on time (lots of people agree managers don't distribute work efficiently), but my manager said to stop lying to him and myself.

They didn't fire me but my manager seemed really pissed. He said they'd give me a second chance but I'm pretty blindsided by all of this and was wondering if this has happened to Jow Forums and what you did to recover from it

Thanks

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Did you ask the manager to provide concrete examples?

making a superior look bad, even if you're totally in the right, is a dangerous thing to do, unless you intend to try to take his job

>my manager said to stop lying to him and myself.
He's either trying to throw you under the bus (possible), or we have a failure to communicate/manage expectations (more likely). He should have explained how to do better, if he's given you a second chance, otherwise what's the point?

Maybe ask for five minutes on Monday to check you're on the same page, work-wise and expectations-wise.

If that doesn't work, you have a bad working relationship, in which case I'd suggest documenting what you're doing and achieving - which is maybe what you're failing to do now.

the only example he really gave is he said it appears I'm always looking for new work from other departments before finishing what's on my plate currently, which is simply not true. I have definitely offered my assistance to other departments and have gotten help with stuff I've been stuck on too, but not at the sacrifice of my current work. I don't think there's anything wrong with meeting new people on my project and having a wider range of connections in case I need help with something/

Someone that isn't a big fan of me has obviously been feeding him exaggerated info, which is really disappointing.

The impression you impart on superiors >>>>>>>>>>>>> what you actually perform

Pretty basic concept really but a lot of inexperienced people don't get that doing a good job is not the same as looking like you do a good job

>it appears I'm always looking for new work from other departments before finishing what's on my plate currently, which is simply not true.
Sounds like your work's cut out for you, then. It doesn't matter if you're in the right or not, what matters is that the signals you think you're making about being right either aren't getting through to your boss, or aren't being understood.

Idk what you do, but if you're saying 'hey gimme work' to other departments, tell your boss first. Not in a 'mother may I' way, more like a 'hey I've got a clean plate, mind if I go see Dave about a problem he's been having' way.

Also it's a shame that this thread *should* be better suited to biz, but it's not pink wojaks screaming about their cryptocurrency 'investments' so it wouldn't fit in

biz was forked off Jow Forums literally because it was being overrun with cryptocurrency shit
biz is a cryptocurrency containment board

>how to recover
Two options, lays low like others, or go nuclear by asking whoever that is above your manager.

Being a troublemaker when you're on terms like second chance is not a terribly bright idea if you don't have a backup job plan

>the only example he really gave is he said it appears I'm always looking for new work from other departments before finishing what's on my plate currently, which is simply not true. I have definitely offered my assistance to other departments and have gotten help with stuff I've been stuck on too, but not at the sacrifice of my current work. I don't think there's anything wrong with meeting new people on my project and having a wider range of connections in case I need help with something/
I think you can reach a common ground by being more transparent to your manager. Notify him once your current work is done and you're looking for new work from other departments.
Slightly unrelated: don't stress out over work. Life's to precious for that.

I know. It's just a shame we gave those yo-yos a home, instead of telling them to fuck off or calling the fucking place /crypto/ to begin with.

You can't discuss business, or non-virtual-pogs finance, on the business and finance board! It's crazytown, I tell ya.

I'd fucking quit in a heartbeat if I had managers like that.

>Being a troublemaker when you're on terms like second chance is not a terribly bright idea if you don't have a backup job plan
Of course, that's why I said it is a nuclear option.

The only way to recover is to go to his boss and say that he is wrong.

and by "he" I meant op.

t. OP's manager

Putting a gun to your head, over what's probably a simple communication issue, isn't a good idea.

What the fuck? Thats such a fucking bad idea, it's putting a gun to your managers head who'll then put a gun to your head. Jesus

Try to appear busy, and focus on finding a new job. There is no fixing this as long as he is your manager.

How is quitting putting a gun to your head? Just line up another job first.

Man :( It's such a cool company though. Privately held and the owner is chill as fuck. I'm really disappointed this is happening, when I had truly felt getting to know my project and making friends would only be beneficial in the long run.

Then again, I have worked in academia my whole life, which apparently is much different than corpo.

I recently expressed interest in moving positions to an open spot on another project... I wonder if that broke the camel's back and they just want to get rid of me now

... because you're putting at risk your ability to feed, clothe and shelter yourself, over an issue that could most likely be resolved easily and amicably.

My dude. Read this and this . That's it. That's all you need to do.

>saying it's apparent my heart isn't in the job
Worst fucking kind of manager. You did the job and you perform well, why the fuck should he care. We could fire 90% of the population if their "heart" had any relevance.

Tattling to manager's manager will fail, then backfire. This is because manager's manager will be all 'wtf why am I hearing this, manager, this is your problem', manager will then have two problems to deal with, OP now appears to be mutinous as well as incompetent in manager's view.

Threatening to quit will not disprove manager's poor impression of OPs handling of his duties. In fact, manager's response will most likely be 'thank Christ that asshole left before he had to be told to leave'.

NEETs are larping itt, get the hose

I told him that at the minimum, why wasn't I given feedback from my managers about my performance before this? They didnt' even give me the opportunity to improve before this review...

Because everything's been dumped on you at once. That's the point of a performance review, to bring things up that might otherwise be too small to mention or otherwise missed.

You've been given a slap by your manager, anons here have given you advice, now you need to recover and regroup and improve, instead of obsessing about hurt feelings (which is understandable).

So get proactive about it. I was in a similar position to you, ended up just knocking on my bosses door every few months for a quick chat. "Howdy boss, feeling pretty good/bad about what I'm doing at the moment, whats your take?" kinda shit. Seemed to help a lot, we both got a batter understanding of where we stood.

>NEETs are larping itt, get the hose
Neet here can wagecuckinits explain something to me? (I have held down jobs in the past but haven't worked in 2 years)
>op does his job well
>manager singles op out because op doesn't (look busy enough) and seems to rub the management the wrong way
>manager instead of actually looking at ops work performance instead nitpicks about op
What's the deal with this? Granted I never worked in a office environment just small businesses and shit where everyone was friendly so I don't get this.
I see this trope play out again Nd again irl on here and in movies/tv like the office, office space and silicone Valley etc
Is the reason why this happens because the boss doesn't like op for whatever reason or is it more or less op just ended up in the bosses crosshairs because op is the perceived weakest link?
Or is it something more sinister like training replacements and cost cutting?
The more I read cunts work problems on here I think that we are all stuck in reruns of the peep show except its real life

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>Is the reason why this happens because the boss doesn't like op for whatever reason or is it more or less op just ended up in the bosses crosshairs because op is the perceived weakest link?
Based on OPs post, OP believes he's doing well whereas his manager feels OP is prioritising other departments' work over his own. Assuming that isn't the case (lol), working backwards it seems that OP isn't giving the right signals to his manager, or at least that manager is getting the wrong signals from someplace else.

We don't know the full story, or the full picture, for obvious reasons, but that's my take. Miscommunication, not malice.

So it's pure autism on op/managements part? Do office's not have social activities and parties/after work meet ups to take the edge off or what?
Having kinda been in ops shoes I can say the manager is a moron and op is probably in the wrong a bit too.
Problem is the management didn't communicate this problem early on or o didn't get the message
Oh well glhf everyone this is why I don't work especially in it the autism sucked pay was shit (aus) and it all Got outsourced

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>So it's pure autism on op/managements part?
...no, just that nobody's omniscient. TLDR, OP thinks one thing, manager thinks another, OP needs to draw a line between the two facts.

Shames ops gone I was gonna banter

I'm here man, just basking in self disappointment and wondering how tf I let this happen.

I definitely did something to piss them off. I'm not saying I'm infallible at all. Just really wish that there was ONE positive thing they said. It's so disappointing knowing my superiors feel that way about me.

Keep a journal of what you a achieve everyday and email it to your boss at the end of every week

What kinda it job is it? What's the review actually say.
Get it in writing? Idk look for another job

If you are somewhat established, plan on quitting before they fire you.

unforunately had to move states for this job and am not established here at all. this is my first job out of uni so if i get fired I have no resume experience to put

Fuck.
See this is why I'm a neet this is bullshit
I've been fired/berated like you when incompetent morons that the boss like for no reason who can't even put a pc together or troubleshoot get promoted out of the way (think bighead in silicone Valley)
Tbqh just quit if you can last a year or two go for it hopefully the boss just fires you he obviously isn't doing his job if he doesn't want to lead/train you at all and just expects you to know what to do.
Gonna assume your in your early 20s protip it doesn't get any better you'll find yourself job hopping until you retire hence another reason why I'm a neet

>I pointed out that all my work was being done
>manager told me to stop lying to him and myself

I'm getting a feeling he's out to get you. I presume you're actually getting your shit done.
This makes me more suspect. If you're actually finishing your work and are getting more voluntarily then clearly your heart is in it. It'd be absurd to claim otherwise.
I would consider contacting HR honestly. After collecting concrete data on what has been requested to be done, what was done and what you did after you were done. In a much more rigid sense. Document stuff. You're doing some sort of time keeping for your normal work I'm sure.

I'm thinking this might be a person protecting their own position depending on the circumstance. If you document your work well you've got leverage on them when you go to a third party. If your manager was chiding you for doing a good job that's serious shit.

how big is the company? do they have an HR department? earlier, you wrote "It's such a cool company though...I'm really disappointed this is happening, when I had truly felt getting to know my project and making friends would only be beneficial in the long run." tell them this and tell them that this is your first job out of school and that this is your first review ever and ask them how you should handle it. eg: ask them if you should be stressed about it or if it just means you need to change up something about how you do your work.

I'm so glad I didn't fall for the soul sucking white collar job meme

I said most of this stuff and he just brushed it off like I was lying. I really don't know what could have been said to piss him off so much at me.

:(

Surprises (negative ones at least) during a performance reviews are fucking retarded. Your boss should have talked to you when he initially came under the impression you're a slacker and not waiting a year to bring it up which is worse for him, and worse for you.

Honestly, if you like working there enough, and the owner is as cool as you say, try talking directly to the owner. A lot of people will tell you that going over somebody's head is a bad career move, but if you're not only fulfilling your job AND you like working there, then talk to someone who gets to tell your boss what to do. Frankly, going over my boss' head has never not worked for me; it shows initiative and desire to progress, and perhaps reveals flaws in your own boss that they might be aware of, and need more evidence of.

I think that's exactly what fucked me in the first place actually. I went over this guy's head and asked basically the owner's right hand man if I could try working in a more complicated position

Then tell your boss to fuck off and go right back to the owner's right hand man. Your boss is being a power-tripping little bitch, and if you're doing as good as you say, the company would rather keep you than him.

Worst thing that happens is you leave your company and find a new one. It might not be as good, but is it worse than working for a boss that's actively trying to sabotage your career?

That user meant go to HR about the performance review

Ehh the problem is because its such a small company, I don't think HR would be on my side. They're the room across from that manager's office. So they're close with him

Don't worry about performance reviews. Give your best effort, and if it doesn't work get another job.

I've ignored perf reviews and moved companies once I felt.i.got what I could out of a job and I have had better success with this method than people climbing the ladder. The ladder is just a way to appease.you into staying into your.current job

That sucks my dude.

I've given poor performance reviews to some of my developers and usually I feel terrible about it and do in fact ask them to address some of their weaknesses, but I don't get angry with them.

The fact that your manager was upset leads me to think he himself may have gotten chewed out by his superior

One thing you could do is send out a public email explaining to other departments that despite you getting work done on time along with helping them, your boss has taken a disliking to your extra help and has barred you from doing it. See how other departments react.

This is risky though, could backfire.

Worst advice ever.

You get paid to obey orders and get shit done, sometimes including hugging the bosses nutsack.

Line up another job. The life lesson you need to learn is you need MONEY, not job satisfaction because identifying with wage/salary slavery is stupid. Nobody cares about you.

LOL this would be soo bad

>you need MONEY, not job satisfaction
Actually his lack of job satisfaction is the reason they don't want to pay him.

There's a reason salary correlates with job satisfaction.

There's three things you need: Food, water and air. Money is not one of those.

lmao do this faggot. formulate it professionally but make it a declaration of war

Money buys you food and protection from the elements tho.

Look for a new job. chances are whatever company that is will get completely fucking ruined if you leave.

Ask yourself: despite not looking like it, at the end of the day, do you actually get the job done, and done well?

>yes
They are retarded. Look for a new job and ditch this company as soon as possible

>no
You have yourself only to blame, improve yourself and your skills.

get back to work goy

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