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Comment by John23832 | Hacker News Reader

I get what you're saying, it sucks training the new guy. It is however, the sign of a good/great programmer/performer to be able to train other people. Also, frankly, it just has to be done. Companies don't want to lock their knowledge into a few good people.

You take on the challenge of efficiently "getting your assigned work done". I'd challenge you to take on the task of teaching others with the same mentality you approach your "regular" work. Do it as efficiently and productively as possible. Then when you're done, go about your day.

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> Companies don't want to lock their knowledge into a few good people.

It is not their knowledge. It is these "few good people"'s knowledge.

> I'd challenge you to take on the task of teaching others ...

Never, ever. Only idiots agree to train their own competition.

You sound like a horrible person to work with. Software development is a collaborative process. I would never want to work with someone who treats all of their peers as competition and refuses to help them achieve the team's mutual goals, and were I your manager, I'd likely fire you.

To be fair, with their mindset, they are probably right to view everyone else as competition. They clearly feel the clock ticking down to their termination, and management is probably trying to replace them as we speak.

A developer with no leadership or social skills is very replaceable. Unlike software development, those are the skills you can't develop alone in the bedroom.

People who can actually get work done and do the hard things are hard to come by, unfortunately. You can be quite an asshole if you deliver and there's no one else around competent enough to take over.

It is not uncommon that the people seeking to be mentored are lazy to put any effort into learning. It is also not uncommon for a lazy manager to put an effort to see how much this senior programmer is mentoring other. It is also not uncommon that this senior person might have learnt all his/her skills from books/discussions forums etc. Some of these senior programmers put their personal time because they are passionate about their craft. Please don't make assumptions that anybody who is not so pleased about sharing his skills is not a team player. Oftentimes, a lazy manager pits team members against each others. You sound like that horrible manager to work with. If I were your team member, I would find another manager.

All I can really say is that I'm sorry you have this mindset. You can share knowledge and cultivate the people around you without worrying about your job or treating your coworkers as competition. I think that that actually makes you more valuable.

You may want to look for a job on Wall Street (or at Amazon).

This is cynical and depressing, but it's less off the mark than people here seem to think. In a _well_ run company, this attitude doesn't make sense. But in a company that does not respect or have loyalty to its employees, this attitude should be the expected result. Over time, it seems like more and more companies are falling into the second category and they will get the employees they deserve.

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