Hacker News Reader

Comment by kempbellt | Hacker News Reader

Role clarity issues during an interview feels like going on a date with someone who doesn't know if they want to be in a relationship, or would rather adopt a parakeet.

They don't understand why they are talking to you, "but maybe you can, I don't know, maybe do something of value here, but we don't know what that is. So here's a bunch of money. FIX US".

It's usually a sign of lack of vision by leadership in the company, so they are grasping at straws.

If you want to kill your morale, look for roles like this. They are great.

View on HN

Oh, I am going through that. I started as a Python Sr dev a month ago, now I am handling server which is not my expertise. They are going down, deployment pipelines are not working, when I mentioned several times, my superior answer is "You are becoming a devop ;)"...

I know they will be mad the day we deploy this to production and everything fails, but I honestly dont know what else to mention.

(In my interview I said I had minor experience deploying to AWS, but in this company they are using Azure)

Just consider it getting paid to improve your resume. Whether this project is unmaintainable won't matter when you've moved on for you 20% raise at the next company. The one you're currently working for will never give it to you.

- voice of experience -

Ha, thank you! Yeah, I am trying to remain positive, thinking that this is an oportunity to learn, etc. But at the same time i feel responsible if this fails :-/

I tend to feel responsible too, but just like, "none of us is as dumb as all of us"; teamwork ensures that your hard work can always be ruined by someone else's incompetence.

You get used to it...

While it's a great perk to be able to work on what one is most passionate about, while on the clock your focus should be to apply your skills, and learning time, to bring the most value to your employer.

Embrace the devops engineering for now - at least until you change jobs, if that's what it comes down to.

See it as a great learning opportunity.

It can be great if you have things you want to do that most companies don’t come up by themselves.

Basically if you’re in a “Shut up and hire me!” mode and will self-manage and come up with what others also need to do. I find it tiring, but some people thrive in these roles.

I enjoy this, the problem is often that key people don't actually want to change, or the core issue is somehow intractable.

Story of my entire 25 year career, right there.

That said; I've tended to look for small companies, or companies that are in startup mode, where roles do not seem very rigid, and boundaries between teams are not so impenetrable.

I tend to be miserable where roles are rigid, or the culture does not encourage cross-fertilization between teams.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com