Ask HN: How to deal with a bad company structure? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to deal with a bad company structure?

4 pointscutthemidrange7 comments

Hello,

I've been in an apprenticeship for a year at a company. It is a serious game company, that uses Unity.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the company is going to fail because of it's structure, which I'll explain :

- two apprentices, one developer (me) and one 3D artist.

- two co-presidents, a woman who takes care of all the HR stuff and a man who looks for projects for the company.

- the tech lead, who's supposed to be my mentor but doesn't know anything about Unity and isn't actually hired by the company.

Now on paper this could work, but we're lacking in expertise so bad. The 3D models and texture are unoptimised and end up costing me time to code workarounds. My code is pretty bad. I had done Unity projects before this apprenticeship but I had never done a full scale project before, all on my own. It's gotten to the point where the project is a mess but there's no real option to make it better because they can't afford the time it would take me.

Not having a mentor makes it really hard and stressful, as the decisions that I make (and that I've made) can end up being a detriment to the project but no one of expertise can come in and say "Don't do it that way" or something like that.

We're struggling to meet the clients' expectations because of this, and I'm struggling at work because I am 80% of the time alone in the office (both co-presidents have other activities more important than this company, and me and my colleague don't get along that well and our school schedule makes it so we are in school on different weeks)

What I want to ask is, how do I cope with this? It's making me kinda depressed and the impostor syndrome is getting really bad. I feel like I should jump ship but it's also a great opportunity to get a degree. Any advice is appreciated.

Also, sorry for the throwaway account, and thanks in advance for your time

You can't fix this. You can express the problems clearly to those above you, but I would not expect them to hire on the people necessary to make the project a success. They staffed the team as it is, thinking it would be fine, when it should have been obvious that they needed more than 1 dev, 1 artist, an HR person to manage their 2 staffers, and someone to drum up business.

But don't let that discourage you. Everyone works on failed projects at some point. There's 2 important things for you in this moment:

1) Learn what you can from this experience. Think about what you can now identify as red flags from the start of the project. Think about what needed to happen differently and when it needed to happen to avoid getting to this point. Think about the design decisions you made and what you would have done differently. Remember those lessons when you look for your next project.

2) Weigh the stress and time you're putting in vs what you're getting out of it to decide when you need to jump ship. You haven't mentioned pay, but you've mentioned a vague 'opportunity to get a degree,' but your situation is really unclear to everyone here. Value your personal health and do not feel indebted to this company or project -- it's good to walk away if it no longer benefits you. If you're open and clear about why you're leaving, it will be a valuable lesson for those in charge as well.

Last note: I would not call 2 people in management hiring 2 'apprentices' a 'serious game company'. I would consider it a serious red flag if those 2 people in management are in more than a business relationship.

Thank you for your comment.

What I meant by serious game company is, a company that makes serious games for learning purposes. Sorry for the confusion.

Indeed I am learning a lot from this experience, and if I started a new Unity project now, it would be better in pretty much every aspect.

Also yes, your second point is really important. Spending time alone makes me depressed, but when they come in it is better. For now I'm thinking I can stay but on days like this where I'm alone it's hard.

The opportunity to get a degree is that, this is an apprenticeship, and so I balance between work and school and should get a master's degree at the end if I pass the exams

You're not going to be able to fix this. It never feels good to jump ship, but sometimes that's the right move.

Yes, you're right. My worry is that I'll have to abandon my studies if I want to jump ship. My company is one of the few companies working with Unity in my city, I worry I won't find another apprenticeship. I feel like I should just tank it but I know it's not good for my health.

Thanks a lot for the advice.

Initial thoughts:

- How much do you feel you've learned in your apprenticeship year?

- With all the problems, why do you call it a "serious" game company?

- How are (a) the pay and (b) your own ability to network with other Unity dev's?

I have indeed learned a lot. Learned about design patterns, software architecture, optimisation and a ton of stuff.

Sorry for the confusion, I mean serious game company as in a company that makes serious game made for learning purposes.

I make minimum wage, and am able to network at school since it's an apprenticeship. I also joined gamedev groups in my city.

Ah sorry, I should clarify, when I said serious game company, I meant a company that makes serious games, as in serious games for learning and stuff like that.

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