Oh sorry, should have added, my own personal assessment puts the good dev at the high-mid/senior level too. Just me being needlessly pedantic that they don't have such a title. Sorry.
1 karma · joined March 5, 2025
Yeah like I said, I wasn't really involved in the decision making here and was a bit surprised contractors were brought on as I didn't feel we were behind or anything. I'm inclined to agree with you that there is some hidden politics at play here that I am not witness to, e.g., to use their allocated budget that year or it might be slashed the next year.
> she does sound terrified. and the human part of me would absolutely struggle with this. but you are not responsible for her or her livelihood. you're responsible for you and yours (and the people around you depending on your position/role).
This is the part I'm struggling with. Her lack of performance doesn't impact me much for now (apart from when the good dev goes on holiday and I get pinged instead) so it feels like i'm needlessly risking someone's livelihood for little personal gain.
I'm usually the type to not worry about low performers because I have little skin in the game. So I don't care so much unless my personal productivity is impacted by them or the code base becomes more unstable as a result (which impacts me because of on call). The latter is not an issue right now as we're pretty proactive about reviewing each others PR's here. Even more so when get PR's from junior members or known low performers.
The former could be an issue as if I'm pairing with this person but forbidden from sharing that info, then I could be seen as twiddling my thumbs and not doing much (mentoring is usually rewarded in this company and is considered part of your productivity).