I cant get along with my boss. need an advice.

[alphacat]

Hey guys.

I started working in this company 7 months ago, its my first job.
During the first 5 months I really worked hard, took some work home and was considered a good employee.
Whenever after these 5 months my boss has changed his behavior towards me.
He started rejecting everything I said, on the spot.
At some point I decided to become a yes-man, since it really bothered me to always receive 'no' to my ideas.
For some reason, it really bothered him that i turned out to be a yes man, and he used to tell me that he wants to hear my ideas, but on the other hand, he kept saying no instantaneously, and even when we eventually did follow my idea, it was after he first rejected it.

For example, yesterday I presented an idea, and he said: "In a moment we will see if its a good idea, but already I can give you a disadvantage of it", and after he said something that was really not related, we followed it eventually.
It may not sound so hard to deal with, but imagine that this or just 'no' is the reply you receive to everything you say.

The problem is that I started to be less productive, since all this really reduced my motivation, and finding another job is almost impossible these days.
I really want to keep working in this company.
I want to arrive happy to the company, like I used to at the beginning, and to be fully concentrated on succeeding in every assignment I get, but it just doesnt happen these days.

Could you please advice me how do i get myself to feel the way I used to before all this started?
Anything that doesnt include talking with the boss about it, since I've never told people that what they do bothers me, and I cant start now, certainly not with my boss.

Thank you for reading all this.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

I thought you were a student.
Your old Alphadog posts indicated you were ill prepared to be doing the job you now claim you have. I was baffled that you had managed to get the job, did you lie on your resume?
What's your job title?

 

[alphacat]

I'm a student, I work in a student position.
Every student who has just finished second year isnt supposed to know that much.

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Then your boss probably isn't expecting much.

 

[Triode]

I'm a co-op student working for a company right now. I just started a new rotation and my new boss was rude like that, he would roll his eyes at stuff I said and act like it was irrelavent. But once I impressed him with some good work, though it was boring because all he gave me to do were cost estimates, he started listening more and I've been able to get more important projects and even have some input as to which projects are started.

 

[alphacat]

Trust me he does.
I'm in charge of 70% of the every day development of the product.
It includes choosing components, writing code for all the units that form the product, testing hardware, measurements, its a lot.
And to your surprise, I did so far a good job.
When we need to design things, we call an experienced enginner who either design a circuit by himself or approve my own design (which he did once).

 

[blueroomelectronics]

On the job education is great, if that's part of the terms of your employment. Also watch out for toe stepping, you may have some engineers there that don't like you going over their head.

 

[bigkim100]

Well, your going to be miserable either way, but go one way and at least you,ll be miserable...WITH A PAYCHEQUE.
We ALL have worked at jobs that we have hated..its all part of being a big-boy.
If you cant take it...start looking for another job, you will be surprised how much crap you can take when you know you will soon be gone....OR.
Sit down like a adult and discuss what you feel with your boss. Explain how you feel,and ask his side of the situation, I doubt that this will lead to dissmissal, and at least you will understand his reasoning.
I can guess why this is happening tho. It doesnt matter how smart you are, or how many brilliant ideas you have...you are the low guy on the Totem Pole, and you gotta throttle back a bit on the perky wide-eyed crap. There is a very fine line between being smart and useful, and being a endless pain in the ass.
No matter what, you will be seen as a threat, you are young, they pay you less than most in the company, and you are full of new ideas...a absolute threat to anyone who has been there for years.
So dont become a yes-man, but realise that the people around you probibly have a lot more experience than you have...and way have the ability to look at some of your ideas in a lonng-term basis, and see faults that you may not realize.
Again, throttle back your doe-eyed perkiness, open your ears, listen, and learn...and your brilliance will soon be realized, you just need patience Grasshopper.

 

[alphacat]

Thank you for the support guys, it really matters to me.
At the beginning of the year, the boss has fired the only EE engineer our company had, so now i'm the only one who understands electronics, thats why we oftenly call this EE consultor to have his guiding.
When that engineer was fired, the heads of the company told me that the only reason they think they can go on with the project is me, and from that moment and on I did 70% of the whole development.
So its not that there's someone in the company who fears for his position, its just that this boss wont follow my ideas but keeps asking for them, sometimes he brings up an idea that I brought it up just a few minutes ago that was rejected as usual.

Thats what driving me crazy, that he wants to hear my ideas when they're gonna be turned down.

 

[dknguyen]

I'd take that as a good thing. From what I've heard it's completely possible your ideas might not always be sound and it would suck to get blamed for them. ANd ummm, I don't know where you are from, but from where I am it isn't legal for students to do anything without supervision of an engineer that could otherwise do the job himself.

 

[tcmtech]

Consider your bosses actions a great compliment! Hes older more experienced and should be wiser. He is likely threatened by your skills and abilities. When you do better work than the people that have been there longer your going to rub a few the wrong way.
I have done it several times. I dont concern myself with their petty selfishness. Do your job well and when given the opportunity shine when your bosses superiors are near! Make it clear your putting the company first and not your bosses ego first.

I had a boss that kept saying my ideas and approaches are stupid and worthless. He would then take them and put his name on them and say they were his ideas shortly after telling me they were pointless and dumb. I caught on after seeing three of my ideas get implemented into company work method changes under his name. Its not to hard to see when your own ideas being implemented.

After that I started land mining the better ones I knew he would take. Upper level management is typically not too dumb and when the great ideas he was proposing did not work and he had no explanation for it while some new nobody kid could step right in and explain the whole concept and its fatal flaw without so much as a stutter it didn't take to long for them to figure out who the originator was.

We played this game for several months and I just kept learning more and more of his job until one day he called in sick and his superior asked me to work late and try and do some of his office and managerial work.
I said no problem. I told his boss I may not know everything about what to do so can you help me out if I need it. He said sure and gave me a list of what he did in a typical day and I went to work.
Two hours later I had my bosses full day schedule knocked out and asked if I could go home. His boss couldn't believe I did it so quickly and easily. I told him everything you needed me to do I have been doing in my side time on night shift for a month or better now and most of what was on the list I had done last night before the day shift even came to work!

Turns out I was doing the majority of my bosses job for some time. It didn't sit well with the upper level. That parts ordering, shipping and receiving of high dollar company equipment and work order review stuff was not part of my job description.
Also my finding out from my bosses superiors that I was not the lowly night shift maintenance supervisor as my boss made me believe but acting plant manager of a multi tens of millions of dollars facility with 30 - 40 people under me was to much! In the time I had worked there I was never properly trained for supervisory or shift management work or procedure and thus not officially authorized for doing it.

After that I wrote up my two week notice ( I couldn't handle the pressure I was scared to come to work!). My boss attempted to fire me on a Wednesday to cover his screw up. However I was turning in my notice that Friday.
I mailed my notice letter to his boss anyway along with a big writeup of other things I had been doing under his orders too. After my my letter got around the company (I had friends that worked there that kept me informed) There was a big company investigation to see if what I said in my letter was true or what he said he fired me for was true. It raised a few very big eyebrows!
My former boss got put under a very fine corporate micro scope and had to do his job himself or get run off. (I would have fired him right there myself) Plus for the gross negligence of putting me in unauthorized and untrained work positions, the rumor was he lost his big year end bonus of some 10's of thousands of dollars!

Officially I quit. Everybody still only sees the fired part for what ever reason after. Either way He got what he deserved and officially my name was cleared.

Keep track of what you do and who's job it really is. Take on extra work if you can handle it. Your present day coworkers and superiors are going to watch out for their best interests at your expense so return the favor!
Put the company first and make it apparent to everyone that you are doing so! It will pay off!
Play smart but look enthusiastic and unsuspecting, Its in your best long term interests!

 

[Krumlink]

Sounds like you are overpromising and underdelivering, that is you say you will do this great idea/thing and you then put out half of what you promised.

What you need to do is to underpromise and overdeliver, then you will promise very little and put out a lot, and they usually say "wow!" because it is so much more than what you said. Works for me at school and other stuff, try it

 

[Triode]

thats true, anything you say you will do, even in passing will be taken as a promise, so don't even suggest you're going to do something unless you will. I actually keep note of all the stuff I said I would do. People care about reliability more than inteligence.

 

[Hero999]

During the first 5 months I really worked hard, took some work home and was considered a good employee.
Whenever after these 5 months my boss has changed his behavior towards me.
He started rejecting everything I said, on the spot.

Why did his behaviour towards you change after 5 months?

Is it something you've done (whether it be right or wrong)?

This is the question you need to answer before you can have any hope of resolving this.

Talk to other people in the company: see if you can find out from them.

If you can't find out from them, calmly ask your boss why. I can't see him firing you, especially if you're polite and tactful, even if he does get a bit heated.

If this doesn't work, just put up with it and try to keep yourself motivated until you find another job.

 

[Leftyretro]

Hard to say if the fundamental problem is with the boss or you or the position or the companies present situation of no engineer on site, we only have your side of a larger picture.

All I can offer is try and be polite and helpful, try and follow instructions and try to learn all you can while there. It won't be the last job or company you will ever work for and if it's just your boss, not the last ass hat you will find yourself working for, they come and go and the good ones make up for the bad ones. It's a long trek grasshopper and the journey is the reward.

Good luck

Lefty

 

[tcmtech]

Get to know your co workers well. I do at any job I am on. they are the best resource you can have for getting good and bad information on any and every one in the company.
Your boss could be under some pressure from above you dont know about but someone else could. If so use that knowledge as an advantage to further improve relations by helping out if possible.
Or your coworkers could just say he is a selfish jerk that deserves the grief he ultimately makes for himself. At that point getting to know his boss and getting in tight with the rest of the work force will gain you some very solid anchor points if he does pull something bad. It has saved my butt more than once.

A good company will ultimately remove bad people from the work force when they have proven themselves to be a big enough liability.

Make yourself the best asset you can be for your company. Out perform and outshine in every way possible. Either you will get noticed and rewarded for it or you will get canned for being a true threat to a lesser employer. Either way you will win!

Learn your company financial strategy and real company work morals and ethics. Keep full documentation of every project you do. It may seem like a wast of your time but when the day comes that you need to justify or answer for your actions paper can be your best support.
If you have a log book you fill out everyday relating to what you do. Copy it! seriously, photo copy every page of it now and then. Those log books hold a ton of weight in an employment argument! I learned that one the hard way.

 

[timsvb]

Hey guys.



The problem is that I started to be less productive, since all this really reduced my motivation, and finding another job is almost impossible these days.
I really want to keep working in this company.
I want to arrive happy to the company, like I used to at the beginning, and to be fully concentrated on succeeding in every assignment I get, but it just doesnt happen these days.

Reckon you answered your own question here.Only you can get back there.Not a lot of help,but the cheapest thing in the world to give is advice.Considering it's free,I wonder why it's also the hardest thing in the world to take. You'll have to take a back seat and work on this one yourself.
Hope I'm not being insulting here. Good luck, and try and keep your job.
Enjoy,Tim from oz.

 

[alphacat]

Hey guys.
Thank you very much for all your advices.
I've listened to what you said here.
When I went to work today, I tried to be more nice and not wearing this sad face I used to come to work with.
Work was definetly good today and I hope it'll get better.

Thank you all.

 

[Triode]

good job man, most people don't actually apply advice they get.

 

[timsvb]

done extremely well, keep it up.