Management increasing expectations without communicating with me.
I've been a mechanical engineer for 3 years and I'm a year into my second job. In my last job, I was a design engineer, but about half the time I didn't even do my own drawings, so I didn't get much experience with that. I also wasn't responsible for analysis (though I would always do some basic analysis to make sure I didn't get anything sent back). I left because it was slow and I felt I was never going to develop.
I guess I got what I asked for with this newer design position. It's crazy fast paced here and I love that part. But we basically manage the project ourselves, which means I am learning so much that I didn't even know was part of an engineering project. Not only am I dealing with more complicated hardware, but I am doing the drawings, gathering requirements, doing analysis, selecting vendors, serving as the point of contact, writing SOWs, sending POs, and documenting EVERYTHING. I think all of this is awesome, but... every project I've had since I started has gone into panic mode because I wasn't meeting expectations that I didn't know were expected of me. In other words, I don't know what is expected of me until my manager raises her voice.
Before accepting this position, I was honest and told her that I needed significant mentorship before I'm at the level they really need. I didn't have experience with project management and all that entails. Now I'm a year in and I wouldn't consider anything I've received to be mentorship. I mean, if I need help with something, I can contact co-workers who are very helpful, but I have to know what questions to ask, and they tend to be in meetings 80% of the time. I've never shadowed anyone through a project, so I don't even have examples of how anyone else on my team does things, or even how one would ideally go. They've incrementally increased my responsibilities in a way that always sounds reasonable at the beginning of a project. But the teeth seem to always come out mid-project.
Twice I've told my manager that I'm drowning because requirements were constantly changing and the deadline was approaching. I thought I was doing the right thing by telling her I need help, before everything implodes completely. She laughed and said, "Your project is on fire and you need to handle your shit. Everyone has problems." That was it. She has also told me I need to work over the weekend, but not too worry because she'll be available to help out I need any. Well I needed help, I texted her, but she said she wasn't available and started ignoring me.
Any way, I am posting this because my manager thinks I've been a naughty boy again and is yelling at me over things she could have warned me about weeks ago, because she was aware of my project the whole time. She's also complaining that I can't do drawings as fast as another co-worker who has 15 years of experience, and that I'm still learning the fea software.
Am I wrong to think that these expectations are insane? I'm just starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of this, but I'm getting chewed out like she is ready to fire me and my best friend is telling me I need to GTFO before shit really hits the fan. But, I really like this company and I don't want my resume to make me look like a job shopper.
I'm trying to be unbias here. I have absolutely made real mistakes that I shouldn't have, and my manager has occasionally been supportive when that happens. She has her good moments, but she's very bad at dealing with stress, imo.
Any way, thank you in advance!
Posted Feb 7, 2021, 11:26 PM UTC · edited
From your side of the story, you're being set up to fail. Get clear, concise, and metric/task based goals defined with times to do them. If your boss can't do that, you will be responsible for any deadline they set you, with zero recourse.
If your boss won't help you, you probably won't be able to succeed. And all.the while, I'm sure your boss will take credit for any successes.
Run. Run like you're on fire.
I tried to be as objective as possible. I should have mentioned that I have made plenty of legit mistakes that shouldn't have been made, because I was juggling so much unfamiliar work.
The weird thing is that she has no problem praising me. I should have put that in my main text. If I am successful with something, she has already proven that she won't hesitate to give me credit. I even corrected her work once and she boasted about it to other managers. She was genuinely happy for me. I actually believe she's a good person who wants to be encouraging, but she's an overwhelmed and terrible manager. I keep wanting to like her, because she has days where she is great. But I feel like that's a pipe dream.
Thanks for the advice, btw.