Management increasing expectations without communicating with me.

Career

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

1613
IDK_khakis•

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.

21
ProjectWheeeOP•

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.

4
RoboSapien1•

Your manager seems to be seriously lousy based on what you're describing. Any chance you can move to another group and manager? If not, document everything in case she wants to blame it all on you. Oh and GTFO asap.

15
ProjectWheeeOP•

I've definitely thought about moving to another team, but have been hesitant because I'm a bit paranoid about retaliation if I try to move and can't. I think there is one other design team here, so it's a slim chance that they even need anyone. It's a great, but rather small company.

And thanks for the response!

3
gravely_serious•

You can contact HR directly or search through your company policies to find out about retaliation for attempting to join another team. I mention this because I recently switched teams in my company, and the HR guy I was dealing with told me in the first conversation that retaliation for applying for other open jobs in the company was strictly not tolerated and to let him know if I experienced anything that even looked like retaliation.

3
original-moosebear•

So until proven otherwise, I don't trust a green engineer to find the bathroom every day. 3 years in and they are giving you entire projects? That's crazy talk. There should be a senior engineer running the project with you providing support as directed.

Conservative slow action - start looking. Once you have a competing offer, then talk to your boss and tell them the contents of this post. Tell them that you are afraid that you are being set up to be kicked out, and that you do not want to leave. See how they respond.

Risk taker action - Talk to boss before you have a new offer.

14
[deleted]•

[deleted]

6
original-moosebear•

Possibly. I have no idea what CAPA is.

4
ProjectWheeeOP•

Thanks for the post, and also for the thoughtful suggestions. For what it's worth, I have already spoken to the manager about this. She acted understanding and was nice for a while, but it started again.

4
original-moosebear•

What you would be looking for is not understanding but clearly articulated suggestions. "Do better" is not a suggestion. She is supposed to train you. You are entitled to know what she is planning to do differently to help you. You are not expected to know all industry practices at your stage.

So now the real question you should ask her is... given our discussion, are you comfortable I'm doing a good enough job to stay working here? If she says you are, then it is just her management style to be an overbearing demanding jerk. You can either live with that or you can't.

7
CarnivorousLuggage•

There's some good advice here. To be a little different than the advice you've received, I'd encourage you to stick it out as long as possible. The upside here is you are learning a ton at a very fast rate. Sure, you're making mistakes along the way, but if you can get through this you will be an exponentially better engineer than you were before and will be ready to manage your own projects successfully before you know it. Then you can cash in that ability at your current company or somewhere else.

3
ProjectWheeeOP•

I've definitely considered this, so I appreciate you mentioning it. There aren't many other places where I could develop these kinds of skills.

2
DrunkSciences•

It sucks I totally get it. I'm less than a year in and running 3 projects for manufacturing and 3d printing, so definitely not fea and drawings although that would be sick. Definitely in the same boat that my boss is hard on me, especially because no one actually understands what the fuck to do next, not even me. See if you can ask one of the other engineers not for mentorship but some "hey I can't figure this out advice" or some clarity on issues. I also suggest keeping a list of expectations as they come up. I do mine in a notebook. Sometimes you'll start to see a trend with things that do better and things that are more important

3
chaarlie-work•

Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it haha. Last job I had, I took it because I wanted to travel. 3 years later, I left because it was too much travel.

Sucks to be in that situation, but the way I see it, you’ve had 2 jobs: 1 boring, and 1 very stressful but probably exciting. Having shitty mgmt is one thing, get out if you feel like you’re gonna be pushed out. But if I were you, I’d really have to think about where I want to lay on that boring-stressful spectrum. I’d probably pick stressful, but everyone’s not cut out for it. Since your manager sucks, ask your peers for feedback and advice.

Your schooling didn’t really teach you about Newton’s laws or thermodynamics, they taught you how to solve problems using the tools at your disposal, sometimes under pressure. Not everything that happens in the workplace is fair, but this is just another problem to be solved. Lucky for you, you have a mind built for it.

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