Hey everyone, I'm a junior full stack developer with about 1.5 years at my first job. I moved here from the business side after coding as a hobby and despite the rough transition, I've enjoyed my time and have contributed a lot. Recently, I got placed on a project where I'm essentially outsourced to another company for 4 months. They think I'm working full-time for them, but I'm also juggling two other internal projects. This has led me to lie about my progress just to keep up, and I'm finding myself working in my free time as well to catch up. On top of that, a senior developer who often blames me for his slip-ups has been unhelpful while he was away. I'm on vacation now, but I worry that he might claim I've messed up my work. My company heavily relies on Jira, and I'm concerned about whether this situation could get me fired given that my part of the project isn't fully completed. It feels like there's some toxic behavior happening here, and I'm considering talking to my manager. I fear losing my job would seriously hurt my career, especially since I taught myself and don't have much experience. Am I overthinking this?
3 Answers
Managing multiple projects simultaneously can definitely lead to issues. It sounds like your situation is more about communication than performance. If the workload is too high, you need to push back and let your superiors know what you can realistically achieve. Plus, don’t feel bad about taking some time off – working on vacation isn’t really a vacation!
Honestly, lying about status updates is a huge red flag. Even if you're overwhelmed, being transparent with your manager and the clients is essential. You're not the only one suffering from project mismanagement, but you have to communicate that. Have you reached out to your manager about your workload? They might not even realize how much you're juggling.
Yeah, I scheduled a meeting with her today. Just feeling overwhelmed and not sure how to present it.
It seems like you're the victim of bad management here. If you were assigned to a project without a clear understanding or overcommitment, that’s on them, not you. You should definitely have a candid chat with your manager about the situation. Most folks aren't going to fire you over this; they want to get things back on track, too. Just be upfront about what's happening.
I appreciate that perspective. Just hope they don’t frame it differently.
For sure, I didn’t want to let the team down, but it’s been rough.