How do I manage the personal stress brought on by my absolutely inept and unambitious coworkers?
Question
I’ve worked in Software Development teams my entire career and I’ve come to realize the spectrum of skill-sets is utterly staggering. Over the years I’ve managed to adapt my in-office behavior to handle utterly incompetent and lazy people.
My whole professional life has been spent working in software development teams, and I’ve learned the range of skill-sets is quite astounding. Over the years, I’ve been able to modify my workplace behavior to deal with those who are absolutely inept and sluggish.
My preferred method of handling it is to simply suppress my rage and irritation, but I often wind up moaning to my family and friends when I get home, which is unhealthy for neither of us.
How do I manage the personal stress brought on by my absolutely inept and slothful coworkers?
in progress
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Career
1 year
2022-07-02T15:40:59+00:00
2022-07-02T15:40:59+00:00 4 Answers
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Beginner 5
Answers ( 4 )
Gotta get some perspective on what matters. If incompetent, lazy and/or stupid people stress you out that much, you’re going to be dead at a very early age, because people who fit that description comprise the vast majority of all societies.
Also, realize that “not doing things exactly as I would or want them to be done, catering to my own timeframes and desire” is not necessarily being lazy or stupid. Do you cater to their wants the same way you want them to cater to yours?
It could very well be that you are simply surrounded by complete losers and idiots. Make sure, if you’re going to stress yourself to an early grave, that it’s really over them being lazy and/or incompetent, and not a case of you having a very self-centered life view.
I’m serious. People are not going to change. IT is like any other industry, you get the good, the bad, the ugly and the strange.
You can control none of this. The only thing you can control is your reactions to what is going on around you. You don’t know why these people were hired, you won’t control whether they grow and expand or remain where they are or drift off or get fired.
I’m serious. People are not going to change. IT is like any other industry, you get the good, the bad, the ugly and the strange.
You can control none of this. The only thing you can control is your reactions to what is going on around you. You don’t know why these people were hired, you won’t control whether they grow and expand or remain where they are or drift off or get fired.
This is beyond your control. Don’t waste your time with it. If you don’t waste your time, it won’t stress you. Do your work. Do what it takes to document things so that you are not blamed for another’s incompetence, and then move on. That is the only way to deal with the stress. You don’t get caught up in the things you do not control. That, and affirming your own existence and being satisfied with your own work.
The way I’m managing this at my current job is by turning my anger into satisfaction.
Every time I place my hands on bad code, I try to leave it into a better shape, or at least leave a few TODOs and comments with tips and tricks for those that will come after me.
Will they keep writing bad code and ask dumb things? Probably.
Will I keep fixing things as much as I can? Sure.
After a couple of years you will look at your codebase and feel great at how much it improved with your efforts.
Don’t wait for change, be the change.