Corporate developers: Do you feel your code is adding value to the company?

Question

I'm going through a phase where I'm not being productive at all. I find it hard to justify to myself getting paid six figures to sit in front of my computer and act busy. Management is completely disengaged, and the users as well. What do you do in this type of situation? I've taken to learning some deeper aspects of .Net and software construction in general, but don't like the feeling that I'm stiffing my employer.

Answer 1

Play around on Stack Obverflow a lot... It's a great way to keep your skills sharp and you're helping others out at the same time...

Answer 2

I changed scenery to a place with less layers between my work and its value - so if I'm unproductive or super productive I get immediate feedback from the environment.

Answer 3

Before I started freelancing I was working in a corporate job, and had exactly the same problem. My solution was to self-educate myself during the time that I had nothing to do. My excuse for myself was that I was educating myself in exactly the fields that I knew my employer needed from me. Not much, but at least I didn't waste time.

Answer 4

Yes, my code is adding value to the company. Whether that be by creating new applications or tweaking existing ones, the code I write usually will matter at the end of the day. Right now, the project I've been on for the last year and a half is a customization of a CMS that will replace a legacy system that is extremely long in the tooth. Has it been easy? No, but that is part of the joy I have in working within an IS department where I am now.

In previous positions, I generally did work that fell into a few different categories:

1. Product development - From 2005 till 2007, I worked for an Application Service Provider, where my work was a large part of the selling features of the location-based services that the company handled. So, this meant combining some GIS programming along with communicating to a remote device in some cases through a custom platform the company had. Some of my bigger contributions were a few features in the application that did become big selling points involving ways to show locations in a map in a sense. One of the big projects in my current position involved helping to build out a product that went into production for a year that while it isn't quite the raging success I'd like, there are probably lots of lessons learned that will be useful in the future I'd imagine.

2. E-Commerce sites the company used or internal ones - Prior to that, I worked for a couple dot-coms where part of the work was the company store front so that orders could be taken, or integrating new sites into the existing order processing because the company made an acquisition. The other part was back-end tools like a "Find a Customer" tool I wrote back in 1998 or creating web pages to handle settling credit card transactions.

In answer to the last question about what to do in this situation, you have a choice of communicating your frustration and seeing what happens or staying silent and seeing where that gets you. I'd probably go for the former and if the company is alright with what you are doing, then you have a hard choice to make: Are you comfortable with what you have to stay in an unhappy job or do you try to find something better and move on to that?

Answer 5

Do you understand how your project, as a whole, brings value to your customers? That's the first step.

If you can't figure that out, you may have a problem.

Answer 6

I can appreciate what you're going through. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. You have a job. You might not be getting much satisfaction out of your job but then again you are getting more satisfaction than if you were not working.
2. You have ample free time to spend in personal development, learning, and knowledge improvement.
3. You are not in a situation where you're constantly rushing to meet deadlines either because they're unrealistic or because the product is changing as you go. Trust me, I'm in that situation and it's not fun.

Here are several suggestions to not only benefit your company but also to benefit yourself:

Start with the most basic. Is there some tool that would make future efforts easier on you or your fellow coders? Could you write it up or research for one? Management might not like it at first that you're working on something not related to the product at hand but if they find out it will lower costs down the road you could get a nice pat on your back.

Ask to mentor a junior developer. If you've got the time why not help someone else out? They could learn from you and you would learn from them. I know that I've gained greater insight from teaching in the past and I look forward to the day I get to teach again.

Ask to be part of a code review team. This is often a task that people attempt to put off but on the long haul saves more headaches than it causes. More importantly, you get to see how others are attacking a problem. Perhaps they're doing it much differently than you and you learn some new trick. Other times you want beat them with a stick and point out that DateTime already exists.

Finally, come on to SO and answer as many questions as you can. I find if I need a 5 min. break that I come here to "relax" at work. Besides, I've seen quite a few novel solutions to questions I would have answered differently. I'm either learning here too.

Answer 7

If you have to, take a break and look for something different even if that means doing nothing for a time. This advice might sound illogical but even if it's your fault don't blame yourself - comparatively, your code might not be adding much value if you're truly burned out. We can all go through burnout (many have and many still will, sometimes both!) and to look at burnout in a negative light only exacerbates the problem while you're experiencing it.

Don't burn any bridges with your current employer because if you've been there long enough to not get sacked when you're unproductive (and believe me, they notice, whether you hope they don't or not) then you might be back in the future. Just be honest. This advice might go against conventional wisdom but sometimes life is just like that.

The north american society (I don't know where you're from) has a big problem with problems and failure, quite often weighted too negatively. For this reason I like to Google failure quotes to keep my spirits up in the tough times.

Having been paid six figures you're likely in a good position to take a break without having to worry. Just cut down on the extravagances (if there are any) and find some small things to enjoy in life while getting yourself back on track.

Answer 8

Why not pop up to see the users, chew the fat, socialise and network aka "clarifyng requirements".

Or go and talk rubbish with the support team aka "gathering statistics".

Or see if you can crash the Infrastructure teams' Xmas party aka "capacity planning"

I'm a corporate code monkey too...

Answer 9

You must speak to your manager about this.

This kind of feeling amongst staff implies that the part of the company you're working in is in trouble. I've seen it happen when management are "freewheeling", in other words they know that your division is soon to be downsized or in some other way reorganised.

In any case, rather counter-intuitively, you have nothing to lose by speaking to your manager. If the reaction is "so what", then consider finding another job. If the reaction is "I know, but what do you suggest that we do?" then suggest something (implement Agile, perhaps? (sly grin)). If the reaction is hostile... well, if you've made it to six figures, that would be surprising.

Most likely the manager will value your input.