How do you deal with developer frustration?
By frustration , I mean when your managers tie you down and expect you to jump very high or perform miracles..and things don't go through their thick skulls.
a) Quit the company. b) Shoot yourself or shoot the managers. c) Choose a different profession.
Any other option?
I picked C the first time I thought of programming as a profession, because I knew if I was programming for a living then my answer would likely be B. :P EE all the way!
Shooting either yourself or the managers has been tried, but it never seems to work out.
Some of it is to think about what the other people involved are being driven by, and what they're rewarded for. Usually, the pointy-haired boss has pressure coming down from above.
In general, the best you can do is to be as predictable as possible. If something can't be done, say so. If you say it can be done, then do it. Every time you do that, then you accumulate credit for the next "can't be done."
If you get too many "can't be done" assignments, then it might be time to look for a new gig.
I'd say the best way to deal with developer frustration is to take some time to calm down and carefully think through the situation. Making a decision while being frustrated has often caused me to make some pretty poor choices in the past. I'd say you're best spending some time thinking and reflecting on the issue at hand and then figure out what to do. It may be that your only reasonable option, depending on the circumstances, may be to quit the company. But on the other hand, you may find that there are things you can do to communicate your feelings to your manager and try to come up with a common solution.
Working in Japan, there is a strong unpaid overtime culture, as there is in IT in most of the world, so the two stuck together is hideous. Miracles and overtime seem to go hand in hand.
I plan things in my private life that I need to leave work on time for:
"I'm sorry I can't do that, I have made arrangements for this evening".
You can't do it everyday, but do it enough to maintain sanity...This works OK in a web developing area because the timespans are usually much shorter given the smaller scopes of the projects. At least regarding the ones we are fielding at the moment.
If you mean frustration caused by being unable to accomplish things because of lack of skill, then improve your skillset. Learn new things and have a generally inquisitive attitude.
If you mean being unable to accomplish things because of management failure, then by all means find a new job.
I'm always in favor of being assertive about your working environment.
Beyond that, having a good work-life balance helps. It's easier not to let job frustration get out of hand if you have good outlets in your personal life.
Do you best to keep the situation in perspective and be sure to use the logical side of your brain and not the emotional. Try and think of a way of providing evidence that you're following best practices or that what your managers expectations are out of line with what is possible.
If all else fails...look for a new place of work.
I just cleaned out my entire office and desk. There is literally nothing in my office except wireless keyboard and laptop dock.
I figure someone will walk by and say "uh... is Josh still here?" Of course I'm not actually coming out and making any statements but I totally hear you on the frustration. It's like people see the 1 page report and think "Gee only one page? Why did it take you all day?" "Cause the f'in code is 10 pages you dolt!"
OH and watch Office Space again. It always makes me feel good.
Start not caring about the job at all, then get someone to burn down the building, like in Office Space. Peter ended up as a construction laborer after that, if you like working outdoors.
I kept an empty box under my desk for a while, where people could see it. They wondered what it was for, until the day I used it.
d) spend time clarifying the work with your managers. it's their job to ask for as much as possible. it's your job to help them understand the costs. work together to find a realistic schedule and have both sides commit to it.
Explain yourself: tell your manager how much of your task can be (reasonably) expected done within the specified constraints. Do so with aid of estimated (made up) slightly bloated numbers and colorful excel sheets. If you spend a couple of hours on this it will be worth it... it will save you much head ache later. Mail it to your manager.
Suggest a solution: Based on your numbers, meet your manager. Inform your manager exactly what will be required in order to get the task done. Managers sometimes have the unfortunate misconception that adding more programmers to a project will help you meet deadlines. This is not always true... But most of the time you can complete projects by cutting down on things: mayby scrapping certain features, eliminating some steps in your process (skipping the unit testing?) whatever. Look through the project and show your manager certain things that can be cut. Maybe cutting some of those things are not be a good idea, but suggest it anyway. Your manager will let you know what's important to the organization.
ie: communicate with your manager, figure out if it's possible to reduce the requirement to manageable proportions or get more time, and if all else fails, search for a new job.
One thing to try is to make a list of 5 things frustrating you and two things that could be done to improve each. As a SO experiment post that list here and let the community make some suggestions. Be intentional about lowering your level of frustration. You only have one life and it was not intended to be a miserable one.
The first thing you should make sure is never get in this situation in the first place. Often lack of communication (from both sides) and mistaken estimates cause problems. My advice would be:
Once everyone knows what is going on and sees a steady progress within a project, frustration will not be a part of your job unless management asks realy the impossible. But when they do, you can prove to them that they are doing so.
Good luck!
I've been frustrated myself, and at first I tried to improve the situation. Which didn't exactly work out, because the organisation has a great resistance against improvement. Then I tried to ignore the problems, just do my job, 8 hours per day. That worked for some time, but then I noticed that I've become dull. It's never a good idea for a developer to learn to ignore problems, as this hurts one's skill for refactoring and debugging. Now it's option a).
I would recommend reading books and blogs on motivation and ongoing improvement. Two examples:
After reading, try to work to improve your workplace and your organization. It's not easy but fun.
Frustration builds up over time. Perhaps it's time to get another job where everything feels fresh and new but remembering that at the end of the day every business has problems and in time you'll be back to feeling the same way you do now.
Wow that was certainly a glass half empty answer :)
i am also getting frustrated as a developer (at the quality of programs i need to "reverse engineer") posted here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/964175/frustration-at-standard-of-programming-at-work
i think its good to talk to ur boss or colleagues first
sometimes it does not seem to work out like i sometimes feel, i also now feel like resigning