"Fire starter" management of Electronics Engineers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pm
content: My cousin is an Engineering Manager of Electronics Engineers.His company is small and his job not so well payed.He wants to go "big time" and has been interviewing for bigger payingEngineering Manager jobs in big military engineeringdepartments, etc.However, he has one major problem. At all the "big time" Engineering Manager job interviews,they always ask the same question..as follows.."Give details of a time when one of your underling engineers offended you or did somethingwrong, and you had to meat out serious discipline and punishment to that engineer."..You see, virtually all the time, the engineers that work for him don't really do outrageouslywrong stuff, so he has never really had to meat out serious discipline.And since he has never really given major rollockings, it is stopping his progress in these interviews.The "big time" companies, according to him, wont give mangement jobs to anybody unless that person can fully describe having dealt out serious punishment to an underling engineer.He cant just make something up, because they cross question the details heavily, and it just showsif it is made up.As such, he has told me that now, he deliberately seeks to "start fires", and wind up certain engineers so thatthey start "having a go"...he then meats out discipline to the ones that start "playing up", or disagree with him,or dont apologise to him for something they havent even done.He then has the storiesto tell at the interviews.He told me that he first selects his "target engineer"...always someone who is kind of isolated, and notreally got their "feet under the table"..maybe a contractor who is new. He then "gaslights" them...eg, ask them why they haven't done ajob in a way that he says he told them to...when he never actually told them to do it like that in the first place.Or give an engineer a job...then quickly give another job and tell him to get on with that instead....and then scold him/herfor not having finished the first job, despite "having had so much time to do it".He tells me he keeps "gaslighting" the "target engineers", in the hope that he gets some "chat" back...and then he can rollock the heck into them.....and have the story to tell at the interviews.But I wonder if this is helpful to his current company, and wonder if I should tell them, perhaps anonymously.?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:01:42 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pmYou must be kidding us.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:06:22 pm
content: Wow. Judging from this thread and other's that Faringdon has posted all I can say is that I'm glad that I never had to work in Jolly Olde England!

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:08:24 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pmThat's great! Just tell the interviewer that and the reason is becasue he had a hand in the hiring process and this has lent a hand to having good people working that don't cause serious problems.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:11:48 pm
content: Are you out of friends and now posting stories for you cousins?Look, not like many others, I like having you on this forum, because it is never known what story you are about to post next.But buddy, for any non- performance issues you report them to HR. It is HR who deals with laggers, not the manager. Unless it is not how it is done in the UK, in which case it must be a tough shit hole to live in.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:14:59 pm
content: Someones been hitting the mill-stone again.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:27:20 pm
content: For fucks sake... I've never reported anything before but isn't this exactly what this dude got a "time out" for last time? Welcome to the EEVBlog sewer.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 12, 2024, 11:46:37 pm
content: That said, as often with the OP's posts, there's still something to extract.The idea of some managers using some of their subordinates, even in highly questionable ways, to enhance their own career is, unfortunately, a reality.The way the OP put it in story is odd, but the unfortunate reality behind it is not completely fictional.

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 12:29:06 am
content: Story doesn't make sense.If pissing people off, so that you can "tell a story without lying", is the motive, then what about having to lie about being the instigator of the strife?If you can lie about being the instigator, you can lie about meting out punishments. Because I don't think being an instigator of strife would help you get a job.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 12:45:37 am
content: Quote from: Bud on July 12, 2024, 11:11:48 pmSounds like you've never worked in a company which doesn't employ five bureaucrats to every productive employee.. and other places are the shithole...

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 01:18:17 am
content: I heard there's a company building a life-like AI humanoid robot, maybe apply there?Quote from: Faringdon on July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pmWith the price of groceries these days?

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 03:36:11 am
content: You must have a unique skill set, and an even more unique social circle. The number of incredibly bad situations you and your friends and relatives have encountered is far beyond anything I have heard of elsewhere. Rather than attacking any one of the problems I would just pick up stakes and move somewhere far away, with the whole clan and friendship group. No need to survey or evaluate where, anyplace would have to be better.

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 04:58:22 am
content: Group wierd interview questions, oftensounding like they come from a Satanic [insert demon of your faith here,] AI have became a thing. I'm in the job market now, and often face group interviews where you can never make any one happy. That said, if your "gaslighting" your own team, your either a sociopath future CEO, or a really, really, bad manager with no imagination who would be better off staying where you are.I have really bad luck in the job market, but I've only ever had one common interview question across the board. That question is:" Having been able to work on such complex problems at the University, will you be bored here?:""Self defeating / self fulfilling prophecy " is a known thing. About forty percent of humans have a "inner voice " according to recent studies, that challenge or guide our thoughts.I'd suggest finding a licensed counselor, priest, pastor, MD, someone or something to have a serious set of talks about "cognitive dissonance " so you have a happier life.Kidding aside, seriously, there are therapy methods, either medical, or spiritual, that could really help you learn ti be happy. The first step is to ask. The second step is to follow through.Try it, There is no shame in seeking help.Steve

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 08:27:00 am
content: Here in Japan, the behaviour in the OP is considered 'power harrassment' and is illegal, and will get you shitcanned if reported.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 09:58:27 am
content: @Faringdon, there is really no stigma in you / your cousin seeking psychiatric help these days. I think it would do you far more good than these patently fabricated weekend posts.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 10:13:47 am
content: Quote from: Faringdon on July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pmBullshit, on several levels for several reasons. As usual.Any newbie bumbling into a thread started by Faringdon/treex should be aware of his reputation - and not regard it as representative.If - and that's a big if - you have a real question rather than a fantasy, then simply ask the question rather than dress it up in a fantasy.BTW, look up the meanings of the homonyms "meat", "meet", and "mete".

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 10:21:55 am
content: Quote from: LaserSteve on July 13, 2024, 04:58:22 amIt is worth having a few "sacrificial interviews" before one for a job that actually interests you. That enables you to gather typical questions and prepare canned answers.In that specific case, I would mutter something along the lines of "there have been enjoyable complex problems, but I expect the problems your engineers face are just as complex in new and different ways. I'm looking forward to enjoying new challenges and opportunities". That should satisfy HR droids that are only interested in seeing your reactions and whether you would fit in.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 11:07:36 am
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on July 12, 2024, 11:06:22 pmSucker

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 11:09:35 am
content: Quote from: Kim Christensen on July 13, 2024, 12:29:06 amOh dear.Bringing rational thoughts into a Faringdon/treez thread doesn't "make sense"

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 11:11:50 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on July 12, 2024, 11:46:37 pmOnly in the sense that you can extract the time from stopped clocks.IffFaringdon/treez had a coherent point, he should make that point.

author: Andy Chee
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 12:24:04 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pmYou have zero liabilities to the company, so zero need to tell them.Let them live or die by their own sword.

author: armandine2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 12:51:31 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on July 12, 2024, 10:56:42 pma reasonable question, better to focus on the disparity in technical competence.The "underlings" often need protecting from themselves - and their potential to damage expensive and important hardware will have to be managed. A manager might well be asked if they can reflect on this with some examples.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 02:17:11 pm
content: Quote from: Kim Christensen on July 13, 2024, 12:29:06 amBecause it's easier to omit this detail and blame everything on the employee than to make up a fictional but credible story from ground up and have answers to all the follow-up questions that the interviewer could ask.It's like spotting people who have learned something from the books and never actually attempted it. If you have your own experience in the area, you quickly see that their understanding is quite superficial and they miss all the tiny but important details which actually make the thing work. So if you are an expert dick to your employees, you will recognize that the applicant is bs'ing you and has never really been as much of a dick as you are.

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 04:42:48 pm
content: Quote from: magic on July 13, 2024, 02:17:11 pmDefinitely some truth to that. But then, that's not a company I'd want to work for anyway. I would have framed my response in a different way. Something along the lines about my superior supervisory skills working in synergy with upper management/HR/hiring resulted in very few problems with my engineers. Then, I'd tell a truthful story about a minor disciplinary action.Something to remember about job interviews:It goes both ways. You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2024, 04:57:02 pm
content: Quote from: Kim Christensen on July 13, 2024, 04:42:48 pmMaybe military contractors pay well.Or maybe this a Faringdon thread.Maybe both

author: pardo-bsso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2024, 02:16:40 pm
content: Hi Faringdon,sometimes keeping track of your train of thinking is difficult via text.Would you agree that having a quick zoom session (or other conferencing platform) is better to help you?As we know in the corporate world, while the interruption is very annoying, a simple chat can solve understanding issues that linger for many days.Please setup a call and we'll join.Regards