Zr40's recent activity
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Comment on 4G networks - does SMS and standard voice calls still work if 3G/2G networks are shutting down? in ~tech
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2023) in ~health.mental
Zr40 Link ParentWell this took an unexpected turn. HR's stance changed from "we can support you in your next move" to "we want you to start looking for employment elsewhere". For myself, this is a better outcome...Well this took an unexpected turn.
HR's stance changed from "we can support you in your next move" to "we want you to start looking for employment elsewhere".
For myself, this is a better outcome than if I had just resigned, because the company would be required to go to court and pay severance if they intend to terminate without cause. For the company, I can't even begin to understand why such a destructive HR policy would be in place.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2023) in ~health.mental
Zr40 Link ParentI'm not sure this fits best in ~health.mental, but yeah, pay is an issue too. Given the value I provide and considering the profitability of the company it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for...I'm not sure this fits best in ~health.mental, but yeah, pay is an issue too.
Given the value I provide and considering the profitability of the company it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask for market rates. HR disagrees, though not just with my argument; they also disagree about the market rates themselves while acknowledging that other companies do pay those rates.
Supposedly my pay is already higher than the owner's (an argument that ignores ownership itself) and many of our non-tech co-workers, therefore I should be happy already. Still, they didn't outright shut down this branch of the conversation, which is a win I suppose?
HR did offer that in case we don't come to a resolution (either on pay or on solving the issues), they would fully support me in the process of moving on to a suitable company, to help me obtain the rate I'm requesting.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2023) in ~health.mental
Zr40 Link ParentThe complaints supposedly came from many people. I've not been told any names, but I have no indication it would have been anyone directly related to this project. My manager was upset he had to...The complaints supposedly came from many people. I've not been told any names, but I have no indication it would have been anyone directly related to this project.
My manager was upset he had to 'make repairs everywhere' (at least that's how he described it). He also seems to have a different view on expectations than we previously discussed. Currently he's vacationing so I haven't been able to discuss this further.
HR scheduled a followup meeting next monday, and I have only a faint hope that it can still be resolved to our mutual satisfaction.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2023) in ~health.mental
Zr40 Link ParentThanks a lot for your thoughts. I'm still trying to make sense of it all. What HR told me seems so petty, but petty stuff doesn't go all the way up to HR by itself so I must still be missing the...Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I'm still trying to make sense of it all. What HR told me seems so petty, but petty stuff doesn't go all the way up to HR by itself so I must still be missing the bigger picture.
HR told me things like:
- I should have had the intranet post approved first. (This wasn't policy before.)
- I created a placeholder logo that's visually appealing, but it incorporates the company logo which is considered inappropriate use. (We incorporate the company logo basically everywhere.)
- I updated my email signature to indicate I am now working on this project, but also including my role has offended people. (The role has been part of my signature for years.)
- In the intranet post I used 'we' when describing the project which makes unspecified people feel excluded. (This is the item that confuses me most.)
It is indeed normal to have a PM assigned to projects, and as far as I know the project itself isn't in question. It's just not at a stage yet where it could benefit from having a PM. Discussing this with Julio is out of the question (I've tried), and I feel there would not be problems discussing this if anyone else was assigned as PM.
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Comment on Hi, how are you? Mental health support and discussion thread (August 2023) in ~health.mental
Zr40 LinkI'm having difficulties in the workplace. I'm nominally lead software engineer at our company. I self-identify as a top contributor. I also perform the role of SRE; this is not recognized by the...I'm having difficulties in the workplace.
I'm nominally lead software engineer at our company. I self-identify as a top contributor. I also perform the role of SRE; this is not recognized by the company however.
There's this mission-critical piece of software (our image generation backend for our primary revenue-generating platform) that's poorly maintained, unspecified, and doesn't have any tests. The original authors have long left the company, and nobody likes to work on it. If you're a software engineer, you likely know of similar software at your place of work.
I've submitted a proposal to design and implement a replacement for this software. It would be well-documented, well-specified, have quality tests, CI, etc, all the things you'd expect of high quality software.
My boss, let's call him Harry, thought this replacement might grow to be a central image backend for all of our other platforms as well. Those platforms have wildly differing requirements so it didn't seem a good idea to me at the time, but we agreed to have an informal chat with the other teams.
The result of that chat is what I had expected: they didn't really show any interest at the moment, but they were willing to provide input. We created a Slack channel for this purpose.
I've shared my technical design in the channel. Nobody replied. I had to actively chase down people for their input, they didn't know what to reply at first, and finally they shared that they didn't have any concrete ideas and rather first wait for the proof of concept.
Next, I've discussed with Harry what my responsibilities would be for this project, which we wrote down.
Finally, the day arrived from which I could work on this project full-time. I've shared an update on our company intranet, as is our custom. In hindsight this was a mistake, however, everyone responded positively and was proud that such a project was possible within our company.
However, once I arrived at the office, the proverbial shit began hitting the fan. I was told that some people are having their toes stepped on. My direct boss had to 'make repairs' in lots of places. And others, who have had never contributed anything to this project in the preceding months, would suddenly keep themselves quiet which supposedly is a signal of disagreement.
Although I've communicated extensively about this project with people that actually have a stake in its success, people are telling me I'm doing it wrong. But nobody is telling me what exactly it is I'm doing wrong. The first time I heard anything concrete is from HR. That's not supposed to happen, our company prides itself on its open communication! I still can't understand that even up to this day nobody communicated their concerns directly to me.
I'm terrible with people. I probably have Asperger's. I do my utmost, but it takes so much energy. That's why I work in tech.
We've agreed that I would take charge of this project, because of my domain knowledge, skills and enthusiasm. It's a project that doesn't involve people and where I can let my skills and creative energy flow. However, a few days ago it was decided to assign a project manager (let's call him Julio) without even discussing this with me. The project isn't even in its proof-of-concept phase yet. I'm the sole contributor to this project. Aside from the fact that me telling Julio to tell me what to do is just silly, I can't tell a project manager to tell me which creative things I need to do in what order. On top of this, Julio has been product owner for my team in the past, his style of management seriously aggravates me to the point where I had to call in sick. (He was then removed as product owner.)
I can't deal with this anymore and I'm strongly considering handing in my resignation.
VoLTE is not a proprietary protocol. It is defined by the same standards bodies (GSMA, 3GPP) that define LTE itself. It makes use of well-known internet protocols such as SIP and RTP. The Permanent Reference Document defining VoLTE is public: https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IR.92-v7.0.pdf
There is no fundamental or legal restriction for an open-source LTE-capable firmware that prevents it from supporting VoLTE.