DEV Community

Discussion on: I've just started a new job and they want me to work with technology I see as no benefit to my career, what do I do?

Collapse
 
sloan profile image
Sloan the DEV Moderator • Edited

Thanks for your reply @colinmtech , I do appreciate it 🙏

It's not harsh, it's very realistic. I spent the second half of my VBA career maintaining legacy code and it's part of any developer job.

This is Greenfield at the moment, so you're going to want to pick what's 'in' now, right?

I want to stay on the JavaScript train at the moment and develop in that area.

I don't want to sound entitled, but guess I am 🙃 the thing is I don't like to waste my time and that's how I'm viewing this is going to turn out, terrible attitude I know but at 41 I don't want to waste any time at all.

Collapse
 
colinmtech profile image
Colin Morgan

I definitely hear you. Nothing is worse than knowing better but not being listened to. Make sure you make your professional opinion known. Not much else you can do except be ready to save the day when the time comes.

Collapse
 
craser profile image
Chris Raser

I’ve been there. It’s helpful to know WHY the other platform was chosen, and it’s reasonable to ask. (But do it diplomatically, obviously.)

When I ask, I usually find surprisingly level-headed answers. Sometimes it’s price. Sometimes it’s because the Java option fits available in-house expertise. Sometimes it’s easy to integrate with their ERP system, and the more “modern” option doesn’t have that plugin yet.

Understanding why you were overruled may help alleviate the feeling that you were ignored, and may even help you feel more motivated.

If you really decide you’re unhappy, it never hurts to look around at what other opportunities are out there.

Thread Thread
 
evanoman profile image
Evan Oman • Edited

I’ve been there. It’s helpful to know WHY the other platform was chosen, and it’s reasonable to ask.

This is my main response to the OP's situation. It sounds like OP's solution uses modern practices but (a) is unproven and (b) still needs to be built out. Both (a) and (b) represent risk for the business whereas the Java solution, as ugly as it may seem to some, (a) has been used before and (b) exists and has support (training even). Businesses can't always afford to take a chance on newish tech, if a tool already exists which meets customer requirements then there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

Thread Thread
 
sloan profile image
Sloan the DEV Moderator

Thanks @evanoman , these are good points and you can understand why the business would want to go with tried and tested over the other options.

I've spent today familiarising myself with the system using postman to explore the API and not making a great deal of progress.

I have spent the majority of my time learning JavaScript and associated frameworks, I made this abundantly clear in my interview.

So the learning curve involved is steep as I'm not familiar with it at all making barrier to entry quite high.

I'm trying to embrace it and get familiar with it, it's going to be a tough ol' slug. And for what? To be the company expert in the CMS, no thanks.

It appears that the people making the decisions have been wowed by the marketing and I'm the person that has to make it a reality for them.

I was describing what it was I needed to do with the system today to one of the senior devs today and he was laughing his head off at how clunky it all was. He was laughing as he was relieved it wasn't him doing the work 🤷‍♀️

Thread Thread
 
evanoman profile image
Evan Oman • Edited

I absolutely understand where you are coming from. My current task is post-hoc unit testing a legacy C++ system w/ 5k line functions and no docs. Obviously I don't want to be doing that. However I am slogging through because I know there is a lot of potential at my company (assuming I survive my current tasking). Additionally this task, as orthogonal to my interests as it may be, is still providing me with valuable experience in problem solving, test writing, and refactoring. I can't imagine what I am learning now won't be useful someday.

So if you don't see any potential in your position after you survive this first task, and you have other options, then I wouldn't blame you for leaving. However if you believe in this company and can see yourself enjoying future tasking then I would bite the bullet, face the task head-on, and try to learn as much as possible.