If you had to restart your job at your current employer, what would you do differently?

200ok@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 37 points –
  • You get to keep all your current memories and knowledge.
  • Everyone/everything else is a clean slate.
  • You're starting now (not going back to the past).
32

Demand my wfh arrangement be in writing, rather than just a "gentleman's agreement"

Letting it bleed so much into life. My job and my hobby (code) have significant overlap. Stuff I learned on the job started making hobby coding not fun and shortcomings at the job started to feel like my own personal failures. I am slowly learning to separate my work and personal identities, to understand that my employer's stuff is not my own, and to leave work at work when work ends. I wish I had done that from the first day though.

I would do it all over again but I would do the bare minimum. I would do what my job duties entailed in my contract and never give any extra.

I would have refused to participate in that Foosball tournament that a coworker begged me to be in because he needed an even number for teams.

A disaster, seriously.

last time we had a foosball tournament, I was made to play on my own against teams of two.

I think it helped me not being slowed down by someone less capable. I won against the other 4 teams on my own.

I don't think they will make me play on my own again lol

Master PowerPoint. People still love their PowerPoint.

Serious question. Is this something that GenAI can help with?

It could help you stay on topic and build good opening and summary slides. A good opening slide helps orient the audience and a good closing side summarizes well. Both help in making sure a decision is reached or the audience is aligned after the presentation.

Maybe. I would need it to follow specific brand guidelines and team requests but at the same time know when to make the creative decision to break rules and dismiss requests. I don't think the tech is there yet. I have already incorporated other AI tools in my workflow but they have only helped on small and simple tasks.

What I really need is for Microsoft to create a version of PowerPoint that's meant for designers.

Thanks for clarifying. I honestly didn't know and this is great insight!

You’re starting now (not going back to the past).

This makes it a bit more difficult since I designed most of the architecture at my work. It would take a lot of work to be taken seriously again and not have my opinion being discarded because I'm the newcomer.

I would have to prove myself all over again though, not something I'd look forward to.

I would not mention as much of my personal life as I did.

People are going to make decisions based on more than just merit.

It might not be fair, done consciously, or with malice, but it happens.

I was going to write very much the same thing.

I've given too much information about my health, and now it gets used against me.

Your employer, managers, supervisors; they're not you're friends. You can and should remain friendly to an extent, but be careful what information you give away.

I like that.... "Remain friendly, but remember they're not your friends".

I wouldn't start with this company if I was starting today.

This is a very different place than it was when I started.

Is it possible to have two cell numbers on one phone?

I'd give out my burner number if anyone outside of HR asked for my contact info.

Yep, dual sim is a thing. However, my employer wants full control of the phone so they provided an iPhone. (I'm an Android user) The biggest pro of 2 phones is that you can silence the work phone outside work hours.

With my 1st temp job ('99) I told my boss that the best feature on the work phone the power button was. The moment I left the building it would be turned off. Alas, those modern phones have a complete sequence to go trough to get them off, so I now use the automated do not desturb. Alas, iPhone has only times you can set daily, instead weekday dependent times. Between 18:00 and 7:00 the thing is quiet, no exceptions.

Interesting! Can work track your location via your work phone?

Yep, when they have control overthe phone, yep. This iPhone tells me it's managed by my organisation so they can do what they want with it, including looking up the location of the device.

Thank you for confirming. If I have to get a work phone in the future, I'll get a separate device.

Not have any expectations about excelling in my career, nor any expectations about having support in serving the public, although that is entirely what we do.