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aden_collector
Emu Egg
Joined: Jun 10, 2012
Age: 48
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:16 pm Post subject: bored at work. No one understands. |
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I'm able to hold down and keep my job as a computer programmer. I feeling being an aspie helps me write a computer programmer. I feel the best about work if I'm given programming assignments and keeping busy. If I'm not busy at work, I tend to go crazy with obssesive thoughts. I need 'mental" simulation at work during the day so I can relax and remain calm at night. Hard mental work for me is just as tiring as physical work.
Starting roughly 2 months ago, I went through a dry spell at work where I got my programming changes done, debugged and working. I was literally bored for several days. During weekly meetings at work, I updated my manager and strongly hinted I was done with my changes and could do more. I also offered to help one of co-workers with his work. I don't think anybody understood.
Roughly a month ago, I got a new project to work on: Writting code to interace with a vehicle navigation system and have it talk to a smart cruise control. I was able to keep busy for about 3 weeks writting code and learning a lot. I discovered last week that the code I was going write has been already written and is part of the navigation system package.
My manager told me to learn how the code works as much as possible. 3 days later I am going crazy. I learn a new system the best by programming enhancements to it. I offered to one of my co-workers who is leader of the project that I can write "plug-in" code modules to display data he might need to see. No one has taken it up on my author. I am wondering how to approach my manager about this.
Any advice? Thank you for your help. |
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questor
Hermit
Joined: Apr 24, 2011
Posts: 1983
Location: Twilight Zone
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:13 am Post subject: Communications issue |
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Your boss is not a mind reader. Just tell your boss in plain English that you are ready for more work. As for your co-workers, many people don't like to have their co-workers horning in on their work. Each person has their own way of doing things, and having another person working closely with them may make them uncomfortable. Your being so good and fast with programming may also make the other workers feel that you are showing them up, and making them look like they are working too slow, so that is another reason that they may not be open to working on projects with you. From now on, when you are done with a project, just tell your boss that you are ready for the next one. If there isn't one immediately available, don't be surprised if the boss gives you make-work projects in the mean time, to keep you busy. If you have ideas on programming that can work with what others in the office are doing do tell the boss about it. If he is interested he can put you on that as another project, but remember, you have to tell him these things.--He is not a mind reader.  |
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Azmodania
Raven
Joined: Jan 25, 2011
Posts: 115
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| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:09 am Post subject: |
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I am a programmer too and recognize myself in your post. I think our neurology makes it easier for us to program, but work is about alot more than just programming.
I believe I am lucky having an insightful supervisor, who piles a large amount of tasks for me to work on.
Together we figured out categories and priorities. Now I know how his mind works regarding that and I can do the sorting on my own.
It takes time, but if you keep delivering quality work, hopefully they will realize how much you have to offer and utilize that.
I was given more and more responsibilities and can now just update my supervisor when I make decisions.
He typically agrees and lets me do what I think is best. This felt really good (not currently working, but have been for many years and looking forward to being able to go back again).
You are quite new still at this job and settled people seem to require a lengthy period of time to assess a new person on a social/personal level.
I have found that it works better/faster if you hold back a bit on showing your work quality. Co-workers seemed much happier when I spoke about faults I made or about being stuck with a certain problem. They did not seem to mind me making these situations up as no one ever was really interested in the problem itself. What I understood from that phenomenon is that they just want you to portray yourself as harmless. That you are not at all capable of taking over their position or threaten in any way.
Ofcourse this might all be mis-perception from my end. I just write how I feel it worked in the places I have been.
I cannot idle well. I hate it.
I have not encountered much of it luckily and when I did I just looked for online free education material on the domain I was working on.
Many universities offer material on the internet which can keep you mind busy. Look for something that enriches your background knowledge for future tasks and you will benefit from it in your work (as well as those you work for).
I fear you will need to be patient for your boss and co-workers to start appreciating your efforts.
For myself maintaining a relatively low profile/visibility worked. When I had finished a certain task, I added remarks about related tasks in my report.
Often after a short period of time, the supervisor wanted me to execute those related tasks.
When hinting for the extra tasks, be careful to present that in a smart way.
- report task A finished
- mention that you observed an inefficient mechanism that would possibly hamper performance in future or stressed circumstances
- stress that it does not cause any problems RIGHT NOW, people don't like it when you point out all_that_is_wrong
- mention 3-4 possible approaches for the efficiency improvement, very shortly, 5-6 words each maximum
- leave this lure, do not expect any response, forget it and do not mention it until your supervisor assigns you this task! (they will think you waste time if you talk about such things too often)
A nice side effect of this approach is that you have extra work that you can fit in the time assigned for task A.
I do all those investigations beforehand if the deadline / situation allows for this.
Often people like it better if you are busy on a task a bit longer, funnily enough. Does not make any sense business-wise to me, but I had that experience in quite a few commercial workplaces.
Regarding your navigation interface project being a duplicate: this happens alot.
Last year I was requested to make something of which we already have 4 working solutions.
It does not make any sense and I fear it never will.
I try to view that they want a wide range of choices so they can pick the best solution. Also what works now may not be profitable in the future, hence you are asked to create what seems to be a duplicate.
I like creating the new, umpteenth solution as different from the existing ones as I can. It is a nice learning experience and as time progresses, you may find out that it is actually used and the older solutions are phased out.
This all takes alot of time though, so don't keep your eye on it. Those discoveries are nice surprises then 
The " learn the current code" task does not work for me either. I need a goal, a task, a problem. Working on that, I learn the code as a side-effect.
Your manager probably has no clue that can be like that, nor will he be interested in this. Key is to find a way that works for you and that minimizes friction with your surroundings.
Go write that plug-in, test it for yourself if you can do that. Do not tell anybody about it yet, unless they stare at your screen and ask what you are doing. Even then you can just reply "I am getting familiar with this and that code".
Later when you hear somebody is struggling you can offer your plug-in humbily (none of my offers has ever been taken up in all these years; still it is a good thing to offer, if only for the gesture).
Those bits of code have been useful for my own work though.
Because I worked " ahead", prepared for future situations, I have been able to make tough deadlines and swiftly troubleshoot and fix urgent issues. Nobody knows how I did that, or that I used the selfmade-project-code I wrote a year ago. They don't care. But managers do see that you are productive and will reward you for that. |
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ooo
Velociraptor
Joined: Apr 09, 2012
Posts: 494
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| Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:24 am Post subject: |
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| Azmodania wrote: | I am a programmer too and recognize myself in your post. I think our neurology makes it easier for us to program, but work is about alot more than just programming.
I believe I am lucky having an insightful supervisor, who piles a large amount of tasks for me to work on.
Together we figured out categories and priorities. Now I know how his mind works regarding that and I can do the sorting on my own.
It takes time, but if you keep delivering quality work, hopefully they will realize how much you have to offer and utilize that.
I was given more and more responsibilities and can now just update my supervisor when I make decisions.
He typically agrees and lets me do what I think is best. This felt really good (not currently working, but have been for many years and looking forward to being able to go back again).
You are quite new still at this job and settled people seem to require a lengthy period of time to assess a new person on a social/personal level.
I have found that it works better/faster if you hold back a bit on showing your work quality. Co-workers seemed much happier when I spoke about faults I made or about being stuck with a certain problem. They did not seem to mind me making these situations up as no one ever was really interested in the problem itself. What I understood from that phenomenon is that they just want you to portray yourself as harmless. That you are not at all capable of taking over their position or threaten in any way.
Ofcourse this might all be mis-perception from my end. I just write how I feel it worked in the places I have been.
I cannot idle well. I hate it.
I have not encountered much of it luckily and when I did I just looked for online free education material on the domain I was working on.
Many universities offer material on the internet which can keep you mind busy. Look for something that enriches your background knowledge for future tasks and you will benefit from it in your work (as well as those you work for).
I fear you will need to be patient for your boss and co-workers to start appreciating your efforts.
For myself maintaining a relatively low profile/visibility worked. When I had finished a certain task, I added remarks about related tasks in my report.
Often after a short period of time, the supervisor wanted me to execute those related tasks.
When hinting for the extra tasks, be careful to present that in a smart way.
- report task A finished
- mention that you observed an inefficient mechanism that would possibly hamper performance in future or stressed circumstances
- stress that it does not cause any problems RIGHT NOW, people don't like it when you point out all_that_is_wrong
- mention 3-4 possible approaches for the efficiency improvement, very shortly, 5-6 words each maximum
- leave this lure, do not expect any response, forget it and do not mention it until your supervisor assigns you this task! (they will think you waste time if you talk about such things too often)
A nice side effect of this approach is that you have extra work that you can fit in the time assigned for task A.
I do all those investigations beforehand if the deadline / situation allows for this.
Often people like it better if you are busy on a task a bit longer, funnily enough. Does not make any sense business-wise to me, but I had that experience in quite a few commercial workplaces.
Regarding your navigation interface project being a duplicate: this happens alot.
Last year I was requested to make something of which we already have 4 working solutions.
It does not make any sense and I fear it never will.
I try to view that they want a wide range of choices so they can pick the best solution. Also what works now may not be profitable in the future, hence you are asked to create what seems to be a duplicate.
I like creating the new, umpteenth solution as different from the existing ones as I can. It is a nice learning experience and as time progresses, you may find out that it is actually used and the older solutions are phased out.
This all takes alot of time though, so don't keep your eye on it. Those discoveries are nice surprises then
The " learn the current code" task does not work for me either. I need a goal, a task, a problem. Working on that, I learn the code as a side-effect.
Your manager probably has no clue that can be like that, nor will he be interested in this. Key is to find a way that works for you and that minimizes friction with your surroundings.
Go write that plug-in, test it for yourself if you can do that. Do not tell anybody about it yet, unless they stare at your screen and ask what you are doing. Even then you can just reply "I am getting familiar with this and that code".
Later when you hear somebody is struggling you can offer your plug-in humbily (none of my offers has ever been taken up in all these years; still it is a good thing to offer, if only for the gesture).
Those bits of code have been useful for my own work though.
Because I worked " ahead", prepared for future situations, I have been able to make tough deadlines and swiftly troubleshoot and fix urgent issues. Nobody knows how I did that, or that I used the selfmade-project-code I wrote a year ago. They don't care. But managers do see that you are productive and will reward you for that. |
This.
Sometimes you can "test" code and come up with projects for yourself or enhancements to existing projects to fill your free time.
Under-promise and over-deliver. |
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Kiddymonster6
Emu Egg
Joined: Aug 20, 2012
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:27 am Post subject: |
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I have a university degree which I found hard to get because I found the seminars and dicussions difficult although I did not understand why. I didn;t know about ASDs then. Since graduating (I took the wrong course, I chose one that everyone else was doing because I didn't have the confidence to pursue what I was good at ie creative writing and foreign languages,)
I have had a string of rubbish paid jobs which have done nothing for my confidence and I hate supervision. I am doing an office cleaning job. I don't really have to interact with people which is good from an Aspie viewpoint but I find the job so mundane and boring and there is no chance to progress. I get so bored because of the acute lack of mental stimulation. I want to find another job which is better paid and better hours but due to the recession it is better to hang on to what I have as I would be up against 60 applicants for one job who are not aspies so I would be at a disadvantage. I have always been taught to be honest about the fact I have Diabetes and impaired dexterity and co-ordination but I have not applied for a new job since being diagnosed as an aspie. i know my eye contact is crap which I know is what lets me down in interviews plus psychometric tests and stuff freak me out. i also find group interviews to be extremely unfair to aspies as we are expected to interact. a couple of years ago I applied to be a special constable but did not get it because of the interaction day. I did not know for sure I was aspie then but such assessment criteria should be abolished in line with the Disability Discrimination Act.
There is nothing else I can do workwise. I often hide and relax for a while or try and find things to fill up the time. IT is only two hours an evening but it feels like two days at times. |
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MacDragard
Velociraptor
Joined: Nov 08, 2011
Posts: 437
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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| You have to be more proactive. If you get bored, you have to tell your manager straight forward that you need work to do. |
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ictus75
Velociraptor
Joined: Sep 08, 2011
Posts: 431
Location: Just North of South
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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This can happen to an Aspie in various jobs. I've had it happen to me before. Boredom is bad, boredom at work is even worse. At my current job I've evn offered to take on other projects that need to be done and have just been sitting there, but to no avail. I've been proactive about it, but still nothing. So I just find my own little things to do, whether they matter or not, just to stay busy. It's tough at times to be underutilized.
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“No great art has ever been made without the artist having known danger” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke |
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