Helping Out or Doing the Work? A Difficult Decision

[wolram]

So how far should i go in helping him out, i mean he is supposed to be a hands on engineer but it seems for many years he has been a paper pusher, he really does know squat, on the other hand he is easy going, but should i be the one one to put all the ideas in front of him, no one else will know.

 

[Math Is Hard]

how often does he need to be bailed out?

 

[wolram]

how often does he need to be bailed out?

Every time there is a problem, normally he does not get involved in the day to day
hands on maintenance, he only comes into the equation when there may be significant down time or cost involved and managers need an estimation, an estimation he can not give without help.

 

[dst]

Just be a good guy...

 

[DaveC426913]

Every time there is a problem, normally he does not get involved in the day to day
hands on maintenance, he only comes into the equation when there may be significant down time or cost involved and managers need an estimation, an estimation he can not give without help.

Your brain's probably got all sorts of opinions about what you should do. What does your heart tell you?

What kind of story is this? And how does it end?

 

[wolram]

Your brain's probably got all sorts of opinions about what you should do. What does your heart tell you?

What kind of story is this? And how does it end?

Let things carry on i guess, it is not as if i would say anything to any one, i think they must find out for them selfs it can only be a matter of time, but then again he has lasted 2yrs.

 

[NeoDevin]

If he gets fired, do you get a promotion?

 

[rewebster]

He had to be hired for some reason

 

[wolram]

He had to be hired for some reason

The old boys network.

 

[wolram]

If he gets fired, do you get a promotion?

I doubt it, i was asked to take the job before he was hired, i hate paper work and pointless meetings.

 

[NeoDevin]

In that case I would suggest keeping him around to do your paperwork.

 

[turbo]

When I was a process chemist in a pulp mill, the company hired degreed chemical engineers directly out of college, and we chemists had to train them so they could be our bosses. Aside from the few that had interned in pulp mills they came in absolutely green, and even those that had interned had often interned in mills with chemical process that were very different from ours. Our mill was a Kraft pulp mill, and that is very different from a mill using a ground-wood process, a sulfite process, etc. Also, we had some very dangerous equipment like a Kraft chemical recovery boiler (BOOM! if safety systems fail) and a Rapson R3 chlorine dioxide generator. The upshot? Take care of the engineer you are teamed with, and he/she will cut you some slack. You get to do field-work, and they have to attend meetings, write reports on your findings, etc.

 

[chemisttree]

I would feel sooo worthless if my boss had to do all the paperwork and bail me out, coming up with all the answers to the problems as well. I might start to think that a total rookie could do my job as well as I could (and be more productive at it to boot!).
Count yourself lucky that your boss depends on your efforts as much as he does and that he is a nice guy.
The counter to that situation is less than desirable (shudder, shudder...).

 

[DaveC426913]

Here's something else to consider:

If you brough about events wherein this situation changed, like say, your boss were replaced with someone else...
Could things be a lot worse for you?

 

[Art]

Every time there is a problem, normally he does not get involved in the day to day
hands on maintenance, he only comes into the equation when there may be significant down time or cost involved and managers need an estimation, an estimation he can not give without help.

That's why managers have people work for them. A managers job isn't to know everything there is to know about something, it's to manage people who know everything there is to know about something. In fact there is no reason for a manager to know a single technical fact in an area he manages as that isn't what he/she is being paid for.

He may ask for your help in a nice way which seems to have given you the impression you are doing him a favour when you respond but unless you work in a very unorthodox structure then I think you are labouring under a delusion in terms of roles and responsibilities.

If you decide to go down the road of non-cooperation I suspect you will quickly learn the true meaning behind company hierarchies .

 

[wolram]

That's why managers have people work for them. A managers job isn't to know everything there is to know about something, it's to manage people who know everything there is to know about something. In fact there is no reason for a manager to know a single technical fact in an area he manages as that isn't what he/she is being paid for.

He may ask for your help in a nice way which seems to have given you the impression you are doing him a favour when you respond but unless you work in a very unorthodox structure then I think you are labouring under a delusion in terms of roles and responsibilities.

If you decide to go down the road of non-cooperation I suspect you will quickly learn the true meaning behind company hierarchies .

You missed the hands on part, there is not that much paper work maybe an hour a day
and two or three meetings a week which take a maximum of six hours, the rest of his time was supposed to be spent hands on,