Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

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Sindarin
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Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by Sindarin »

I work in a big company complex which owns a small department for advertisment and web services.
The whole department is composed by me (the programmer/flash/updating person), A web designer (web layouts and desktop publishing) and our art director (the 'leader' of the department). We do jobs for the company's websites and for external clients as well.

My primary job is to update every website we have made every day with news documents I receive etc.
I also update our intranet, deal with server downtime problems (hint, hint, no IT in our department), help customers use their email client, do web design work (when the designer is away) and do all the programming and debugging for the sites we already have or are currently working on. I get a basic salary of 700 euros a month.
I am pretty busy all day dealing with all the above and new challenges that appear and nearly have no time or proper environment to deal with programming complex web applications.

We currently give all CMS, e-shop etc. related works to an external programmer to handle them for us.
Our art director complains that I must learn how to create CMS and use programs like Joomla so we don't have to pay him.

Our art director is a person that just wants the work to be done and take the money, he doesn't do what he was supposed, in fact, he doesn't care. He do designs websites... in Dreamweaver with tables. He uses Flash as well... Flash 4. I've seen some of his external works and they are just awful designed, bloated and search engine unfriendly as he even uses Flash for menus or even text!
I put all my heart to every page I make because it is something I love to do. But he doesn't care.

Of course to survive I also do freelance jobs in most of my free time. In those sites the result gets a lot better because I am a boss of my own work and decide how to do it, so I use only the best. Full CSS/JS, PHP-driven websites.
Lately I have encountered a client who wanted a CMS to update his news and updates page. After a lot of research I decided it was time to learn SQL and do it because more clients will ask for it. So I did and so far it's progressing nicely. I got so excited about this that I want to do every complex site we currently have or going to do with PHP & SQL so to simplify the process of updating. The problem I have is that:

I am not paid enough for the effort I will put into,
The art director will start asking for making CMS for every job I do, even demand it,
My work environment is not exactly what you call programming friendly,
As you read above I am kind of jack-of-all-trades, I have more that enough work to keep me on my toes, so that will mean more headache for me if I reveal that I know SQL,

Also I've asked and learned that none of the previous web developers that came before me knew what I do.
In fact the only things they knew is how to edit sites in Dreamweaver and edit pictures in Photoshop. 8O

I am full of energy and excited when a new project comes up and always tell my art director to do the websites with CSS, use JS libraries for cool effects, optimize the pages and do some SEO and he just says, do whatever you want as long it works, it's in the timeframe, and I can edit it in Dreamweaver. :(

So what should I do? Tell them I know SQL or keep it for my external jobs only?
Last edited by Sindarin on Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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onion2k
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Re: Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by onion2k »

Change job.

No company ever changes the way they do things to such an extent that someone in a management position will find it harder to do their job. If your company started writing sites properly then the 'Art Director' would find people can see how bad he is at his job. He isn't going to let that happen. If you want to write better websites then your only option is to move to a company where it already happens.

You mention your salary in euros ... does that mean you're in the Euro zone somewhere? If so you can get a job anywhere in EU without needing a work permit or VISA or anything. You're in a great position.
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Sindarin
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Re: Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by Sindarin »

Change job.
Good idea. :D No really, it often comes to my mind.
You mention your salary in euros ... does that mean you're in the Euro zone somewhere? If so you can get a job anywhere in EU without needing a work permit or VISA or anything. You're in a great position.
Yes, I am from Greece. Still the basic salary stays the same while prices rise with each month passing by. If this keeps going I don't think we all here will have a second choice. :o
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Ollie Saunders
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Re: Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by Ollie Saunders »

Hey Sindarin. It sounds like you're in pain. I know what you're going through and I second onion2k advice. Change job. How much notice do you have to give?
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Sindarin
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Re: Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by Sindarin »

It sounds like you're in pain.
Well to do the job you wanted is a good thing. To not be able to do your job right because of some j**k it isn't.
How much notice do you have to give?
I don't know but before I give up this steady job I need an alternative source of kind-of-steady income. I am also a game developer so I need to get this started already (health problems were holding me back from doing so this year.)
I also plan on making a nice interactive multimedia presentation with my new features. (That was what made me stand out in taking this job).


In my current job I see day by day clients calling and asking for their website to be remade web 2.0 style. No duh, many of them have still 1999 style design. 8O So that makes me want more and more to go with PHP/SQL.
josh
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Re: Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by josh »

I was in the same position, not with SQL but working at a job where I felt like I was being held back by the social hierarchy. I let the stress build up and I wasn't happy with my job, the people that I thought were the problem were terminated and the problems still persisted, I quit over a year ago and haven't worked a real job since then and don't regret it. I would tell them you know SQL. Tell them you feel like you are restricted, and that you want x amount of time to work on furthering new skills like google does for it's employees, I wouldn't give an ultimatum but decide for yourself what you want and go ask for it. It's your life and you are in control of it, if you want to change it take action. If you want to be pressured in to monotony thats your decision too.
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allspiritseve
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Re: Be afraid of your knowledge, be very afraid!

Post by allspiritseve »

jshpro2 wrote:It's your life and you are in control of it, if you want to change it take action.
Excellent advice! 8)
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