At my previous job, I was often criticised for pointing out the obvious weaknesses and failure points of new ideas. I always made sure to remind the project’s owner when it inevitably failed, and that they shouldn’t have ignored the doomsayer in the room. The best part is that they couldn’t fire me because I was a competent worker during a shortage caused by the pandemic.
Good on you for standing by the truth and genuinely looking out for your workplace and co-workers! Being the one to point out uncomfortable truths isn’t easy, but it’s crucial for a healthy work environment. When people like you leave, it often leads to a wider exodus of staff, significant loss of experience and knowledge—and the business feels the impact. Keep being that voice of reason!
That’s nice, but also inaccurate in my case. I was at a point where I didn’t give a rat’s ass about my employment there. The most experienced veterans had quit because they weren’t getting a fair salary, and new personnel (hired at a starting salary of 1.5 times that of the veterans) were absolute morons that I and others had to train. Management was also doubled in size in my final year, but at the cost of moving even more people (the experienced ones) away from the production floor. The place was in a nosedive and I was ready to jump out and watch the flames from a distance.
So no, I wasn’t the voice of reason, I was the voice of not giving a fuck.
Yeah, it’s a mental condition called being a programmer.
Me, thinking to myself: what if this completely illogical and unlikely thing happened RIGHT NOW
Also me, to my wife: why would you think that completely illogical and unlikely thing would happen right now…
I wish my brain just went one scenario.
While not a quick and easy process, programming can be alterred. DBT helps.
Yuuup, this person is doing the classic cognitive distortion called catastrophizing. It’s very worth it to work on overcoming any cognitive distortions you have
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
This doesn’t have enough upvotes imo. Contingency hell can be dealt with. (mind you, noting wrong with having a contingency plan or two, but there’s a point where it goes from a healthy survival mechanism to a debilitating maladaptive coping mechanism)
I’m still in contingency plan hell, but I’ve managed to deal with it in some parts of my life and that feeling of just coming out of a situation that used to make you tense AF and then realizing you were not even considering to worry about it is the best feeling even. This was something I never expected to be possible.
And honestly, I have been stressing out about the other bits of my life that are still contingency hell, kinda thinking I might never get rid of them, just how I felt about the things I actually did deal with…
Guess I came here to remind some internet rando’s that it is in fact possible; ended up reminding myself :')