Working for a manager who is below your ability/competency level....

JoJoCal19

So I'm curious who here is working for or has worked for a manager who was below their ability level or competency level in that particular role, whether it be the technical or non-technical side of IT. And has this been a driver for someone leaving or looking to leave their position?

Right now my manager has worked for this company for years so he has more knowledge from the standpoint of knowing where in the org structure people fall, and has more knowledge of some of the applications we have and so forth, but right now I'm pretty much doing his job as I've taken on the things that are supposed to be done at his level. He's basically just pushing an occasional email along, or making an occasional phone call to the directors and managing directors. From a risk management, compliance, and information security standpoint, my knowledge and credentials far surpass his (he has no certifications or degrees related to what we do). Not the worst situation as he likes having me around, for obvious reasons, and is really laid back.

Khaos1911

Well, somebody has been a complainasaurus rex lately.

joehalford01

Well, technically speaking, if he hired you then he is doing his job as a manager. A good manager doesn't mind hiring people with greater ability then him/herself. The ones you need to watch out for are the ones that have little ability and are self conscious of it, if he takes your advice and gives you challenging work then he's doing good. (I can't speak for everything going on but that's my take on the management piece of it).

mistabrumley89

You should try being in the military....

networker050184

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

He's basically just pushing an occasional email along, or making an occasional phone call to the directors and managing directors.

That is my favorite type of manager. Let me handle the work while they handle the upper management and push anything I need help with. Other than that stay out of my work and we'll be good to go.

JoJoCal19

Khaos1911 wrote: »

Well, somebody has been a complainasaurus rex lately.

Awww I haven't been that bad. I have no co-workers to have water cooler IT chat with, and only one friend works in IT, so you guys are the only ones I have to bounce IT stuff off of.

joehalford01 wrote: »

Well, technically speaking, if he hired you then he is doing his job as a manager. A good manager doesn't mind hiring people with greater ability then him/herself. The ones you need to watch out for are the ones that have little ability and are self conscious of it, if he takes your advice and gives you challenging work then he's doing good. (I can't speak for everything going on but that's my take on the management piece of it).

I should add some background and additional info. He's not in a pure management position. His position is very active and hands on as the ISO for the line of business we support. He is my manager from a reporting structure perspective. Additionally, my position was originally a VP position with a lot more responsibilities that would have netted me a higher salary based on what was agreed to up front. Well after stringing me along almost two months, HR told me they changed the position to an AVP position and when I went in to meet my now manager again, he told me his director basically said, "why don't you just do all these tasks, and change it to an AVP position". So that was where I was hired in at. But now he's given me not just the tasks he took to drop the job a level, but most all of his other responsibilities. So I'm doing not just what the original VP responsibilities were, but his SVP responsibilities, and then some. And making AVP pay. Not to mention, he is in a senior InfoSec risk management role and doesn't have the InfoSec background, knowledge, or certs that I have. I'm his go to in that regard.

It's not all bad though. Thankfully he is good at giving me credit for the stuff I do for him (letting the whole world know I did his job hehe), and I still get paid nice. Just kinda chafes my rear they dropped the responsibilities and job level, told me they could only give me $10k less than we originally agreed on with the higher level position, and now they added back in the responsibilities, and then some, now that I'm on at the lower level.

JoJoCal19

mistabrumley89 wrote: »

You should try being in the military....

Ha, my dad is retired USN. Oh trust me I've heard it from him, from the time I was like 4 until I was 12 when he retired.

OfWolfAndMan

He's basically just pushing an occasional email along, or making an occasional phone call to the directors and managing directors.

Sounds like a "Just trying to make it by" kinda guy.

The ones you need to watch out for are the ones that have little ability and are self conscious of it, if he takes your advice and gives you challenging work then he's doing good.

Definitely agree with this.

I feel the same way sometimes, here are a few HORRIBLE situations I see that infuriate me: 1. Manager, rather than going to person competent in something, go to their buddy that "Knows" things (i.e. favoritism), and their judgement is based off of what their buddies say, not what the SMEs say. 2. "Manager" goes to meetings, but nothing ever gets done because they go to meetings just to pass the time. 3. Go to manager for advice, they throw the "Shouldn't you know this?" question at you, even though you KNOW this should not be a decision at your level. Then, when something breaks or something goes down, they don't take responsibility and point fingers. 4. You give advice about something you're knowledgeable on, but they don't acknowledge you due to their insecurities and selfishness.

I guess it depends on the leader too. If they're someone overlooking multiple departments, they should know some of each sections job, but not necessarily every aspect of each section.

Priston

Got to love the meetings about meetings too.

geek4god

First it is not that uncommon. More common is the same person, but they take all the credit for what you do. They use singular pronouns a lot when talking about anything good that happens!

One thing you need to be careful of is the NEXT job. In the interview you want to be very cautious of talking about a supervisor. It is easy to get in the groove and mention their lack of skill, certs, or how you did their job. You know this, but be vigilant that you focus on the opportunities you were given and that you excelled at them versus talking about them within the context of your supervisor.

paul78

I'm always viewed competency and value to the business as 2 entirely separate things. I've had plenty of managers don't have the same level of skill as I do in many areas but that doesn't have anything to do with the value that my manager brings to the business. And it doesn't mean that I could or want to do my manager's job.

A part of how I measure how well I am doing at a job, is how successful I am making my manager. My manager answers to someone too so I don't pretend that I necessarily know what my manager may be contributing. And if I happen to work for the top-dog in a company - the way I view it, if I was so darn smart than I should start my own company.