I am a manager with an underperforming coder. Or maybe they’re not, and my expectations are too high. And that is the problem – do I or don’t I have cause for concern?
I won’t bore you with other experiences so far, but so I can get feedback from you experienced coders out there (which I am not), here is a recent example.
We need data downloading from a website. This is then put into a SQL table. This part is successful.
The data then needs to be put into a delimited file, in a certain format.
The resulting file is then ftp’d elsewhere in the world for use by another system.
We are at testing stage, so a manually exported file is all we need. Later on we’ll automate the process and add a GUI so our internal customer can do the job themselves every week.
We know the structure of the sql tables. We know the structure of the file needed by the receiving system. There are a few differences in heading names, but the data under them are the same. There is one field in each record where incoming text must be changed to something else to suit the final system – but they are always the same equivalents so a translation should be easy.
But it’s taking forever to get a converted file out that we can FTP up for testing. I’m talking about 4 weeks now. I’ve been reassured by the coder that she’ll have it done “next week”, but our internal customer has pointed out we’ve said that 3 times now. I’m at the point where I want to pull the plug and outsource the job (we only have the one coder), but I shouldn’t have to for something this “simple”. Not only would this cost money, but it brings into question the competence of a staff member who I expect to be the “expert” on these matters.
Tell me I’m being unreasonable. As a manager I need to trust the experts I hire to do the things I can’t do due to time constraints or simple lack of knowledge. Do I believe what they say, and lower my expectations while fending off our customer? Or am I right to be worried and have a staff member who’s somehow in over their head?
