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by mugsie 1463 days ago
> As a contractor he should have STFU and done his job. His job is to do the work he's told to do.

or, told another way: dance monkey, dance.

If companies or managers just want to do the infinite monkeys typing shakespeare approach with 0 critical thought, don't hire / contract senior people.

Someone who doesn't push back on giving an estimate for something they have never seen is useless in a senior role. Sure, the kanban stuff might be a little out there, but if a manager is doing a shit job of blocking tasks mid sprint, again it is better they try and suggest something to help their co workers.
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GiorgioG 1463 days ago
> If companies or managers just want to do the infinite monkeys typing shakespeare approach with 0 critical thought, don't hire / contract senior people.

Senior people should know how to read the situation and either A) figure out how to persuade management to their way of thinking and failing that (repeatedly) B) STFU and do as your told.

I'm not opposed to making suggestions/recommendations, but some people don't want to hear it, for whatever reason. As a contractor I'm not going to upset if you don't take my recommendations and it takes longer (after all, contractors are usually hourly...more money, more money). If you're unable to "STFU and do as you're told", bide your time and find another position on your own terms.

That's the lesson this person needs to take away from this.

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mechanical_bear 1463 days ago
> dance monkey, dance

See def. contractor.

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mugsie 1463 days ago
except when you hire a senior engineer as a contractor it is a different relationship to a code monkey contractor.

If you want them to do sprint planning / estimations / train interns it is a lot closer to a traditional employee than a "we pay $XXX a day for 7.5hrs of coding" contractor

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jamil7 1463 days ago
I think this is really context dependent. It sounded like the author was a senior engineer deeply embedded in the team and a part of standup, sprint planning, retros etc. Which is different to farming out a specific component to a specialist to work on in isolation.
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