

Ask HN: I am the smartest person in the room. What should I do? - MadManE

I have been working at a company that has gone through some significant changes recently. When I was hired (not quite 2 years ago), there was an enormous amount of growth potential and I was always learning something.<p>We went through a &quot;merger&quot; with our parent company, and had a large amount of turnover. Now, I no longer am able to work on projects with any potential and have effectively become tech support&#x2F;customer service. I have lost all ability to learn through experience.<p>Being &quot;the smartest guy in the room&quot; is absolutely terrifying. I don&#x27;t feel like I have a huge amount of knowledge or experience, but I don&#x27;t think that anyone else understands the consequences of the decisions that get made.<p>Now the big questions:<p>1. Am I chasing a pipe dream to keep looking for a better work environment?<p>2. Is it worth doubling down on time&#x2F;effort to try to change the culture, or do I cut my losses?
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jquast
1) You are not chasing a pipe dream. Being the smartest person in the room is
a terribly taxing position to be in, especially if you are not compensated by
title or pay. I've been in that position enough times that my current primary
qualifier for employment is to work _for_ people who are smarter than me, as
well as a few people to work _with_ who are smarter.

You need to turn your interviews in the reverse: demand interviews with your
future co-workers/peers, and evaluate _their_ competency (and "culture").

In other industries, it is a smart move to _wait_ for change: wait for a
new/better manager (managers, especially CEO's have much higher turnover than
anyone else), or wait for a better culture or environment/teammates.

This is not so in computing. You don't need to wait. There are greener
pastures.

2) If you are not compensated by title, if you do not have the ability to hire
and fire, you will not be able to change culture.

The company you work for is likely to promise everything but follow through
with nothing -- they are getting a good deal having an expert perform tech
support, saving two or three new hires if you leave. I've been replaced by
entirely new business units of 6 or more people after my departure. In
retrospect its quite clear why paltry raises and weak promises to provide new
hires or changes in the group to string me along as they did.

cut your losses.

A side note: many programmers "retire" into mediocracy, performing undemanding
work in undemanding timelines. Pretend you know a great deal less than you
really do, and pretend like the simple work that you do is harder than it
really is. Spend very little of your day doing any actual work.

I've had many people try to sell me on the idea that such environments can
provide you with plenty of time to "work on your own stuff", but I've never
seen anybody create something on their free time that I admire while working
in such an environment. I don't believe it.

~~~
MadManE
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I am a little troubled by a one thing,
though. . .

I am not a programmer - I'm a mechanical engineer. You say in other industries
it's smart to wait it out for change. How do I evaluate whether to hunker down
or gtfo?

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chatmasta
First, recognize that you are only the smartest person in the room according
to your own metrics.

Second, decide whether this a problem that you want to do something about. One
option is to fix your environment by educating the people you see as "less
smart," because teaching is always good for karma. A simpler option is to
leave your environment for a new one.

I recommend trying to improve the environment yourself. As a hedge, build your
profile for employers and get ready to leave. Once you're in the groove for
interviewing, apply to some new companies and see what you can do.

It sounds like the environment may be unfixable, given your references to
turnover and de facto demotion to tech support. If the company does not value
your skills as an engineer (assuming you have them and are not delusional),
then yes, there exist greener pastures elsewhere.

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mrits
The first thing to do is make sure that you are actually not the dumbest
person in the room.

~~~
MadManE
How would I do this?

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andkon
Sometimes company trajectories stall out, and you'll end up pressing yourself
against the roof trying to push that company back up. Physics will beat you.
But! Your founders may get things going again.

As far as your actual questions...

1\. There are better work environments, in companies with better prospects.

2\. You probably can't change the culture unless you're a founder. But
fortunately, your founders can change the culture. The question is whether or
not they have the political power to do so in your new ownership context.

~~~
MadManE
This is encouraging to hear - I appreciate that you took time to answer.

The sad part of this is that there are no founders. At least, none that are
left. The company was stated ~35 years ago by a pair of brothers, and they
sold about 10 years ago. We were left to our own devices until about a year
ago since we were incredibly profitable. I'm not sure what changed, but
someone decided to "bring us into the fold".

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seehafer
1) Absolutely not.

2) Are you in a position to change the culture? Doesn't sound like it.
Generally only execs can do that, and generally only the CEO.

Being the smartest person in the room, unless you're a C-level executive, is
terrible. (And even if you are a C-level executive it's non-optimal.) You're
not learning anything. You need to quit.

~~~
MadManE
This was my take on the situation, also. It's nice to know that I'm not crazy,
though.

~~~
seehafer
The only things I would ask myself in your place are: "Am I being objective in
thinking I have nothing to learn from these people?" (it's easy to delude
yourself) and "Can I change the room without leaving the company?". If the
answers are "yes" and "no" respectively you need to cut your losses.

I was in your situation once. Stuck it out a year longer than I should have
wanting things to get better. They never did. The day I left was cathartic
release. And now I work with a bunch of people much smarter than me and it's
great.

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roberte3
Find a different room.

