
Ask HN: How do you escape a manager who is holding you back? - throwaway419
Little bit of background info:<p>I&#x27;m on a tech team for what is essentially a large but not really tech-focused company.  As such, I report up through a non tech department.<p>My position was created for me by an exec who no longer works there, and a while ago I was moved into this dept without knowing.  (I saw the change in the employee directory.) Shortly after, my current manager was put in charge of me, and started hiring more people with similar job titles -- though with far less experience.<p>I&#x27;ve asked multiple times what my role is supposed to be -- both how he sees my day-to-day, and how I fit into the larger company, and have never gotten a direct answer.  He has micromanaged and slowed down projects -- in fact, the biggest wins we&#x27;ve had is when I&#x27;ve gone rogue and just built things -- the latest, to help other depts work from home during quarantine, is now being highlighted in a presentation to our corporate parent, and he had told me not to bother.  (I obviously did it, anyway.) Of course, he&#x27;s being hailed as a visionary because of it.<p>So my question, HN -- short of quitting, which I would rather not do -- how do I get out from under this manager?  There are not any similar roles that I know of in the company -- I just want to get a different manager....
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davismwfl
Assuming you can't just apply for a different role in the company, which is
obviously just the easy way.

One non-confrontational way is to look for other managers and see if you can
show them your value. e.g. do a small project for one (or a few) you like and
show them the value of having someone like you on their team and then push for
one of them to open a role for you etc. This is a very successful way to do
this in larger organizations and it makes it non-confrontational with your
current manager so you don't create issues while you are still working for
him/her. Of course, if your current manager feels you are disloyal that is a
different issue, so you have to be smart how you do this, but it can be very
good way to move around. BTW if you do this, you essentially are creating the
role so you have to define your value and what you can bring to the team since
many times "managers" are not very visionary and are more task focused. If you
find a real leader then that is totally different and would generally be a
better fit, but sadly middle management has that name for a reason.

Other options exist of course, just one idea.

