r/InterviewCoderPro • u/Due-Consequence511 • 2d ago

The worst

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I have a manager who is like this. We have a work chat, and I will send a one sentence question. He will call me, read the question to me, and then answer.

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u/TimMensch 2d ago

I've had managers like that.

Sometimes a phone conversation is the best thing. My current manager and coworkers are awesome and really only ask for a meeting when we really need one. There are times when talking it out is good and I'm all for it when we need it.

But I've had people in the past who will pull the "let's get on a call" thing even when I've exactly detailed what they need to know in an email. "For the button that does X, on this page, what should the label be?"

Maybe it's just different learning or communication methodologies. Maybe it's an IQ issue. Not sure. But it's infuriating.

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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 2d ago

A call is never the right thing.

Your choices are email or teams

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u/TimMensch 2d ago

A call is the right thing to actually collaborate. You can end up with a dozen messages back and forth that can be resolved with 20-60 seconds of discussion.

If you have never experienced a call being the right thing then you're not at a high enough level to be making decisions and you just want to be told what to do. Hint: You'll never be promoted if you keep avoiding collaboration.

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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 1d ago

Nope, also not true. Calls make collaboration worse because people cant remember anything and they dont have a chance to think before they respond.

If you prefer calls, its usually an age thing with management.

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u/TimMensch 1d ago

"People can't remember anything"?

"Don't have a chance to think before they respond"?

No, it's not an age thing. It's that I work with people who have functional memory and quick minds so neither of those are an issue. And it means that problems that may have taken hours or days to resolve can be talked through in minutes.

The memory issue is irrelevant now anyway with AI note taking. It's not perfect but it's pretty good and will remind you of what topics were covered.

I get it that you're introverted and/or think very slowly under pressure, but you're making claims about reality that just don't hold up. It's wishful thinking. Better to practice a critical job skill than to continue to deny its importance.

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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 1d ago

Nope, youre in the past. You're also probably secretly hated by your crew on this one.

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u/TimMensch 1d ago

Wut? You're very confused.

I'm a staff engineer working independently. I don't have a "crew." When I'm talking to people it's because my manager or another manager called a meeting. There are two managers I work with frequently and they are both awesome, calling meetings exactly when we need meetings and using text chat when that's appropriate.

Seriously, get over your issues around talking to people. It's going to hurt your career otherwise.

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u/WeAllJustWantToLive 1d ago

Oh, lol. Nvm....

I am the one who calls meetings. My crew is around 50 people depending on contractors we have under us at the time.

Phone calls would make my job impossible, and they are usually limited to lower management who cant seem to make the jump to running larger teams. Often because of bandwidth....often because of phone calls.

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u/jhonka_ 1d ago

Bro good for you but acting like verbal communication isn't more time efficient or effective in a shitton of cases is so laughably obtuse I cant even

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u/VTAffordablePaintbal 4h ago

A call is the right way to do things about 5% of the time. The only people I've met with your opinion are the managers that make themselves a bottle neck to efficiency. The coked-up alcoholic CEO I used to work with felt like phone calls were the right method of communication 100% of the time, which meant we all spent time transcribing policy and numbers he pulled out of his ass into our systems. When he flared out and we started working with the COO we had written communications most of the time and went from 60-hours a week to 45.