I work in a factory, and the potential to move up to shift lead is all but given to me by my peers. Ive had several bosses and colleagues (who's opinions and world views align with us) tell me I need to become the lead. The guy I would be inheriting this role from even says I'm the best fit.

However I ain't trying to be some class traitor. I do like the thing we produce, it's been a part of my life for my entire conscious existence. I'm a lucky sucker who followed their passion and while I'm a wage slave, seeing people, even if it is the upper class, deriving happiness from the things I make make me care about the things I produce. I do want to use this position to make the product and the workers lives better. Management already understands I side with labor more often than not.

I am really good at what I do and I have tons of issues believing in myself, but it's hard to ignore the world telling you you got to do this.

  • jabrd [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Same dog same. Got promoted to team lead and used the position to set ridiculously long deadlines for projects so my team could have fun playing games and watching twitch on company time. The benefits of being in a technical field where your boss doesn't really understand what you do

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It's pretty funny that long deadlines mean no shortcuts, capacity to deal with troubleshooting and urgent requests from other departments, and general worker well being.

      So we overperformed relative to everyone else stuck in rework hell, accounts and sales (the only people who mattered as far as the board were concerned) loved us because we were there to help, and clients were happy because the work was high quality even though we worked maybe 2 days a week..

      • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I'm jealous, we're currently working on like 2 day deadlines and the company is so small that the owner is within earshot at all times. Luckily he's a total dullard and couldn't run the company for 10 minutes without about 4 of us, so we have a lot of power over him.

        One thing he sucks at is pushing back for project deadlines, so it usually comes down to me calling the client and re-negotiating for my team's sanity.

        I also have a standing order with everyone that any time he comes in and bugs us or tries to micromanage we all take a smoke break at the same time lol.