Why for my Senior all my ideas are Garbage because I am a Fresher?

Question

I am getting depressed by the behaviour of my senior. Whenever I want to talk with him about any new idea which may be good for our product, he replies to me in a very arrogant manner and always degrades me and my idea. However, whenever our new version is launched, the new feature which I suggested is added. What's wrong with him? I am fresher as a web developer and I am giving everything to my company as an unpaid intern but these things continue to make me depressed. I am questioning myself if I my career choice is right or wrong.

What should I do? I am thinking to quit as I am unable to handle. I am so far from my family and I didn't see any of them in a long time. I am working day and night to improve my skills. Can anyone please show me the path forward? or I am doing over thinking?

Answer 1

Whenever I want to talk with him about any new idea which may be good for our product, he replies to me in a very arrogant manner and always degrades me and my idea. However, whenever our new version is launched, the new feature which I suggested is added.

If your ideas keep getting added, they're probably good ideas. You should draw confidence from this!

What's wrong with him?

Maybe you two aren't communicating well, maybe he's bad at taking advice from juniors, or maybe he just wants to steal your ideas to make himself look good.

What should I do?

Make friends nearby, outside of work. You need some friendly people to talk to. Smart people that you can explain to what happened at work. They'll help you figure out if there's parts of communication you need to get better at. But they'll also help you decide if maybe your colleague is just a jerk.

I am fresher as a web developer and I am giving everything to my company as an unpaid intern I am working day and night to improve my skills. Can anyone please show me the path forward? or I am doing over thinking?

You're an intern, and you're learning stuff. Your ideas get picked up by the company, but you're not getting credit for them. That suggests your future should not be with this company. But you certainly could have a future in web development.

• Start building a portfolio outside of work, that you can show to any future companies where you're interviewing.
• Start keeping a list of what you've accomplished at work (even the stuff you don't get credit for). You can look at it now and then and see that you're getting good at this.
• Read job postings from companies that seem nicer than this one, and figure out what kind of skills you'll need there. Make sure you're working to learn the right skills.
• Start looking for jobs elsewhere. Don't wait until the very end of your internship. Employed people look more attractive to hire than unemployed ones.

Answer 2

You have a terrible work environment. You need to make a plan to leave.

There are three distinct things wrong here:

1. You are not being paid. I am not sure whether this is the norm in India, but that is a problem you will eventually need to correct as you will want to eat one day.

2. Your ideas are being stolen. That is just unfair. Sometimes this will happen, but consistently is a problem.

3. You hate the work environment. You cannot hate how you spend most of your day and continue to do it.

Good news for you. None of these things are inherently part of software development.

Your Action Plan

1. Look at your skills. How good of a website can you build on your own? For example, could you build StackExchange? Can you build websites with the latest technologies or are you mostly using PHP or JSP? What is the most complex kind of site you could build on your own?

2. Look at the opportunities. Let's just start with paid jobs in your area. What skills do they require? What must you be able to do? Can you do those things?

3. Figure out what you must do to close the gap between your skills and those opportunities. If you can answer the first two questions, you can come back here and we can help you with the rest.

Good luck

Answer 3

What's wrong with him?

It is not at all clear if he is doing anything wrong or you are just too sensitive. May be your idea was indeed bad or maybe you did not present it correctly. or he is actually as bad as you are making him sound. No one can tell that and do not worry about diagnosing what is wrong with him. That is not important.

What should I do?

Instead of suggesting, show your ability to implement. May be actually code it in (without effecting the main project or your other assigned tasks). Anyone can suggest, but you will start getting respect based on your capability to actually do it.

I am questioning myself if I my career choice is right or wrong.

You are only an intern now. Too soon to doubt your career choice. You have your entire career left for that!

Can anyone please show me the path forward?

You show you have attitude to take criticism and skills that can be valued.

I am doing over thinking?

You are overthinking on what is wrong with him part but you should certainly think about what you should do.

Answer 4

Two things.

1. It takes time for people to absorb and accept new ideas. Don't expect this "senior" to smack his forehead and say "that's great!" when you make a suggestion. Give him time. Give him time to save face: he may be embarrassed that you thought of something he missed.

2. If the company actually adopts your ideas, that's good. You're making a positive contribution. You can use these successes on your resume / CV. Sometimes you achieve success only when someone else presents your idea as their own. In fact, it happens all the time to engineers with many years of experience. It's part of the creative job.

Be patient, but not too patient. If you can possibly do so, give this guy a year. If the company's culture allows seniors to hoard all the credit for juniors' ideas permanently, you will eventually get another job at another company where you'll be better respected.

Real "seniors" know very well that the people fresh out of school bring great ideas. And they know their own success depends partly on making their freshers successful. If this guy isn't a real "senior" you'll be able to move on soon enough. Get a few more of your good ideas into the product in the meantime. All the best in your career.

Answer 5

In addition to the other answers here there is a certain psychological aspect to the way your senior views you, that is people put far more value on things they pay for.

In your case you are an unpaid intern, and your company is getting you for free. Why would they expect anything of value to come out of someone that they themselves have put no value on? If you believe that you can produce more value for the company than you cost them in time and resources, then you need a position that pays you. Until respect yourself enough to get paid for your work you can't reasonably expect any particular level of respect from the people you work with.