If you're at all familiar with my work woes, you know that I've been dealing with a backstabbing, fast-talking, incompetent boob on my team for the past year. If you're not familiar, let's get you up to speed.
We're going to call him Tom, and my boss Bob. I am a Systems Architect with a team of developers reporting to me on a number of .NET projects, both Web and client-based.
Background
Tom was hired directly by Bob because Bob liked the fact that Tom went to the same school and went through the same curriculum as him. Tom was never interviewed by anyone else, let alone tech'ed. I had no say in his hiring.
From day 1, Tom routinely stepped on my toes and the toes of his colleagues because he would take credit for their work to cover up his own incompetence. His resume touted him as a senior-level .NET developer and he has his MBA to complement his C.S. degree. He was a fast-talking snake oil salesman who was good at playing up to the execs, but was extremely "accident prone" when it came to writing code.
Fast Forward to 12/06
My boss is out on a technology demo. A few months prior, I decided to give Tom some dedicated responsibility on a particular project. It was time to expose him. His responsibility was had high visibility but was low impact. It was perfect. If he screwed up, like we knew he would, it wouldn't kill the project but it would be seen by those above me (if an exec knows you worked on a particular feature, they will speak with you directly about it, rather than going to your superior).
Anyway, Tom began taking design direction directly from my boss on this piece. In short, Tom royally fscked it up and when my boss, Bob, confronted him on it, Tom stabbed him in the face with "well you didn't give me a good design".
It's been downhill for him since.
Fortunately for me, that incident pissed my boss off enough that he came to me to discuss Tom. It totally opened the doors for me to bring everything out into the open without sounding like a troublemaker who simply couldn't get the most out of a less-than-ideal employee. Over the course of several weeks, he and I held several hour long meetings to cover "the real Tom", his shortcomings, and how best to neutralize him and prevent him from causing further damage.
I won't go into Tom's actual shortcomings... that can be a whole separate thread (or perhaps a post in this one), but for all intents and purposes, he was dangerous when it came to touching ANYTHING code-wise.
To make matters worse, he routinely lied to cover his ass, and he was finally caught by my boss.
Long story short...
We decided to move him to a VB 6 project to put the squeeze on him. Upon realizing that he had fallen out of the execs' good graces and realizing that his fast talking ways would no longer serve him here, he gave notice. Upon giving notice, my boss told him to exit the building and informed him that his last check would be mailed to him.
Vindication FTW
If anyone is interested in the technical details behind his countless mistakes (some are rather comical), I'd be willing to detail them.
We're going to call him Tom, and my boss Bob. I am a Systems Architect with a team of developers reporting to me on a number of .NET projects, both Web and client-based.
Background
Tom was hired directly by Bob because Bob liked the fact that Tom went to the same school and went through the same curriculum as him. Tom was never interviewed by anyone else, let alone tech'ed. I had no say in his hiring.
From day 1, Tom routinely stepped on my toes and the toes of his colleagues because he would take credit for their work to cover up his own incompetence. His resume touted him as a senior-level .NET developer and he has his MBA to complement his C.S. degree. He was a fast-talking snake oil salesman who was good at playing up to the execs, but was extremely "accident prone" when it came to writing code.
Fast Forward to 12/06
My boss is out on a technology demo. A few months prior, I decided to give Tom some dedicated responsibility on a particular project. It was time to expose him. His responsibility was had high visibility but was low impact. It was perfect. If he screwed up, like we knew he would, it wouldn't kill the project but it would be seen by those above me (if an exec knows you worked on a particular feature, they will speak with you directly about it, rather than going to your superior).
Anyway, Tom began taking design direction directly from my boss on this piece. In short, Tom royally fscked it up and when my boss, Bob, confronted him on it, Tom stabbed him in the face with "well you didn't give me a good design".
It's been downhill for him since.
Fortunately for me, that incident pissed my boss off enough that he came to me to discuss Tom. It totally opened the doors for me to bring everything out into the open without sounding like a troublemaker who simply couldn't get the most out of a less-than-ideal employee. Over the course of several weeks, he and I held several hour long meetings to cover "the real Tom", his shortcomings, and how best to neutralize him and prevent him from causing further damage.
I won't go into Tom's actual shortcomings... that can be a whole separate thread (or perhaps a post in this one), but for all intents and purposes, he was dangerous when it came to touching ANYTHING code-wise.
To make matters worse, he routinely lied to cover his ass, and he was finally caught by my boss.
Long story short...
We decided to move him to a VB 6 project to put the squeeze on him. Upon realizing that he had fallen out of the execs' good graces and realizing that his fast talking ways would no longer serve him here, he gave notice. Upon giving notice, my boss told him to exit the building and informed him that his last check would be mailed to him.
Vindication FTW
If anyone is interested in the technical details behind his countless mistakes (some are rather comical), I'd be willing to detail them.
, but I am curious.
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