frustratedmngr

I find it extremely disturbing that cryptocurrency discussions sound so much like political debate

The problem is... how do I actually fix this? I have considered therapy before, however, I find it particularly hard to pick a given therapist/approach. Do you have any recommendation?

The startup actually used two different stacks / programming languages. They would generally just port my micro-services from one stack to the other and brag about the fact that they were faster than me in writing them, which, in my opinion, really isn't a fair comparison given that porting something is a lot easier than writing from scratch (since you don't have to make decisions about architecture, etc).

On your second question, I have no idea why this executive doesn't like me. I wrote a comment on another thread on my first negative interaction with him and someone suggested that my presence somehow messes up with plans he originally had. However, I can't really think of anything.

I appreciate you trying to help me. I am sorry if I sounded arrogant in my original post, that wasn’t my intention.

That being said, I don’t think this is about me being “average” or not. I don’ even think it is possible to measure how “good” people are in a global scale. People with different skillsets are good for different positions.

My main question is whether or not I am lacking a specific skill, what that skill is and how to acquire it. Or even if I should give up on managing people and going back to being an IC.

From what I understood based on your comment, sounds like you believe I should improve my communication skills. Is this the case? Do you think just communicating more with the people I am having problems with is enough?

I spent 5 years at the big tech company and I was respected and had good relationships over there. I am pretty sure most my co-workers would hire me if they had open positions (granted, over there my work was purely technical). During 3 of those years I was also doing my business on the side.

I started my own business because I felt like the work at the big tech company wasn't challenging enough. I could have gotten my boss to make it more challenging, but starting my own business was a conscious decision, since I would have the opportunity to learn new skills and work with different technologies.

I was 9 years out of university when I got the top management position.

Fun fact: the startup I left wants to hire me back.

You are definitely right. I controlled myself yesterday and ended up not quitting, but that was pretty close.

The area that I manage didn't use to exist in the company, so while I was still building the team (it was my 2nd month into the job) I invited him for a conversation and, before I began speaking, he interrupted me, asked the following question, which derived into the conversation below.

- What have you done so far?

- I am building the team, have already hired X people and they will begin next month. I have also mapped what all other areas are doing and I am planning our deliverables.

- So, essentially, you have done nothing, right?

- Well, there wasn't really much I could do other than that without a team. Besides that, I had to invest some time into planning and showing the executives the structures and resources I will need.

- I got it, you haven't done anything. Listen, I am really close to the the company's CEO and we spoke about you yesterday. I didn't say anything bad about you this time. Besides that, I have a really good relationship with executives X, Y and Z and advisors A, B and C ... [he kept on bragging about himself]

The conversation above really sounded to me that he was threatening me. I spoke with some people in the company I already felt like I could trust about it and no one really understood why he did it.

I ended up thanking him for the feedback and moved on.

EDIT: Added further details that were previously included as a separate comment

Indeed, this is good advice and rings a bell. I am definitely focused on spending time with the team and making sure they are delivering good solutions. I will make sure I spend more time building relationships.