Problem with New Team Member

**chicane** · 12 April 2018, 12:23

It sounds like you're in danger of falling into a position of conflict with this permanent member of staff. At the risk of stating the obvious, have you tried having a gentle chat with him to discuss your concerns?

If you've already done so, and nothing has changed, is there anybody else higher in the food chain you can raise this with? If so, be sure to have solid evidence ready of the claimed wrongdoing/incompetence and to present it in an objective fashion that focuses on the quality of the deliverables rather than the person (it's clear by your language that you've come to dislike him already).

Be aware at all times of your status as a dispensable resource and the possibility that you may be canned at short notice, regardless of how unfair this might be.

Ultimately, be prepared to give notice on your contract and walk away. Falling into conflict with the people you work with just isn't worth it and has the potential to damage your future prospects.

**northernladuk** · 12 April 2018, 12:43

Every gig. It's why they get people in like us to sort it isn't it?

**DaveB** · 12 April 2018, 12:46

**SueEllen** · 12 April 2018, 12:48

Originally posted by The Castle Cary Fairy View Post

Hi all - I'm on a short contract in Rotterdam where I'm working as a front end developer using d3.js.

All in all it's pretty good and I enjoy it but we've recently had a new addition (permanent) to the team and he is not up to scratch in my opinion.

Keep that opinion to yourself regardless of what happens.

How good or not he is at his work can be uncovered quite easily when he gets tasked solely designated to him which he has to complete in a specific time.

Originally posted by The Castle Cary Fairy View Post

He has also started acting like a loose cannon and is working on things that he hasn't been tasked to do. Things that have an overlap with the work that I'm doing and as a result he's making a pig's ear out of merging conflicts in GIT and he's breaking code that was previously pretty robust.

1. Talk to him. Explain to him how work is allocated, how the system tracks who does what, any team/company coding standards, and why you can't just choose to do what you want without notifying other people in the team that may be working on code that depends on it.

2. If he continues to behaviour the same way after 3 days (this gives him time to check in his broken stuff and stop fecking things up ) escalate to whoever leads the team. Explain that [name of person] doesn't seem to have awareness of team processes particularly team work allocation processes so is causing GIT conflicts due to him doing work assigned to yourself and others.

**The Castle Cary Fairy** · 12 April 2018, 13:34

Originally posted by chicane View Post

(it's clear by your language that you've come to dislike him already).

I don't think it's a question of like or dislike. I think he's very eager to please and is consequently like a bull in a china shop.

Originally posted by SueEllen View Post

Keep that opinion to yourself regardless of what happens.

How good or not he is at his work can be uncovered quite easily when he gets tasked solely designated to him which he has to complete in a specific time.

1. Talk to him. Explain to him how work is allocated, how the system tracks who does what, any team/company coding standards, and why you can't just choose to do what you want without notifying other people in the team that may be working on code that depends on it.

2. If he continues to behaviour the same way after 3 days (this gives him time to check in his broken stuff and stop fecking things up ) escalate to whoever leads the team. Explain that [name of person] doesn't seem to have awareness of team processes particularly team work allocation processes so is causing GIT conflicts due to him doing work assigned to yourself and others.

Yes, some useful advice there.

It's actually quite easy to finger him because I only have to look at his check in history in GIT. He introduces errors whenever he has to merge conflicts when merging his branch with the master branch.

**northernladuk** · 12 April 2018, 13:48

Inneresting.

**northernladuk** · 12 April 2018, 13:53

**Eirikur** · 12 April 2018, 14:00

As you're in The Netherlands it's ok to speak out frankly no British politeness and correctness needed. They will actually appreciate you're not beating around the bush

**The Castle Cary Fairy** · 12 April 2018, 14:00

Am I supposed to extrapolate from the puppet references that you think I am some kind of troll?

I've noticed that I'm not the only newbie being goaded in this manner.

Problem with New Team Member