From /.
I'm about to commit a faux-pas. I'm about to quote from a post on /..
The comment below was posted regarding an email that apparently is from Jani "Sniper" Taskinen, PHP lead developer, wherein he announces his rather blunt reason to quit. I've reproduced it as it was written.
Recently, I read an interesting book by a psychologist named Paul Eckman. OK it wasn't an interesting book, it was a tedious book on a fascinating subject.
A couple of the takeways from the book: emotions are persistant mental states that are triggered by situations that bear on your future well being, and in turn trigger certain stereotyped survival related behaviors. In an emotional state, people do not process new information that would contradict the survival behavior. In other words, once you get to fighting, or to running away, you aren't going to listen to reason until you've fought it out or have run far, far away. The psychologists therefore call emotional states refractory, which is a word I learned from EE "Doc" Smith which when applied to metal means hard to work and when applied to a state of mind means hard to work with.
I've sometimes seen job listings looking for people who are passionate about their work. I'm not so sure this the right thing to look for unless you are looking for a short term employee. All jobs involve having your desires frustrated from time to time. As your emotions build up, your ability to process new information and ideas that could help you overcome your frustrations is diminished, because atavistic survival behaviors related to conflict and survival begin to strangle your productiivty.
In that case, the best thing is to take yourself out of the situation, which in all liklihood your own behavior contributes to.
You can take two people who are miserable and underperforming in their jobs, have them swap jobs, and suddenly they'll feel a great relief and surge of productivity, as they work flexibly around the exact same kinds of problems that had them stymied in their original job.
Unless you're some kind of Zen master you're going to run into this sooner or later. When you reach the point where you can't perform up to your potential, even your potential as defined by the less than perfect work situation you're in, it's time to move on. This is probably why academia, infamous for its harsh and pointless politics, evolved the institution of the sabbatical. But for the rest of us, this means quitting and getting a new job.
The emotions expressed in the email are probably universal. They do not in themselves indicate immaturity However, one thing that you do learn as you get older is when you feel strong negative emotions towards other people, hiding them is the best first reaction. In most cases you cannot change other people, especially if you are terminating your relationship to them. So the best you might hope for from negativity in the way you do this is some kind of catharsis, or perhaps some kind of public vindication. However experience teaches you don't often get those, and when you do they aren't as satisfying as you imagined them being.
Above the simple futilty of showing your anger and disappointment, expressions of strong negative emotion evoke an equal, if not stronger reaction from their targets. Often this ignites a round of petty retribution that comes back to haunt you.
So when it becomes impossible to deal with the emotional climate of work, leave. But always leave with a kind and magnanimous word. In the end that serves you best.
Interesting.
The comment below was posted regarding an email that apparently is from Jani "Sniper" Taskinen, PHP lead developer, wherein he announces his rather blunt reason to quit. I've reproduced it as it was written.
Recently, I read an interesting book by a psychologist named Paul Eckman. OK it wasn't an interesting book, it was a tedious book on a fascinating subject.
A couple of the takeways from the book: emotions are persistant mental states that are triggered by situations that bear on your future well being, and in turn trigger certain stereotyped survival related behaviors. In an emotional state, people do not process new information that would contradict the survival behavior. In other words, once you get to fighting, or to running away, you aren't going to listen to reason until you've fought it out or have run far, far away. The psychologists therefore call emotional states refractory, which is a word I learned from EE "Doc" Smith which when applied to metal means hard to work and when applied to a state of mind means hard to work with.
I've sometimes seen job listings looking for people who are passionate about their work. I'm not so sure this the right thing to look for unless you are looking for a short term employee. All jobs involve having your desires frustrated from time to time. As your emotions build up, your ability to process new information and ideas that could help you overcome your frustrations is diminished, because atavistic survival behaviors related to conflict and survival begin to strangle your productiivty.
In that case, the best thing is to take yourself out of the situation, which in all liklihood your own behavior contributes to.
You can take two people who are miserable and underperforming in their jobs, have them swap jobs, and suddenly they'll feel a great relief and surge of productivity, as they work flexibly around the exact same kinds of problems that had them stymied in their original job.
Unless you're some kind of Zen master you're going to run into this sooner or later. When you reach the point where you can't perform up to your potential, even your potential as defined by the less than perfect work situation you're in, it's time to move on. This is probably why academia, infamous for its harsh and pointless politics, evolved the institution of the sabbatical. But for the rest of us, this means quitting and getting a new job.
The emotions expressed in the email are probably universal. They do not in themselves indicate immaturity However, one thing that you do learn as you get older is when you feel strong negative emotions towards other people, hiding them is the best first reaction. In most cases you cannot change other people, especially if you are terminating your relationship to them. So the best you might hope for from negativity in the way you do this is some kind of catharsis, or perhaps some kind of public vindication. However experience teaches you don't often get those, and when you do they aren't as satisfying as you imagined them being.
Above the simple futilty of showing your anger and disappointment, expressions of strong negative emotion evoke an equal, if not stronger reaction from their targets. Often this ignites a round of petty retribution that comes back to haunt you.
So when it becomes impossible to deal with the emotional climate of work, leave. But always leave with a kind and magnanimous word. In the end that serves you best.
Interesting.