I (45M) work in tech. Until recently I was an engineering manager, but due to restructuring I moved back into an individual contributor role as a senior engineer. My background is more business-focused than hardcore engineering, so I’ve been doing some Udemy courses to refresh technical skills. Overall, the transition has been going well.
Recently, I was asked to investigate a critical production issue involving some low-level driver code written in C by a previous vendor we no longer have support from. If we couldn’t fix it ourselves, it would likely cost the company a lot of money to switch vendors.
I don’t know C particularly well, especially low-level concurrent code where multiple things are happening at once. To make progress, I broke the work up and asked a junior developer (early 20s, F) on my team who had done C in university to help identify where the issue might be. I specifically asked her to write tests and try to narrow down which part of the codebase was likely responsible. I made it clear this was optional and that if she couldn’t figure it out, she could just say so.
After about a week, she wrote some tests and showed me which area of the code was most likely at fault, and which constants for some timers and how some thing called a lock might need changes. Based on that, I was able to write and implement the actual fix myself, which resolved the issue.
Afterwards, I received a lot of praise from other teams, the director of our division, and even got a shout-out in the monthly update meeting. Since then, I’ve noticed that the junior dev has been a bit colder toward me, though it’s subtle and she may just be stressed or acting that way with others too. I didn’t think much of it.
However, later I got into an argument with a different engineer (F) from another team. She told me she had heard that the junior dev wrote the tests and helped identify the bug, and that I should publicly clarify that in a shared channel. She felt it was unfair that I was getting all the credit.
I didn’t really understand the issue. I did the actual fix, which was the critical part, and I was previously a manager assigning tasks like testing and investigation is something that is industry standard and simpler work that is often delegated to juniors and interns. I never claimed she fixed the bug herself, and no one asked for a breakdown of contributions during the praise. In fact i never asked for praise, the work just got recongized.
She insisted that I should proactively correct the record, even though the recognition had already happened and I hadn’t misrepresented anything. AITA for not publicly crediting the junior dev after the fact?
YTA. You wouldn’t have been able to fix the fault if she hadn’t identified it. The credit doesn’t just go to the person who put in the last piece if a puzzle, it goes to everyone who contributed. I’m guessing you were one of those managers who never gave credit to his staff, and that’s probably why you got bumped down in the restructuring.
YTA. What you used to be is irrelevant, you’re not a manager anymore and another member of your team did a major part of identifying the problem so it could be fixed. You failed to acknowledge that and by omission made it look like you did it all. You also can’t possibly at your big age still claim to be ignorant of the gendered nature of the issue here: you took full credit for a younger woman’s work.
YTA
A junior, who did good work, something you couldnt do, helped achieved a good outcome for the team, which was rewarded.
But the junior who stepped up got no recognition or thanks while watching you get some?
You aint a team player at all. especially if your the senior engineer
Idk industry standard but one of your subordinates completing an optional task, out of their presumed comfort zone, and that solves a problem for you, should generally be rewarded. You know, so they keep doing that.
So yeah YTA. I don’t think it would have cost you anything to say “and good job to [name] for identifying the issue”
YTA. You wouldn’t have been able to find your solution without the junior dev’s work. You aren’t her manager assigning work and taking credit for your team. You’re taking full credit for something you needed support to accomplish.
You’re also being deliberately obtuse around the difficulty women have in advancing in STEM and business overall. You’re exemplifying the same type of misogynistic behaviour to act like you’re the sole contributor when women were a critical part of the process, reinforcing the “glass ceiling” that stops women from progressing.
YTA wow.
You would have never found the solution if it weren’t for her and you couldn’t even choke out a simple “Lady coworker helped me locate the issue”
Don’t expect anyone on your team to go above and beyond for you, ever again.
YTA. You reached out to her because of her invaluable experience that saved the company a lot of money. What you need to say is that you couldn’t have done it without her help.l because thats the truth. She is 25 years your junior and is just starting in this businesses. She deserves the respect you’ve been getting. Your title is misleading and you sre deluded if you think you didnt do anything wrong. You’re a man taking credit for a younger woman’s work. That’s shifty dude.
“I take 100% of the credit for the fact that i only did x% of work. The rest was done by a junior i refuse to praise in turn for helping me out.”
YTA. Did the management position teach you to not be a teamplayer but be selfish instead?
YTA. you couldn’t have figured out the fix without knowing the problem . She figured out the problem. You did not actually take the credit but your silence about her contribution is an egregious omission
YTA mention her in an email.thanking her for her help or at the next meeting. Put her forward for something to say thank you. Let your manager know that she fixed the problem
YTA. The only reason you were able to fix this issue is because the junior developer was able to identify it for you. You said yourself that you didn’t have enough knowledge of that specific type of coding in order to find and identify the issue. This was a collaborative effort and should have been mentioned to YOUR supervisors as such. By working together with the junior developer you both were able to save the company a ton of money but you’re the only one being praised and credited for it. That is an AH move on your part.
you say that you used to be in a managerial role. As such you should be well aware of acknowledging the contributions of your entire team to the success of a project. This situation is no different.
YTA. If your colleague had not narrowed down the possible cause by writing tests, you would not have been able to apply the fix. She played a critical role in the resolution, yet even now you are downplaying her contribution.
“I did the actual fix.”
She threw the touchdown pass and you’re dancing in the end zone praising yourself for catching it. There would be no fix without your trusty junior quarterback delivering the game winning spiral.
Any honorable person would have quickly mentioned the efforts of their coworker as soon as the praise started. You mentioned orchestrating similar operations as a manager, as if that justifies you taking all the credit for a shard win.
A good manager looks for every opportunity to acknowledge the role their team played in the success of a project, product, or operation. A shitty manager stands on the accomplishments of their subordinates as a pedestal to hold themselves in higher regards.
No wonder you got demoted to an “individual contributor”. Yet, in this case, you did not individually solve the problem. Stop being a dick and acknowledge your contributor.
YTA
Why is it so hard for you to admit that you got help from someone? You’re here throughout the thread arguing with people instead of accepting that yes, you could have handled this better.
Maybe instead of refreshing technical skills you should refresh interpersonal skills. And the next time you need help with something, your colleagues are going to let you fail.
YTA. I retired after programming for over 47 years. Finding the bug is worth way more than fixing it. It can take hours or even days to find where a problem is and a short time to fix it. I hope this junior tech never helps you ever again.