How to talk to my boss

[StrangerInBeijing]

I suck at politics, making myself look good saying clever ***** (Not native english speaking anyhow) and scared I'm not going to get the message to my boss tomorrow, as I arranged to talk to him in the morning.

See, this one oke started working here just after me. Dunno nothing about development, and I'm the only developer. But this fella will take stuff I mentioned, blow it out of proportion and talk to my boss like if he is an expert, taking credit that should come to me, even I dont give a damn about it but still.

Like today. I just figured out resource files. Also I had some problems lately (which I DID sort out!!) with encoding. The two got NOTHING to do with each other. I made the mistake of telling him about it a bit. Then he went BLAH BLAH BLAH about how much faster the site will be now, and this will solve the japanese encoding problems, and dunno what else. This dude did not touch code in his life! Just cuz he's been put in charge of project management, he want to "advice" me on how to develop. Even go so far to send me links of stupid stuff like how to make tables with rounder borders...a slap in my face.

Now he go on and on critisizing my techniques in front of my boss, who know even less about software development, making me look like a fool even more. Like "Why you use this..what you call it...Visual Studio? to develop, why dont u use Dreamweaver.", or "Why do you code all that html by hand, while you can use applications that generate html for you" this dude is driving me nuts!!!!!!

I just have to speak to my boss, but not sure how to make myself clear or even i got reason to complain.

anyone been in a similiar situation? Gimmme some advice!

[sevenhalo]

I wouldn't make a complaint yet. Instead, turn the tables on him. The most damaging thing you can do to people like him is listen. Because if you listen, you'll end up asking questions. Two things might happen, he might actually know what he's talking about and maybe you'll pick up on something... Or maybe it is like you say and he won't know how to respond.

When you're infront of the boss discussing why you should use dreamwaver over visual studio; it doesn't matter how technical the boss is. Desperation has the same face in every field.

[RhinoBull]

Look for another job if you can.

[Al42]

He takes every comment of yours and ...

In English, we have a saying. The first thing to do when you've dug yourself into a hole is to STOP DIGGING!

Stop making comments and telling him about what you're doing. If he asks - as your project manager - answer his question - and ONLY his question. If he wants to chat, you don't have to entertain him - one word answers are boring and he'll soon leave you alone.

As far as why you use Dreamweaver rather than an automated HTML creation program, it's because you know how to do things better than he does (what else are you going to use to turn out good HTML code easily?) but, again, be like a duck and let the water roll off your back. You get paid every week? Let that be enough for now.

And follow Rhino's advice - start looking. If you're good, get a job working for a programmer or systems analyst - he'll soon see that you're good.

[StrangerInBeijing]

yay! our mate is getting promoted to IT Manager.
NOW I'm gonna have some fun huh?

[Al42]

The higher up he goes the farther he is from directly supervising you. If he gets promoted high enough you'll never see him again.

[RhinoBull]

yay! our mate is getting promoted to IT Manager.
NOW I'm gonna have some fun huh?

it doesn't sound like a fun...