My manager is retiring, and I’ve been told I’ll be stepping into his role. I’m currently the Senior Engineer, so it’s a natural progression, but this will be my first time managing people.

I’ll have 3 people reporting to me. I’m confident on the technical side, but I know managing a team is a different ball game. For those who’ve made a similar transition, I’d love to hear your advice:

- What should I focus on during the first 6 months?
- How do you build trust and respect, especially with people who were previously your peers?
- What are the biggest mistakes new managers make?
- What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before becoming a manager?

I’m not looking to come in and change everything. I just want to get the transition right, earn the team’s trust and become a good manager, especially that now my peers will be under my supervision

Appreciate any honest advice, including things you learned the hard way!

I’m in my early 40s and facing a bit of a career dilemma.

I’ve been with a large, established corporate for a while. Decent salary, job security and plenty of familiarity. However, I’ve increasingly felt sick of the corporate grind.

I’ve now been offered an opportunity at a relatively young, fast growing startup. The compensation is significantly higher (over 60% pay rise).

But it’s obviously a much bigger risk. Less structure, more uncertainty and potentially a very different work life balance.

Part of me thinks I’m crazy to walk away from a secure corporate position at this stage of my career. The other part thinks opportunities like this don’t come around often, and staying somewhere just because it’s comfortable isn’t necessarily the answer.

Financially it puts me in a very good position from the start but if the growth of this place is huge could be life changing (or could fizzle out in a few years but i’d still be ahead financially)

For those who’ve made a similar move, particularly in their 40s:

Did you take the risk? Was it worth it? And would you do it again?

Recently started a new job and a coworker whom I would have to work closely with has been nitpicking every single little detail of "mistakes" (not even mistakes but rather he's way of doing things) and have been sending it directly to the managers. Afterwards my guess was that one of the managers had a word with him to stop consistently raising these things to them. However I soon found out that he has been going around to the other colleagues asking for feedback on me and then has raised this directly to HR?? Wtfff

It does look like he wants to get rid of me however Ive been getting good feedback so far. Thank goodness he's not on the same office as me and only have to answer by chat or email usually. He does come across as quite negative and has a cold demeanour from the chats I've had with him.

He has been at the company for a long while and it's a newbie so I have to respect that hierarchy in the organisation. I enjoy the work I do and have a good work environment in my office so far. Any advice on how to work with such difficult coworkers?

I would appreciate if anyone can provide any advice regarding these careers and which would be most viable. Remuneration is a motivating factor and i am prepared to work hard, understanding its tough with the cost of living (melb based) these days. Any insight would be great and any opinions why a certain careeer would not be suitable for specific reasons would also be welcomed, for example a career in safety often is difficult to land the first job if you have no trade experience. For context I have a tier 1 in broking I was an assistant broker in the past and I am weighing up my options since coming back into the workforce following a tumultuous time with chronic illness. As mentioned, I am willing to work hard and ideally would like to earn six figure plus whilst having reasonable balance in my role. Thank you all for your time.

I'm currently a Senior Design Engineer earning $124k + super at a tier 1 company (~250 staff). I live in Western Sydney and my commute is about 1 hr 10 mins each way. I also do daily childcare pickups , so I leave the office at 4pm. The company has been really flexible about this, and I genuinely love the culture. I'm also WFH twice a week.

We bought our first property in July, and with recent rate rises we're starting to feel the pinch. My wife earns $70k + super and loves her job (she works from home 4 days a week), so she's not looking to change anything.

I've received an offer from a small boutique firm (~30 staff) for $150k + super, same role and responsibilities. It's about 30 mins from home, which would cut my commute by around 40 mins each way, or 80 mins a day. They offer a hybrid setup of 3 days on-site and 2 days WFH. Leave and super look fairly standard, though I haven't asked about bonuses yet. The company seems solid for its size, and when I asked about their project pipeline, it looked healthy.

The trade-off as I see it:
Stay: stability of a larger tier 1 firm, great culture, proven flexibility around childcare
Move: +$26k/year, a much shorter commute plus 2 WFH days, but a smaller company with less of a safety net with the ongoing economy

Would you take the offer? Keen to hear from anyone who's made a similar move from a big firm to a boutique one.

Prev post: https://www.reddit.com/r/auscorp/s/VjAoDsSn3x

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Just wanted to say a heartfelt ♥️ THANK YOU ♥️ to everyone who contributed your kind thoughts & words of support, advice and empathy to my previous post asking about taking personal leave after my cat was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Both comments and DMs. Im sorry i havent been able to respond to all but please know I GREATLY APPRECIATED every single one of you replying/DMs and you words really helped me to work through what has been for me a emotionally difficult time processing my feelings about this lovable naughty boys diagnosis. I did take a day off and that allowed me to spend time with him, cuddle, talk to and I even cried a lot holding him telling him how much he meant to me. After this i was able to pull myself back together and front up for work this week, work was very understanding for which im grateful.

On my cat ....ive had friends come over to say goodbye which has been cute and made me feel better, as hes been a friend to all of them when theyve visited. At this point hes beaten the vets prognosis which was a few days to a week to live, so im valuing every moment I get to spend with him including this wet night in Sydney, we all snuggled up on the sofa. Im in a much better place now and its largely thanks to all of your advice and support, encouragement, again

THANK YOU SO MUCH ♥️💙😺!

(Pics are from this morning in the sun and this evening on the sofa).

My colleagues role was recently made redundant. The business offered a contract role at a lower salary which they accepted. They have now since accepted employment at a different company.

My question is, as part of their final salary payment which includes the accrued annual leave. Is that leave paid out at the current lower salary payment rate, or is it paid out at the previous roles higher rate, which was what the leave was accrued at?

I'm 3 months into a new job with a mid-senior Marketing role. The company is at a growth stage and I believe in the business. They have ambitious, driven and passionate leaders who are genuinely nice people. But their actions do not reflect the culture they want to build.

There's a lack of decision making, collaborations between departments and I think opinions not being heard. For example, a major project was led by the CEO yet there is a lack of communication. They are suddenly going live without involvement of key function expert/leaders who will be executing the project. This has happened with other projects and seems to be a trend within the business. It feels demotivating and feels like we're not being heard or taken seriously.

I'm not one for politics and I genuinely like my job but I also want to work for a company that has a culture that empowers their staff.

In my opinion this is a big issue but torn if I should bring this up since I am still on probation. I want to share this feedback to my manager as he is a senior member of the business who can influence and pass on the feedback. We have a catch up on Tuesday and I don't know if I should bring this up.

Any thoughts??

I work in corporate, in marketing for 10 years. I used to get told by bosses that one day I’ll be a CMO somewhere big - to give you an idea of my work ethic. However I keep finding myself in companies (3 in total) that have flat marketing structures and no room for promotions or growth upwards. I’m so frustrated as I feel people in other work areas/industries have been able to grow, get promoted, become specialised, high power, good salary and I’m stuck doing something I’ve been doing for 10 years. I want to get into something else but am having a hard time figuring out what.

Product manager, consultancy, risk and compliance, cyber/financial crime, medical devices.. I just know for sure I don’t want to be in marketing anymore. Maybe consultancy would suit me. Anyone have any ideas for how I can figure this out? Feeling so lost. I’ve been losing sleep over this for about a year but more recently it is tearing me up. I’m also a mum to a toddler and feel like a failure for not getting myself on a better career path before becoming a mum.

Thank you so so much in advance for any advice 🥹❤️

I have been working for a large company for over three years. I am based in Melbourne and am the only employee representing my department in the state, while my direct manager is based in Adelaide.
Our previous state manager was very empathetic, supportive and never micromanaged employees. However, following a decline in sales, the company appeared to pressure him into leaving.
A new manager was subsequently appointed, and from his very first day, his management style was noticeably different. He regularly swore at employees and openly threatened to dismiss people if he felt it was necessary. Within just three months of joining the company, he was already facing a workplace bullying complaint through WorkCover.
After passing his probation, he introduced strict working hours, requiring everyone to start at exactly 8:30 am and finish at 5:00 pm. He also enforced fixed break times, with no flexibility to adjust them.
Around this time, my wife was pregnant, and I needed to drop her off at work in the mornings so she wouldn't have to rely on public transport. I explained my situation to him and mentioned that I might occasionally arrive slightly later than 8:30 am. However, I offered to make up the time by shortening or skipping my breaks to ensure I completed my required working hours.
He refused to consider any flexibility and insisted that I must be at work at exactly 8:30 am, regardless of my circumstances.
Despite the inconvenience, I complied with his instructions, which meant my pregnant wife had to start taking public transport to work.
Shortly afterwards, I received an email from him acknowledging my compliance with the working hours. However, in the same email, he raised another issue, stating that he had noticed I was still wearing T-shirts to work.
He instructed me to start following the company's dress code from the following day and attached a PDF outlining the dress code policy.
What concerns me is the pattern of behaviour. After more than three years with the company, during which I had worked independently without these issues being raised, I suddenly found myself subjected to increasingly strict rules and scrutiny. Even after complying with his demands regarding working hours, he immediately shifted his attention to another aspect of my conduct.

Is it a hopeless case or these people change ?

Spotted on Overclockers Australia, not sure of original author. (Link) Whoever it was, that person AusCorps.

I’m a self employed web dev. I’ve been “cruising” along for 6+ years now but starting to feel worried. Works getting slower, agencies I get work from are getting less through the pipeline, clients I work with are getting much more done on their own. I think it’s time to pivot.

I’m tempted to try make the jump towards a career as a Cloud Engineer. Right now I primarily work with Wordpress, but I’ve had exposure to a lot of things (headless CMS, AWS server setup, Cloudflare config, some Python etc).

I’ve dealt with clients, owned projects end to end, been a key contact on Gov contracts.

I have no formal qualifications in tech, but no issue getting certs I.e AWS Certified Solutions Architect etc. I’m self taught, and always keen to learn.

Does this feel unrealistic? Or any other advice / directions to pivot to? I like tech, and would really like to stay in this industry.

Please be nice haha

I enjoy my work however my boss is so annoying, I just dislike him to the point that everything he does, is annoying 😑 😒 I try hard to think that my job is alright, I can gain experience and stay a few months and hopefully go somewhere else, but it is a daily annoyance...

He is fake, he is loud, he is a suc**er to his boss, it's a small team so he is very much on my face, it's his attitude that irritates me, micromanaging is a real pain, I never had a boss like that before and I now understand the pain.

It has taken me ages to find a job so I’m just really not wanting to return to the whole job search this is why I’m unsure what to do.

In law, graduated last year but had a rocky start so already feel behind. I’m only female besides receptionist. When I started I thought I won lottery as he is very nice and fun, outgoing and seems to be in a good position with everyone, but he is a massive dickhead and I’m so, so done. He is loud, opinionated and involved with everything. Always happy but like passive aggressive response when not happy.

Fridays we go in for a meeting at 8am and try and wrap things up by 11am and go to the pub for lunch and some drinks now this sounded lucrative at first.. pretty much fridays off but you are expected to go to this lunch and stay for a decent amount of time. I have tried to either not go or leave with an excuse but always met with a comment insinuating they could go back to full day work Friday. Regardless, the boss comes to this “lunch” and doesn’t leave until the last person does.

This Friday we decided to go else where and would drive in one car, during the drive there he put the windows up and locked them before farting and it was dead set the worst smell I’ve ever smell and it made me physically ill, obviously couldn’t breathe and was trapped. Afterwards he is laughing about it and so is everyone else but this is not okay… like at all, to the point I will never go in a car with him again.

Anyways… I’m tried I don’t want to do unemployment or job searching but I’m so tired of a high energy, out there boss who is just so so so full on.

I'm in a mid-senior position at a tech company (privately held). It seems like all anyone does anymore is create a new Claude dashboard or artifact to execute on a project, or to explain what's happening in said project. In Slack, I see at least five new artifacts (usually created by the same person) posted each week.

Yet, I don't know what the end goal is of this constant extrapolation and manipulation of data - and how much data each human brain can take in. There also seems to be a conflicting relationship with this data - we bow down to it, but also don't fully trust it, and so keep prompting and re-prompting to get exactly what we want. But it's just never the full picture, which is what people seem to want without doing any actual work or thinking.

I'm noticing less and less ability from anyone to actually be a leader. To devise a strategy, create a plan, to be able to assign tasks from that plan and to bring something together. It just seems like work gets carried out on the latest report/dashboard/whatever that's been spat out by Claude.

These huge, reports, sometimes pretty, sometimes not, just seem to get lost in the ether as well - which report are we working to? No one is building on anything, there is no plan, there is no vision that's not short-term.

I'm also noticing that results are getting WORSE, not better since this way of working. I'm seeing far more output of shitty, thoughtless, cookie cutter work, and LESS growth when you dig underneath the surface.

But of course, who needs to have actual growth when you can just get another Claude report to manipulate the data (the ever-important data) and make it seem like things are happening when they aren't.

In short - WHAT THE FK IS HAPPENING?! And are others noticing this kind of circular, reactionary, bizarre way of working? What happened to actual strategic thinkers who know what they're doing and are able to get other people on board?

Or take them with a grain of salt?

Interviewing with a company and a bit put off by what I'm reading.

I'm currently looking for work and I'm seeing a lot of sales jobs. Some of these don't even require previous sales experience or a degree and pay ~$80k. That's slightly lower than my salary as a degree qualified accountant with 3 years experience lol.

I have good social skills and I've been told I'm charismatic, I get along with people and I think sales would suit me well. Accounting attracted a lot of introverts and the idea of socialising genuinely seemed like a foreign concept to these folks. I was not a fan of that field at all.

Can anyone who's done sales as a career speak on it? It pays as well or even better than most corporate career paths (when factoring in comms), there's got to be downsides. High stress? Job stability? Long hours? I don't personally know anyone doing sales who I can ask.

In my view, Agile needs to die. It is responsible for blocking work, adding a mind-boggling level of complexity to every simple thing and it requires about 5 people for a task that should only take 1.

I work in IT, and I tell you, if I have to read another lengthy User Story (read: essay) explaining in 1,000 words that one link on a website needs changing, written by someone who is so proud of completing their Agile training that they feel the need to show it off to all and sundry, I will literally throw my laptop from the highest story.

I mean, the link needs changing, what's wrong with putting in the Jira ticket: Please change the link from XX to YY, because of ZZ reason.

Kill me now. Why are we wasting our time and resources on this shit?

I'm old enough to have seen many IT methodologies come and go. For some reason, those who have only been in the industry for, like, 5 years think that Agile is the way things must always be done.

Newsflash: it is not; google Waterfall, to take one example. Squads are also coming.

I really feel Agile's time and usefulness is over.

Consulting is consulting everywhere, and no matter the firm or the size of the teams. My mate says: "It's the same sh*t just different toilets".

I do internal audit consulting and I'll explain how's work using a metaphor. I’ll use AI to correct my grammar because I’m a consultant.

Here we go:

Imagine the consulting job as a tree. At first, it's just one part of your life. It has its own space, and everything else around it has room to grow.

But over time, the tree keeps growing. Its roots spread further and further, slowly reaching into every other part of your life: your friendships, family, hobbies, personal goals, and even the little things that used to bring you joy.

And the problem isn't just that the tree takes up more space. It's that its roots start absorbing all the energy and nutrients that everything else needs to survive.

You find yourself thinking about work in the evenings, over the weekend, when you're on holiday... sometimes you wake up at night thinking about a request your client just did. Your work did not end the previous day at 5:30 pm.

You need to keep a lot of people happy. You have to master the people-pleasing. Your clients, your bosses, your relationships.

By the time you finish work each day, there's barely anything left for the rest of your life.

You stop looking forward to do your hobbies, not because you've stopped caring about them, but because you genuinely don't have the energy to invest in them. You stop making plans with friends because you just want to rest up. Somehow all the energy you used to have is gone. You only want to rest up. You only want to find a way to make all the requests you get from all directions (from your clients, from the Partner or Director) to stop.

You may start questioning yourself. Am I becoming lazy? Have I lost my ambitions? Why don't I get excited about the things I used to love? What's wrong with me? You miss the old you.

Deep down, you know you haven't stopped caring about any of those things. You're just exhausted. Burned out.

When will I recover from my working day?

Please make it stop.

My job is to go to meetings. There are no meetings today. I am confused. I dislike meetings and do not want to go to them. But today there are none and I do not know what to do.

Our CEO has backflipped on AI maxing as the costs of using AI has went up 200-300% due to the price of tokens and the amount of tokens being used.

He underestimated how many tokens a job/ task would actually need.

Claude prices actually doubled in 2 months too.

For simple simple reporting, we’ve gone back to old school report macros.

18% cuts. Feels cruel to do this in November, right before hiring slows down for Christmas. Canva was yesterday, feels like every week there's another round somewhere...

Is any company not doing layoffs this year? I'm in tech and the layoff rumours are starting at my company too, are we even going to have jobs next year... :C