Just how mission critical are you?

[topmade]

I can be replaced by a monkey. Only reason they keep me around is that I’m a good worker that does a decent job without pissing off too many people and I make lame jokes and bring in donuts and snacks sometimes.

[SKR]

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I think most places can survive without someone for X amount of time. But that doesn't generally mean things will be done well or how they should be.

That's a problem then. If having things go smooth for your customers is important to you, you need to be able to count on more than one guy.

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Having a pool of people that can rotate in seems like waste to me. But I guess that depends on what your company does.

I only know my own job so maybe it's different at other places. But I can't think of any situation where a company would prefer that everything hinges on one guy.

[killramos]

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That's a problem then. If having things go smooth for your customers is important to you, you need to be able to count on more than one guy.



I only know my own job so maybe it's different at other places. But I can't think of any situation where a company would prefer that everything hinges on one guy.

Ever met a startup?

[SkiBum5.0]

A family farmer - remove him/her and the business will suffer immediately.

[dirtsniffer]

I'm far from mission critical and 100% replaceable. I do try to network internally and stay as close to the customer and dollars as possible. Been there long enough to understand how everything works but not too long where I'm abnormally high on the cost structure.

Also bring in donuts and snacks lol.

[eblend]

I'm replaceable, but to a great inconvenience to the company as I know most of our systems inside and out...and it took me a good 5 years to get to this point, so if they replace me, the learning curve would be pretty high, but as long as you don't need to make any changes, I am definitely replaceable. I have never been fired or laid off from any job in my 15 or so years doing this, and have been asked to come back multiple times to the places that I left myself, so guess they value me most places. At my current place, we are a team of 7 that supports 1400 users, 14 offices all over North America, and I'm the only one who does what I do in my group, and the only one with the title that I have, so it would be a pretty big gap to fill as I have my hands in many many things. Replaceable, sure, but I don't think I gave any company I worked for a reason to get rid of me as I do the job, do it well, and doubt you would find anyone better for less money anyways, if saving money to the company is the primary concern. It also helps that there are at least a few other team members on the team who don't pull their weight and would probably go before me.

[Disoblige]

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... so the role comes with a steep learning curve.

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I'm replaceable, but to a great inconvenience to the company as I know most of our systems inside and out...and it took me a good 5 years to get to this point, so if they replace me, the learning curve would be pretty high ...

I used to have this mentality, but I would just be a bit careful. Although training another person up can take up a lot of time/resources, in the end you wouldn't want that to be the main reason they are keeping you around. I would assume both of you are not in that category so don't take it personally, just sharing a thought is all.

People who have the decision making power for keeping you may not care about all the consequences of training someone new. They could be bean counters who are focused on something that is saving the company money in the short term, even if it sacrifices quality.

Devil's advocate: What makes you think the learning curve is steep that another person can't do it, or even do it better? In many cases, there is always someone who can be thrown in deep waters and manage really well.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I'm in a very small group (just me and one other guy working directly under a VP), so if one of us was lost it would be catastrophic in the short term (possible, but would be massively inconvenient), but I'm well aware that there are lots of talented people looking for work right now and I feel very fortunate to still have my job. I prefer being overworked but highly valuable rather than being part of a larger team where each individual is much more expendable.

[speedog]

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Yeah exactly, I think the comments about a position being critical and not the person is important. Can you run a race car without a driver? No. However can you get a different driver to fill that position? Sure.

Kyle Larson in NASCAR learned that the hard way just recently.

[eblend]

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Devil's advocate: What makes you think the learning curve is steep that another person can't do it, or even do it better? In many cases, there is always someone who can be thrown in deep waters and manage really well.

It's not so much the learning curve itself, it's intimate knowledge of how most everything in the company runs off our systems. Anyone can learn how something works in some time, but it took my like 5 years at the same place to have a good understanding of our environment. I was initially a consultant at this place and full time about 4 years now. We have 4 data centers, 14 offices with some on-prem equipment, cloud services etc etc, so it's a lot of moving pieces with my hands in most of them. Each product by itself may not be that difficult to understand, but holistically it's a bit different. Customer service would suffer for example if I wasn't around, as someone would have to figure everything out from the ground up, so something I could fix in 5 min could take some one hours or days. That type of thing. I don't much care if they don't see the value in me and I get fired, will find another job. I'm in a good position where I don't need my work to live happily, but I choose to work where I do because I enjoy it. Not being cocky or anything, like I said, I am replaceable, it just never happened to me in my career and my mindset is like this at the moment. Think key is to keep on top of things, and if it's not entirely obvious, I work in IT and shit is constantly evolving, the moment you stop learning is when you are 100% replaceable. In my company, people I have seen fired were all useless, and good people are always around, so that gives me some comfort. I was personally involved in getting 2 people shit-canned because of my recommendation...they were on our team and were a sad excuse for an employees.

[rx7boi]

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I used to have this mentality, but I would just be a bit careful. Although training another person up can take up a lot of time/resources, in the end you wouldn't want that to be the main reason they are keeping you around. I would assume both of you are not in that category so don't take it personally, just sharing a thought is all.

People who have the decision making power for keeping you may not care about all the consequences of training someone new. They could be bean counters who are focused on something that is saving the company money in the short term, even if it sacrifices quality.

Devil's advocate: What makes you think the learning curve is steep that another person can't do it, or even do it better? In many cases, there is always someone who can be thrown in deep waters and manage really well.

I will preface my response that eblend and I both started out by saying we're replaceable so we don't lose sight of that.

IMO the amount of onboarding training required is never a reason why an organization should choose to keep an employee but to eblend's point, it is more about the period of turbulent transition when someone leaves, especially if their role has high business impact. People leave jobs for a myriad of reasons everyday so a business should be robust enough that work doesn't come to a halt. People more important than I in the organization have left and we're still trucking along so I don't have any misconceptions that we can adapt no matter who leaves/quits.

Even though my role has a steep learning curve, we make it a point to loop in others for cross-training purposes both from a staff empowerment and continuity perspective. Better to have someone be able to pick up 20% of the slack instead of 0% if I died tomorrow while they look for a replacement.

Lastly, to comment on your question: a job with a steep learning/complexity curve is not magic armor, it simply refers to how replaceable you are relative to the requirements of your position. There's always someone out there better but it's also a moot point because it doesn't change the fact that I'm the subject matter expert during my tenure with said organization. Fortunately, workplaces nowadays also value other things such as soft skills and how apt you are at advocating for your organization's mission values so the whole package matters just as much.

I just don't want you to misrepresent and attribute/imply what I'm saying as arrogance. There are alot of talented folks out there who can do what I do and more.

Just to be fair, a steep learning curve is all relative. It might be steep for me because I really enjoy going above and beyond in a role so part of it could be me projecting my expectations onto others. I think one of the best values you can bring as an employee is to have an enthusiasm and willingness to look beyond your role and how it impacts the organization and the work that others do.

[Xtrema]

So am I getting the vibe that people who think they can be replaced are usually the ones you don't want to let go and replace?

[AndyL]

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and I'm still getting texts asking about stuff a year later.

My 2020 resolution was not to answer questions to an employer I left 7yrs ago.

I still get weekly calls or texts asking questions about how/why...

It doesn't seem to be getting me a job offer to return though

[R154]

I am replaceable as an entity within the framework of my company. My relationships, skill set & willingness to work until something is done correctly, is not. I have made it through years of downturn because when the chips are down my company (and the company I left) knows they'd rather have me than another joe anybody.

I guess if what you do isn't very specialized or can be easily trained then you'd have a different view. A lot of what I learned wasn't on the job, it was years of interest and training around the world.

When a critical data center needs a guy to figure out how to rejig a rented EPS in 4 hrs< because that is the time left on the UPS, then you want a guy who knows their system. Precious few people know how to setup a reliable microgrid using multiple different PP/CHP units and an unreliable utility within 2 12hr commissioning sessions with blank retrofitted controls. There are probably only 15 other people on beyond that know what I am talking about. If I had the skills of an electrician I'd be a one man show. Alas, I do not.

There are many jobs that are not replaceable and the people who work them are worth every dollar they are paid. My call out rate isn't my salary (god I wish), but I have yet to have a customer who doesn't pay their bill when I get a 2am call.

If I look at the pre-engineering only part of my job, I am hella replaceable. I also look at that part of my job as such. Its the project management/field execution/troubleshooting that isnt.

My team & I sat in front of 3 of the most powerful individuals in North American transportation infrastructure whom told me that if a single component of their electrical network fails, they are losing 1.4MM/hr. I carry a phone for this single customer. This phone is NEVER off. If I lose it they hand deliver a new one 3<hr. If I travel, on vacation, dying, its on me until I am dead/no longer in the industry. I have to alert them if I plan to be on an airplane/no reception. Typing it out loud makes me really think about how crazy it is.

The older I get, the less I care about making others aware of what I do. Now I just say "plcs and generators". In the past I'd flex on anybody who'd listen. The older I get the less defined by a title I get. Making it home with all my fingers and kissing my wife matters most to me. I also realize that it isn't ME who is important, it's my position. If they could find another me, they would.

[ExtraSlow]

Buncha really urgent shit the last two weeks. 97.4% of it could have been done by an administrative assistant, or possibly even an engineer, if they had assistance. I have been assured the work was mission critical. I was also assured that nobody else was GOING to do it.

[killramos]

Some people just don’t get it. Which is fine. Different strokes.

[MalibuStacy]

I can't really meaningfully contribute to this thread being a teacher lol. If our provincial gov could have it their way I'm sure I'd be replaced by machine haha. COVID hasn't really helped this.

But at a fundamental level I believe everyone is replaceable and no one is truely mission critical. I think there are a lot of deficiencies everywhere and this breeds positions which would seem mission critical, and that there are often a lack of redundancies. I dunno man I just teach good

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

1/10 I could be replaced in a few hours. There’s been a few times I felt like I should have I messed up so bad.

[msommers]

I'm very important to the EI system.

[A790]

I sit in the 6-7 range, which is why I have multiple contracts running because I am acutely aware of the fact that they can come and go pretty quickly.