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Guys,

I need help. I am starting to lose my mind here.

We recently hired a new person in our team.

I didnt interview him because I was out sick that day. But resume is like meh. No certifications. The only thing I think that won this guy over with the rest of the team is that he has great communication skills. But we all know that can only take you so far in the IT world.

Anywho, my issue is, that this guy seems to always need to put in his 2-cents about everything. I get it, he is new, he is trying to get noticed. But there have been occasions where he has volunteered for a task and then asks me how to complete it. I am just left with some noodle scratching.

I have already informed him to tread lightly and to first get to know the environment before volunteering for anything. My first few weeks, I spent time reviewing how the environment work. Looking at visio diagrams. Understanding how the applications work and are integrated with our systems prior to throwing my hat into the ring.

15 Spice ups
2

Well, a couple of things:

  1. Certifications don’t matter. His wanting to contribute should be seen as a positive thing. He DOES have to prove something, especially to you - judging by this topic. So he’s doing what he believes to be the best thing possible for himself and his new position. You should be encouraging this contributing type of behavior and if you’re finding an issue with it, maybe you feeling threatened or annoyed by that behavior is your subconscious creeping out. Are you worried he may be more liked, smarter, or just better at the position than you?
  2. If you want to show dominance in an office, I’ve ALWAYS recommended being less verbal, and more fecal. Next time you’re in the office together, go over to his workspace, drop your pants, and place a number 2 on the floor in front of him while maintaining perfect eye contact. Then walk away. This works in the animal kingdom and it definitely works in the workplace. He will now respect you and cease his toxic behavior.

Hope this helps, OP!

14 Spice ups
3

Lol. Yes, he wanting to contribute is seen as positive. And we are encouraging him. But he always seems to take things to the extreme. Him being better than me? Nah. Not worried about that at all. It is more of an annoyance. I think you missed the part where I said, that he volunteers for things and then asks me how to do it? Now why would that not annoy me? If you are volunteering for something, it is because you know how to do it right? I am not here to babysit anyone or walk anyone on how to do things. Especially if you are volunteering for stuff. Would you volunteer to put out a fire if you have no experience/training on being a firefighter?

We are all working remotely and I cant go take a piss on his cubicle. So that is on the to-do list. Thanks for the tip.

2 Spice ups
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I’m just sayin - the way you talk about the guy leads me to initially believe that you’re threatened by him. It’s one thing to have a problem with somebody asking for help too much, it’s another to say everything you said in the original post that had nothing to do with the core problem of “He asks me too many questions.” You even went as far as to mention that he was:

  1. Not your choice
  2. Doesn’t have certifications
  3. Has good communication skills but that only goes so far
  4. Resume was meh
  5. He won the REST of the team over

And so on… You could’ve just said “We have a new guy who is biting off more than he can chew and it’s causing me to do a lot of work as a result. How do I communicate to him to slow down?”

I’m not saying I’m right, because I rarely am… but it sounds to me that you’re defensive right now, aka “playing defense.” You can’t play defense if there is no offense and right now this guy seems to be the one with the ball.

That said, simply tell him in a non-threatening manner to slow down. Saying to “tread lightly” is not a non-threatening manner. That sounds more like a subtle threat. Just simply say “Hey, I really appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to take on additional work but right now I think it’d be beneficial for the team if you started with learning the basics of our environment before going any further. I would be glad to help you with this.”

If that doesn’t work, see my “#2” in my first post :slight_smile:

4 Spice ups
5

Lol. Yeah, I understand. My initial post was not the best in describing the main problem. My apologies good sir.

Basically I did tell him to tread lightly when volunteering or speaking about anything, especially during meetings with the top brass. I told him that they will hold him and the team accountable too if he can’t deliver.

Everyone thinks they are smart until they try to use another person’s shower.

1 Spice up
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  1. If you want to show dominance in an office, I’ve ALWAYS recommended being less verbal, and more fecal. Next time you’re in the office together, go over to his workspace, drop your pants, and place a number 2 on the floor in front of him while maintaining perfect eye contact. Then walk away. This works in the animal kingdom and it definitely works in the workplace. He will now respect you and cease his toxic behavior.

I am so going to have to try that some time… Can’t think of a situation where I would need it but…

Think if I try that with the Boss, I might get a raise? Oh… wait, my dog did that, the boss wasn’t impressed.

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Dogs don’t pay taxes so dogs don’t deserve paychecks. Hard to give a raise to somebody who currently makes $0.00.

:sunglasses:

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Oh man, almost had a mini heart attack that this was about me or something at first. New (as far as IT dept) hire, had schooling and previous experience doing this and have been asking some questions, mainly about our specific environment, or stuff i forgot since my last IT job. Finally back in the saddle, but I haven’t made any checks my ass can’t cash yet. I actually have offered some insight due to me working on the manufacturing floor (what I was doing previous to this) for certain solutions.

I will agree with dimforest on this one. Clear communication, or at least maybe working on a few tickets/projects together to teach them. Not easy I know but hey, if they have the enthusiasma nd are actually learning things as you go, they might be worth keeping around.

1 Spice up
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Maybe, but it could also be because he wants to learn how to do it. No, I wouldn’t volunteer to put out a fire if I didn’t know how to use the extinguisher, but I might volunteer to do something less critical and time-sensitive and then take the time to learn to do it. (I have done, often, in fact.) I, too, would find it annoying if his first step was to come to me asking how to do it (though perhaps that means he recognizes that you know what you are doing) and would probably take that as an opportunity to introduce him to the Spiceworks community and some of the other tech resources that I most commonly use. Maybe help him learn a little Google Fu to more quickly locate pertinent information.

I hope the stress level in your situation moderates. It is tough to work when that level is high.

1 Spice up
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I think Robert took over Dim’s account.