How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016)

Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by ryandrake on Monday January 23, 2017 @01:34PM (#13464569)

I remember the first time in my career I encountered someone like this. I thought I was mistaken or crazy, or just naive since I was new to corporate work. This person MUST do something or he'd have been fired! But after watching for weeks, then months, as he literally accomplished nothing, instead spending all his time self-promoting, taking credit for other people's accomplishments, and "managing upward", I was convinced I wasn't crazy. His official job was to write code, but his real job was shaping the perceived reality of his boss and his boss's boss, and he was very very good at it. This person has, since, gone on to be rather successful (at least a successful sounding title at a well-known software company).

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Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by gozur88 on Monday January 23, 2017 @05:05PM (#13466535)

In my experience small companies, which can't afford to carry dead weight, are pretty intolerant of these kinds of people. But at a large company someone who does this well will be there as long as he wants. I work with one who's been at our company for at least fifteen years.

My favorite trick is the Strategic Vacation. Somehow he always has a long vacation planned months in advance that allows him to dump whatever he's been tasked with onto someone else (like me, for instance).

"It's basically done, but I haven't added Y or Z yet" is always the prelude to receiving something he's been "working on" for three months and actually put in, charitably, two or three days of actual work.

But he's a good looking, personable kind of guy. Everybody likes him, particularly the managers, as a person. So while nobody wants him on their team he's managed to avoid getting a reputation that would keep him from moving to other teams.

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Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by mattdeboard on Monday January 23, 2017 @07:57PM (#13467904)

> "It's basically done, but I haven't added Y or Z yet" is always the prelude to receiving something he's been "working on" for three months and actually put in, charitably, two or three days of actual work.

I am familiar with this one as well.

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Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by Aaargh20318 on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @11:10AM (#13472494)

> In my experience small companies, which can't afford to carry dead weight, are pretty intolerant of these kinds of people. But at a large company someone who does this well will be there as long as he wants.

I've worked for a small startup that got reasonably big. We started out with several really good and hard working people. The problems started when we started to get successful and got some investors on board. We were quite well known in the industry we were in and when word got around we got a bit of investment money and we were hiring it attracted a lot of management-types who mainly applied for the status we had. Lots of people with negative productivity. Took a few more years before the company went belly-up.

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Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by type0 on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @05:55AM (#13470373)

Reminds me of the Typical Day interview (from Office Space): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiOEQOtBlQ

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Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by johnbellone on Monday January 23, 2017 @01:41PM (#13464658)

I work with someone like that right now, and it still baffles my mind. There are several people that even openly acknowledge it, but nothing is ever done about it. There are times I feel like I am in Bizzaro world.

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Re:How Bullshitters Not Just Survive But Thrive (2016) by Balgair on Monday January 23, 2017 @03:11PM (#13465519)

Well, it sounds like whatever that person is doing is 'working' just fine for them then!

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