Career advice for a worry wart

[olicat]

Hello all! This is my first post at the site, hopefully first of many.

Here's my short story...8 months ago through a local linux group, a job opportunity came up for a Linux technical support. Although not fully qualified in terms of experience, I am pretty confident with Linux and I went for it anyway. To my surprise, I got an interview. The interview went really well, I got a lot of praise for my CV and a couple of weeks later I was offered the job as a Junior Systems Administrator. It was explained to me that, although I wasn't qualified for this position, I'd be fully trained by the staff to ensure I could cope and do a good job.
Well, 8 months down the line, I haven't been trained in anything at all, have been largely ignored by the person who is meant to be doing the training, and I'm still nowhere near where I could be (ability wise) if I had been getting trained properly.
Now I was going to the office each day, taking care of "my jobs" like stocking the fridge with cans of drink, and some more technical stuff, like keeping other staff informed of their bugs assigned to them, etc, when the person who is supposed to be training me took me to his office for a chat. I was told that he doesn't think I'm doing a good job, I'm not productive, and then he said when the budget needs to be cut, I'm the first one out the door. Another issue he had with me was the fact that the previous day, I had spent an hour or so reading a book on SSH Tunneling - something they told me I'd need to learn whilst there.
The manager above him always seems pleasant with me however, and encourages me when I complete a task. So I'm worried, bamboozled, and completely confused!

Sorry for the long post, but i'm looking for advice and don't know where to turn.
If anyone needs any more information on my situation, please ask!
What do you think I should do?

[Narue]

>What do you think I should do?
I think you should stop being so afraid of your direct supervisor and confront him with your concerns. I mean really, what do you expect us to do about it? If someone is supposed to train you and isn't, that's negligence on his part. A company takes this very seriously because if you're fired or laid off due to poor performance as a result of his negligence, you're within your rights to file a lawsuit against them.

[olicat]

Hi,
I wasn't expecting anyone here to do anything about it - i was merely looking for advice.
As far as confronting them goes, then I'm more likely to go to this persons super, rather than them directly. But I've no idea what to say, as this person is pretty pivotal to the company.

[Narue]

>I'm more likely to go to this persons super, rather than them directly.
If this guy is your direct supervisor, you talk to him first. Not following the "chain of command" without good reason is a good way to alienate every boss you'll have for the rest of your career.

>But I've no idea what to say, as this person is pretty pivotal to the company.
How about "I was told when I was hired that you would be training me, but I feel like I'm being ignored". You're not accusing him of anything, only voicing how you feel, and it's very polite.

>i was merely looking for advice.
My advice is to stop being such a weenie and go get what you want. The worst that they can do is fire you, and that's only if you make enough of a stink that it's more cost effective to get rid of you than to give you what you want or compromise.

[nanosani]

Worrying is not the best of solutions.

The correct solution would be if you succeed in conveying your point to your boss (Narue is right ... never go to the chain of command without any severe reason). And thats possible only through communication ... If you dont do it, things wont happen your way ... so make them happen. Wish you best of luck.

[webecedarian]

Well, don't "confront" and you certainly should be contemplating lawsuits, especially since you're probably quite young.

Discuss, don't confront. Go to the person who siad you're unproductive, and say, yes, you're right, and here's why, and here are my concerns - and what can we do about it?

[Narue]

>you certainly should('nt) be contemplating lawsuits
I wasn't suggesting that he should. But it's a very real fear for companies, so it's unlikely that after talking to his superior about this, the poor performance reviews will contribute to being laid off or fired. The point is to talk to his boss. By staying quiet, he'll likely get canned for something that wasn't his fault, but by speaking up about not being trained, he can easily avoid that and get his training all in one swell foop. :)

[jwenting]

only reason you should ever sue them is if they do something illegal, like not pay your salary.
If you do otherwise you'll get branded a troublemaker which will hurt your career chances for years if not decades.
Remember it's a relatively close knit industry, many people (especially at management levels) know each other and things like that talk around.
I am constantly surprised when at trade shows and fairs about the number of people who don't know me but do know the owner of the company I work for from some social function or earlier professional contact.

[ItCareerCoach]

It was explained to me that, although I wasn't qualified for this position, I'd be fully trained by the staff to ensure I could cope and do a good job.

Since the person who told you that you will be trained is not the same person who will doing the training, it could be possible that the person who's supposed to train you doesn't even know you were expecting him to train you. 8 months is actually a long time to keep this going without bringing it up that you have been expecting training. You can either ask the person who told you you will be trained, or discuss with the staff that was supposed to train you what you have been told.

You can also be proactive, and take the initiative to help yourself learn. When you were hired, you would have been given a description of your job scope. If you are meeting your responsibilities, the company cannot just easily fire you. If you are not meeting the job scope, you may ask the staff to train you so you can meet the company's expectation. If they refuse, then that's the time you can go to the upper up, and state your case.