Job resignation rejected. Advice needed.

How long have you been on the job?

Are you operating under some kind of contractual terms that prevent you from leaving the job without significant fines of some sort? (for example, a signing bonus that would need to be returned if you quit within the first 12 months)

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New jobs are hard. You’re lucky to have a place that is willing to bring you along with extra on-the-job training.

Don’t worry so much about what people say about you behind your back. You’re new and need to prove yourself. Try watching Deadliest Catch a few times and see how they treat greenhorns (sometimes over multiple seasons/years even).

Come into work early. Stay after late. If you need help, then get together with the folks that can teach you, learn your lessons, and try to do as much on your own as soon as possible. Show anyone that’s looking that you’re producing and you’re competent.

@robmandu :: I think mea05key is in south east Asia. Things might be different there.

Thanks for the advice robmandu.

I have been working on the project for 5 months now. Before this, I do not have any sort of proper responsibility due to that fact the projects are not coming in for a certain period of time. Its probably since then that I all these talks started which affect my work and performance because I am one of those very sensitive type.

I do not mind staying late and work things out. I am not a brilliant person and most of the tasks are technical and to be able to properly do it requires days of homework for me but time is not something that I often have. Seeking advice from others, I have done but to me this can only be done for limited amount of time since everyone has their own work to do. If I were to let the discipline engineers to do the work like what is happening in bigger projects, I wouldnt have much to do apart from some follow ups. It occurs to me that I would just be wasting the project resources because I have to book hours every week no matter if i do any work or not. All I am saying is I am being really helpless in the project.

I am working in the UK at the moment tho I am from South East Asia.

With your boss supporting you, take a deep breath and try to change this environment. Smile at people even though it is hard. Bring in snacks for everyone one day. Ask the person you are most comfortable with to lunch.

If you think people are talking behind your back, ignore them. Focus on you and on improving your performance.

If you overhear someone talking about you, confront them. Tell them that x (boss’ name) supports you and they should to, that you are trying.

You do need an attitude adjustment here. A workplace requires some teamwork and cooperation.

By changing the way you respond and the way you interact with your colleagues, you will change their response to you.

Are you from a different country? (Just asking because I detect an accent in your writing) There could be some cultural things going on with your co-workers too.
One thing I wish I would have known when I started working is that almost everyone is full of B.S.
Most people are not as good or as smart as they project themselves to be and they put up this aura and belittle the other guys to secure their own position.
Once I stopped allowing myself to be intimidated by these jerks I flourished. You will too.

@ Marina
@ Judi

Thanks for the advice.

Job resignation rejected? That is a courtesy on your part, to submit one.
If you are not happy and want to leave.
Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you’ll be walking out the door.

If your boos does not want to let you go. Use that opportunity to find another job that makes you happy. Work for the paycheck, for now.

First off, you are very fortunate to have a boss that has confidence in your skills and capabilities and is allowing you to train on the job. The resources for your success are right there beside you….you need only learn how to secure those resources. Engineers, are a peculiar lot. I was not educated nor trained as an engineer but I worked side by side with them, mostly with electrical, electronic, mechanical and control engineers but also with civil and structural engineers and a few architects. I figured them out very quickly. They are often bright, rarely socially adept, have large egos and require attention….they must be heard. Its a good thing I figured them out….they were all working for me within a couple years time. And I learned a lot from them. They will help you but you must take the time to listen to them and be interested in what they have to say. These guys take a lot of pride in their work, particularly when they come up with creative solutions to peculiar design parameters or deal effectively with project restrictions. It is quite something to see how animated and excited they can become. Get to know your co-workers….they are the keys to your success!

I would not think that the problem is your resignation has been rejected. There are very few ideal jobs out there for each of us.

It is not necessary for you to know everything that the engineers know. They are specialists, yet they work for the company. If the boss says they need to give you information for a project, this is their job. It sounds like you have been hired as someone who has been hired to work with information, whether to collect it, compare it, analyze it, package it, whatever. Something these engineers were not able to do, although they may think they can. If you have these skill sets you don’t need to be tied to any specific industry, although you may become comfortable dealing with the problems of one after time and familiarity.

I suggest to tough it out and try different ways to deal with difficult individuals, even if you must get those ideas/techniques from outside yourself.

If you quit, you’ll only set yourself up to quit the next time something is hard or you feel inadequate.

Your boss believes in you, so return the favor, believe in yourself and be that someone he can believe and rely upon. At the minimum, try to do a good job long enough to get a good recommendation so you can move on, which usually means finishing a project/assignment really well and leave on a good note, not as a failure.

@whatthefluther
Impressive observation on people’s character ! Thanks for sharing. I do notice that some are very eager to explain clearly what they think of the problem that I raised. Even though some are basic common sense and it is simple to them they do take their time to make sure I get it right.

@ meribast
I am the project engineer working on my first project and I agree with you especially on your last statement. It means a lot to me when a boss supports and appreciate my effort. But come to think of it, I am bit unsure on how long can i stay abroad to work. There is surely a time when i need to go home for good. But i guess that is something to think about in the near future when my current problems settle down.