Performance Improvement Plan Q&A and Videos

Hey folks, I’m currently working at a Tier 2 tech company that enforces mandatory quotas for categorizing employees as not meeting expectations.

Recently, after a management change , I’ve felt unfairly targeted by my new manager. Despite positive feedback from other senior staff and even my director, my manager constantly questions my performance and has even rejected my reimbursements, making the situation feel very personal.

Additionally, I’ve been given an unfairly large workload and have been isolated, as my peers, including senior engineers, have been instructed not to assist me.

This has left me mentally drained and struggling to find time to prepare for job opportunities elsewhere, despite not being constrained by visa issues.

Given this challenging environment, what strategies would you recommend for managing these workplace difficulties and making time for job hunting in such a demanding job market? Thanks for any advice you can offer!

I joined a new startup, and I am in a my third month. On the surface, I feel things have been going pretty well. I'm earning more than I did before and my mentor & manager have gave me good feedback on my first month. I followed some good practices I learned in Taro - like having videos in every PR and asking many questions.

But then the next 2 months life has been bit busier for me and I've been running behind on other projects I committed to finishing by the end of Q4. I have been managing to work just under 40 hours a week, but feeling like I should do much more given it's a startup and especially now that I am earning more than I did in my last job. I feel like if I worked more than 40 hours I would easily meet or exceed expectations, but just haven't been finding the time.

I haven't gotten any negative feedback yet, but since it's a startup and there isn't really a clear performance review standard I am trying to understand how worried should I be as my 90 day mark is approaching. I know the company previously parted ways with someone after 3 months.

Currently I am planning to make up for this and spend some extra time in Christmas, but I am wondering for now would companies generally give me a notice in advance if I am underperforming?

I got laid off 3 weeks back after a PiP. I'm looking for new opportunities and talking to recruiters. When asked about your current role and company what should I mention? Is it ok to mention my last company/role?

I took 3 weeks' leave to avoid PIP (didnt ended in pip but manager told to have biweekly 1 on 1s but its just a say) from the current org. I can't work in my current org it's so toxic and stressful. I am not able to study and work in my current org tried that for the last 6 months but was not consistent

I got calls from 9 companies where I went on full rounds, and got rejected in all

Feeling disheartened after seeing the results. joining this company, I am not able to crack interviews after joining this current org

I learned nothing from this current org. I only survived here I accept that I should have done some work also, but I kept it to a minimum work requirement.

I am planning to quit. I have some backup and my wife is also working but I fear that after quitting it should not take too much time to get another job

exp: 6yrs

Tech stack: Frontend.

Our manager assigned a colleague and me both of us junior developers to a repository we have no experience working on, with no help or prior knowledge provided. We asked our senior for guidance, and she told us we need to reach out to two other teams to get a knowledge transfer.

We have 10 days to complete the task, but there’s already been a delay due to code reviews. Our manager refuses to understand the situation and told us that our jobs and especially our performance reviews are on the line.

Should I consider switching to a different org, or is it time to leave the company?
(I really don't like posting question like this)

In the past two years, I've been employed at an Indian company in the role of Engineering Manager. However, my experience was marred by a lack of learning opportunities and a restrictive culture that limited my decision-making authority. Despite these challenges, I chose to stay due to personal commitments, particularly with a baby on the way.

Recently, I decided to transition to a Staff role at a European startup, embracing remote work and a more supportive culture (I loved this job and role). While the change has been positive, I find myself facing the challenge of underdeveloped skills and falling short of my expectations (It's my feeling).

How can I effectively overcome this situation and make the maximum impact in my new role? Specifically, I need to enhance my technological proficiency, deepen my understanding of business dynamics, and integrate seamlessly into the organizational culture. What strategies should I employ to bridge this gap swiftly and justify my position within the company?

Hello,

I joined Meta at E4 as SWE Specialist. I managed to get GEE at my first performance review, and I got promoted to E5. Then two rounds of layoffs happened, and several reorgs. I started to struggle in my personal life, and work started to go side ways, and I missed some deadlines. This broke relationship with my manager. I had a couple meetings when my manager was shouting at me. My team was also 8-hour timezone shifted, so it was hard for me to find new projects at my level. The priorities shifted after reorgs, and I struggled to catch up on the changes. I also feel like I'm not suitable for specialist position. I'm more of a generalist. Long story short, I was laid off without PIP. I'm feeling really bad about it now, and it hurt my confidence at lot, and I'm still struggling with panic attacks from time to time...

I was recently offered staff level position at a mid-size company. The team is distributed in a very similar timezones - 2 hours difference. I have some technical leadership experience from a startup, but I think it's going to be different than in mid-size company. I don't think it's going to be same as staff at Meta because of the scale of the company. I found out that I'd be the first staff engineer in the org, so even the manager is not clear what the expectations are. I'm sort of second guessing my decision here. Did I make a stupid decision? I don't want to get laid off again. I have also another offer for a senior position at another mid-size company, but the team sounds less interesting. Do you guys have any advice? How do I get back on the horse again? I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I guess I might be looking for some kind of absolution for my sins, so that I can move on... I wish I could start things completely over but life is not a video game... How do I rebuild my reputation?

I'm part of a product squad at our company composed of 2 Senior SWEs (1 of which joined less than 6 months ago), and 4 mid-level SWE (including me, who also joined 6 months ago). The other 2 mid-level SWE also joined in the last 1 year. Last quarter, our PM went on sabbatical. As a result, there was much unstability in our team. I'm particularly product-minded and was able to make product decisions on the initiatives I was working on, making sure to work with stakeholders. But overall in my estimation, our team is in a delicate state and in need of a strong product strategy and direction, which can only be fulfilled by a PM (in my perspective, I could be wrong though).

Someone who knows the PM for much longer have talked to her outside work (while she was in sabbatical), and this person have told me that she is planning to come back only for a month and then leave the org. I realized that the instability is going to hurt our team and so on our next 1:1, carefully and without revealing my teammate who shared that info to me, I asked my manager if there's a plan B in the scenario that our PM leaves. The answer I got back, which my manager got from his manager, is that there is no plan B and that our team will have to adapt to the situation if this happens. To me this answer is a red flag and I interpret it as the org not investing in our team.

My questions now, is my interpretation correct? If not, what else could be happening here? If yes, please advice on what would be a good step for me to take, as my goal is to continue growing in the company.