Starting to feel like shit about my new job. Every task my boss gives me I return with a "sorry it can't be done" for one reason or another. At first it was because user interface testing is a nightmare, then it was because the API postman tests he wanted is for endpoints we haven't exposed so it can't be done and the automated login on postman and retrieval of cookie information can't be done through postman because it requires rendering the site in a browser. I feel worthless to the company but I also feel he keeps making up tasks for me without checking if they're actually useful to us or even possible first, rather than let me touch any of the real code.. I don't know if I should just quit tbh.

You should confront them about the subject

@Jilano I kinda feel like that is the case though. My job interview was 10 minutes and they didn't ask about my code skills at all. If they had, I definitely wouldn't have gotten the job.

@Elyz that does sound a lot like my interview when I got my current job.

They might have hired you for your personality (as in good fit for the team) and/or because they just saw that something in you. Whatever the case, it’s better to discuss things with your superior before jumping to conclusions and acting in irreversable ways.

I haven't worked as a dev before but sometimes people need someone to give then that reality check.

From your previous rants I'm guessing you haven't been in industry all that long, which means your boss really shouldn't be expecting you to do the above without help, he should be leading & guiding you. If you quit, quit because of that reason, not because you feel worthless - you're most certainly not.

If you want to know what a senior would typically do in these situations though - it'd be to research & present possible solutions rather than just say it can't be done. That may be what he's looking for.

If he asks for tests on endpoints that aren't exposed, I'd be suggesting we run tests while tunnelled into the server so we can test without worrying about exposure. If he's talking about automated logins with cookies, that sounds like a Selenium / Cypress job for automated UI testing - I'd be asking about setting that up as a separate testing layer before adding that test alongside others.

It's not always easy to start thinking along these lines - but it could be worthwhile.

@AlmondSauce we've already been over all of that. I wrote a long report on our future testing strategy and presented to him three weeks ago and I think he understands not every test can be done in postman and we need "layers" of tests. The issue is, I think, he doesn't know the code and neither do I and he worries that it'll take too long for me to learn what the fuck the offshore devs did (I've already found several things with clear comments saying "should be false in prod" next to a bool set to true 🙄)

I just wanna write code, but I doubt this industry is for me. I think I'll settle for poverty.

@Elyz Sounds like you've done what you can in many ways. If he's not even letting you look and figure out the code, I'd be looking elsewhere. Plenty of jobs around where they'll let you get stuck in on day 1.

@Frederick That's true, but sad at the same time. Interns / grads are an investment, and (the good ones) can do some great work if you're prepared to put in the time.

There's zero reason why Elyz shouldn't be able to crack on with this work in a branch and open a PR. It's not like the old days before VC. It's zero risk, the worst that happens is they never merge the PR because it's too broken, and that should be very unlikely with the proper support.

@Frederick I don't think it's a general thing here as the company is a start-up and the other student dev has good assignments. I think it's personal :/

@Elyz then maybe take it up with them and if things don’t improve, start looking elsewhere

@Frederick the other guy got into the company via a school project so he's pretty much just continuing what he did that semester since he's the only one who knows the code well

@Frederick no, it's just an extra feature they give paying customers for free lol

@Elyz “I doubt this industry is for me” because this one job might not be for me is like saying “Because my first slice of pizza I ever tried had pineapple on it and I didn’t like that, I’m convinced I’ll never like any pizza at all.”

That’s how silly it sounds to somebody 6 years and 3 jobs in.

Overall I think you’re overreacting. And the fact that you are bored / underutilized is a good thing at first. Take this liberty to explore some things and make some mistakes. If things ever take a turn for the worse oh well you already considered leaving. But leaving now gets you nothing. So just start bothering the people who you want to work with. Define your own role, pick something that you want to contribute to, weather you feel qualified or not. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel qualified to write software that manages resources on airplanes, but here I am doing it.

@jeeper this is my second job and four years in, though only part time. I don't know, I'm just bored of it and never liked it that much to begin with but here I am digging a hole for myself. I can't pick a different educational path now so scrum meetings for life for me, if I ever make it out of positions that involve writing 0 code.

@Elyz Ok.. i am feeling uncomfortable at how similar our problems are.