I’m a new grad who started at one of the Big Tech companies this past year. Been recently notified that I’m in danger of being placed under PIP due to underperformance, which I thought was fair due to extenuating familial circumstances. I’m personally feeling despair in being capable or being able to stay in the tech industry considering my lack of ability or general aptitude.
All the advice I’ve ever heard is to start looking for a new job if you’re out on a pip. I don’t know how well that advice tracks if severance is on the table though.
I will say this though, there is no harm in looking. Ever.
Can someone explain what pip is, I am assuming its not the python package manager, and I am not getting the meaning from context.
“Performance Improvement Plan”, It’s a process for when an employee is believed to not be meeting expectations.
Depending on where you’re at, it may actually be intended as a way to help you improve, or it may be the first step in being able to fire you without fear of being sued for wrongful termination. Lengthy documentation of underperformance is usually seen as the best defense in that sort of thing. I think a lot of people assume it’s the latter.
Personally, I think that if a person can genuinely understand their underperformance, it could well be a genuine attempt at improvement. If only as a way to push someone to buckle down for fear of losing their job.
I’ve had friends who got put on PIPs in situations where they felt they were put onto tasks or projects which would have been difficult for anyone to accomplish with the resources they were given. In a few cases, it seems to come from the same few shitty managers.
In either case, it’s probably not a bad idea to start mentally preparing yourself to move on.
…PIP?
Personal Improvement Plan. It’s a nominally a management tool for getting underperformers to get up to where they’re expected to be.
Many will tell you that it is just a step in the firing process. That’s how I’ve heard it described.
I’ve seen a few people put on PIPs at a FAANG and none of them survived. The main reason for the PIP was to make sure enough data was gathered to be able to fire them without worrying about being sued.
Honestly, that’s usually how things work out and it’s just one of the seven circles of Hell a manager need to put you through to finally get you out the door, but people do occasionally get out of PIPs with their jobs intact.
An app?
Not usually. It’s a business process, so it’s often done on paper or something. “Write down how you plan to stop sucking so badly, we’ll come back in 6 weeks and review your progress”
oof
Unfortunately, you’re also entering into big tech at a time when most big tech companies are laying people off. It’s going to be a highly competitive time.
Personally, I’d follow the process, put my nose to the grindstone, and work hard to improve. It’s about all you can do, since you’re playing in their sandbox. Don’t take your paycheck for granted, put money away for a rainy day.
If anything does happen (and I’m not going to sugar coat it, the PIP is definitely the first step out the door), remember that not everyone is a fit for every job, but it doesn’t mean you’re not going to be able to do tech work. It might just mean you need to find a less competitive job outside of the highly competitive big tech field.
My first job wasn’t a good fit for me. I’m a doer, and that job was about planning things that might never get done ever. I’d just put a plan together and they’d tell me to put it on the shelf and start on the next one. Spent a lot more time on reddit than I’d like to admit, I found it hard to get motivated. My next job was much more immediate, things I did would be rolled out immediately once testing was successful. I found that it was a much better fit for me, and I did very well in that job.
Don’t sweat looking around in more traditional companies. There are a LOT of big tech and big 4 refugees that chose family over work.
I wasn’t PIP’ed but I was fired once early on I was put on projects I really shouldn’t have tried my best but it wasn’t enough
it hurt a lot at the time but I moved on and almost two decades later i’m now a ‘top performer’ and have successfully worked on many well known products
my advice is just to keep going in a few years you likely won’t even remember this job
Maybe look for a job that is a bit more chill, there is sometimes times in life when the “grind grind grind” mindset some have doesn‘t work. I had one such time when I was just starting out and it was like hell to push myself to be as good as the company demanded. I didn‘t have a PIP, but a lot of criticism of my work which made me feel inadequate.
I ended up throwing in the towel, relief set in pretty much immediately. I managed to deal with my personal issues better once I had more time and then I found a company which was happy to accommodate when it came to mental health or work life balance and help me improve in a way that was less damaging to my self esteem.
Nowadays, I‘m so choosy I end up pretty much sorting out anyone who seems like my 1st company by mentioning work life balance and some other things considered red flags.
One caveat: I‘ll never be as rich as those who do grind grind grind, but I don‘t need to tbh.
If you are this early career and the company is still paying you, PIP or no PIP, it’s very likely that they want you to succeed. Question your assumptions and make sure you really understand the feedback they are giving you. Don’t put in extraordinary hours (you want to have clear judgement, get plenty of sleep) but look for every resource, mentors, books, ask for help, and focus on doing your best. This will put you in the best possible light no matter what happens.
There are a lot of different companies out there each with a different culture. One of them might be a better fit.
I was on a PIP early on, and i was also in a low place in my life. The managers were thoroughly well-intentioned, though, and i bounced back, eventually becoming the goto for technical questions in our department, after the team grew a year later. It was a nice place to work. Eventually i quit for something i preferred.
My advice is don’t sweat it, put in the work, and try to gauge your managers’ intent. Chances are, they are really trying to improve your situation.
At the point where I had ~5 years of experience I was put on a variation of PIP for being overly negative about a (new) project’s direction and feeling that our efforts were very misguided. My manager provided some training items on soft skills, then I left the company a few months later of my own volition. While I still feel that the project was fundamentally flawed, and last I had heard it was scrapped shortly after I left, I do get the sentiment and have used it to at least better gauge when/where to critique and try to provide insights going forward.
I recently came out of a pre-PiP. It took some work but most of the heavy lifting was just listening to and actioning on advice. It was also a culture that used this quite frequently for course correction and usually tries to avoid PIP’ing when possible.
That said once on a PIP the advice even at that company was to look elsewhere generally. I currently have 3 YOE if that helps, and the pre-PIP was fairly early in my on-boarding.
