I must say that I never though of the corporate environment as a bastion of fair play, accountability, and meritocracy. But the extend of the compromising, internal politics scheming and fear of excellence never ceases to shock me even after a decade of working inside the beast. Everybody from the lowest to the highest level spend most of there time trying to avoid responsibility and scheming while at the same time ignores the outside world and comes in contact with reality only when it is too late. All this isolationism, byzantine interrelations, fear of change and rigid hierarchical structures of the corporate world reminds me of the feudal system with the employs managers in the role of serf and vassal. I'm not implying that corporate employees are some sort of slave bound to the company and manager. The analogy has more to do with the rigit "social" structure and absence of any real influence the employees have in any decision making process at any level (this goes for a lot of managers too). They are are supposed to just do their work (or mostly pretend to do their work) and if they feel adventurous occasionally poach in the feudal forest (aka office supplies) when the manager is not looking. Managers on the other hand behave like vassals bound to their superiors and peers, competing for employees and budget (which has taken the place of land and titles) between them and making sure everything or appears to be going as the company plan dictates.

As I described in survival guides one and two the corporate environment does not have a place for innovation originality, honest competition and cooperation, creative argument, professionalism and strive for excellence. In fact all of these characteristics are considered as disadvantages. That's not to say that there can be occasions where individuals or even groups of people showing these characteristics cannot exist happily or even thrive in side large corporations. It is just that this tends to be rare and most of the time appears in isolated pockets inside companies or in some cases in R&D departments and only if they are isolated completely from the main company. If you happen to be a individually who cant get rid of these distinctive non-corporate characteristics and you hope you can find such a island of good work ethic inside your company it is not going to be that easy. These groups or individuals usually want to stay hidden for reasons that should be obvious by now and make sure not to advertise. Also when the group gets critical mass or the ideal conditions that harbored them disappear they leave usually to change career or create a start-up. So ending up in one of them is purely a matter of chance.

Corporate Entity's survival guide: Part 2

"I'm always try to do my best but no matter how good I'm at my work and how well this reflects in my teams overall performance I have been isolated by everyone", "I'm innovative, that actually work, I'm professional and pay attention to the quality of my work,I strive always to deliver within or if possible even before a deadline, I help others when they are faced with difficult tasks. But no mater haw I improve on these attributes both my superiors and my colleagues hate my guts and are constantly giving me a hard time"

Unlike what people usually think corporations do not strive to promote excellence among their staff. The image of the employee who is hard working shows originality and professionalism and gets reworded both in salary increase, respect from his peers and a promotion is almost completely false. 90% of corporations reward there employees based on there seniority in a very standard way regardless of performance. Even those who do claim to have a performance rewards in reality use an elaborate internal politics based system to calculate who gets what and all the positive qualities we usually associate with advancement in life are excluded from it. In fact like the display of original thought and behavior described in survival guide part 1 they is a sure way of putting you in the "deep freeze" or even getting you fired instead of promoted. So here some advice to save your ass

1)Do not do your best or even try to improve your performance even if you feel compelled to do so.
2)Never show originality, innovation, true professionalism, good quality of work or attention to detail. If you accidentally show this qualities during a project just make sure no one notices and never talk about it especially to you peers.
3)Never ever finish a project before a deadline.
4)Never, ever, ever, ever help anyone.

The truth is that with very few exceptions nobody wants an overachiever in a corporate environment no matter how helpful he might be for the overall performance of the team or the department. Your colleagues will feel threatened because your work ethic might force them to wake up from there sloppy sloth speed and improve themselves. Your your superiors will also feel threatened because no mater how inept in company politics you are, they will see your success gradually sawing off the base of there leather padded chair. Even if they don't feel threatened by you they will have to put you down somehow because it is the only way to stop your colleagues from constantly complaining to them about you behind your back (those you helped will be the first to do so). In any case always try to use the absolute minimum of you abilities and stay if possible bellow the mediocrity bar if you don't want to cause trouble.

Corporate Entity's survival guide: Part 1

"Why must I eliminate my self so i can be part of something?"" Why do I have to lie about who I'm to get a job and keep it?" "Why do I have to be a spineless hypocrite for 8 hours a day and be true to myself only when I get home."

Well unfortunately when it comes to interacting with people inside the working environment how good you are with your work does not mean a thing. In fact if combined with honesty and integrity it can be a great disadvantage. From my experience there seem to be three basic rule avoiding problems:

1)Never express a different opinion on a subject no matter how well you can back it up with evidence.
2)You should never ever suggest that something is wrong even if (again) you can present good evidence that its.
3)You should never ever ever suggest that there is a better way of doing something.

The really incredible part is the reactions you get. The last 5-6 years that I have been keeping track of this I really don't know how many times I got back the phrase "most people don't think work/act that way so why do you?" or "If everyone around you disagrees with what you say then why do keep insisting on this?". The response almost never has to do with whether or not what you say is true or wheter it might prove to be a good idea or not. It has always to do with how many other people have a different opinion than yours. For some reason people tend to think that that whether something is true/good or not is determined by a poll and not by evidence or reasonable arguments. In any case if your opinions (even those that have nothing to do with work) tend to differ from those of your colleagues and superiors do not express them no matter how well you can support them with evidence. In fact providing sound arguments and a good case for your opinions might get you fired.

Corporate entity dilemma

To be honest I don't really know what this post is for. I guess it is sort of a desperate rant . I spend the last 10 years in the corporate IT sector. I have worked for little Dot Com's and multinational giants and I have taken part in dozens of projects, from designing tiny web apps to building huge platforms with countless components. I have been to many interviews, I have gone through dozens of trainings sessions, hundreds of meetings, I have endured brutal deathmarches and I have been part of successes stories. I have seen and done it all.

And I just cant stand it any more.

I did not start as a software developer I come from a more artistic/creative background that had nothing to do with computers. But I was always interested in them so I chose to work as a software developer. And I discovered that I actually loved it, and the worst part is I still do, every part of it. Designing, coding testing even debugging (i know it is sad). I can just stand in a bus stop waiting for the bus and I think of ideas for a new mobile applications or how to organize the localization of a large telco platform (this is actually a real problem). It is as natural for me as breathing air. But at the same time I cannot cope any more with working in an "office/corporate" environment.

It has to do partly with the actual physical environment it self as time goes by and I become more "senior" and integrated to the system by getting employed by larger companies. The small development groups of 4-5 people (usually of the same experience and quality) working in comfortable rooms of 1-2 people each is replaced by large open space offices where 100 people of various types are hoarded together almost shoulder to shoulder in some cases. In my early years I could partially cope with it but now it is killing me. The fact that my social skills are not exactly my strong point is a frequent cause of problems in these large group/team environments. On the other hand I can be extremely efficient and easy going when I'm with small groups of people I know well or if I'm isolated in room with remote minimum direct contact with others. But this type of work conditions are almost impossible to find in the corporate environments I have experienced.

Another equally serious problem I face more and more as I progress in the corporate system is the hostility towards individually and creativity and freely expressing opinions that I have to face. Up to a point it is expected I guess. The larger the corporation the more bureaucratic and politically driven it becomes even when its main business has to do with cutting edge technologies (like mobile internet frameworks or web platforms) .
I have tried all my working life to stay outside of this and it seems also impossible! My last failed attempt to avoid it was to work as a contractor. I mean what the hell! Why would a contractor be involved in company politics. You are there to do your job and give a solution to the client, right? But it seems that not only you cannot avoid politics and bureaucracy but you are completely powerless against them. You are hired to solve problems that permanent stuff cannot solve (usually because they haven't got the knowledge or the talent) but you end up paralyzed by the same mechanism while at the same time getting hits from above(managers) and bellow(company permanent). It is so frustrating!

Currently I'm in a bit of a dead end. I love my work to the point I cannot stop thinking about new ideas on software. It is part of me in a very real way and designing and coding applications makes me happy is the same way as painter or a sculptor is happy working on his art. But at the same time I cannot stand having to work inside the standard corporate environment that provides me with my income. I cannot go back and moving forward is killing me.

I really don't know what to do.There must be something better than this.