For the past 3 years I worked in a role with next to no supervision. I led a small software development team that was, high performing compared to others in the company. Unfortunately for the first 2 years I had an incredibly incompetent team that required a lot of hand-holding. Eventually I was able to hire competent staff but by then I was so burnt out. Due to no supervision I was literally able to get away with 1-2 hours of actual work per day. I got bored, and for many reasons decided it was time for a change.
Last year I got a new job for a company I had always wanted to work for in a different industry that I always wanted into. However excited I was, I just can’t seem to find a happy pace. I feel like I’m being overworked and have unrealistic expectations. I’m thrown into 2 major projects that don’t have any PMs or BAs, and have no direction. My boss expects me to attend 6-8 hours of meetings per day and work a 2-4 hours on top of those. Sometimes meetings overlap and he expects us to join on our computer AND phone so we can listen to both. I’m doing 2 different roles, and only get 15 minutes here and 30 minutes there for actual work.
Others on the team have expressed similar frustrations, but they all have the attitude of “this is normal”.
Did my extended time of 0 management let me become soft and now I’m just being lazy, or are these expectations unrealistic?
Before I go and find a new job, I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing and not going into something else I’ll be unhappy at.