#87 “As a new professional in the technology industry, I really didn't know what to expect upon entering the workforce….”

“As a new professional in the technology industry, I really didn't know what to expect upon entering the workforce. But, someone taking credit for work I did was not what I was expecting in a professional setting. I noticed it in passing at first, and I thought it may be a coincidence of work overlapping, or him just getting ramped up on the project. But then, his tactics got more aggressive. He started reading off my commits like he had built them himself, he went into details about x, y problem he was having and how he was stuck and working through it. Then in our standup's, he'd get there ~10 min early to sit in the first seat that shared. By the time it was my turn, I had to come up with something and was too nervous as a junior to either stand up for myself or challenge him. It got to the point I was hoarding my commits away until after standup.

I finally got courage to bring this up to the tech leads, and they watched carefully the next few weeks. They verified it was happening, but didn't do anything about it. I left the company shortly after for other reasons.”