Thread regarding AT&T Inc. layoffs

I have a manager who says he is technical, you ask him any technical question and he cannot answer it. He says he is technical when it comes to Windows. Unfortunately, we all work in a Linux/UNIX environment no UIs here. You actually need to know what you are doing using putty. That is not the biggest problem, the biggest problem is he does not know anything about operations, business, management or leadership. The only thing he does is make approvals and barks out orders that no one listens to anyway. AT&T will be better of by hiring a good secretary instead of paying $140K+ for doing nothing at all.

Good comments, unfortunately in CA most ATO managers don' t have a college degree, it is hard to believe we are following their leadership, we all stumble in many ways, but the quality of our management team lacks, and belongs in the past

The road to advancement is paved by leadership making sure everyone's in the right seat. Blending good ideas with "nicompoop" speak is again a systemic cultural issue that adds real cost to the business when ur spending most of your day trying to influence people who don't get it and who may even be invested in the status quo.

This is a real att problem. Obviously the answer also isn't making ur boss look dumb, but what suggested below comes with a high price that no one seems to understand but those isolated out of a job because their ideas were good and misunderstood.

“Idiot engineering at AT&T is a MUST, isn’t butt kissing, The whole idea is to make working conditions more conducive to your career growth.”, and there are plenty of dumb managers at ATO.

Remember: The key to overcoming an idiot boss includes blending your ideas with the nincompoop’s language and agenda. If the schmuck adopts your ideas as his own, you’ve hopped the first hurdle to success, To keep your job, Some may see efforts to handle an idiot boss as butt kissing, but anyone who thinks that probably believes the road to advancement starts by making the boss look stupid.

Only at AT&t

• No room for critical observations. Heaven-forbid you explain to a Manager that a particular "technique" is ineffective, You are suddenly labled deficient , two possible outcomes here, they get rid of you, or you are forced to attend punative meetings that are purposely scheduled at 7 am in the morning. However, they prefer to call them "training sessions" in which you will never lean anything.. priceless

The AT&T culture breeds idiots. The only way to change this is to get rid of majority of leadership and strart from scratch. This is asinine what is napping at AT&T. We still have very strong and hard working technical staff but they are so sick of it that they do not care anymore. The ones that I know of are all looking for better opportunities and that is ufortunate.

Its not funny just plain old stupid, no need for a boss who hasn't got a clue. I'm a retired employee and must say that AT&T got rid of its "REAL" management in the 90s under VRIP , pretty much everyone after that were merely folks in non mgmt. and low level positions who had low seniority and about to be laidoff themselves ,they raised their hands to take the brown nose ,yes sir jobs that were left behind from trained mgmt. many pions unqualified for the positions they were/are appointed to and that's one reason why ATT lost its position as a GOLD standard corporation. the LEADERSHIP has fail the company and has been going downhill ever since...

Last comment forgot to mention Bipolar, and borderline personality disorder, typical in female supervisors, around 80%,

I have a degree in Computer Engineering and a Masters in Comp Sci. I've been a manager at other companies. While I was at AT&T, my manager had a GED and was very, very stupid. They didn't understand the first thing about the technology and had zero people skills. I have never seen someone more clueless and more out of their depth. AT&T is home to really, really bad management.

The last associate director I had when I was at AT&T was awesome. Prior to him, I reported to three or four other associate directors over an 11 year span. They did not have a clue and possessed zero leadership skills. Great managers are rare at AT&T that's for sure. Absolutely horrible above the associate director level. I don't have anything positive to say about level 3+. They are only interested in saving their own behind and collecting a big paycheck for watching everyone under them bust their behind for nothing. Top heavy corporation.

Fix the culture, fix the innovation/creativity issues...the money problems take care of themselves. But culture isn't bright and shiny and you can't come up with some fast wiz bang ROI formula to wow the crowd. Driving cultural management changes isn't easy and it's perpetuated and created from the top.

This type of statements are based on managers being clueless. I do not ask my manager to train me on my job and no where in my job description does it say that my responsibility is to train my boss on how to do his job. If I was to train my boss, then why the hell do I need him, I would just do his job myself. The other wonderful comments I often hear is that "My job as a manager is to keep your noses above water" and "Let the flagging begin until morale increases". This is some of the insane comments I hear. I do not know how managers of this sort lasted at AT&T for decades without being brought on charges and fired.

Indirectly managers do become better and more adaptively so when they allow their employees to sort of shape or influence their leadership style. I'm however sure this wasn't ur manager's intent when she/he said this. It sounds lazy, reflexive and group think-ish from the perspective of "sit down and train me on this widget/process"

But hey it's ATT and its this sort of culture which can't thrive even with the most cutting edge projects. Because bad culture is like poison. But when leadership is more interested in chasing the money and not driving cultural changes you'll always have these folks chasing the bright shiny objects and cutting good talent to pay.