Sandra Milosevic, who works in engineering, product development, and design, has more than eight years in the tech industry and is a former employee of Uber and Snap, described how she was affected by the first negative review of her work.
Sandra Milosevic, who works in engineering, product development, and design, has more than eight years in the tech industry and is a former employee of Uber and Snap, described how she was affected by the first negative review of her work.
«Some friends said in passing that I looked incredible — I had lost so much weight. Other people expressed concern, asking as discreetly as possible if something bad had happened,» the developer told Business Insider.
According to her, due to stress, she was so worried that she lost 15 kilograms of weight, but she was afraid to tell her friends and relatives that the reason for such sudden and dramatic changes was a negative assessment of her work.
«After many years of working in the technical field, I received my first unsatisfactory evaluation. I was very concerned about how this would affect my career trajectory and was trying to understand how I had 'fallen short of expectations' without even knowing it,» Sandra said.
She says that she interpreted her achievement of key milestones, conversations with her manager, and feedback from colleagues as positive signals — a «green light» to continue working as usual.
But when the developer received a negative performance review, she was already «exhausted and discouraged», and the bad evaluation further increased her mental fatigue.
«I didn’t know what I did wrong. When I asked why I was told I didn’t meet expectations, I was repeatedly given opaque answers. I kept asking for evidence of the poor evaluation of my work, but I never got a clear answer. I tried to understand my assessment and, accordingly, how to change it,» says Sandra Milosevic.
According to her, a bad performance review can hinder career advancement, transfer to another team, or even threaten your job. At the same time, each manager can carry out the process differently and subjectively evaluate the work of an employee.
The developer believes that a standardized assessment process and clear communication would have greatly reduced psychological fatigue and increased her performance in this particular role. And that would benefit her team and the company in the long run.
«I cried because of how unceremonious it looked. My employment guarantee seemed to be bursting at the seams. I was terrified of losing my salary, career growth, and reputation in my position. I often thought that it must have been just a passing moment for my manager,» says Sandra.
According to her, the worst thing was that she had no idea how she ended up in this situation in her career.
«Not long ago, two friends shared their experiences of stressful work environments, managers, and performance appraisals. I was surprised by these stories, and they made me reconsider everything I knew about certification,» Milosevic said.
According to her, before she did not ask about her efficiency at work. Sandra believed that her work should speak for itself.
«If I didn’t put pressure on my performance trajectory—if I didn’t ask, participate, and insist on understanding the evaluation of my work before it was given—I avoided what I then considered painfully uncomfortable questions. Now I consider these conversations a necessary interaction for self-defense,» explained the developer.
This experience taught her to directly ask the following questions before an assessment:
She realized that one bad grade does not necessarily mean a lost career. It can be a sure sign that something isn’t working as it should, as well as an opportunity to reassess your approach to work, a push to take responsibility for your career, or even a chance to admit that maybe the time has come time to leave the position or company.
«The lessons I’ve learned are more important than any ``exceeded expectations'' grade I could ever receive. I learned to speak openly, to disagree, and to defend my opinion, and all this thanks to one bad review,» said Sandra Milosevic.
We will remind that the full-scale war, which woke up millions of Ukrainians on February 24, significantly affected not only the mental state of everyone but also made corrections in the physiological state. And given the hypodynamic nature of the work of the IT-workers a change in the regime of physical activity in combination with stress leaves its mark. dev.ua asked IT workers whether their weight changed during the war, in which direction, and whether there was a rational explanation for this.
