Zrjydtj

I was recruited to a senior (but still individual contributor, not a manager) role to a company as a "subject matter expert" (SME), to take on an advisory / strategic / architectural overview and overall "go-to person" sort of role ('Tech Lead' but across teams) with a number of in-flight projects the company is working on which I would be the "lead" for (and give input to), and others in the future. The idea was that I would take the overall view of everyone in the company currently working with this technology and be able to advise them and come up with new initiatives etc.

But upon starting ~3 months ago I've given brief architectural input to a particular project and now been "hijacked" into being a team member of that project team full time to work on what I would see as 'junior' level responsibilities based on the technology/accountability/autonomy involved. I am now part of a "scrum" team that has daily get-togethers about "what I did yesterday" etc. The stuff I'm doing is let's say a 2/10 level of complexity compared to what I'm actually able to do (and what I thought I was being recruited for).

This project will last at least 6 months and probably much longer based on the project plan and my realistic assessment of things.

There are a number of senior-type things that come up (e.g. client wants X -- what approach should we take?) which I "should" be responsible for, but my project manager has blocked me from working on those as I am full time on his project. So now other people are handling those things which should be my role.

There have already been some emails / support tickets / etc about things I "should" handle but they went to my boss or others because I was 'ringfenced'. (the PM asked if there was "anyone else" who could handle it because I'm F/T for him).

I'm concerned that I will be seen by others in the company as a 'junior developer' and any time in the future that I work on actual tasks I was hired for as being like "oh well done, you are branching out" etc (which isn't the case, it's what I was hired for and am already capable of!). And so -- that my input won't have the 'weight' it should have, or more generally once people perceive me as the 'junior C# developer' how I can recover from that.

I need to know how to approach this situation (placed in 'junior' role relative to my expertise) and how to establish myself as the 'Senior' person in spite of this.

ETA: I don't think it's a "bait and switch" it seems like more emergent needs. I am getting the senior level salary so can't complain about that, but it's like if someone recruited a "master carpenter" and then asked them to "cut through each of these 3,000 pieces of wood on the line that's already made for you and you can't question it" for example.

I realize there are going to be "mundane" or "lower level than what I'm capable of" aspects in pretty much any role, and I don't expect to be doing intellectually taxing work 100% of the time (and that probably isn't desirable anyway!) but I am talking about a situation where I'm not doing that work at all due to being ringfenced onto a project as, essentially, a junior coder.

My expectation, although maybe I'm being unrealistic about it?, is that as a "senior technical person" I could be asked to do something like "Jane has called in sick and she was supposed to be implementing this feature for the Big Deadline, could you fill in?" rather than doing Jane's role full time. Jane's role is what I was doing about 15 years ago!

Btw, I don't want any of this to sound like I "look down on" junior developers in any way, which I definitely don't! But we are normally on a path of progression and today's junior developer is 'me' 15 years ago :)

In 1988, I hired into a certain large defense firm in a very similar capacity. Three weeks in, they pulled a similar reorganization. It took eight years to start to recover. Because of some other things that happened, I never really did.

Your first step is to go up the ladder, ABOVE your current Program Manager, and discuss your concerns with HIS manager. You tell him that you understand the need, you're willing to pitch in, but you are VERY concerned about the potential long-term impact to BOTH your career AND to the company at large.

You expand on that second point. They didn't hire you to be a junior coder on steroids. They hired you to be a subject matter expert and "go-to guy". They still have that need, and their/your Program Manager has just sabotaged their attempt to fill it. (You say it a bit more nicely than that, but you SAY IT.)

Realistically, you probably aren't going to get much traction. Stunts like this only happen in places where the Program Manager has a lot of pull, and the program is seen as critically important.

Which is why you do a good job, dust off the resume, and resume your job search. You are probably going to have to bail out of there, and you should be prepared to do it as soon as possible.

You can't waste most of a year in a position so much lower than what you were hired for, user100220. You either need to get out from under the project manager entirely, or get another job pronto, before you get permanently demoted. Sorry about you landing in this situation :-(

I know this is technically not a leadership role, but leadership roles are respected.

Start being pro-active. Work on skills transfer, or hiring someone else for this role.

Be sure you are active and present in every meeting your manager attends, and some that he does not.

Offer to attend some of these meetings if you are being left out.

Lead walkthroughs and reviews. Ask to review and approve architectural changes.

Schedule instructional/informational meetings and send invitations.

Be sure your email signature reflects your rank.

Ditto with business cards and a name block for your desk. Ask for any rank based perks such as parking, expense account, office.

Dress for executive, not for line manager.

Periodically send announcements and updates in the manner of an authority, which you are.