Ask HN: How to deal with incompetent people
I never heard anything about incompetence in your description.Technical debt can build up for myriad reasons not related much to competence.What I would suggest is not to approach this situation as how you can wall off or otherwise attack this person but, instead as a life lesson on the importance of interpersonal relationships and politics.Politics are a fact of life.  Humans are social creatures.  All things being equal, and some ways even when not equal, those that are proficient in interpersonal relations will come out ahead.  Grok that fact.  There is no escape from it.Good.  Now that unpleasantness is out of the way.  On to how to cope.  Scratch that, /thrive/, in an environment of people doing people things when you are a technical person.First, information.  That is the lifeblood of many systems and politics is no different.  Simply make sure important information is conveyed to the right people at the right time.You use the example that this fellow was able to take credit for your work.  Had you passed the information of what you were doing and why it was important to the right people, he would have simply looked foolish to try to take credit.It can be uncomfortable, to toot your own horn, but it is necessary.  Additionally, it can be important to the organization.  Assuming you are creating value, it is important that decision-makers know that so they can make the correct decisions. Don't feel bad.  Toot away.Building relationships is critically important in almost every human endeavor.  Get good at it.  It is a skill like any other.The target of your annoyance became a manager because he built up those skills and made it known.Build your skills and make it known.  It is just that simple.