What is the solution?

[trupti nigam]

I am working for X company in US as Senior software engg.I am working on one module and we have a small team of 3 people for that module.
For the upcoming release We really do not have much work (actual coding changes) but we do have some support work that does not involve lot of coding.
I have asked my managers several times that they can use me in some oher projects. But Their answer is no one is ready to take me. And in today's job secnarios , my worry is if they find we do not have lot of work , chances of lay off are more.
In the available time I try to read stuff like Hibernate and spring that I am not much familier with and would like to learn.
But I think that is not enough.
I have asked my senior managers many times for some additional responsibilities and they have been ignoring me, but I know there are modules that need resources.
What can I do to get more work and convince my boss.
Also during the perfomance review if they ask me what I have been working on I really do not have much to say. How can I get out of this chicken and egg condition.


thanks
trupti

[Mark Herschberg]

So basically you have free time and no one will give you work. The answer is simply to give yourself work.

Now I'm not sure how it works in your company, but it seems you can talk to other engineers, who I would imagine have plenty to do, and see if you can help them with their work. Later when asked what you've been working on you can say the engineering on the other team had a lot of work so you helped them out (you don't need to explicitly mention that you went to look for that work).

--Mark

[Thamizh Velan]

Take some initiatives, do something good for the project. Automate something that will improve productivity, or implement a process, or do something that will add value to the project, that saves time hence money.
Of late, I did something like that and you know what - I got an (unexpected)award for my work, and it reflected in my performance review as well.

Cheers!