Asking my boss to write me a LOR

[child of 2]

I'll be a 2nd rounder in 2014. Right now, I'm going to be a full time engineer for a year or so. But before November rolls around, I'm going to have to get my LOR's. My boss thinks I'm doing a good job, and probably wants me to stay with the company, especially considering we're already short on manpower. But I see this position as a stepping stone to an underpaid and overstressed placement as a grad student. I like research.

 

Anyone have experience with this? To my knowledge, my boss don't know about my grad school ambitions. My boss' boss seems pretty deliberate in making sure that I'm happy here, and that I don't have any other plans. He was the one who pulled the strings to get me from a co-op to a full time in the first place. I feel a little bad..

[ak48]

This is indeed a sticky situation. There is a risk that even if he does agree to write you one, it may be tepid and lackluster.

 

I'd suggest going to him in more of an advisory role. Go to him asking for his opinions on graduate school, whether it's worth it or not, because it may be something you want to pursue down the road and you're trying to get the most info possible. Then you can gauge whether he'd write you a good letter. 

 

I think him feeling (and possibly being) an active part of your decision process will lessen the feeling of betrayal that you are fearful of,

[child of 2]

Thanks for responding.

 

Well... I still have a couple of months to casually bring this up to him. In the mean time, it would be good to get feedback from someone who has been in a similar situation.

[child of 2]

Would really like more feedback if possible. To update, my former mentor got moved to a different area. In short, if I leave, it's going to be a big pain in the ass for them to fill in the gap. And with that, I have good resason to believe my current boss might not want to write me a very good letter. It's not that I won't try. I would really like to hear some stories.

[MadtownJacket]

I'm in a somewhat similar position.  I work for a software company who pays their employees well, and it's not really expected for people to leave and go off to graduate school.  I actually do feel bad that I'm already thinking about going to graduate school although I just started there recently, because I'm already helping them out a lot, and me leaving wouldn't go well with them.  I'm asking for former professors to write LORs for me instead of asking my boss because 1) I've read that adcoms prefer to read LORs written by others in academia and 2) I don't want to tell my boss that I'm thinking of leaving.

[ScienceGiraffe]

i am going to grad school this fall with a recommendation written by my boss.

 

with that said, i want to say it's very dependent on your situation. i was a good friend with my boss, so i just straight up tell him that i am going to grad school next year. because my boss knows exactly when i will be leaving, we have time to hire replacement and train him. i am still in contact with my boss and he said i am welcome to come back to work for him when i graduate.

 

my personal view is: as long as your boss is a reasonable human being, you should be straight and honest with him. if your company is big enough, i am sure you are not the first person that to do this, and won't be the last. so your boss should have the professional courtesy to write you a good recommendation letter.

 

so yea...that is just my opinion. you really have to make the decision base on your interaction with your boss.