Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 41 posts

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#31

Post by dyeje »

unfocused828 wrote: post #21
Spoom wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why were you fired?

I do probably need to spend more time figuring out the root causes, though perhaps that is better done by talking with a friend rather than just thinking things over by myself. My current understanding is this: * When I'm confused about what a task really entails or what tools I can use and I try to get people to resolve that ambiguity, I sometimes cannot persuade them to do so. * Sometimes I don't recognize that I l…

If your goal is to not get fired, work on these issues instead of burning yourself out with the intense study techniques you suggest in the OP.

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#32

Post by distracted828 »

dyeje wrote: post #31
unfocused828 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do probably need to spend more time figuring out the root causes, though perhaps that is better done by talking with a friend rather than just thinking things over by myself. My current understanding is this: * When I'm confused about what a task really entails or what tools I can use and I try to get people to resolve that ambiguity, I sometimes cannot persuade them to do so. * Sometimes I don't recognize that I l…

If your goal is to not get fired, work on these issues instead of burning yourself out with the intense study techniques you suggest in the OP.

Well the things I listed in my OP are my concrete ideas for how to approach these working on these things. If you have other concrete suggestions, I would love to hear them.

As an example: The reason why I focus on studying rails is that all of the debugging techniques I know about involve getting a better idea of the system at some layer of abstraction. I suspect that my best shot at getting better at debugging is to know the framework the code is written in very well and thereby be able to understand the codebase more easily.

For a problem like "I can't get clarity around what we are trying to do here.", it seems like there aren't any books on the topic. Thats why I figured that finding a mentor would be good.

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#33

Post by distracted828 »

jon-wood wrote: post #30
unfocused828 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem here is that I don't know how to generate an estimate except by actually doing the work.

You're pretty new to the industry I'm guessing. Estimation is one of the hardest things a developer can be asked to do, and the only technique that will consistently work is getting experience so that you have similar tasks to compare the one you're estimating to. In the meantime, try to break things down if you can't even start on an estimate - what are the steps involved in making Task X happen? Keep breaking those…

Yea, I've only had about 4 years since I got out of school. Trying to be better able to break the task down is part of why I want to do the studying

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#34

Post by isuckatcoding »

Man I totally and utterly understand what you're going through. I feel like I was looking at a mirror when I was reading your comments. I am at my first full-time software development job and I feel the exact same way.

I've been lucky enough to "fake my way" through it so far but I am anxious about future roles.

Anyways, I hope it works out for you.

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#35

Post by tedmiston »

danieltillett wrote: post #17
unfocused828 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, this is my fourth job. I've been fired from 2/3 jobs for underperformance.

This is the real issue. You need to tell us more about why you were fired if you want to get useful feedback. My advice at this stage is just work harder than everyone else. Be the first to arrive and the last to leave and the company will find it very hard to fire you because of the signal it sends.

I disagree with this advice. Quality of work and consistency is so much more important in a startup or small company, or any team that's distributed.

While you are right that spending the most time in the office sends the signal that you're working harder, it feels like veneer around the real issue.

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#36

Post by dyeje »

distracted828 wrote: post #32
dyeje wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your goal is to not get fired, work on these issues instead of burning yourself out with the intense study techniques you suggest in the OP.

Well the things I listed in my OP are my concrete ideas for how to approach these working on these things. If you have other concrete suggestions, I would love to hear them. As an example: The reason why I focus on studying rails is that all of the debugging techniques I know about involve getting a better idea of the system at some layer of abstraction. I suspect that my best shot at getting better at debugging is t…

The problems you describe sound like communication issues, not technical issues. Specifically, it sounds like you have a real problem with asking for help when you need it. Your time might be better spent reading a book on effective communication or perhaps taking a course at a local community college.

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#38

Post by JSeymourATL »

Make sure you understand the agenda and priorities of your superiors. If you 'focus' your time and energy working on their priorities you'll be all set.

Incidentally, you can drive your own onboarding plan-- George Bradt is an excellent place to start > http://www.amazon.com/The-Leaders-100-Day-Action-Plan/dp/111...

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#39

Post by ZeroFries »

I would say 1) as you have it above, and add a healthy lifestyle in general, then 2) try to pair as often as you can, figure out why your co-workers do the things they do

Honestly all that time outside of work might be better spent just being happy and using other parts of your brain, so that you can devote 6 hours during your work day to focusing on improving. Sure, you can exercise for 8 hours a day and get better progress than exercising for 3 hours a day, but for how long?

Edit: Read more comments. If you got fired for underperformance in the past, it might just be due to mis-alignment between yourself and the manager in charge. I had this at my last job. Sometimes it's tough for managers to properly assess work quality and production speed.

Re: Starting a new job – What can I do to avoid getting fired?

#40

Post by danieltillett »

tedmiston wrote: post #35
danieltillett wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the real issue. You need to tell us more about why you were fired if you want to get useful feedback. My advice at this stage is just work harder than everyone else. Be the first to arrive and the last to leave and the company will find it very hard to fire you because of the signal it sends.

I disagree with this advice. Quality of work and consistency is so much more important in a startup or small company, or any team that's distributed. While you are right that spending the most time in the office sends the signal that you're working harder, it feels like veneer around the real issue.

Of course being productive is more important, but the OP was asking for advice on how to avoid being fired. My advice was given in the absence of any information on why the OP was fired 3 times previously - while spending the most time in the office won't solve the underlying issues, it might allow the OP to survive long enough to change.
Post reply on HN