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Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

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Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#591

Post by zbentley »

jacquesm wrote: post #562
RealityNow wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PIP isn't a pink slip at all companies. I once got a PIP when working at a mid-sized corporation. Fortunately my performance wasn't an issue, they just didn't like that I was frequently late to the daily morning standup (which upper management refused to allow us to reschedule to later in the day despite my insistence), didn't appear attentive in meetings, and was working from home too much. I started coming in to wo…

Companies want to look 'Agile' so they will treat it as though it is a religion. The daily stand-up bullshit gets taken to such an extreme that it becomes counter productive. If you work at such a place, simply get out. There is nothing that spells long term disaster more than rigid adherence to voodoo process.

Eh, the first place I worked didn't claim to be agile or anything. The daily meeting wasn't a stand-up (we sat and usually ate breakfast at a cafe or chatted in the lobby). It was still a really useful meeting.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#592

Post by hn_temp_10_1_19 »

noway421 wrote: post #509
hn_temp_10_1_19 wrote: post #262

I just walked from a job after a week and a half. Applied and interviewed for a junior full stack java/angular developer position. Really excited for it. Got and accepted an offer just to show up day one to a weird point & click/drag & drop visual programming thing called BluePrism. Tried to make myself like it, but couldn't stick it out. Moved 800 miles for that job too, just to get bait & switched.

Heard that a friend of mine had to use something similar at one of his jobs, and he was miserable. Even though the colleagues were nice and the place was more or less okay. I think it felt like an extremely arcane thing to learn and just not something exciting to work with. Sometimes we forget how blessed we are with the DX in mainstream programming languages.

> Even though the colleagues were nice and the place was more or less okay.

I made an honest effort to get into it for more or less those reasons. Now I'm just bumming around unsure of what to do.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#594

Post by Porthos9K »

isthis1984 wrote: post #549
Porthos9K wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start with, "Fuck you, pay me." If you try to be diplomatic with people who are trying to take advantage of you, they will eat you alive.

sadly I feel this is the best advice. Modern management are a bunch of feeding piranha when it comes to people who can do stuff.

It's the culture. We working stiffs aren't people. We're "human resources". Resources exist for but one purpose: to be exploited until they are exhausted. Once exhausted, they are abandoned in favor of fresh, untapped resources.

Not saying socialism is the answer, but is capitalism as currently implemented really that great a deal for people who work for a living?

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#595

Post by russ519 »

dav1app wrote: post #403

On my last job, a new manager called me for a meeting on Friday 4PM. I spent the whole month on an extremely stressful project. The meeting was about an app that integrates credit card payments, billets and bank account on a terminal that is going to be available to the general public. The deadline? 11PM of the same day. Final version. From 0 to 100% in 6 hours. I said that it was impossible. He said that I was incap…

Thank you for this! I'm about to go through a forced job transition and this has helped me feel a little more hopefully that it will all work out, possibly for the better. Glad to hear you're happy now!

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#596

Post by jimkri »

splittingTimes wrote: post #497
jl2718 wrote: post #320

So many ideas in my head that I really want to be working on, and I can’t seem to separate myself from the mental model of having a set position in a heirarchy, taking confused and/or hostile direction from seemingly arbitrary sources of authority. Some kind of fear, not even financial, more like the idea of getting lost, losing touch, never finding my way back, being abandoned and undesirable, dying alone. And beyon…

When I started to listen to the "manager tools" podcast, I started to get a much better understanding of corporate politics and it became easier to navigate that space. Jocko Willings podcast also has some insights how to deal with complex political situations. For your mental health I can recommend some of the modern Stoic approaches to life. Most prominent candidate here is "A guide to the good life". Good luck. ht…

I second this comment.

"A guide to a good life" was the first book on stoicism I read, that link was posted before and led me to it, and it really helped me a lot. I would also recommend the "Tao of Seneca" 3 PDFs that Tim Ferriss put together, the audiobooks are great because you can easily listen to a letter a day which helps me to build the habit of following stoicism.

Another book that really helped me was "The Inner Game of Tennis" https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance...

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#597

Post by GonzaloQuero »

mcv wrote: post #589
ckastner wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You should send his boss/ceo/investors a spite email That is a horrendously bad suggestion.

A spite email sounds like a bad idea, but this manager sounds very harmful to the company, and the boss/ceo/investors might want to be aware of that.

And why would he care anymore about it? The company failed him, so why would he be helpful for them anymore?

He did his job, he moved on, whatever happens there should not be expected to be his problem anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#599

Post by archi42 »

rjplatte wrote: post #100

I'm the sole developer working on my current project, which is overhauling a massive DOS era application, as well as overhauling an early 2000s era CRM/business management tool, that almost all of our work happens through. Did I mention that the DOS application is a HIPAA billing application that must meet all HIPAA guidelines as well as write EDI X12 billing files? I'm very junior, been coding for ~5 years, 3 profes…

No offense, but starting to code professionally with only 15 years sounds... a bit strange? I mean, I started coding with 10 (~20 years ago), and the easily available tooling was much worse back then than it was 5 years ago, but if I was your CEO I wouldn't put anyone with that little expertise and (I suppose?) no formal training on such a project alone (it's something else if you're working with a senior dev from whom you can learn). And when I was your age, I wouldn't have done anything that might put me in jail if done wrong.

Also, please pass this message from me to your CEO: He's an idiot for not letting you use version control.

Leave asap.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#600

Post by isthis1984 »

Porthos9K wrote: post #594
isthis1984 wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sadly I feel this is the best advice. Modern management are a bunch of feeding piranha when it comes to people who can do stuff.

It's the culture. We working stiffs aren't people. We're "human resources". Resources exist for but one purpose: to be exploited until they are exhausted. Once exhausted, they are abandoned in favor of fresh, untapped resources. Not saying socialism is the answer, but is capitalism as currently implemented really that great a deal for people who work for a living?

Indeed, I feel this entire approach causes employees to adopt maximum disengagement, its the only response that preserves your sanity.

It always causes me to chuckle since its the exact opposite of what management say they want, and they seem to work very hard to produce this result.

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