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Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

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Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#611

Post by pantalaimon »

tjpnz wrote: post #554
rogy wrote: post #525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime I see one of this guys videos pop up I can't help but this he's a bit of a parasite. Leaching off anything for views. He doesn't seem to provide any valuable advice in any video I've watched, yet people lap it up (although his following have a very distinct demographic)

I've tried watching him a few times and got the same feeling. He also goes to great lengths to remind everyone (all the time) of how much money he makes. Is that normal for people in Silicon Valley?

I always assumed his videos were satire.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#612

Post by koolba »

halfer53 wrote: post #430
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…

This is one of the reason I hate about PIP( performance improvement program). They set ridiculous goals for you in very short amount of time that nobody can possibly complete, then fire you on grounds of incompetence. A friend of mine who works in Facebook told me that an employee committed suicide due to the pressure of PIP. I suspect that guy was put into PIP due to poor rating (meet most), then was given a ridicul…

That entire concept is in response to the high costs of frivolous employment lawsuits. It's to have a paper trail of evidence to show that the termination was with cause.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#613

Post by foxhop »

epiphanitus wrote: post #530
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…

I love writing software, but I think there's something about the psychology of it that is really unnatural. Not long ago we were just hominids hanging out in small bands, and our psychological sense of worth and reward were tied to our capacity to find and kill something big enough for everyone to eat. Or perhaps to turn that mammoth into shoes and clothes to survive the winter. I wonder if this system fires the same…

Not too long ago we also learned how to make plants, animals, and other humans work on our behalf (voluntary or not, the whip or the carrot).

For many of us, our lives have been shifted to the work of squirrels.

We climb tall trees and knock down nuts for other men to capitalize on.

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Do not be the squirrel.

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Find or form your true tribe and help them understand your contributions and together you will fuel each other to thrive.

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As for hot showers, and clean clothes, you can still work with nature and have both.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#614

Post by throwaway163256 »

I work at a pretty well known (in our field) and well respected digital production agency. I've been here for a bit over 7 years now. I started as a developer and learned almost everything I know. It was a really fun job and I loved my coworkers, the managers, the culture, the work was exciting and cutting-edge. Everything was great.

I went from medior to senior developer pretty quickly and eventually they asked me to take on a technical manager role at a different office abroad.

After my move, I was assigned development work rather than management work, and I assumed this was merely a transition to my new role. This continued for 2 years, even after I flagged it multiple times with my superiors.

Eventually, about 6 months ago, I was told I hadn't been taking on my new role, and that they were considering letting me go or sending me back (I'm on a visa and depend on this company for my stay here). This came directly from the people who both asked me to take on this new role and who were not allowing me to do said job. I was completely in shock by the absurdity of it. We cut a "deal" where they'd allow me to do my "new" job and to reevaluate a year later.

I'm 6 months in now and I think it's going fairly well. I'm learning a lot and working really hard at this role. In reality though, I'm using the job to learn how to perform in this role and I'm planning my leave to take on a similar role elsewhere. This whole episode has left a really bad taste in my mouth (that and a change in leadership which is more passionate about money than craft), and I have no intention of staying after this year is over. I hope I get fired, since it would require them by law to pay me a months salary for every year I've worked there.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#615

Post by edraferi »

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…

BTW that was probably an illegal act by your employer. They gave you a clearly impossible task then fired you when you couldn’t complete it. That’s unreasonable.

You might want to contact an employment attorney in your state for a consultation. Your state Bar association can give you a referral and probably a free consultation. They will be particularly interested if this was the culmination of a pattern of bullying behavior (consequences vary by State) or if there’s some kind of protected class involved (eg you are over 40 and the manager wants a younger team).

It might seem like an unnecessary hassle, but legal action can help your remaining colleagues and possibly put some money in your pocket.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#616

Post by overkalix »

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?

"Nobody rose in Packingtown by doing good work. You could lay that down for a rule—if you met a man who was rising in Packingtown, you met a knave. That man who had been sent to Jurgis' father by the boss, he would rise; the man who told tales and spied upon his fellows would rise; but the man who minded his own business and did his work—why, they would "speed him up" till they had worn him out, and then they would throw him into the gutter."

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#617

Post by bigYahnz »

I've been pushing boundaries seeing what it will take to get fired for a couple years. I apparently have not found the limit yet.

We've lost over half our team. Have no manager. Have no project manager. No QA. No testing. 4 developers to support a growing list of custom apps which currently sits somewhere around 260. Fun stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#618

Post by JanisL »

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #224
bloopernova wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know that HIPAA violations can land you in jail, right? Run. Don't walk. Vacate immediately. Leave. I'm finding myself hoping that this is a fake, because I wouldn't wish this situation on anyone at all.

This might be why the CEO doesn't want version control. It's extra evidence

Unfortunately wouldn't be the first time I've heard something like this :(

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#619

Post by howard941 »

I was hired to write firmware but we lack hardware for me to run and if we do get it the hardware people are too overloaded to build it for me. As a result I have no hardware to test my code against and I'm constantly shooting in the dark.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#620

Post by archi42 »

systematical wrote: post #190
jmuguy wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can relate, I haven’t gone more than a week without a job in that same amount of time. I fantasize about just straight up taking a week or a month or a year off and doing absolutely nothing.

I'm not good at getting fired. I am personable and don't slack off. Those positive qualities are having a negative impact on my dream. I've wanted to collect unemployment for years.

Everyone makes mistakes. You can as well, you just need to want. Some suggestions (read aloud in an enthusiastic, you-can-do voice): Deploy to production! On Friday evening! Something that doesn't even build on your machine! Hardcode an universal password into the auth backend ("toomanysecrets" is a classic)! Invert a few conditionals in almost unreachable code! Enforce an overly complicated review system! Be horribly pedantic with every review you do! Skip review for your own commits! Re-write an important component from scratch! In OCAML, C# and TypeScript! While drunk! With no version control!

You get the idea. Or, probably better, ask your boss to fire you for all the good work you did? ;-)

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