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Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

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Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#621

Post by [deleted] »

Chirael wrote: post #203
reificator wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's are the arguments against version control here (if any)? * I don't understand it * You're overcomplicating things * We're not using any of that free shit here * It doesn't say Microsoft or IBM * The last guy we hired that tried to use it was smarter than I was so anyone else who tries is a threat to my leadership. (because everyone knows you can only manage people who have a strict subset of your own knowled…

“We’ve never needed it before, so why do we need it now?” (actual argument against it at my current workplace)

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#622

Post by peteradio »

throwawaymyjob wrote: post #37

Please sign me up! I had at least a dozen projects in as many months started, reach a completed state, then canceled. I'm on a very small team, I am the only expert in infrastructure, but all infrastructure code is reviewed by the lead engineer who is a complete novice at AWS/GCP. I've written thousands of words of documentation and had entire weeks of phone calls to explain what is going on and the rationale behind…

You're getting negged. The team or above your team is worried more about politics than value, maybe rightly so.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#623

Post by sbfeibish »

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…

"I thought throwing myself from my apartment window." You got it backwards. You think of throwing your manager out the apartment window.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#624

Post by fortran77 »

catlifeonmars wrote: post #298
fortran77 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked for Fortune 500 and even Fortune 50 companies that acquired tech companies with no due diligence (usually in a panic) and I've had to clean up the mess. And the acquired folks usually leave in exactly a year and one day, after vesting. And, even in 2019, I've gotten calls to clean up messes from people that have hired a software developer (for a company whose business isn't software) who doesn't use sourc…

Fortune 500/50 companies should be able to absorb the cost, no? If you have a lot of money, you can afford to make mistakes as long as the expected value (of many acquisitions) is positive in the long run. I’m not sure what the point of this comment was, so apologies if I’ve assumed incorrectly.

Maybe that's their logic, but a little due diligence can go a long way.

For example, one of the founders of one of the companies lied about his Stanford MBA Degree in his CV. He didn't have one. The company did not fire him. I lost a great deal of respect for the company after this.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#625

Post by gwbas1c »

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…

If I was in that situation, I'd do some form of:

What do you want by 11PM? A design?

Really, you want the whole thing completed?

Is this some kind of a joke?

(Depending on relationship) Walk out the door without saying a word, "I quit," or even better, just stand up and say, "Everyone who thinks this is absurd walk out the door with me right now."

Why: What I've learned is that employees ignoring an unreasonable boss sends a rapid signal to upper management to get rid of the unreasonable boss.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#626

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#627

Post by bmaupin »

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…

Sounds a lot like at-will employment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment)

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#628

Post by hacknat »

rovr138 wrote: post #482
hacknat wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You won’t go to jail if you do nothing wrong, but legal fees. Ugh, yeah, you’ll be in court as a witness and possibly defendant if you don’t leave ASAP.

Or if they have a better lawyer than yours.

Well that would be the OCR. It’s doubtful they would waste a lot of resources going after a developer, unless they really thought he had done something. Usually they go after leadership.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#629

Post by rpmisms »

systematical wrote: post #322
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…

I worked for a "CTO" who didn't allow us to use version control either. This was from 2007-2010. I am surprised there is a company TODAY that does this, but I guess I shouldn't be. The reasoning behind not using VC was that it "caused more problems than it solved." His solution? Code directly on the production server. Yep. You heard me right. Let me say that one more time. Code directly on the production server. We e…

I'm the GP, on my work account. Yes. That is exactly what we do. It's horrifying.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#630

Post by millwork »

throwawaymyjob wrote: post #37

Please sign me up! I had at least a dozen projects in as many months started, reach a completed state, then canceled. I'm on a very small team, I am the only expert in infrastructure, but all infrastructure code is reviewed by the lead engineer who is a complete novice at AWS/GCP. I've written thousands of words of documentation and had entire weeks of phone calls to explain what is going on and the rationale behind…

>I had at least a dozen projects in as many months started, reach a completed state, then canceled.

So what's it like working for Google?

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