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Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

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Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#41
Is it fair? Sure. Is it fair to you? Probably not.

It sounds like they were looking for a 'fit', and it wasn't you.

That said, these types of things should have been settled during the interview and onboarding processes. If it wasn't, it sounds like a really poor company to work for anyways. Keep your head up, and hope the next one is better.

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go with the easy route; add it as "Freelance Contract under NDA", period!

There are some good reasons to (as a matter of policy) not lie. IMHO it's better to cast around for the best possible honest framing of the issue.

It's not a lie, because this advice came from a number of HRs I interacted with for a number of years; it was suggested as their personal advice and not their professional one.

One of them even codenamed it "the cloth of protection" lol.

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How will I explain all this on my resume? You don't. Omit that job.

The time gaps between jobs?

Why would you have to explain those? To whom? You’re an adult and what you do with your time on Earth is your decision. Run away from anyone who doesn’t respect that.

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#45

If you are actually productive with your method, then I would advice you to be happy that you dodged a bullet, and it only cost you 3 weeks. Go for another company, and don't chase this one. If, however, they have a point, try to learn some productivity tools to be more efficient before going for the job. In any case, don't think too much about this company, it will just distract you.

What I did say was that I rarely use browser debuggers, because I've just never felt the need to. The console.log and a good mental image of what the code is doing has got me this far. I asked my boss, that as a senior dev with over 15 proven experience, he should not stress to much about HOW I do it, just WHAT I deliver, and WHEN it is delivered. I guess that was asking for to much? Or being insubordinate? Anyways,…

Console.log and a prayer isn’t exactly the kind of thing I’d like to hear from a dev I’d just hired, tbh.

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How will I explain all this on my resume? You don't. Omit that job.

The time gaps between jobs?

That's hardly long enough for a holiday. I'd never dream of questioning a three week (or three month for that matter) gap.

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go with the easy route; add it as "Freelance Contract under NDA", period!

There are some good reasons to (as a matter of policy) not lie. IMHO it's better to cast around for the best possible honest framing of the issue.

I've been much better at getting paid well since I started... creatively reframing my comp.

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, man. I'm only reading what you wrote and responding to the impression it left. Please try to take it constructively. Imagine your boss was actually happy with you not delivering anything those first few weeks. Would he have let you go? I've watched this exact situation play out too many times now to miss the signs. A new person joins the team, spends a few weeks familiarizing and reporting as much in the standup…

> Hey, man. I'm only reading what you wrote and responding to the impression it left. Please try to take it constructively. > Imagine your boss was actually happy with you not delivering anything those first few weeks. Would he have let you go? If you were a boss, at what day would you expect from your newly hired developer to start delivering any result? > I've watched this exact situation play out too many times no…

> ...and you consider this a healthy behavior from any working environment?

No. Of course not.

But there's a difference between the world we want to exist and the world we live in. And that world is full of people who behave like your manager and the ones I've seen that led to my observations here.

The sad truth is that you need to be able to read situations like this and adapt to them.

> If you were a boss, at what day would you expect from your newly hired developer to start delivering any result?

I'd suggest flipping this around. If you were a boss, and your new hire jumped in with both feet on day one and started closing tickets, would you let him go after his 3 week probation was up?

Re: Ask HN: Fired for Using Firefox

#49

Another hypothetical scenario that could be taken into consideration is the following: Before hiring you they had either interviewed another candidate that matched their needs and was more experienced than you, or expected a friend of theirs to join their team, but did not reply back for a while and due to their tight schedule, they had to hire someone urgently, thus leading to your hiring. After hiring you, between…

A friend of mine was hired as a back-end dev. When he started they told him they'd rather need some urgent front-end tasks to be done, which was clearly not his strength and he never lied about it, so he gave his best shot. Then on the last day of his probation month they told him he was not good enough and let him go. I'm thinking this might have been a similar case...
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