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I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

efinancialcareers.com

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Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#31

Post by j16sdiz »

dirtybirdnj wrote: post #27
dfadsadsf wrote: post #24

I just do not believe this story. Nobody in the right mind will fire key software engineer 48 hours after system goes live. This is where all the bugs/problems show up and you need all hands on deck to fix them. Six months after launch when all problems are solved - absolutely, you can fire engineer. 48 hours after launch? absolutely not.

I think you significantly underestimate the lack of empathy and (lack of) concern for workers that this kind of management has

That's not the empathy issue. It's the system maintenance issues.

You need one or two more release to iron out the bugs, right?

...and this is a trading platform. The market changes, you need program changes for unforseen market changes.

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#32

Post by wahnfrieden »

dfadsadsf wrote: post #24

I just do not believe this story. Nobody in the right mind will fire key software engineer 48 hours after system goes live. This is where all the bugs/problems show up and you need all hands on deck to fix them. Six months after launch when all problems are solved - absolutely, you can fire engineer. 48 hours after launch? absolutely not.

If it saves them a lot of money on paper, yes, they will just hire someone else

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#33

Post by bigiain »

coolThingsFirst wrote: post #11

Only an idiot works 80 hours and especially for someone else’s s company and especially if it’s a startup.

I suspect a very large percentage of HN readers are probably idiots, by that measure. (Me included, for at least 4 or 5 different "someone else's companies" over the last 30 odd years.)

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#34

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

charred_patina wrote: post #15

It sounds like they were never given written confirmation for the bonuses. How likely are you to face penalties if you put a "time bomb" in a codebase like this? Something with plausible deniability like let's say like an authentication script that you have to run every 30 days or the program stops working for "security reasons". Also you're the only one who knows where the script is and how to run it.

Are you serious? Answer your own question: if it were legal, then you certainly wouldn't need "plausible deniability."

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#35

Post by nytesky »

dfadsadsf wrote: post #24

I just do not believe this story. Nobody in the right mind will fire key software engineer 48 hours after system goes live. This is where all the bugs/problems show up and you need all hands on deck to fix them. Six months after launch when all problems are solved - absolutely, you can fire engineer. 48 hours after launch? absolutely not.

Well, Netflix was famous for firing when the business need had passed. You have a seat in company for what you will do, not what you have done.

These high speed trading platforms do a ton of transactions in 48 hours. They assume nothing material will change in 6 months vs 48 hours; and anyways if it breaks why keep paying the dude who built it so flimsy?

Not my way of doing things of all, to be clear, just my interpretation of the “we are a team not a family” implementation. https://www.fastcompany.com/3056662/she-created-netflixs-cul...

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#36

Post by Grazester »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #32
dfadsadsf wrote: post #24

I just do not believe this story. Nobody in the right mind will fire key software engineer 48 hours after system goes live. This is where all the bugs/problems show up and you need all hands on deck to fix them. Six months after launch when all problems are solved - absolutely, you can fire engineer. 48 hours after launch? absolutely not.

If it saves them a lot of money on paper, yes, they will just hire someone else

And how long would it take for the person to get up to speed on the code for such software that in production and may have critical bugs that need fixing now?

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#37

Post by uoaei »

hackernoteng wrote: post #14

I've worked for software company which sold products to hedge funds. And I've also done consulting work for big private equity firm. Both experiences taught me never to actually be employed by such companies. You will be disrespected.

There are people out there who see the entire world as "fuck you, I'll get mine". They are socialized into such circumstances and so tolerate or even seek them out as some kind of validation of their social-Darwinist ideology.

Re: I worked 80 hour weeks to deliver a platform for a hedge fund,then they fired me

#40

Post by re-thc »

dfadsadsf wrote: post #24

I just do not believe this story. Nobody in the right mind will fire key software engineer 48 hours after system goes live. This is where all the bugs/problems show up and you need all hands on deck to fix them. Six months after launch when all problems are solved - absolutely, you can fire engineer. 48 hours after launch? absolutely not.

> Nobody in the right mind will fire key software engineer 48 hours after system goes live.

Lots of companies and people treat software as physical goods (where it's done it's done) and that everyone is easily replaceable. I've seen many managers not consider uniqueness or the situation but simply we have an engineer with x years of experience so a similar 1 will work just the same.

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