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

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

#41

Post by mx_03 »

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.

Thats the thing. Hedge funds are not managed by people in their right minds

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

#42

Post by re-thc »

Grazester wrote: post #36
wahnfrieden wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

> And how long would it take for the person to get up to speed on the code for such software

If only this is more understood. I've been on both ends and as the newcomer you rarely get any ramp up time and management assume you'd know what you're doing in 5 minutes.

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

#43

Post by WheelsAtLarge »

Just keep in mind that a business's role in society is to deliver something and bring in a profit. So if you don't bring revenue directly to the bottom line you are in line for layoffs. Don't fall in love with your job. The business is not in love with you.

I suspect the fund's trading strategy was less than great so they had to cut expenses ASAP. I can't imagine why they would get rid of the person who would have to maintain the code, if they didn't need to do it. There is no such thing as a no need for maintenance code. If I was the CEO, I would have been terrified if the code was running without someone to make sure it was running correctly.

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

#44

Post by Cpoll »

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 you really want to fire someone, you're willing to bleed a little (or a lot) to do it. I've seen key personnel be let go, followed by a scramble to figure out what only they know.

In this case it sounds like a "junior quant" who built an application in "months of hard work" while working 12hrs x 7days, and using technologies they learned on the fly. Sounds like me in my 20s, but I wasn't as indispensable as I thought I was. In any case, that's not as hard to replace as the sysadmin who's been there for 10 years.

From a different perspective, it's kind of like paying a contractor or offshore. You don't usually keep them on board after the deliverable, you hand it over to the in-house team to maintain it.

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

#45

Post by dirtybirdnj »

j16sdiz wrote: post #31
dirtybirdnj wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lack of empathy is what causes the hubris (stupidity?) that would lead one to believe the person who built the system is expendable.

I have also been in a job where once the project reached a certian point I was fired. They gave me a song and dance about building a tech culture and sustainable development.

It was all lies. They knew when they were going to fire me the day they hired me. Once their demo worked, everything went off the rails. There was no real business plan just hype and bullshit. No wonder they had no idea what to do next.

Sometimes it's a blessing in disguise when you get shit canned at these jobs but you can't pay the bills with moral victories

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

#47

Post by ptero »

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 would agree: while not impossible, it seems like some key information is missing.

On the one hand I would definitely expect zero empathy from a hedge fund. They should pay big bucks (pounds in this case), but if they consider an employee no longer useful it is an instant goodbye.

But firing a key engineer of a successful production system that they plan to operate -- no way!! Neither 48 hours after going live, nor 6 (or 12, 18 or 24) months later. Trading strategies always get refined, changed and tuned and an oops in that process can be very expensive. A hedge fund would fight to keep the key engineer who built the system.

One case where this is possible is if a bigger fund wants to snuff out a new entrant (for example because the smaller fund is messing up the larger fund's strategy). Then the owners get $$ and everyone else gets the boot. My 2c.

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

#48

Post by charred_patina »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #34
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."

Sorry, replace "is it legal?" with "how likely are you to get caught and face penalties?".

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

#49

Post by worik »

brink wrote: post #28
djaouen wrote: post #13

Welcome to capitalism! Enjoy your stay!

Hate to break it to you, but people are going to be greedy and selfish with or without capitalism.

> ...people are going to be greedy and selfish with or without capitalism.

True.

But in capitalism greed is a fetish

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

#50

Post by j45 »

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.

It’s plausible it got to a point where it was done well enough to not allow too much dependency on one person.

The answer seems pretty obvious from the author. They had promised him a cut of the profits and now they don’t have to.

After relying on someone to use their talents to get things done quicker.

Internal politics could also be at play, now that a foundation is built other self interested parties or departments could be angling in to maintain whatever they’re after

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