This is a good case study and how different the US versus European climate for scenarios like this is
How does Europe handle it?
Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
41–50 of 231 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#42You fucked up, but most likely you are playing with vc money so who gives a fuck? Pay him, keep him. Chances are you will fold in a year or two so at least you make someones life a bit better for a while.
You not saving the world or anything like that, so just syphoon as much of the idiots vcs moneys to normal people lives. That is the goal with start ups right?
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#43Irrationally, I always think that posts like this are about me in my own role at work. Thankfully, I’m not this out of my depth. My impostor syndrome has decreased by 6% today.
ha I was reading this as well thinking shit, is this about me?
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#44Get that interview process fixed ASAP and let this lemon go. Don’t be surprised if there is pushback from non-technicals if this hire checked a bunch of boxes for other departments. A good strategy would be to have them be a lead on a minor project that requires technical chops and communication. Ensure there is a daily standup and grind them on details and timelines. Get them some juniors as direct reports to expose…
That is just evil to both that person and your team. Just let the person go if they do not satisfy what they were selling them self as. Dont play evil and stupid games.
US is an exception in terms of at-will employment.
In most other countries you cannot fire people just for reasons like this.
In other countries people have to resort to backhanded ways like the parent comment mentioned if you want to get someone off the payroll.
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#45If keeping this person onboard requires the effort of training them and keeping their comp a secret, it's not worth it. It will get out that this person is getting paid senior comp for entry-level work, and that isn't going to fly for the people who are performing. Don't overthink this.
They're not fit for the role, and to boot, they misrepresented themselves. Your process screwed up, but the key is to not compound that. I'd encourage you to still be decent and give a good severance, because this is ultimately your company's fuck up, and you should take your medicine.
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#46To echo everyone else's sentiment - fire them.
Also, this was HR's mistake, so give them in no uncertain terms your decision to let this person go, and let them handle the rest.
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#47I never understand these situations, it took me months to get a job offer and somehow incompetent people accidentally stumble into senior roles?
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#48Do you need to demonstrate to others this person's incompetence before you can let them go?
You could put them on a project by themselves, with expectations on par with other senior devs. Let them provide you with the evidence you need to make your case.
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#49Don’t drag out these decisions.
It sucks to see an underperformer stick around and get lots of $$. It just tells your team that surrounding them with great people isn’t actually a priority.
It also sucks to be a person in this position feeling like you’re underperforming for the long term. Or feel on the precipice of being let go without it happening.
Gotta be OK being upfront with folks and ripping the bandaid off. It’s a day of feeling bummed on the team that’s better than months of team members feeling unmotivated.
I’ll also say this should be really rare and if it keeps happening you need to review your hiring practices, as that’s actually the root cause of people getting into your team that aren’t a good fit.
Re: Ask HN: How to handle a senior hire turning out to be junior?
#50Why it needs another 6-12 months to get them to be productive? Is it some system programming position? I can't imagine anything else that would require a year to get people into shape.
I think the belief that a 6 month bootcamp (or equivalent) is sufficient to create a competent developer even in "easy" domains like web is a big reason why most software sucks and why "impostor syndrome" is over-reported.
Most 4 year degrees aren't even sufficient, as they just teach academic knowledge and "hacking" skills (as in "hacking your grades") that produce juniors that leave a massive wake of technical debt unless checked.
But yes, 6mo could be enough to get a particular employee productive, assuming they are highly engaged (ideally not remote) and have someone available to train them every day, and so on.