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Fired

zachholman.com

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Re: Fired

#21

Post by eridius »

chuhnk wrote: post #18
eridius wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my first thought too. But this seems too far after that incident for it to be the cause.

No. It's a great way to separate one's involvement from the issue. Things like this happen all the time and you don't hear about it because it's treated exactly like this. CEOs are displaced at the top level in a way that makes it look like a natural next step.

If the intent was to make it look like a natural next step, he wouldn't be writing a blog post about how he was fired.

If he really was fired for that incident, I'd much prefer GitHub to be open about it and make it clear that was why.

Re: Fired

#22

Post by crazypyro »

lucasjcm wrote: post #15

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it bad for him to talk about this publicly and insinuate that his manager was shit and that he was fired for no good reason? This situation reminds me a lot of the time an ex-employee of reddit complained about his firing, on reddit (!!), and was publicly called out for it by reddit's CEO at the time [1]. [1] https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iea97/i_am_a_former_r...

I don't think he was really insinuating that his manager was shit. I think he was simply talking about the different stories he heard. It could be just as likely that the very next thing he says "or dealing the fallout from things out of their control." or really an infinite possibilities. Just my 2 cents.

Re: Fired

#23

Post by wongarsu »

lucasjcm wrote: post #15

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it bad for him to talk about this publicly and insinuate that his manager was shit and that he was fired for no good reason? This situation reminds me a lot of the time an ex-employee of reddit complained about his firing, on reddit (!!), and was publicly called out for it by reddit's CEO at the time [1]. [1] https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iea97/i_am_a_former_r...

>that his manager was shit

I don't think he said that in the article. He implied that the reason was out of his control, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a good reason.

From later in the article:

>I still consider it an objective mistake for them to have hired me, back then

>I left on great terms with leadership and the people I worked with

Re: Fired

#24

Post by therobot24 »

The initial opening of the tweet really threw me off.

>The last half-decade meant everything to me. Was a hell of a gig. Thanks, GitHub.

Something about it seemed off-putting. I dunno, maybe it's because i'm not really into twitter, but it just came off, for lack of better words, fake.

However, i read the rest of the post, and it was quite good. I actually enjoyed way more than i thought i would. Which kind of begs the question of what else have i ignored/put off/dismissed from reading too much into these small droplets of text. Usually 'less is more', but i'm beginning to have my doubts.

downvotes? guess twitter is protected territory

Re: Fired

#27

Post by samstokes »

sridca wrote: post #11

Back in December 2012, Julie Horvath expressed her desire to have Zach fired. I wonder if these two incidents are actually related. @Holman is my ex-partner. He was complicit in the actions of both Tom and Theresa Preston-Werner and even admitted to plotting with Theresa Preston-Werner to get women at the company fired. He should be let go from GitHub and I regret being kind to him in previous interviews. http://vall…

Maybe we can keep the speculation and character smearing to another thread? I have no connection to the author, but he's written a very personal post about a subject that isn't often discussed, so I don't feel like this thread is an appropriate place to attack him.

Re: Fired

#28

Post by michaelochurch »

lucasjcm wrote: post #15

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it bad for him to talk about this publicly and insinuate that his manager was shit and that he was fired for no good reason? This situation reminds me a lot of the time an ex-employee of reddit complained about his firing, on reddit (!!), and was publicly called out for it by reddit's CEO at the time [1]. [1] https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iea97/i_am_a_former_r...

isn't it bad for him to talk about this publicly and insinuate that his manager was shit and that he was fired for no good reason?

I didn't take him to be trash-talking his manager. He left it open. Sure, he implied that he was fired for a non-character-related reason, but that's hardly specific enough to be damning.

It's a dangerous move, not because anything Zach said is harmful or embarrassing to himself or Github, but only because you can't take it back once you put "I was fired" out there. (He's right that even most good people have at least one involuntary job loss. This isn't about that.) Often, when you're job searching after being fired, you want to represent yourself as still employed, because not only does it make it easier to get jobs, but companies are likely to promote you to the next perceived level up, whereas if you're unemployed you're most likely to get a lateral move and, maybe, a slight raise. Many companies will even allow you to do represent yourself as still employed, as part of a severance. Now he can't.

Re: Fired

#29

Post by cnp »

mrb wrote: post #13

Human nature is really amazing. After the reading the first 4 paragraph I saw his openness and honesty. I felt compassion and trust. And I was already thinking to myself "Zach really looks like a cool guy; if he is skilled I would probably hire him", without attaching any significance whatsoever to the fact he was fired. If you are reading this, Zach, continue to be open, honest, accept your mistakes, show you do lea…

I felt the same. Started reading and was like "uh..." but by the end I felt he had an enormous amount to show for and to say, with wise words all around.

Re: Fired

#30

Post by adam12 »

michaelochurch wrote: post #28
lucasjcm wrote: post #15

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it bad for him to talk about this publicly and insinuate that his manager was shit and that he was fired for no good reason? This situation reminds me a lot of the time an ex-employee of reddit complained about his firing, on reddit (!!), and was publicly called out for it by reddit's CEO at the time [1]. [1] https://np.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2iea97/i_am_a_former_r...

isn't it bad for him to talk about this publicly and insinuate that his manager was shit and that he was fired for no good reason? I didn't take him to be trash-talking his manager. He left it open. Sure, he implied that he was fired for a non-character-related reason, but that's hardly specific enough to be damning. It's a dangerous move, not because anything Zach said is harmful or embarrassing to himself or Github…

"Virtually everyone I've had drinks with tells a similar story about the time they got fired. Seemingly everyone’s got stories of being stuck under shit managers, or dealing the fallout from things out of their control."

Sounds to me like he had a shit manager.

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