Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

news.ycombinator.com

701–710 of 862 posts

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#701
post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you want to mention the company name? I'm curious as I have an idea about which company this is.

I can neither confirm nor deny before I get another gig, I don't want to burn any bridges prematurely just in case. What company are you thinking of?

The one in the Zaltbommel area. I don't want to be too specific either, I know a few folks over there. :)

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for Facebook, but I know that in some companies, it really is possible for individual contributers to successfully complete a PIP. I've known at least 3 coworkers at my workplace who have been put on PIPs. They were given realistic expectations that didn't require them to work 50+ hours per week, and they completed the plans successfully. Of course, a manager who's put on a plan is generally gone in a f…

that just seems weird though. for it to get to the point of a PIP being necessary, a lot has had to gone wrong until then. feels like it's a blunt instrument, used when usual communication has almost broken down. are expectations not normally discussed more informally in regular 1:1s already? i do know people who have successfully completed PIPs and stayed. but every person who's taken the PIP as a signal to look for…

PIPs are merely an escalation. Ideally yes, there would be communication before you reach that point about expectations, how they're not being met, and how to improve. That's not going to fix every problem though, so you modify your approach as the problem persists. The alternative is to just fire people if more regular, casual communication hasn't done the trick. I think it's more humane to give people clear notice that it hasn't been happening though, and it's either time to really get serious or leave.

I do think it's close-to-analagous to an altimatum in a relationship, though. Sure, there's probably been communication up to that point, but now it's decision time and it's time to get things sorted out or part ways. It's probably headed for parting ways regardless.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#703

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or if they have a better lawyer than yours.

Well that would be the OCR. It’s doubtful they would waste a lot of resources going after a developer, unless they really thought he had done something. Usually they go after leadership.

And then leadership hires good lawyers that do their best to deflect the blame to the developer.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#704

On my last job, a new manager called me for a meeting on Friday 4PM. I spent the whole month on an extremely stressful project. The meeting was about an app that integrates credit card payments, billets and bank account on a terminal that is going to be available to the general public. The deadline? 11PM of the same day. Final version. From 0 to 100% in 6 hours. I said that it was impossible. He said that I was incap…

It's amazing how much overlap there is between jobs where they treat you poorly, and where they don't pay you enough. You'd think it would be the opposite, but it's all part of them not valuing you.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#705

I'm the sole developer working on my current project, which is overhauling a massive DOS era application, as well as overhauling an early 2000s era CRM/business management tool, that almost all of our work happens through. Did I mention that the DOS application is a HIPAA billing application that must meet all HIPAA guidelines as well as write EDI X12 billing files? I'm very junior, been coding for ~5 years, 3 profes…

I know the feels but I'm a bit older. I am currently rewriting an old web forms app. Source code is outdated and not what is in production. Some methods are 1500+ lines of code. This project is dumpster fire but at least I can vent to everyone and they agree. Plus, I don't have to deal with HIPPA good luck brother!

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#706

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PIP isn't a pink slip at all companies. I once got a PIP when working at a mid-sized corporation. Fortunately my performance wasn't an issue, they just didn't like that I was frequently late to the daily morning standup (which upper management refused to allow us to reschedule to later in the day despite my insistence), didn't appear attentive in meetings, and was working from home too much. I started coming in to wo…

Companies want to look 'Agile' so they will treat it as though it is a religion. The daily stand-up bullshit gets taken to such an extreme that it becomes counter productive. If you work at such a place, simply get out. There is nothing that spells long term disaster more than rigid adherence to voodoo process.

First, I don’t have my teams do daily stand ups.

But in the rare times that I have, it’s mostly because the team tends to get pulled in a lot of directions, and the standup is a reminder to focus.

There is usually a larger organizational issue that leads to a team pulled in so many directions. But that’s a lot harder to fix.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#707
post #682

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I was in that situation, I'd do some form of: What do you want by 11PM? A design? Really, you want the whole thing completed? Is this some kind of a joke? (Depending on relationship) Walk out the door without saying a word, "I quit," or even better, just stand up and say, "Everyone who thinks this is absurd walk out the door with me right now." Why: What I've learned is that employees ignoring an unreasonable boss…

You lose benefits and the possibility of taking legal action against the (former) employer if you quit. Even in "at will" employment states you can sue for unlawful termination.

In this situation it would add up to 'constructive dismissal' so he wouldn't necessarily lose any rights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_dismissal

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#708

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PIP isn't a pink slip at all companies. I once got a PIP when working at a mid-sized corporation. Fortunately my performance wasn't an issue, they just didn't like that I was frequently late to the daily morning standup (which upper management refused to allow us to reschedule to later in the day despite my insistence), didn't appear attentive in meetings, and was working from home too much. I started coming in to wo…

> I started coming in to work on time and stopped coding during meetings and they took me off the PIP a couple weeks later. So, you were consistently late for work, didn't pay attention in meetings and were admittedly inattentive and working from home "too much". So you were put on PIP and you took that as a reason to leave the company? What did you expect them to do? You sound like a nightmare employee. I'm sure the…

The only nightmare i see is a company that values a warm body being in a specific seat for a specific range of hours over actual productivity. Physical presence is not really required most of the time for most engineers.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#709
post #700

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, sending an email is very easy these days.

Thanks for enlightening me on the technologies of the 21st century. Maybe I meant if it‘s actually possible/makes sense to sue him because of an impossible deadline? Who knows

To answer your question (sort of): in my state it is not possible. It is state by state; my state is "at will" employment. This means, in my state, you can be fired just because. Employers in my state can't violate federal law of course -- they can't discriminate etc -- but they can fire you because "you're just not good enough" with no details or documentation.

That said, it is likely CA has it's own set of protections that make it harder to do.

Usually, it's the company's internal policies that require a PIP and all the documentation even in an "at will" state. This is to maintain the appearance of fairness and to avoid the possibility of employment litigation (companies of course often operate in many states and federal law is always a concern). If you document, you avoid all this. The firing though is usually a _fait accompli_; the PIP is CYA.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#710
In theory I have the perfect job: I create developer tools to be used with my company's platform. I choose the tech, decide the features and when to deliver. The commute is OK - about 30 minutes from door to door. I get reasonably paid but the workload is just too little. I have to come up with things to do just to fill in the mandatory 40 weekly hours in Jira. There aren't that many developers using our tools and there isn't a "push" to improve/evolve them so I just drag any tasks endlessly so I have enough to do all week. Still everyone is quite happy with my performance as I get shit done. I know I am not the only one. Other departments have people just idling most of the time. I feel that I am completely useless. I've already mentored a junior developer so I guess he could handle it on his own. I am seriously done with this and I would consider moving to a new job if it weren't for two problems: I am having my first baby in a few months and there aren't any product companies around (I don't want to go to a consulting company again). If I stick around my unit test code coverage will be 200%.
Post reply on HN