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Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

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Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#731

Post by abledon »

JohnFen wrote: post #83
throwaway29488 wrote: post #2

Not with the job in particular, just want to take a break from tech especially from being a programmer. Tired of staring at a screen for 80% of my awake time and constant puzzle solving. Sick of people in this industry making you feel you're not smart enough, that you're not enough no matter how many times you prove yourself in past work.

> Sick of people in this industry making you feel you're not smart enough I just want to mention that this isn't an industry-wide problem. It is a cultural problem that tends to be concentrated in a few geographic areas and a few specific sectors of the industry. You might benefit from taking a step back and considering a substantial change without leaving the industry entirely -- to a new geographic area, or a new s…

name these industries please!

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#732

Post by abledon »

seizethecheese wrote: post #267

I sure hope this format doesn't take off. Having worked as a dishwasher, line cook, pool manager, business analyst, software engineer, and startup founder, I have to say software engineer was, by far, the most coddled job. How about this: I'm a line cook, and I can't afford to be fired. I make minimum wage, and burn or cut myself badly at least once per week. I'm not allowed to take the day off and have to work throu…

can you elaborate on the meaning behind your username?

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#733

Post by whynaut »

throwaway_xpto wrote: post #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 th…

If you're going to be sticking around, is there someway you can (perhaps covertly) pivot within the company? You didn't mention what the platform does, but is there some featureset you could work on in your free time, and then surprise the company?

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#734

Post by rinchik »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #644

I work at a tech company that just lost 70% of its stock price in under a year, my team was laid off from 15 people down to 3 people, my boss quit, and the app I've been working on for a year is questionable to be shutdown. And I'M going to look like the jerk on my resume for quitting before a year is up. God love capitalism!

"And I'M going to look like the jerk on my resume for quitting before a year is up." - this problem is in your head. Capitalism has nothing to do with that. You can quit at any point, even after a couple weeks. If you can't bubble-wrap an explanation for future interviews then work on that. Soft skills are also important.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#735

Post by daveslash »

JamesBarney wrote: post #713
bloopernova wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know that HIPAA violations can land you in jail, right? Run. Don't walk. Vacate immediately. Leave. I'm finding myself hoping that this is a fake, because I wouldn't wish this situation on anyone at all.

I don't think anyone has gone to jail for HIPAA violations who wasn't intentionally misusing or stealing PHI.

not a lawyer, but I think intent is a big piece. That said, if you ever feel pressured to do something that you know, or even think, might "not be quite right", diplomatically argue your point and get things in writing. Even an email thread between you and a manager is good. The idea is this: if the fecal matter hits the oscillator and auditors come in, you want evidence that you were doing what you were told, despite your protests.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#736

Post by JohnFen »

abledon wrote: post #731
JohnFen wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sick of people in this industry making you feel you're not smart enough I just want to mention that this isn't an industry-wide problem. It is a cultural problem that tends to be concentrated in a few geographic areas and a few specific sectors of the industry. You might benefit from taking a step back and considering a substantial change without leaving the industry entirely -- to a new geographic area, or a new s…

name these industries please!

That would be a rather lengthy list, as devs are needed in most industries. But here are a handful (not an exhaustive list) that exist in my area: trucking, railroads, banking, major retailers and wholesalers, hospitals. I'm not talking about bean-counting software here, either.

The single best software dev job I ever had was not working for a software house. It was working in a neurscience lab on applications ranging from software that ran custom experimental equipment all the way through writing software that emulated biological neural networks.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#737

Post by abledon »

whatshisface wrote: post #279
seizethecheese wrote: post #267

I sure hope this format doesn't take off. Having worked as a dishwasher, line cook, pool manager, business analyst, software engineer, and startup founder, I have to say software engineer was, by far, the most coddled job. How about this: I'm a line cook, and I can't afford to be fired. I make minimum wage, and burn or cut myself badly at least once per week. I'm not allowed to take the day off and have to work throu…

I'm a third world sweathop worker. I was forced to make clothes here ever since I could walk. There are hundreds of people packed in to this tiny windowless room, and every time there is a fire I die. My coworkers can't even afford alcohol. Every time I hear decadent American line cooks complain about their working conditions, all I can think is, they have it so easy.

I like your dark humour. Can you please give me reading material for the next year ? Ideally your most recommended books on _life_.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#738

Post by Dumblydorr »

Random_Person wrote: post #658

That'd be great. I'm actively searching, but a 40 year old junior dev isn't in high demand. I took my present job hoping for some mentor-ship to better develop my skills. My days are spent in my office, with no concrete understanding of what is expected of me. I have projects that are "mine"... and by that, I mean that no other developer has a clue what I do. There is no team. No goals. No targets. I just work on wha…

Wow, this rings true for me. Slow days are depressing and fast days are anxious and frustrating, and on all days it's down to me, myself, and I to figure out what to do. I ameliorated this by getting a couple of mentors, they have diff projects but they know my workflow decently well so can guide me generally.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#739

Post by JohnFen »

sAbakumoff wrote: post #504
rovr138 wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they needed or wanted a reason to fire them. If that’s the case, it was all ready to go on HR.

I mean it only happens in movies when an employee gets fired and immediately put his stuff in the box and leaves the building. In real life there are labor regulations that don't allow this, there is the notification period et cetera

> I mean it only happens in movies when an employee gets fired and immediately put his stuff in the box and leaves the building.

It's not only in the movies. I've seen it done in real life a number of times. In the US, anyway, this isn't prohibited by law.

Re: Ask HN: Who Wants to Be Fired?

#740

Post by timwaagh »

throwaway58129 wrote: post #66
throwaway58129 wrote: post #64

I didn't know this format was a thing and am so very excited to discover it. I hope you folks enjoy reading horror stories. I got a job as a Software Engineer in my current company 4.5 years ago; friend-of-a-friend sort of thing. The company had an apparently disastrous piece of software that was their main LOB. They had gone through pretty much every local consulting agency - at least once, on a few occasions they h…

I have no idea the right way of posting long posts. Here's the rest: https://pastebin.com/k0tYZYgY

For someone who cares so deeply about security you just gave away a lot of sensitive info and uploaded it to a popular forum.
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