Some time ago I got fired from a senior developer position, prior to this I never got fired, always been a medium to top performer wherever I hav...
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Lessons from an old dev:
If you don't know how to do the work already, don't agree to do it. They always say that they'll give you time to come up to speed. They rarely mean it. And instead of seeing that their expectations are unreasonable, they will decide that you are stupid or lazy. Just say, "That's not what I was hired to do." If they insist, quit. Do not give in.
As soon as you see that the job sucks, start looking for another job. Don't let your performance drop -- work hard. If you slack off, then you give them the opportunity to blame you. Stay cheerful and enthusiastic and do good work, but get out as soon as possible. Don't think, "Oh, it will get better." It won't.
I have made the same mistake as you more than once. It is difficult to give up on a job so soon. But beware the sunk cost fallacy.
I had one job so horrible that I was dying to quit but foolishly felt I owed it to them to stick it out to the "big deployment." Then, just a few days before that happened, they called me up and fired me. I was so overjoyed that I literally jumped up and cheered. When I told curious onlookers that I'd just been fired, they thought I was a bit nuts. But dear me I wanted out of that awful role. Wow. Happy, happy day.
Now I just quit. I was a fool to stay as long as I did. If it's not working, get out.
Very true, its better to get out early rather than staying on in the vain hope it will get better. Thank you for sharing
Thank you for sharing this, despite that it had such a heavy emotional impact on you. Glad that you bounced back :)
Writing this was very smart IMHO, it's one of the best way I know to digest and make sense of an heavy emotional invent like this. Self-therapy at its best.
There is no reason not to bounce back @nadiafedev People are let go on the daily basis, regardless of their expertise. Thats just reality.
I feel this in my core. My role was "eliminated" after 8 strong years of extending a popular SAP bolt-on product. Lies. They just sent my role overseas. They even had me train my replacements under the guise of "needing a backup" ... just in case.
I had nothing but high praise, increasing profits, and earned bonuses, then .. See ya!
My career started in 1988 after one interview at JCPenney. Even though I worked at several companies until 2022, it was my reputation that carried me from one to the next. I never had to interview, that is, until I was abruptly let go.
It has been 16 months, 16, looking for my next role. Overqualified for most and under qualified for the rest. What went wrong?
My skill set and experience, as strong as they are, lacked the latest UI frameworks, cloud dev, DevOps, etc. I gave everything I had to advance my last employer and too little to advance myself. Don't do this. Do not make the same mistake.
The best advice I can offer is that which was found in a post on LinkedIn.
The only job security you will ever have is to keep your skills and your resume current.
Thankfully, I did find a 6 month contract last week. Hopefully this will become full time. You can bet that I will continue to bring my skill set current and relevant. The emotional, mental, and financial impact has been nothing short of devastating.
These days, if you are not looking out for yourself, then no one is.
Whole truth. Expertly written. Well done :)
Something I've been thinking a lot about during my recent layoff / job search experience - I heard someone say that
An A player in one company might be a D player in another company. But if it's the same player... isn't it unfair to think that the "A" or the "D" applies to the person?
Glad to hear you're on the rebound, and hope you find a team you fit better with!
"I explained I needed to get up to speed with the tech stack used and was given about half a day to read up what I needed to."
This is where things went downhill.
I agree this is where I should have tempered expectations and not assumed that some reading in half a day would enable me to effectively code.
Been there, done that. Sometimes the place we are in makes us drown in self-doubt, and it is really important that you noticed that and got your mind clear. π
I just got let go from a company and am now searching for a job. I'd never been laid off before but new owners bought the company and terminated my position. This article was a bit reassuring. The only problem I have is with all the grammatical errors. I would think this article would have been proofread before it was published. It's not a good look for DEV and kept me from accepting to receive emails from DEV.
These are user written articles. DEV has nothing to do with them. I agree however, that it was a very poorly written article. Even ignoring the poor grammar, this person doesn't seem very serious about being an engineer. Knowing how to move through a codebase is a pretty basic skill, and if you're going to put the word "Senior" in your title, I expect you to be able to move like one. Even if it's a language you've never experienced before, programming is programming (unless we're talking about Assembly), and most of them share the same concepts. Classes, Functions, Constructors, etc.
I can't count how many times we hired someone who could talk a good game, but once it came down to doing the work, they just crumbled because they had no idea what they were doing. Not saying that's exactly what happened here, but it feels similar.
Really.
Damn thanks for sharing this as a learning student it works as a support article that if things go wrong u don't need to give up I hope I get a mentor like u to guide me (self learning alone with no friends or mentor just me and Google) hats off to u for ur such high patience level
This is something most junior developers (including myself) don't understand. It's about finding the right fit with the company, in my opinion. I had to leave a role because it was too stressful and I wasn't treated with respect; it felt more like tough labor. I know that I did all I could, but I'm happy that I left. After that, I received several good offers, and life goes on...
Thank you for sharing so honestly. I am in a similar situation at the moment - it sucks, it's horrible, and I have been through all the stages of grief including feeling angry, worthless and wondering whether to give up coding entirely.
But I also was never in doubt that getting out of that situation was the right thing to do, I only wish I had been brave enough to make the leap myself a long time ago...sometimes we just need life to give us a little shove in the right direction :)
Something very similar happened to me not long ago. The feeling sucks and I even started to have doubts about my value as a professional. Now I'm part of an amazing team and I'm completely reassured of my professional worth. Getting fired from that job was the best thing that it could happen.
I was let go from an internship along with another intern once with no notice just came in one morning and was "let go" without the generic "the business is headed in a different direction". It was a toxic environment, and I had similar feelings to the author, but being let go allowed me to be open to the job where I am now. I can say in hindsight I'm so glad things happened as they did. It's like the saying goes:
Great post! π thanks for sharing experience! π
Iβm impress your great attitude! π
Hey man, you kind of described a 5 days position that I had!
In my case, I presented the situation first, said to the company "I'm cool if I need to go away, just get me out of the project, and be honest with ourselves" The company and I know the truth, that manage things in a diplomatic way with the client, and I was happy to leave knowing that my direct employer knew the real scenario. We keep in touch, so no relationship was hurt.
PD: I'm in a sabbatic year now, so I have time if you want to have a chat and discuss tech and career paths. I will send an invite on LinkedIn.
I am happy you get fired because you deserved a better company
I did tear a little reading this because I also got fired but then I had 2 kids and couldn't get back to work until now
and now it kinda seems hard after 7 year gap but I will keep trying
thank you for reminding me about that
for reminding me that getting fired isn't the end of the world
best of luck to the 2 of us β¨
Well written. Introspection is an important part of personal (and career) growth, and despite your setbacks I'm happy that you found your place.
As some of the (excellent) comments have already said - process, learn, pick yourself up and move to the next challenge. I did a similar hop myself (twice, actually), and the joy of not only moving out of the negative environment but finding a new purpose is worth the slog - if you learn from it.
Thanks for putting this out there - you obviously learned from the experience, and my hope is that others will learn form you. :)
I have been there, and it's not easy to find a job immediately after getting lay-off. Things I have learned from this experience is never lose hope, keep learning, there are 100s of company who is looking for my expertise and always "love your job, not the company".
Thanks for sharing!
"getting fired isn't the end of your life or even your career, you can bounce back and use it as a learning experience." very true
I hope you find a better job that you enjoy and good at.
I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Can I ask what country this happened in?
After saying no, you might consider adding an alternative to shadow other person while they are working though it.
This way, you can upskill while helping the team lead feel supported.
It was nice to read it.
I related myself in some past occasions
Thanks for the writing
Thanks for sharing π, it's very inspiring.
Thank you for the share - you will find your perfect spot soon just do not stop seeking it :)
Glad to see you bounce back.
Thanks for sharing this!
Seems to me like you were frustrated. I would, too. Especially if it was that kind of environment. But I wished you had resigned instead of getting fired.
Love this!!!
Thanks for sharing! As someone who was let go in the last few months, dealing with self-doubt, and feeling lost, I appreciated hearing your story and how you overcame it.
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